QoQ ~ Saturday Night Special

The daily questions from Queen Teresa…

1. What do you put in your sandwich?

– PB&J usually.

2. Sunrises, midday sun, or sunsets?

– Love a pastel sunrise (but also vivid sunsets). Can do without the blasting midday glare.

3. You have 24 hours left to live – how do you spend it?

– Wishing I hadn’t agreed to play thermonuclear war…

4. Do you believe in good luck and/or good luck charms?

– No, but even so there are numbers I prefer.

5. What is your favorite soup?

– Meh, not a soup person except when I’m sick, then the classic chicken noodle.

6. What is the best thing to do in each season?

– Avoid migraine triggers.

7. Have you ever played a sport?

– I liked tennis, ping-pong, and badminton and was okay at each, but it’s not okay to be okay at anything… you must practice like a maniac to get on a team and win win win, else your like is not legit. The tennis coach wouldn’t let me on the tennis team because he said my hands were too thin.

8. What is the most exotic animal you have ever touched?

– Snakes 🐍 probably. I took care of our lab boa in biology. When his head was away from the cage door, I’d open it and pet him. Obviously the teacher would have been mad if he had known.

9. If you lived in the Matrix, what skill would you want to instantly learn?

– Invisibility.

10. What is one blog that you think everyone should read/visit?

– Mine!

11. What is one song that best describes your day so far?

– Year of the Cat.

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Sunshine in Winter

I know it’s not quite winter yet, but brrrr.

Crushed Caramel (such a yummy name!) has nominated me for a Sunshine Award! Bunches of warm thanks, Mel! ❤️❤️❤️

My first task is to answer Mel’s questions:

1. IF YOU AND I WERE GOING TO DANCE TOGETHER – WHAT SONG WOULD IT BE TO?

– Hmm, I’m not much of a dancer, but I love oldies, so how about… the Beatles “Rock and Roll Music?”

2. HAVE YOU MADE ANY CONFESSIONS IN YOUR BLOGGING POSTS ABOUT MOMENTS OF MADNESS IN YOUR LIFE OR TIMES YOU WERE ALMOST IN TROUBLE WITH THE AUTHORITIES? (I know that some of my nominees have shared a long list of their confessions already, so please do pick the most outrageous!)

– I always obey the law (hi Stan), but I’ve had plenty of documented moments of madness aka “dating.”

3. WHAT IS THE MOST UNUSUAL OR MEMORABLE DISH YOU HAVE EVER EATEN?

– My parents along with a waiter coerced me to eat a snail when I was 11, and it was absolutely disgusting. My parents liked unusual things and I didn’t mind some of them, but you shouldn’t force people, especially children. Now my diet is pretty tame compared to back then.

4. ARE THERE CHARACTERS FROM ANY MOVIES OR NOVELS THAT YOUR FRIENDS COMPARE YOU TO?

– Not to my face.

5. ARE THERE ANY QUALITIES YOU ADMIRE IN OTHER PEOPLE AND WISH YOU HAD TO A GREATER EXTENT?

– I wish I were more assertive early on. My problem is that I’m too nice and too accommodating… for a while. Eventually I say no and draw a boundary line, which freaks some people out. I wish I would put the boundaries in place much sooner. But I don’t because I’m curious like a kitty. I like to test things out and see what might happen.

6. HAVE YOU ANY EXPERIENCE OF ACTING, SPEAKING, SINGING OR DANCING ON A STAGE?

– I’ve done stand-up comedy.

7. APART FROM REMOVING ANY PARTICULAR POLITICIANS, IS THERE ANY ISSUE OR PROBLEM IN THIS WORLD THAT YOU FEEL PASSIONATELY YOU WOULD LIKE TO CHANGE?

– I wish we would stop destroying our oceans, mistreating dogs and cats, and ruining every experience with noise.

8. IF I WERE TO MAKE YOU YOUR DREAM CAKE – WHAT WOULD THAT CAKE BE?

– Lemon 🍋 cake with coconut frosting.

9. WHAT WOULD YOU LOVE TO SEE ON THE FRONT PAGE OF THE NEWSPAPERS TOMORROW MORNING? (other than than any particular politician being abducted by aliens)

– US Prez and VP dead (not abducted cuz then they might be returned) of natural causes, like the flu, and Nancy Pelosi at the helm.

10. HAVE YOU EVER HAD AN INTERNET ROMANCE OR AN INTERNET CRUSH YOU WERE TO SHY TO CONFESS?

– Me, shy? Nope. If I have a crush, the internet is the first to know.

11. YOU ARE ON MY LIST OF NOMINEES BECAUSE YOU CONSISTENTLY MAKE YOUR POSTS INTERESTING, YOU ARE FULL OF PERSONALITY AND YOU SUPPORT THE BLOGGING COMMUNITY SO MUCH – BUT TELL ME, ARE YOU LIKE THIS IN REAL LIFE?

– I’m the same everywhere, except in real life I am (as stated above) sometimes squishy about saying no, which is actually an unkindness in the long run, since I will eventually find my iron will, and then things may not be fun.

Okay, now I’m supposed to write my own 11 questions and tag 11 bloggers, but as we know, these tags come here to die. There are loads of fun question poasts floating around Blogville though, so no one who wants one will be deprived.

Have a great Monday!

November Rain

Welp, we finally got some rain… so I’ve had a rain migraine for 3 days instead of a dry wind migraine. Lol, can’t win. But that did not stop me from finishing NaNo ~ yep, I made it all the way to 50,241 words, which have been verified. I had to copypasta all 41 of my poasts into their form so they could count the words.

Of course this is a giant mess, as you might imagine, with 41 poasts, not all in sync, some of the minor characters’ names mixed up, notes mashed in throughout about changing stuff, fixing dates and nicknames, consolidating locations, etc. Can’t wait to sort it out into my main doc. Plus I still have to write the rest of it! It’s not nearly finished at all. 🙄

But still… yayyy! I didn’t think I’d make it and I did.

Another yay ~ as of this morning I have 500 WordPress followers. Yippee! 🎉🎈🎶 WP doesn’t send me any congrats like they do other bloggers. I’ve never received that 💯 days in a row notice, forex. But look:

I might not be as good at math as I once was but I can still add 499 + 1. Thank you Papershots! What a great name for a great blog too! 😀

So, that ends the month for me on a high note. Onward to more writing! And happy Friday, everyone! 🐱🌧💕

Eleven, Fandango Style

Fandango received an award and told everyone to play along. So bossy!

1. If you had to choose to be on a reality show, which one would it be?

– I hatessss them, unless game shows count. If they do, then I might like to embarrass myself on Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune.

2. If you could change your name, what would it be?

– Fandango. 😂😂😂 Actually, I’ve been thinking about this cuz I kept my married name post-divorce so I could have the same name as my children, but now they’ve gone and changed theirs. I’m stuck with a name of peeps I never see. I don’t wanna change it back to the original cuz I don’t know any of my own peeps either. Maybe I’ll just pick a new name out of a hat. NOT THAT HAT! 😱😱😱

3. How long have you been blogging?

– I began this blog in March 2011, but it had many lulls. I’ve had other blogs, all inactive or offline now except for my private diary blog that I’m using for NaNoWriMo entries (almost at 50K!).

4. How frequently do you blog?

– Lately 1-3 poasts per day. I’m surprised I haven’t received one of those woohoo 🎉 notices yet about 💯 days in a row.

5. Share the link to a favorite post of yours, why is this your favorite?

– The Duke vs. the Secretary. This is a fun poast with many views and comments.

6. Do you check your stats for the countries that have ‘visited’ your blog?

– Rarely.

7. Which countries are you missing from your WordPress globe and would really like to see filled in on your map?

– Don’t know, don’t care. I’m just happy there are a few things I don’t obsess over, and this blog stat crap falls neatly into that category.

8. Are you a ‘crafty’ person? (knit, sew, paint, macrame … ?)

– I used to sew, knit, embroider, do needlepoint, crewel, etc. A long time ago I began a tee shirt painting biz, but it was too stressful on my wrist. Love beading (costly tho). Have over a dozen scrapbooks. But I find my old eyes get a bit tired and irritated for this type of work lately. I have many unfinished projects. 🙁

9. Assuming that you celebrate, do you shop in advance for Christmas or do you leave everything to the last minute?

– I don’t celebrate as such. I enjoy lighting candles for Chanukah and I exchange small gifts with my immediate family that are usually purchased pretty far in advance. That’s it. No “Jewish Christmas” here.

10. Do you participate in sports?

– Blech.

11. Are you a sweet or savory person?

– I eat sugar until I barf, and then I switch to pizza for one meal. Then back to sugar. This is how I maintain my slim figure and stellar health. I should write a book…

Premonition? [SOCS]

Or coincidence?

I’ve always had issues with
digesting certain fats, particularly nuts/seeds and whole fat dairy. I don’t seem to have a problem with filet mignon, lol. The first time this became noticeable was fairly dramatic ~ when I decided to eat “healthier” at age 17 and for an entire weekend nommed up veggies and sunflower seeds, after which I got such a stomachache my mother thought I had appendicitis. No, just a case of the dumbs.

Other times… got sick from eating a delicious pasta dish that had lots of pine nuts in it, got sick from nomming up a friend’s high-fat spinach-mayo-sour cream dip at a party, got sick from eating cheese on an empty stomach, etc. Obviously over time I learned to be very careful about eating cheese and dips, nuts and seeds. Peanut butter is okay, but even so only in small amounts.

However. In April of 2007, I became violently ill out of the blue one morning. I hadn’t even eaten anything outrageous the day before. My stomach just hurt so badly I couldn’t stand up. I didn’t go to work for two days, stayed in bed sipping ginger ale, thinking I was dying. For whatever reason, I didn’t go to the doc. It was a little better Saturday–I remember driving a car full of girls up to Santa Barbara to check out the university. I couldn’t eat lunch though. By Monday, I felt well enough to go to work, though my stomach, ribs, and upper back were sore like someone had punched me.

I mentioned this episode to my doc when I saw her in the summer and she said it sounded like a gall bladder event and I should come in immediately next time it happened. I expected it to happen again and was scared cuz it was so painful. It hasn’t occurred again though. (Crossing fingers.)

What did happen is that my mother began feeling ill with mysterious back pain they were unable to diagnose properly and finally in December of 2007 they found her pancreatic cancer when it was too late.

Attitude of Gratitude

To those who celebrate in the traditional way, or their own way, or who just feel like giving thanks, this emoji is for you. For those who don’t do any of that, I hope you have a good Thursday.

I have the expected thankfulness for my absolutely wonderful daughters, their awesome husbands, my adorable gbaby, my sweet kitty, my great friends, my good job and swell coworkers, this fab blogging community full of supportive writers and online camaraderie, my mediocre health cuz it could be worse, lol, etc.

But I also have another area of gratitude. Around two years ago I made one of the worst decisions of my life and forgave a toxic man, allowing him back into my heart, and he hurt me very badly. I had been in a good place before that and believed I was ready to trust and love again, but I was wrong (see my poast on stupid mistakes). I couldn’t handle the pain of loss.

This heartbreak messed me up for a very long time ~ pretty much all of last year was ruined ~ but I found a quote that helped me through it. I repeated this “mantra” often and highlighted it in my last book of poetry All She Wrote.

I snagged this from Goodreads, a great resource for quotes. Also, I love Mary Oliver. Love. ❤️

Anyway. After a while, I began to work with the darkness and pain; I used it to start writing again. At first, I wrote only from a place of despair, poetry about how I was mired in anguish, but last October an idea for an entire novel began to form in my mind and I started Ghosted for 2017 NaNoWriMo. I got to around 15K words and lost momentum.

This year I finished knitting together all the sad and angry pieces of poetry from hither and yon and put out my book on KDP. But Ghosted still lurked in my mind and I’m giving it another shot this NaNo ~ I’ve already added over 31K words to that 15K and I’m not nearly done. Of course there will be massive editing later. Lots of first draft slush is in this mess. But the point is…

…gratitude. I am now, two years past the initial heartbreak, which involved getting dumped/ghosted on Thanksgiving, able to look at the dark time as a gift. I have been extremely creative and productive lately, partly because I’ve been very selectively social, due to a need to shield myself from further distress. This has had the bonus benefit of freeing up more time for me to immerse myself in writing, which is my greatest joy (after family yada).

Onward! 🌟

Many Are Called…

A thousand and twenty-seven thanks to the lovely Blokey Guy for nominating me for a Liebster and for coming up with a set of clever questions. I am going to attempt to answer these while waiting in the jury pool at OC Superior Court. Hopefully my battery will last and I won’t get interrupted to listen to some pesky case.

RULES

Acknowledge the blogger that gave it to you and display the award. ✅

Answer 8 questions that the blogger gave you. 🆗

Give 8 random thoughts about yourself. ⚠️

Nominate 8 other bloggers and notify them of their nomination. ❌

Ask your nominees 8 questions. 🌀

Questions for Me

1. Are you happy with the person:
i] You are
ii] You were
iii] You think you will become?

I’m okay with who I am now and I’m always trying to do better (by my standards). Going by the past six months, I’m encouraged with my progress, in particular exiting FB and devoting more of my free time to real writing instead of pointless jabber.

***

2. How many colours can you see in the image below, list them in detail.

Zillions! Heliotrope, lavender, amber, shamrock, black, mauve, azure, turquoise, stone, violet, magenta, white, spring green, rust, burnt sienna, etc.

***

3. Is there anything within five feet of where you are currently typing that is a permanent feature and motivates you to explore your mind deeply?

No. I’m in a huge room, full of prospective jurors, and around me are chairs and tables that could easily be moved.

***

4. How many vices do you have and of them which are your worst?

This may sound conceited, but I’ve pretty much eliminated all vices from my life over the past couple years. The worst thing I do is not get enough exercise.

***

5. How curious are you to new discoveries, and first time experiences even if they are possibly dangerous or risky for you to try? As in will you try them, or make an excuse not to?

I avoid risk as much as possible, though I still have to drive a car in SoCal. I don’t need to make excuses to get out of trying dangerous things ~ I just say no.

***

6. If you answered No Way to question 5, what prevents you from doing so?

Migraines, back pain, finances.

***

7. If you answered YES Please to question 6, what motivates you to take those risks?

N/A

***

8. What type of song do you think our banjo player here is playing? Provide a link to what you think it might be as your answer to this question.

https://youtu.be/w_lCi8U49mY

***

My Random Thots, in which New Questions are Hiding🐍

6. I’m reading Incognito by David Eagleman and it’s fascinating. What book has fascinated you lately?

2. I may have the slightest touch of synesthesia because I perceive numbers physically, sort of as a quilt. What do you perceive differently from “normal?”

4. I used to have eidetic memory, though it was never perfect. It’s faded with age (as it’s supposed to) but occasionally happily surprises me. Do you have any tricks to help you remember things?

7. A bowl of mac & cheese costs $8.50 in the court cafeteria here, which is ridonkulous, so I bought a protein bar instead. But now I haz a craaaaving! What are you craving?

1. I gave up Facebook this year. A complete and total FEXIT (including Instagram & Messenger). What unhealthy habit have you recently dumped, or are working on giving up?

3. At the beginning of the day, a funny guy described how it would be to work on a Grand Jury and now I wanna do that for a year (or more, if allowed) when I retire. What new experience has suddenly grabbed your attention?

8. I’m happy that my daughter and her fiancé are driving down from NorCal in December and the whole little fam will be together for a few days. Do you have any special plans coming up?

5. I think Gatsby is the cutest kitty ever. Do you agree? Yes or duhhh?

Now for the tricky tagging part. Pay very close attention! Since I’m doing my civic duty and waiting in the jury pool here all day long, in honor of that, and our Constitutional Rights, every blogger reading this who has a J in any part of their real name or their bloggy name… is hereby tagged. J for Jury, hurrah!

Random Lunch Poast

I’m doing unexpectedly great with NaNo. Somehow, doing it in (private) blog poasts is keeping me from rereading my prior days’ output and deciding it sucks too much to continue. That’s mostly been why I haven’t made the 50K at times in the past, not poor time management. I’m still on track for this year’s 50K and will soon fly over my goal of 25K. Even if I end up somewhere in between, I’ll count that as a personal win. I’m really enjoying this story!

It’s suddenly turned cooler however, which means my apartment is freezing. I had planned to exercise to a video every day during November, as part of my yay-me plan, but I have not exercised at all. Being cold makes me tired and listless–like a snake, I have more energy when it’s hot. Luckily, my typing fingers still work.

I’ve finally become besties with my Mac, and I’m keeping mostly to my vow of using it for work, serious writing, longer emails, and record keeping, rather than cluttering it up with social media. I don’t blog publicly or tweet from there, or even read the news. I do want to download my music from the Lenovo backup drive though and I hope it won’t be a hassle. I miss my tunes. I know they’re all on CDs, but it’s not the same as just being able to play one without getting up.

It’s disturbing how we’re such slaves to tech. Just when I thought I was finally free of being dependent on anyone too. But if I can’t find my phone within 5 seconds of waking up in the morning… total panic. Oh, I left it charging across the room. Whew!

20 Questions

I saved these from Ashley Leia since my blogging has been a little light the last few days. Yesterday I wrote over 2500 words on my NaNo novel and penned a poem for my new book in progress, so I feel super productive starting the week.

• what’s the most dangerous situation you have ever been in?

– Driving in SoCal.

• what’s your favourite culture?

– Feline.

• what do you dislike about your own culture?

– The thing that’s currently president.

• your favourite type of travel?

– Staycation!

• do you feel understood?

– The lizard 🦎 gets me.

• how do you feel about your body?

– Hurts too much imo.

• what is your favourite film?

– When Harry Met Sally.

• are you adventurous with food?

– No.

• have you ever hated a place and wanted to come home?

– Always.

• are you bothered about others seeing you naked?

– Who? What have you heard?

• Are you a good loser?

– Yes.

• what was the favourite time of your life?

– When my girls were little and my mom was still around and I could do whatever I pleased.

• Do you have a close family connection?

– With my daughters.

• can you speak another language?

– No.

• will Trump be in for another term?

– 🤮🤮🤮

• what are your thoughts on English people?

– You mean like James Bond, Hugh Grant, handsome Dukes with castles who sometimes have to go about disguised as pirates because of some mixup… what was the question?

• was life better without mobile phones?

– Yes, and the internet, microwaves, vaccines, cars, bras, antibiotics, indoor plumbing, wheels, and fire. Fucking fire, caused so many problems.

• what has been the biggest change in your life?

– Being completely alone in my 50s and accepting this new reality.

• is climate change real?

– Duh.

• why do you like answering questions?

– It’s a nice little break from writing. Then I save them to publish in the middle of the night and know I’ll have at least one poast out for tomorrow.

Feel free to C&P and play along!

NaNoodle

Yes, it’s that time again! Aren’t you glad I spared you my boring agonizing over whether to take the plunge or abstain, yes no maybe…oh I don’t know what to doooo? Well, I had absolutely decided not to, no way, don’t wanna, but then I read over my 15K fail from last year and thought, hey, this is good stuff, I should finish it up. And what better way to finish than to start writing like a maniac on November 1 yet again?

Naturally, I shall be breaking the rules. It’s what I do. First, I’m not starting a new novel like you’re supposed to, nope. I’m continuing along with last year’s 15K. Second, I’m not even going to try to make it to 50K because that’s impossible for me now that I’m an old. I need my sleep. I can’t get up at 4am and write. I need to wind down after work. I need to stretch and exercise cuz my back hurts, waaah. Etc. My goal is 25K. If I even reach that I will be thrilled. How long will my novel ultimately be? I dunno. When it’s done, it’s done.

I am doing something a bit weird, for me. I’m writing an outline. Sorta. Not a real outline. Just some notes about how I want the next several chapters to go. That’s a pretty huge deal. Usually I just start typing and let the angels sing in my ear. Or the demons, as the case may be. But because this novel is pretty structured with present tense/back story and has to flow together in a sensible way, I don’t want to screw it up with some glitch regarding dates/time.

If you want to be my NaNo buddy, you can find me here. I don’t think I’ll be poasting any excerpts from my WIP. I don’t see the point of that. Eventually, if I finish the entire novel to my satisfaction (and I will, unless I die first, which is a possibility of course), I will offer it for sale at a ridonkulously low price on Amazon for Kindle, unless a publishing house snaps it up directly l. That could happen. That, winning the Mega Millions, and meeting my dream man at Trader Joe’s…