Blog @ Work 2nd Edition

Wow, what a song and what a hallucinating video. About surving in this world, being rather the hunter than the prey. About being cold to get by, a product of today.

I think he make sense. You have to be cold sometimes to survive all the things that go wrong in today’s world. Crisis upon crisis, war, climate change, water shortage, people who are drowning in today’s shitty world. Being too soft hearted doesn’t do it, you will go under.

It’s a bit embarrassing to say that the singer is right. Although it’s a upbeat song with a positive meaning about surviving adversaries in life it’s at the same time a bit shamefull that growing callus on your soul is almost mandetory to survive. I rather would like it to be different, but it’s not.

I feel the urge to create something, write something, and make an effort to push myself into the flow of writing. So, I am writing for 10 minutes non-stop, without editing or questioning myself. I just write.

There is always a contest that I can submit to, and I think I already found one, so, that’s good. The only problem is I don’t have a clue what to write about. It can be a short story, a poem, a blog entry, or a personal essay. But it’s not that I’ve got topics lined up, so perhaps this rambling for 10 minutes is good for finding a topic.

Shall I explore more the depth of my relationship with my parents? There must be a whole lot of memories laying low in my brain about that. But perhaps that’s something for the Personal Essay Workshop I’m committed to. I can try to create a poem for my Ovi collection, about the death of Queen Elizabeth perhaps? But the raw emotion that I felt when I learned she had passed away is already gone, so I don’t feel the need to do so.

A short story perhaps? But again, about what? The contest I want to write it for has no prompt. Perhaps I should find a prompt-based contest first before thinking of writing. I think that’s what I am going to do first. Pick a contest and write accordingly. It’s a plan for this Saturday night.

10 minutes are over. I stick to the plan.

I am very sad about the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, my neighboring Queen. She had always been on the thrown since I was born so, I never knew another Queen of Great Britain.

I am from the Netherlands, and we have a Kingdom ourselves. Currently, King Alexander is on the thrown, our number 1 ambassador.

That’s the reason I like being in a Kingdom. The Royal family does a tremendous amount of work representing our nation. It cost a lot, that’s true, but I think any form, including a presidency will cost money.

I like the combination of history, fairytale, and representation. So, I am in favor of the monarchy.

I hope King Charles III will be as good a King as his mother was Queen because she was a wonderful monarch for 70 years.

It was the year 1980 when Kool and the Gang came out with their Celebration. I was 19 at the time. I just started living together with my then-boyfriend and celebrated my first year on my first job at an insurance company. I had to research people who put in a disability claim. It was a good job, very interesting and I learned a lot that year. It was also wonderful to give people their money if the research told me so, it was painful to reject others who didn’t qualify for some reason or other.

Fast forwarding 42 years and this is the celebration week of Writing.com. Twenty-Two years, who would have thought!

This first week has gone by very fast. I was busy hosting my first blogging event. And I put on an auction to raise GPs for groups and membership. I entered some contests and spent some GPs on raffles, people, and things.

It was a fun week! Thank you community!

I don’t know those three cooks, so that leaves me cooking my own way. I have the ingredients for a cottage cheese cake right now in my kitchen, but because I first have to do the dishes I didn’t come to it yet. First the cleaning up and then the baking. Tomorrow is the plan!

I cook almost every day, except when I am not able to due to a mess in my kitchen. Other than that I cook fairly well. Usually as much low-carb as possible because of my blood sugar levels, but I can cook almost anything. It’s not that I like cooking that much, but when there are people to entertain I am at my best.

Cooking from a recipe book is my favorite, then I don’t have to think that much but follow up. Sometimes I cook from recipes online, then I sprint between the kitchen and the study to know what to do and when to add what to the pan.

I love to cook oven dishes, again, it’s simple, the oven does the work.

I guess I am a bit of a lazy cook.

Perhaps this sounds a bit like I am exaggerating but I belong to a writer’s community called Writing.com. My heart belongs there. It’s the place I feel utterly at home apart from home. It’s where my soul can thrive and I can do what I long to do, write and be part of the site.

I must admit, I don’t have much of a life apart from writing and being on WdC. I log in every day and I mostly stay there, although I jump from Word documents or other links back to WdC.

It’s my lifeline.

I even dream about WdC, as if the site was a real-life community and I interact with people there. It’s a safe and beautiful environment populated with other writers and artists.

I so feel at home on the site, it gives me pleasure and a place where I can be totally myself. It’s like a real city. There are houses there where I can meet people, there are places there to hone my craft, and there are lanes I can walk and wander off.

Since I am part of this community for more than 6 years I have found a new identity as a writer. I have published some poetry and short stories in magazines and an anthology, which is great. But being part of WdC is even greater.

What is the secret of WdC? It has to do with the The StoryMaster and The StoryMistress . They are family-based entrepreneurs with a vision and they established this wonderful community where good manners, kindness, and true love of writing sets the tone. It’s one of a kind, it’s unique, and it’s truly inspiring.

I hope it will stay for a very long time, so I can be a part of this great community.

I don’t have long time goals for this year set up, just enjoying the day-to-day. It’s a busy week with the WdC’s 22nd Birthday Party going on and me being involved in a blog event and a month-long auction to raise funds.

The blog event is coming along nicely with wonderful entries, I am going to lay low with the auction till the blog event is over.

I am in the middle of a week-long Daily Poems and I suspect to play along with some raffles and the Bingo. Fun games.

Furthermore, I am working on the Personal Essay workshop this semester, which is interesting.

Then there is NaNoWriMo in November. What to do? Shall I join again, after the failure of last year where I didn’t pass the third chapter? I am thinking about it since the year before that went oh so well for me and I finished a whole novel from scratch. Strangely enough, taking part in the October Novel Prep last year didn’t do it for me. I am not a planner turned out and it’s better for me to not come prepared but let the flow begin on the first of November and not before. So, I am seriously thinking about regrouping myself with that last unfinished novel and moving with it this year.

So, perhaps some goals toward the end of the year. It’s going so fast that I hardly keep track. Time is fleeing through my fingers.

The middle of the night. I woke up and couldn’t sleep any longer. Thought to write a poem, but hey… I already did that in "This night, this poem"  [E]. Another one? Neh! Another short story? No inspiration, although I woke up with a storyline of some sort. But as dreams are, it was elusive, so it disappeared into the night. Can’t remember.

I watched a great movie last night. British. Starring Kate Winslet and Idris Elba in The Mountain Between Us. A woman and a man decided to team up to hire a private plane to get to their destinations. They crash in the middle of nowhere in January in the mountains. Wintertime, freezing cold. Their journey to survive is very convincing. She is a great actress, he is a beautiful black man and a wonderful actor. I loved him as Luther in the thriller series.

I couldn’t finish it because I suspected it to end badly, couldn’t handle a bad ending so I stopped watching. Have to see how it turns out at a later date.

I watched the rest of the movie. It had a happy ending after all. There was a tear!

There is a tradition in the Netherlands of population screening for cervix, breast, and colon cancer. This year they add lung cancer to the list. People in the age range of 60-79 get an invitation letter with a survey. If you are a smoker or an ex-smoker they choose you to do the test. They expect to test 400,000 people.

I am a heavy smoker for more than 40 years so, I think I’ll qualify.

But before saying yes to the test I have to think this through. What if I have lung cancer, will I opt for chemotherapy? That’s the big question hanging above my line of thinking.

My mother, although she never smoked died of lung cancer after the full treatment. She was sick from it, lost her hair, and was in pain at the end, but she had my dad take care of her. I am alone, no one is there if I am getting sick.

She gained 3 years with the treatment. That’s what they all say: You live an extra 1-5 years after the diagnosis.

Will it be worth my while to take the chemotherapy treatment, and get very sick?

I am very much inclined to a negative answer to this one. No, I don’t want to do chemotherapy because I can’t afford to get that sick while living alone. Not for approximately 3 years before I die anyway. If I am dying I can go to a hospice, there are no options for when I am sick.

But of course, as with all matters of Life and Death, I am not sure. Will I in the very end choose Life? Even if it’s for a limited time? I am very much conflicted!

What do you think?

Today I had my mosaic workshop. Creating a colorful vase. It’s getting along very nicely, I love working on it every Friday morning in Wapati’s art workshop. Ingrid’s place is a small room stuffed with art and near the window and in the middle tables to accommodate us. It’s a small group of people creating their art. Today there were only 4 adults and 1 child. It was great to see the kid getting enthusiastic by the minute when dealing with this craft.

I usually work in total silence, as is the majority, but the girl with her mother was busy chatting to each other while dealing with the setup and the broken tiles. It was fun.

Today I commissioned a new Wake Up Merit badge to the The StoryMistress . Within no time she came back to me with a blueprint. I loved it immediately. She is a true wizard. Can’t wait to have it by the time "Blog Week Birthday Bastion"  [13+] and my new fundraiser "For The Better Good AUCTION "  [E] start September 1. For the latter, I still need more package donors, so if you have some reviews or anything else you can donate, please do. I would be in your debt.

I’ve just been to the dental hygienist for cleaning my teeth with sedation. Now I am facing three hours before the sedation wears off. Weird face, swollen jaw, difficulties eating and drinking (and smoking). But it’s been done and next week another appointment.

The rest of the day I’m taking it slow. There is another heatwave till Sunday. I am not good with heat waves. We are not used to them for one, and I tend to sleep a lot during the day on hot days. Taking siesta very seriously.

I think I want to create more Ovi poems. The structure suits me perfectly. It is an ancient Indian form of narrative poetry consisting of four-line stanzas with the first three lines rhyming and having eight syllables each. The fourth line does not rhyme and contains less than eight syllables. Perhaps I should make a book. My account permits me another book, so I have the space. Putting all the Ovis together is less chaotic than scattered around two poetry blogs. I have myself convinced.

BOOK

In honest simple verse  (E) Collection of Ovi Poems (2022-) #2278335 by WakeUpAndLive️~

It’s been 14 months now since my beloved dog Arie passed away. The farmer’s fox-terrier of 16 ½ years had been in my life for 15 years. I have written about him during his life in "Doggie Time"  [ASR], which made it into an article in an English dog’s magazine complete with photos, "My dog and I"  [E] and a few months after his death in a poem "What I remember"  [E]. Perhaps now it’s time for a final goodbye.

Apart from that last year in Corona Time, up until his death, I took him with me everywhere.

Particularly handy because I have no car and am relying on the public transport system to travel. We took day trips, weekends, and holidays. He wasn’t particularly interested in the bus, tram, or train and he barked if there were other dogs present but we managed very well throughout the years.

When my father was still alive Arie traveled by car a lot which he liked much better, sitting in a dog’s crate in the back. When I had a boyfriend who did long-distance walking we often went along, and up to 15 kilometers a day was no exception.

He was the kind of dog that looked cute, was medium-sized, and had an adorable presence. Kids were always very interested and wanted to pet him which I as his boss allowed, if only they would ask.

In short, he was the perfect companion.

I loved him dearly, took care of him, and had fun with him. I didn’t realize how dependent I was on a dog in my life till he was no longer there and I was totally alone for one and a half months. Then there was a new dog to focus on, Sprout, Arie’s successor.

Used a white lie this morning. I won’t go into any details but it was a minor thing and totally unnecessary. But I lied nevertheless and didn’t even feel guilty about it at the time.

Why white lies? Perhaps to avoid any discussion, to pimp your image, to stay the nice person some people think you are? I am not sure, but in retrospect, it bothered me a bit. I should be upfront, I should be honest all the time. Or should I?

Anyway, I finished a short story today for the contest. I am very pleased about that. It’s been a while since I wrote a story, so this one is in the pocket. Reviews are welcome!

STATIC

The fortune teller  (E) The time was near, the place was here #2277968 by WakeUpAndLive️~

I was just trying to kill two big black flies who were crashing into my computer screen every time I was typing. I even browsed an online shop to buy an electrical flyswatter.

And then…

I watched the video and listened to the music. Yuk, two big black beetles appeared on the screen. I just couldn’t focus on the tune any longer. So, I had to listen again!

The song is mesmerizing and so is the video clip. I loved the song.

It’s all about living in today’s insane world with the technology to alter everything. To emphasize this point the clip is very beautifully made with a strong sense of the alienated virtual reality of moving couches and big black beetles.

It’s indeed a crazy world we live in.

I am going to buy that flyswatter tomorrow. Those flies have to die!

I have started an exciting new personal project "Infinite potential"  [E]. A spiritual journey. Am very happy that I decided to give my soul some attention. It was needed and long overdue.

Today was therefore a good day. The weather was gorgeous and I took public transport to the city center. I visited a New Age shop, but it was not that interesting so I just browsed quickly through and left to have lunch at a terrace in the shade. Dark bread with hummus and goat’s cheese. Yummy! I read a few pages and drank two cups of coffee.

On the way home I purchased two reading glasses for 2 euros each. Yesterday I broke one, so I needed them. I cannot read without my glasses.

I bought 7 books at a cheap online book shop, with very low prices compared to Amazon, they will deliver in 3 weeks. Thanks daninidaho for the tip on ThriftBooks.

And I am doing this month’s challenge at "Habit Heroes "  [13+] to keep track of daily habits like doing the dishes and uncluttering my house. As a procrastinator, I know the importance of accountability when it comes to doing chores. So, that’s also taken care of.

I managed to find a publisher that took submissions so I entered with one old poem and one short horror story. They will let me know if it’s any good within two to four months. I don’t have much hope, but it was fun submitting anyway.

The truth is, I have to create more new work. It’s been a while since I wrote a story.

That said I have been busy revamping my portfolio. It looks better now with some new pics I choose.

So, that’s that for today. I still have to walk the dog tonight, within 15 minutes. Then perhaps an early night and off to bed.