Red Sky At Night For A Sedentary Empress (Book) http://www.Writing.Com/main/books.php/item_id/1568554-Red-Sky-At-Night-For-A-Sedentary-Empress Yes, I like to hear ghost stories, and yes, I love reading them, too. This does not mean I'm a believer. In fact, what I'm usually looking for when reading about this subject matter is evidence that what I'm reading isn't utter crap. I like to read stories with dates and names. I like photographs that 'experts' cannot explai...[Read Full Post] Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:50:58 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/690016 Who knew Jeff Bridges was a hippie? The Oscars are my Superbowl Sunday. I wait anxiously all day, planning my snacks and bathroom strategy, and I start watching when the red carpet is unrolled right until the closing credits. It's a six-hour investment. I cannot explain it other than to say it's my 'thing', but I know I'm not al...[Read Full Post] Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:27:16 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/689664 I've been ready for good news for some time, now. Little whispers of it; in the soft sway of the late winter wind which hints at the end of the cold season, in the purply-peach sunset that comes long after I've come home and settled in. This winter has not been typical in the sense that we have hardly had any snow. There has been only one se...[Read Full Post] Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:36:19 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/689272 A conversation with my mother always has the potential for quick ignition. Tempers, tears, threats and insults. They come alive with her, as though my words are laced with accelerant and her tongue, a match ripped across asphalt. Trouble. Normally, I know when it's coming, I can feel it even from all her miles away, but today I wasn't ready f...[Read Full Post] Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:09:53 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/689256 I cannot convey how much I love my child in words. It astounds me how much I could love someone, especially since I never had those maternal longings when I was younger. I wanted children, yes, but not in the desperate way that so many other women appear to. I never got excited over looking at baby clothes, and I could barely tolerate listening to my ...[Read Full Post] Tue, 02 Mar 2010 10:44:06 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/689100 I have a problem with emails. The thing is, I am always grateful to get them, but I am not always great at responding to them or deleting them. As a result, when I checked my WDC inbox this morning, I was stunned to see that I had about 300 emails languishing there, some of which were unread and caked with the dust of the past two years. I could not...[Read Full Post] Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:49:59 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/689001 A few entries back I wrote about how I wasn't going to watch the Olympics. I said that I thought it was a political event rather than one which celebrates true athleticism, or something to that effect, and I meant it at the time, still do to some degree. But, things happen. Like Joannie Rochette, for instance. How can one not be inspired by this ...[Read Full Post] Sun, 28 Feb 2010 22:55:44 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/688955 I took a collection of Sylvia Plath poems to school with me the other day, but couldn't get through them. Every word was a little suicide and I found it hard to see beyond that. Over the past couple weeks, there has been suicide after suicide, another life done before nature intended a finish. It seeps into my skin and poisons my blood. It distor...[Read Full Post] Sun, 28 Feb 2010 14:57:02 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/688919 Since I have so much time at school, after skimming through my course book and rummaging through job postings on the job board (perpetually coming up empty), I tend to chat in the student lounge with my friend C. who is usually happy to have a distraction from her work. We bring our granola bars and water with us and stake a claim at the table that can&...[Read Full Post] Tue, 23 Feb 2010 22:55:25 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/688471 I have read about six books in the last two weeks which is something of a record for me. When I'm at home, I get distracted, but at school, once I've read whichever chapter in my textbook I allow myself to read, I dive into my bag for the paperback I've brought along for company and for however many hours of uninterrupted time I have, I lose...[Read Full Post] Mon, 22 Feb 2010 09:40:25 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/688281 M. is baking a pumpkin pie. I haven't decided if this means hell has officially frozen over, or if I suffered brain damage while trying to do raven pose this morning. I made a lemon pie yesterday, 'sans' meringue, and the entire thing was devoured in a three-hour period, so today I decided I wasn't going to bake the pumpkin one I&#3...[Read Full Post] Sun, 21 Feb 2010 19:15:19 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/688232 My sister found out that she's having a girl, allegedly. Cue the happy tears and the decorating frenzy. She actually became hysterical with happiness when she found out because, as she says, she's going to have the 'perfect family' that she's always dreamed of. I'm glad about it, but I'd have been just as happy if she wer...[Read Full Post] Sun, 14 Feb 2010 11:05:52 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/687475 My facilitator at school gave me a list of possible interview questions which she wants me to study in preparation for my return to the job market. Question 25: Do you know how to make good coffee? I kid you not. I mean, what the hell is that about? So, I asked her if it was a serious question, and she smiled and said yes, that it is something whic...[Read Full Post] Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:32:02 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/687264 No one has been able to understand why I won't use my 'contacts' in order to get a job. What good are principles?, they've been asking me, and to everyone I say that I recognize that my principles have no obvious market value, but to me they are clean. To me, they are beyond measure. But, principles won't keep the lights on. S...[Read Full Post] Thu, 11 Feb 2010 23:54:07 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/687238 I'm doing my best to stall things at school. I can't bring myself to finish my Human Resources course because it will bring me to my last book, and that book needs to last me two months, when I could easily finish it in a week. So, I sit and I read. Correction: I read and I eavesdrop, because my mind is not as focused as it was when I was a &#...[Read Full Post] Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:24:20 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/687121 M. wanted to take me out to dinner, even though, as he said, we cannot really afford such luxuries until I am gainfully employed. Still, he continued, we need it, to go out occasionally, even if what we spend on one meal could feed us for a week if used on groceries instead. I'm not cheap, in fact, I am a reformed luxury-holic, because eating was...[Read Full Post] Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:21:21 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/686677 Deliberately moving slowly at school is a lot more work than I thought it would be. My exam is set for next week, but my facilitator advises me to take it later so that I can 'stretch things out'. I thought being ahead in my courses was a good thing, but it turns out that being an overachiever is tantamount to self-sabotage. So, I read '...[Read Full Post] Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:45:03 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/686281 The wee one has her first guitar lesson tomorrow. This should be in-er-est-in. M. said that he wanted her to learn an instrument, and I'm totally in agreement, but I thought maybe piano, or violin. Classical guitar is nice too, but the wee one, who has been walking around with her 'axe' on her back for the past three days told me last ni...[Read Full Post] Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:50:37 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/686103 Why aren't you passionate?! I may have yelled this at him while washing dishes the other day. He may have looked completely surprised, followed by annoyed. I am! , he responded flatly. You and I have different definitions of that word, and sorry, but you're not. Why I would choose to start this conversation while scrubbing a fry...[Read Full Post] Mon, 01 Feb 2010 10:37:38 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/686004 I can't write. I know it. Everyone can stop thinking it, now. I have been trying to rework some old short stories of mine for the past couple days and decided that they are offensive in their mediocrity. I have no original ideas, but this would be forgivable if only I could present them in a way that was remotely interesting. I can churn out a...[Read Full Post] Sat, 30 Jan 2010 13:01:27 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/685835 My love for the writing of J.D. Salinger is not original, but it's real. I was sad to learn he died, even though it hardly comes as a shock given his age, but I always loved knowing that he still existed somewhere, that he was holed up in a house because he chose to be, and I found that to be wonderfully romantic. We don't have enough eccentric...[Read Full Post] Thu, 28 Jan 2010 23:37:30 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/685691 My child is a phlegm-machine. Wait, is that how you spell phlegm? No matter. The word and the substance do not have my respect. Still, she wanted to do more yoga last night, insisted on it, actually, and though I was in no real humour to do it, I got down in downward dog and eventually ended up falling over attempting raven pose. There was a crop ...[Read Full Post] Wed, 27 Jan 2010 10:27:29 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/685502 I've been doing yoga. Well, I've done it twice, but it counts. Yes, it feels good, particularly after I've finished, like I'm floating on top of a cloud while my body settles, like sand to the bottom of the lake. My wee one has taken to doing it with me since there's virtually no way I can do it in private, and even this morning sh...[Read Full Post] Tue, 26 Jan 2010 10:59:58 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/685378 I feel fat. This, after a weekend of shameless gorging. My sister came for a visit, an impromptu idea that her husband had as she was going mad with the children at home, so she came here for an overnighter without her family. She brought along two big paper bags filled with goodies from the Dutch bakery near her house and when I saw them, I was ins...[Read Full Post] Mon, 25 Jan 2010 10:43:58 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/685261 The chest hurts again, like it's bruised, like the bones are fighting to break through the skin. It's not pleasant, and I'm wondering if the doctor is wrong about it being a muscle issue. I'm feeling like this is related to bad posture, like my bones are seizing after years of putting off exercise. The doctor only palpated the area, fe...[Read Full Post] Wed, 20 Jan 2010 11:01:52 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/684454