Friday I’m in love… (well, every day, but I like that song).
This is my sweet baby Gatsby and his beautiful eyes of gold.
Happy Friday!
[Orange, water, ocean, vivid, blue]
Huntington Beach, California. Summer ~2000.
Thanks for the fun photo challenge!
[Bushes, green, tree]
Huntington Beach, California. Central Park, February 2018.
This is a bit late, sorry. Thanks for the fun photo challenge! I’ll get right on the next one and be caught up.
I’ve read a few books lately that have broken some “rules.” They’ve mixed first-person and third between chapters. They’ve included pieces of a “destroyed” diary in italics, so the reader would know what was going on when the first-person protag didn’t. They’ve told stories in the present tense, first-person, and then stuck in an epilogue from another character. On and on. Yet, I enjoyed these novels. Just shows to go ya!
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I don’t have writer’s block. I’m not sure how to describe my “ailment.” I’ve written a boatload of bloggery lately, a bit of it fictional, some poetry for Twitter, etc. I still feel that all my previously outlined story and novel ideas have potential… but I can’t work on them, given my lifestyle.
One, I’m no longer capable of getting up at 5am and writing for a few hours before work. Just can’t do it. Maybe once a week, but not consistently like I did 10 years ago.
Two, I’m not capable of writing fiction for 3-4 hours at night after work. Or even two. I’m tired. I can fling off a blog poast and some texts, but my eyeballs rebel at doing solid screen work.
Three, I’m too OCD to let my cleaning and chores mount up on weekends to write. I need to get stuff done. And I enjoy seeing movies, hanging with friends, and, most of all, spending time with family when I can. I’m not going to give up that stuff to pound out chapters of a book only a dozen people at best will ever read. Not motivated.
But that’s not the same as writer’s block. If I had the time ~ if I were retired, forex ~ I’d be cranking out those stories like I did years ago when I had more energy. They are still in my head. Dunno how long they’ll stay there. That’s a different issue.
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Conversation with my daughter…
Me: I don’t feel safe putting my documents in the cloud.
Sharon: Why not?
Me: Because I’ve already shared a photo folder with people, so they might be able to see all of them.
Sharon: You’ve sent emails to people. Can they read all your other ones?
Me: Good point.
Sharon: Now I know how Mark Zuckerberg felt in front of Congress.
I’ve always loved the Doors. My father loved the Doors… insurance exec on weekdays; rock and roller on weekends. When I was a kid, we grooved to his Doors’ records, his Woodstock album, the Rolling Stones, Jefferson Airplane, etc. For this week’s break theme, I’m doing the Doors’ “Break on Through.”
Lyrics:
You know the day destroys the night
Night divides the day
Tried to run
Tried to hide
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side, yeah
We chased our pleasures here
Dug our treasures there
But can you still recall
The time we cried?
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Yeah
Come on, yeah
Everybody loves my baby
Everybody loves my baby
She get
She get
She get
She get high, yeah
I found an island in your arms
Country in your eyes
Arms that chain us
Eyes that lie
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Break on through, oww!
Oh, yeah!
Made the scene
Week to week
Day to day
Hour to hour
The gate is straight
Deep and wide
Break on through to the other side
Break on through to the other side
Break on through
Break on through
Break on through
Break on through
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Songwriters: John Densmore,Raymond Manzarek,Robert Krieger,James Morrison
© Doors Music Company
For non-commercial use only.
Data From: LyricFind
Summer is the season of plenty! From all the juicy ripe fruits available at the market to the plethora of outdoor concerts, there’s abundant deliciousness and fun to be had on a daily basis.
And yet… and yet… I find myself just as tired after work when the evening is warm and lovely as when it was dark and cold. I still don’t feel like doing much except going home to my sweet kitty and reading or watching a movie on Prime.
On weekends? Well, the weather may be perfect for the beach or a BBQ, but I still have to do laundry, dust, vacuum, grocery shop, etc., just the same as I did back in January. Gatsby’s litterbox does not take a summer vacay, unfortunately.
If I were a decade or three younger and single, I’m sure I’d be enjoying this great SoCal summer abundance ~ in fact, I can vaguely remember doing just that when I first moved out here in the 1980s. But, alas, I am old. Age > abundance.
Posted in Fun, Noodling, TV, Whatever
Tagged aminals, navel glazing, psychology, shopping
I’m not obsessed with my cat. Seriously! I was just about to start writing a pome using today’s prompt words, something about my broken heart and trees in a storm or some effing thing yada, but then I saw I had a Google alert and scampered over there to check it out. They had made me a movie. But not just any movie ~ they took all the photos of Gatsby and collaged them together with music and meows and it is The Best Thing Ever.
LOOK AT THIS. IS IT NOT THE BEST MOST ADORABLE WONDERFUL MOVIE THAT EVER WAS?!?! I was so sad today and now I am floating. ❤ ❤
https://photos.app.goo.gl/bRxYf34g1rogJfbn6
(Click to follow the link and then again to biggify and play.)
Okay, maybe I’m a little obsessed with him. But he is my soulkitty. ^..^
Fantabulous! No, not the movie; we’ll get to that later. I’m talking about the voodle salad at Whole Foods.
Yesterday, Thursday, I arrived at Bella Terra in Huntington Beach early enough to grab a late lunch, meander around B&N, and see O8. My plan was to have a low-carb salad at Daphne’s Greek Café, but you know what they say about plans. BT was undergoing some remodeling, so I wandered around for a bit, trying to find Daphne’s. Finally, I spied a directory and OMG there was no Daphne’s! Yikes. Sadness. Now what? None of the other casual restaurants looked like they’d have something tasty and low-carb friendly (I don’t eat sushi anymore). So, I figured I’d walk over to Whole Foods, where there would have to be something acceptable among the trendy offerings. Right?
Usually at WF I get a slice of pizza or a dish of pasta or a cookie ~ you know the drill. Heavy on carbs, light on veggies/nutritional value. All that has now been nixed from my slate of choices. I poked around a bit. Not fond of salad bars where peeps are breathing and sneezing all day. The packaged stuffs were too carby ~ sandwiches, wraps, etc. I peeked at the deli counters. Lotta pasta and… ooh, what’s this? Mediterranean salad. I love! Why are they calling it Zucchini Voodles?
OIC. The curly things aren’t noodles ~ they’re zucchini curls. Cute! There must be some machine that voodlizes your foodles. And the rest of the ingredients were totally legit: tomatoes, artichokes, feta cheese, spinach, olives, dressing. I bought a cup of that and sparkling water and sat down. I assumed the salad would be good, but it was wonderful! I’d never have ordered this in my “past life.” I’d have passed it up for something yummy like pizza. But it was so delicious! The flavors worked so well together. I savored that for a while until realizing I hardly had any time left for B&N. Whoops.
Did a quick book browse, then checked into the movie. It was crowded for a weekday, but O8 has been pretty hyped up. There were some good previews I can’t remember and then the main feature began. First, let me say one thing. It’s really difficult to watch Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett now without remembering that article about their penis facials. I mean, obviously the facials work because their skin is super-glowing and beautiful. But still. This knowledge is distracting.
Second, the problem for a movie with 8 (or 11, etc.) main characters is that… it has 8 main characters. These Ocean movies are overcrowded with protagonists, or anti-heroes, to be precise, since we are (may I remind everyone) talking about criminals. I don’t know about you, but I can’t really root for characters committing crimes unless they’re setting to rights a miscarriage of justice, and I don’t think I’m spoiling anything by saying that’s not what these Ocean movies are about, mainly. They’re about very good-looking people committing crimes, is what.
Third, putting that aside for a moment, I can still have fun with a movie like this if I can let go and jump into it, but that’s difficult when the set-up drags on and on and on. For gawd’s sake ladies just steal something already! Since I’m not a scriptwriter, I don’t know how you make it super-fun for an audience to sit through the minute details of hacking into a computer system or copying a diamond necklace or whatever, but geez they need to spice that stuff up! So boring. Yeah, there were a few funnies, but not enough. And I had the same criticisms about the male Oceans ~ in fact, I dozed off during each one (bought the set at the beginning of the year to prep for O8). Yawners, even with Clooney. I know!
Finally, the action happens and it’s good. Nicely paced (finally). I enjoyed the last third of the movie. James Corden was hilarious as the insurance detective. The ending was fun as well. But overall Ocean’s 8 was a disappointment after all the hype. Certainly not as bad as Life of the Party, but nowhere as good as Book Club.
I’m going to give Hotel Artemis a swerve after the terrible review in the Observer, and while the stellar reviews of Hereditary tempt me, I’m afraid it’ll give me nightmares for the rest of my life, if not heart failure on the spot. Definitely The Year of Spectacular Men next week and then The King! Elvis, baby.
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Whoa. One thing before you go. While looking up the O8 cast to make sure I got Corden’s name right (I didn’t, lol, and fixed it), I noticed that there was a busboy named Michael Gandolfini. Yes, his son. BE STILL MY HEART.
So many have stepped up
To fill the big bloggy boots
Of the Daily Prompt
That it’s become a snakey
Jumbled jungle
Of new words to shake
In the tumblers
Of our minds.
It’s hard to navigate
All the great poasts
In order to find
The perfect word
To choose for today.
I’ll have to chill a while,
Grab a coconut lime drink,
Imagine a tropical isle,
And see what transpires…
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A big thanks to all who have joined the prompt parade! I hope to participate in everyone’s eventually.
I saw Life of the Party last weekend with a friend, predisposed to enjoy it because (1) I love Melissa McCarthy, and (2) I was in the mood for a fun movie. I may have mentioned that I generally want movies to be entertaining, not history lessons or preachy screeds. But…
While LOTP had some funny moments, I have to give it a meh overall. It’s just too stupid and at times downright cringey. I get that MM as Deanna overplays the helicopter mom part, so into her mommishness she becomes the most unsexy wife on the planet, with her frumpy sweatshirts and Hallmark card cheerfulness, which is somehow the biggest turn-on to a certain frat dude because tastes vary, and we can go with that (gah). No, we can. We’ll go with that! But I just can’t deal with the fact that her daughter appears fine with this cougarish relationship, and her daughter’s sorority friends are chill with it as well.
Next, the divorce. I don’t care what state this “Decatur” is supposed to be in ~ Georgia, Illinois, Indiana (seems Midwestern)? I actually just googled “decatur wildcats” to make sure it isn’t a real thing. But no way does some jerkface divorce his wife after 20+ years and arbitrarily decide she gets no money when he’s been supporting her all along. I don’t care if the house is in his name. She gets alimony. I understand that the plot needs Deanna to suddenly go broke so her college friends can hold a fundraiser and have the Shakira moment yada, but it’s all wrong. Sorry.
Deanna’s “vampire” roommate is a ridic throwaway character, only there to set up the ending, but they could have made her an actual funny character. Why not? Lazy writing. Some of the other sorority girls, same deal. They are almost funny, but not quite.
Then jerkface and the real estate blonde. Totally unbelievable that they’re a couple. She’s this glam beyotch and he’s so yuck. I guess he has money, but still. And Deanna/jerkface’s daughter, who is so loving and perfect, somehow doesn’t notice all the nasty captions on the photos at the wedding? She’s fine with them totally trashing her mom ~ and not only that but frat dude (beyotch’s son, conveniently), who is in lurve with Deanna, is fine with it also. Eh wot?
Deanna vandalizing the wedding reception of jerkface and beyotch gives me the cringies. Not funny. Cakes are sacred! Why would you hurt an innocent cake? Major cringies also from Deanna’s friend Christine who keeps dragging her (own) husband off to have sex everywhere, bleh. I really would like to know what happens at these writers meetings.
“Hey, let’s give the main character a friend, kay?”
“Great idea. We should make her a super-horny friend.”
“Yeah! Horny! How about a married woman who is always horny?”
“For other women’s husbands?”
“No, like, for her OWN husband!”
“Whoa, that’s wild! Let’s do it. People will LOVE IT!”
Love love love. So funny. Especially after the 17th time.
Didn’t hate LOTP, the 80s party was fun, and there were a few laughs, but it certainly fell short of expectations. Onward to the big pile of movies coming out on June 8th! Yahoo!
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