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Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/profile/blog/walkinbird/month/1-1-2019
Rated: 18+ · Book · Experience · #930577
Blog started in Jan 2005: 1st entries for Write in Every Genre. Then the REAL ME begins
It Hurts When I Stop Talking


Sometime in Fall of 1998, when a visit from Dad was infrequent, and primarily at the mercy of his 88 Toyota making the 50 mile journey, I was being treated to lunch. The restaurant was my choice, I think. Sisley Italian Kitchen at the Town Center mall was somewhere my dad had not yet tried, so that was my pick. Either I was being treated to the luxury of lunch and adult conversation without my husband and 5 year old son in tow, or that's just how the moment has lodged in my memory. The more I think about it, they probably were there, but enjoying the Italian food too much to bother interrupting.

Daddy and his lady friend at the time, Anne, came up together and made a day of it with me and the family. We were eating together and talking about some of my scripts, stories, coverages, poems and other creative attempts that really were not seeing the light of day. I think I'd just finished a group reading of The Artist's Way and was in a terribly frenetic mood over my writing. I think I'd just given them an entire rundown on a speculative Star Trek script.

My Dad asked me point blank, “Why don’t you write it?? Anne agreed. It sure sounded like I wanted to write it. Why wasn't I writing seriously? It's what I'd set out to do when earning my college degree in Broadcasting many years earlier.

Heck, I should, I agreed non-verbally.

“I will.”

But, I didn’t.

Blogs can be wild, unpredictable storehouses of moments, tangents, creative dervishes, if you will. I'm getting a firmer handle on my creative cycle. My mental compost heap (which is a catch phrase from Natalie Goldman or Julia Cameron - I can't think which, right now) finally seems to be allowing a fairly regular seepage of by-products. That may be a gross analogy, but I give myself credit to categorize my work in raw terms. It proves that I'm not so much the procrastinating perfectionist that I once was.

Still, I always seem to need prompts and motivation. Being a self-starter is the next step. My attempt to keep up in the Write in Every Genre Contest at the beginning of the year seemed like a perfect point to launch the blog.

January 31, 2019 at 12:38pm
January 31, 2019 at 12:38pm
#950840
This article:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/we-all-need-to-help-outrage-and-empathy-after-...

In which a 22-year old mother fell and died navigating subway stairs with a 1-year old in a stroller in New York. I realize now deficiencies that I note about Los Angeles transportation are maybe better than places like New York, Boston, and Chicago that have older systems. I always assumed their attempts at accessibility were far better due to having larger, older, and far-ranging systems. The idea that not all stations, or even every other have an elevator or lift of some functionality really surprises me since the Americans with Disabilities Act has been official for almost three decades.

There is abuse by commuters of transportation infrastructure (elevators), and that could be addressed with educational campaigns. Maybe just like driving in Los Angeles, if people would commit to only driving alone on the highways when absolutely necessary, the same pledge could be in people's minds about crowding the elevator. Use it when your arthritis flares, but maybe not everyday, okay? Ans most of all be kind to the machine that gives access to all that push a stroller, assistive devices or roll in a chair.
January 20, 2019 at 10:51am
January 20, 2019 at 10:51am
#950063
My dad returning home from a convalesence and my older dog beginning the decline of old age has filled the last two weeks. I am A little sleep deprived and this does not help my eye strain. Also, Just realizing the table height where the couch bench is comfy at Starbucks is not very ergonomic. Ah well.This time of quiet, silence, contemplation -- hibernation. it is so necessary. perhaps last year and the year before that has disrupted the Spiritual Center's collective sleep.

When I have been woken several times in the night by the yips of my dog, Max, the next morning is a struggle and time really, just disappears -- I cannot focus on its passage -- am I sleepwalking?
January 10, 2019 at 8:00pm
January 10, 2019 at 8:00pm
#949360
I wandered away to seek out the name I remembered being a "something of Peace" that happens in January (I assumed due to Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday) and after thinking it was a "Season of Peace," titled my entry as such. I later found what I was remembering was a sixty-four day Season for Non-violence starting January 30th and ending April 4th each year. This span is begun and ended on the memorial dates for Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. As I think about how and when I select my WDC costumicon around Christmas, and that I prefer the dove, I wanted it to be noted here as a connection to the Winter and its season of Peace. I will develop this more. I need to actually, mindfully develop the attitude, not just the intention to write more about it. (As I was reminded by my Notes from the Universe (TUT) statement, I am still developing an attitude of compassion. The question is...am I applying myself to that really, or is it just words, then no action?
January 2, 2019 at 7:47am
January 2, 2019 at 7:47am
#948681
I cannot let myself not write into the blog just because I have no photo to go in it. I suppose that I would have to have a Premium membership if I really wanted to have photos everyday. Wonder if bloggers ever think of themselves as a part of a big neighborhood? So many people joke, and many blogger agree, it's not like we are writing stuff other people see. Of course, the initial intent is that what one places in a blog is of interest to someone else, somewhere. But much like we have become with real neighborhood neighbors, we do not talk, may not know a name to go with the face, really may not even seek it out. Maybe one time or another you venture to their door to mention something amiss with a sprinkler head, or to borrow that cup of sugar...nah, no one does that anymore, huh?

I do have a neighbor in a medium sized apartment complex (OK, beside my landlady, I know 3 other people's names, but sadly that is my across the way neighbor, Rachel and her granddaughter Amanda and their closest neighbor Manny (I think his name is Manny, that's where I started to say, "sadly" as I am not sure) And I know he has two daughters, but I do not know their names. Rachel has been a carpool buddy a couple years, so we got to know each other well, and I have gone to family events. My family so rarely does "events" we only reciprocated once or twice. Rachel has been more of a benefactor always graciously letting us utilize a carpet cleaner of hers. In return we generally do a service of fixing or doing something or another to make something work without having to schedule maintenance (who, if you have dogs, as we both have) make you take off a day.

That seems like it has nothing to do with prettying up my blog entries, but the lesson from my interaction with this neighbor, is the invite and or the favor is almost always accepted on both sides, no matter what the mess you're walking into looks like. My place, much more than hers needs the benefit of more cleaning hours.Maybe this is also part of my problem of "not having more readers over" I don't think my maintenance on "the place" makes it worthy to entertain guests...well, new year, so maybe my goal should be to make it presentable to guests.

I leave a welcome mat at the door -- it's a start.
January 1, 2019 at 10:52am
January 1, 2019 at 10:52am
#948611
My mum and my nieces -- so cute, the three of 'em

When everyone's in the mood -- that's happiness. It doesn't matter that everyone cannot be in the same place, especially nowadays. Started 2019 with a bit of a plan for preparing my dad to move back into his single flat and checking the newspaper site. The prep has to do with cleaning his place a bit and seeing if I can remove some of the smoker smell. He's been diagnosed with COPD, and I don't have it worked out yet to get him an air purifier, but I want that to be a next step. I really have to search around for more laundry of his to do, as well{ as my household's. Looking at the paper, I got myself in the usual trap of reading the comments after an article. A couple of people have to whine and moan about the cost, inconvenience, or supposed politics of a parade? Where do these inhumans spawn from? It's a parade -- a beautiful, evocative parade....I told folks either love it or leave it alone. Anyway, I am looking forward to it. From a distance -- televised.

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Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/profile/blog/walkinbird/month/1-1-2019