Secret Warts

Few people know this about me, so you’re going to have to refrain from blabbing to anyone who will listen what I’m about to tell you…

(sorry – had to do it – I am walking on the other side – posting something to the internet and then asking people to keep it a secret – just to see what life looks like when you do things this way….)

If I deem a book, post or movie “Fantabulous” or some other high-falutin’ term, it means I was so enraptured, so taken in that I got lost in the story and had no comprehension that I was still watching or reading.

This does not happen very often for me.    Because….

(here comes the secret…. Shhhh!)

I have a brain committee member who is a continual critic  – –

Here’s what a portion of my brain is doing when I’m either reading or watching a movie:

(Full disclosure – apparently, when reading my own stuff, my critic goes deaf, blind and dumb, and that folks, is why I often go back to read/edit my old posts – to fix all my errors that Ole Unreliable failed to catch….)

Reading:

• Oops, didn’t need a comma there, but you missed one over here –

• It’s Whom, Whom! I tell you!

• That’s not how you spell chrysanthemum

• Hmmm..   they should have broken this part off and made another post – –

• Should I send an email and tell this new blogger that breaking this 1,500 word, one paragraph post into short paragraphs would help reader’s immensely? Nah – they’ll figure it out – – I did, didn’t I?  at some point….

And during visual entertainments:

• Wow! The script writers fumbled that one – too bad the actor isn’t A list enough to write his own lines – Harrison Ford couldn’t have pulled that stupid line off – –

• What on earth was the director thinking?   It must of killed (insert name of beloved actor/actress) to do that the director’s way –

• Boy, the guys in the editing booth sure missed that one – –

• Why did they think 80’s soft rock music was a good choice for a story set in medieval Europe?

You get the idea….

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This is why I love The Newsroom – scripted lines that are inspiring, funny and revealing….

Actors and Actresses that keep in character and have such superb timing, I forget that I’m watching something made up and sink blissfully into observer role – –

My inner critic only wakes up once the show is over – – to marvel and clap her hands gleefully, shouting “Bravo!  Bravo!”.

“Wasn’t that just incredible?” she gushes to my other brain committee members – – – who are glad that she, for once this decade, is doing something other than criticizing….

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Nope, I can’t do it – I just can’t lie to you – –

Ms. Critic did wake up once during Season 1 – and prompted me to pause the show, hunt down a sticky note and pen so I could jot down the time when need be…

See, Jane Fonda plays a character in this show – – and about 15 minutes in, I realized she has been shown onscreen several times, but not once, has she spoken a single word….

I’ve lost the sticky note, but I think she finally spoke at around 46 minutes into the show – – or was it 53?

There, now you have the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth – –

The Newsroom

A post over at ipledgefallegience regarding the studies done to see how well informed Fox news viewers really are, reminded me of what I vowed to share with all two of you, who, like me,  have done away with TV and have only Netflix and Shop PBS to keep them entertained.

Let’s begin at the beginning, shall we?   My brother has the ultimate bachelor pad – TV big as a living room wall, mini-fridge stocked with beer – Dish satellite TV service with more channels than fleas on a hound and DVR capabilities – Therefore, when we visit him, we get to watch movies or shows he’s deemed ‘good’ – whether they are currently showing or not.

He became enamored of the HBO series The Newsroom and shared it with Mom when she visited last fall – – since that time, she’s been motivated to tell me at least once a week she’s just sure I’d love it and I simply have to see it….

We traveled to his place for Christmas and the much touted, long talked about, pilot episode of The Newsroom was brought up and started for my viewing benefit – –

I had decided even if I was unimpressed, not to say anything, because it would disappoint Mom so – – –

But, my fear I would have to pretend interest and joy at the show were unfounded  –  if subsequent seasons match or excel season one, then the crew at The Newsroom have a fan for life – –

Note to The Newsroom crew – please, please, if you work your way up to saving the world from some major catastrophe like Armageddon or something, please, please, give me closure and end your stunning series career on a high note – please do not bring me back season after season for lukewarm shows that can never match the wonderful work you did in your first few seasons – -I’m begging you, don’t do it – – and no spin-offs either – – Did anyone, anywhere. ever watch Joni loves Chaci?

I now have another set of fictional characters that I really wish would manifest in the real world – – like my love for Brother Cadfael, crusader turned monk and his trusted friend, Sheriff Hugh Beringer,  I have a whole new set of folks I wish were really alive and really doing what they are doing in their fictional lives – gracing our world with the gifts their characters are gracing La-La land with – –

There probably are newscasters, producers, presidents of news corporations and EPs doing just that, but I don’t know about it…

Because I don’t watch the news, ya know…

And another few checked off the list – –

The number of folks declaring,

“Wow!  I thought you were dead – are you really going to clutter my notification box with likes for, like, ever?”

continues to rise – – as my “To Read” list grows smaller – if you take into account the ratio – small is a word that only has meaning in context – – –

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A Christmas gift to me was a card table and chairs, as the set I borrowed from my mom when I moved into my own little digs, post-divorce, was wanted back by its owner – it’s puzzle-putting-together season, ya know – – –

I had friends over for New Year’s Eve and we broke in the new table/chairs – – and the chairs creaked so loudly when we sat, I wonder if maybe my doctor’s scale had lied and I really hadn’t lost all that weight – – –

Nope – turns out that set has been recalled.   Seems the chairs collapse and have even amputated some fingers along the way.  The news let her know with a 30 second blurb and she expanded her knowledge by looking it up on the computer – and then asked me to confirm it by doing a search as well.

The first page of search results mainly netted “Amputated Fingers” headlines and I had to dig to get the actual brand/model information – the shameless headline grabbers are still at it, I see…

I packed it back up in the cardboard box I was saving for the bottom of some new garden bed this spring and she stopped by to pick it up to return – she was amazed that I still had the box it came in – – I now have confirmation she doesn’t listen when I’m yammering about garden projects – – 🙂

She came by to pick it up on the first day I had that wonderful little tummy flu that’s been sweeping through Colorado –

So she told my son (as he loaded the heavy, unwieldy box into her car – thank god for sons!) that she would wait until I felt better before pointing out what good thing it is that she watches the news everyday, so she knew about the recall-  – – – this is a common dig – I tell her watching the news every morning will just depress you – she tells me I need to keep better informed –

We’ve had fun with this for decades now – whatever did we do to entertain ourselves before having TV to argue about?

The man-unit (endearment which has replaced child-unit for he will soon be old enough to drive, vote, etc.)  told me of her comment just last night – nearly 5 days after it happened and not nearly close to me feeling really good just yet – –

She watches the news on TV – he gets his news from his smartphone –

They despair that I eschew the news….

Why watch the news?  If something is going on, you all will let me know about it – and I get a much better, human, in-depth report on it from you all than I can get anywhere else – – –

So that being said, I have been news free for nearly 2 months – and boy, I had no idea what you all were going through!

So sorry I didn’t know about the typhoons, ice storms, no power, and ocean waves taller than light houses – –

I shed a tear over Mandela and signed a petition to rail against a County Council that wants a couple to demolish the small, beautiful home they took a year to build with their own hands – –

I found out folks in Maine (and elsewhere) nearly had a Dark Christmas, but are really grateful to their local power company people, because the trees got lighted just in time –

That there are a lot of folks who like the general tolerance and compassion shown by saying “Happy Holidays” in the period from November through to mid-January.

I’m picking up tips and ideas for my own plans for the coming year by reading about all yours – –

I’m pleased to see how much we got accomplished last year as a group…We really did some remarkable things this past year, didn’t we?

But most of all – I’m just so happy to be back….

Even if I’ve only made it through a quarter of my list – –

Cheers to You!

Ta-Da!

I’ve spent all morning and I finally read my way through my reader to the last post I did (yes, I follow myself, so it shows up in my reader – a bookmark of sorts, as I read, comment and then post and log out – helps me to know when I’ve completed the “To Read” portion in my reader!)

I made my way through the archives of many along the way – probably a few of you are wondering,

“What on earth is she doing, liking 10 posts all in a row?”

Well – what can I say?  You know I’m a Lazy Liker – – – give me a button to push and I’m happy!

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I’m still so far from being caught up.

I haven’t even started to go explore all the new followers that have shown up the past two months (thank you all and I am on my way, but probably will be late….)

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And so, still so very far from my reader list being finished, I find I must post and log out before the day gets away from me.

Thank you for your patience while I work my way through the archives!

 

 

3 Down – 23,498 to Go

Yes, I logged in to get caught up on my reading today –

And left umpteen messages for 3 of those I follow –

With at least one message that read,

“Sorry about the cluster of likes/comments – trying to get caught up”

Which, so far, everyone has been very gracious about – –

Here’s the deal – I follow some 289 of you – – I really like quite a few of you and the rest, well – sometimes I like, sometimes I don’t, but why unfollow just because you’re writing something I”m not interested in?

What this means, is, when I’ve been gone for awhile, I read through my pre-determined reader list until I come across one of you blessed souls that are prolific writers, who manage to intrigue me with every, single, post.

Then, I click through and read everything you’ve written since October/November time frame – – –

Which means, I got to all 3 of you today – – –

I”m never going to catch up – – –

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I feel like I’ve been a Prince John of WordPress here lately – – You know, Prince John, the villain of Robin Hood tales – – I’ve been logging in and writing here and there but not really reading, commenting, liking for the Community – –

I purposefully left today totally open to get caught up – –

And wouldn’t you know, the people I follow just love to post more than once a blue moon or so…..

I realize now that taking a break was a boo-boo – I’ll never read all the wonderful things I missed these past few months – – or if I do, it will 2083 and over half of you lovely people will be dead before ever I like/comment on the post you wrote back in good ole 2013 – –

This is a saga about what happens when you put something on the back burner – it catches on fire and leaves you ashes – – –

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The main reason I’m posting all my warts for you to read about is… welll….

It’s probably not going to get any better – – –

I have hoop houses to build so I can start gardening early in February – –

I still have a partial fence put up that, gods willing and the snow quits falling, will be completed before the month is over – –

I didn’t quite finish the quilt for my mom for Christmas and I’d really, REALLY like to get if off the perennial to do list….

And I’m not sure if there will ever be a return of the luxurious days of reading and writing… ever again – – – –

I miss those days – but I really like knowing I’m on the road to supporting myself again – – that I’m making gains on my own sustainability – – that I’m no longer at the complete mercy of others – –

Until I figure out how to work for others, work for myself and indulge in the luxury of online community – please bear with me – – I still love you all – No matter what my absence or silence might indicate otherwise – – –

May you have a blessed 2014 –