Life in progress

Category Archives: Opinion


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One-Liner Wednesday – The First Lesson in Relationships

Realizing you’re taking your grumpiness out undeservedly on your loved ones is the hard part. Apologizing is easy.

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Anyone who would like to try it out, feel free to use the “One-Liner Wednesday” title in your post, and if you do, you can ping back here to help your blog get more exposure. To execute a ping back, just copy the URL in the address bar on this post and paste it somewhere in the body of your post. Your link will show up in the comments below. Please ensure that the One-Liner Wednesday you’re pinging back to is this week’s! Otherwise, no one will likely see it but me.

As with Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS), if you see a ping back from someone else in my comment section, click and have a read. It’s bound to be short and sweet.

Unlike SoCS, this is not a prompt so there’s no need to stick to the same “theme.”

The rules that I’ve made for myself (but don’t always follow) for “One-Liner Wednesday” are:

1. Make it one sentence.

2. Make it either funny or inspirational.

3. Use our unique tag #1linerWeds!

4. Have fun!


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SoCS – Making Light

I wonder when the phrase “making light of a situation” began to take on a mostly negative connotation. I try to find the positive in most things. Making light of them induces, in me at least, the idea that all is not always dark. That there is always a light at the end of a tunnel… that nothing is absolute. But then it’s so much easier to see darkness, isn’t it?

Light can blind us. Imagine being so happy that you can’t see any possibility of misery in the future. But then misery hits and things are never darker. Does it mean that we should look for darkness in the light as well as light in the darkness? Perhaps.

But back to my first thought – I have to wonder if the coming of our politically correct society caused the increase in seeing “making light” a bad thing rather than good. Everywhere I go these days, people are getting up in arms about this or that. Finding insult in everything under the sun. I sometimes wish we could just all “be,” without constantly being criticized for what we are and things we do and say. We’ll never please everyone, but what happened to Thumper’s old line, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all”? “Nice” is such a rarity these days, isn’t it? In society in general I mean.

And so it’s become the norm for me to make light of situations only when I’m at home, where the people I know and love know me, and know that I mean no harm. Occasionally I’ll take a chance when I’m commenting on a blog or on other social media, but I’m always nervous that there’s someone out there who will take offense and make me feel like an awful person.

People need to lighten up.

This post is part of SoCS: https://lindaghill.com/2015/09/04/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-sept-515/ Anyone can join in the fun – click the link to find out how!

SoCS badge 2015


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Today’s News and What Social Media Finds Acceptable

I know I’m setting myself up for criticism here, but I just can’t not say anything. It’s been bugging me all day. I’ve accepted the fact that occasionally I’m stuck with coming across an image I don’t want to see on my Facebook news feed – sometimes it’s (in my opinion) poor judgement on the part of a ‘friend’ and sometimes (more often than not) it’s something that Facebook, in its infinite wisdom, has decided I want to see. But today takes the cake.

I am, of course, talking about pictures of beached babies. Isn’t it bad enough to hear about it? I have in fact NOT heard that much about it because I fear of the visuals I might come across online. Let me make this clear: I do not want to look at dead bodies. I don’t care how old they are, but particularly… I can’t even type it. It upsets me that much.

You might be thinking I’m burying my head in the sand, wishing it away to make it all better. I’m not. I acknowledge that innocent people die for many reasons all over the world every day. I’d save every one of them if I could.

You might also be thinking, “Oh poor Linda, not wanting to see things that hurt her poor feelings. How do you think the families feel?” Exactly! How would you feel if you accidentally came across a picture of a loved one, dead for all the world to see just so a point can be made? It’s not something I could ever forgive and certainly not something I’d ever forget.

If I’m missing something obvious to everyone else, please let me know. As I said, I haven’t heard the official story. It’s sad when it comes down to not knowing what’s going on because of the horribly bad taste of a photographer.

I have so had it with social media.


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SoCS – Post

I’d like to know what the hell is going on with Canada Post. I received a notice in my mailbox to let me know they’ve been having trouble delivering my mail of late because of “unsafe access.” Apparently in order for me to get another piece of mail delivered to my house, I have to either install a railing up my stairs or move my mailbox to the bottom of the staircase in question:

stairs

Looks dangerous, doesn’t it? It’s approximately six feet wide and in excellent condition… in the 67 years my house has stood the mailman has managed, somehow, to navigate my stairs safely. Even in the winter – imagine that! But now, as of yesterday, it has been deemed unsafe.

On top of this–in my opinion–unreasonable demand, I’m told that if I don’t fix the “problem” they will deliver my mail to a depot across town and charge me for the service.

I priced a new set of railings a few years back and was astounded to find the company I contacted wanted somewhere in the vicinity of $5,000 to install a new set of iron railings. Tomorrow I’m nailing a mailbox to my hedge. And if I do eventually get the railings put in you can bet I’ll be staking out the front of my house every day… and the first time I catch the mailman going up the stairs without holding on, I’ll be sending a bill for $5,000 to Canada Post.

SoCS badge 2015Join in SoCS today! Here’s the link: https://lindaghill.com/2015/08/28/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-august-2915/


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SoCS – All in my Head

If you’ve been following me for a while you’ll know that I occasionally have problems with my eyes. I’ve tried eating carrots – that worked for a while. I tried Lutein, same thing. I tried drinking more water, I watched my sugar intake, I went to the doctor and an optometrist… The dietary stuff worked for a while, the professionals had no idea. I got a very slightly different prescription from the eye doctor which I’ve never bothered to fill. Actually putting on my glasses helps, sometimes.

With all of these temporary solutions that seem to work when I expect them to, I’ve become convinced that it’s stress. Mind over matter. I’ll start a journal to see when I lose my eyesight the most (this morning was bad) but rather than concentrating on what I’m consuming, I’ll keep track of what I’m doing or have planned. At the moment I’ve got to look forward to having all the kids home for two weeks until school starts. On top of that, my mother is bored at the retirement home and wants to come over… where she’ll spend the day getting stressed over my youngest son Alex’s screaming and teasing her, which in turn stresses me out.

Yeah. Looking at it in (hazy) black and white makes it look all the more logical, don’t you agree?

This fuzzy, unedited stream of consciousness post is part of SoCS: https://lindaghill.com/2015/08/21/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-august-2215/ Just click on the link and join in today!

SoCS badge 2015


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Creepy or Convenient? You Decide

I wrote an email to a friend this morning using my gmail account. Just a regular event, nothing special, right? That’s what I thought. And then I hit the send button. A message popped up to let me know that in the body of the email I had written the word “attached,” but that I had not added an attachment to my email. “Are you sure you want to send it?” Google asked.

Two thoughts came to mind in such quick succession that I’m not sure which one I thought first: Oh, isn’t that a handy feature! and What the hell is Google doing reading my email?

I mean seriously, if they’re flagging the word “attached” then what else are they flagging? And who are they sharing it with? If they’re not sharing it with anyone, are they just proving a point? As in, “See? We know what you’re writing. We’re watching you.”

So I decided to read their privacy policy. This is the only thing I could find on the subject of emails:

Our automated systems analyze your content (including emails) to provide you personally relevant product features, such as customized search results, tailored advertising, and spam and malware detection.

Hmm…

To say this feature is disconcerting is an understatement. I’ve been thinking about it all day. And I still can’t decide – is it the best thing since sliced bread? Or is this Google’s way of buttering me up while they keep an eye on my private communications?

What do you think?


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SoCS – Ever Ready

The word “ready” has been tiptoeing around my head all day. Doing a ballet, actually. Unfortunately the pirouettes caused me to have to pop a couple of Tylenols, but I had them at the ready. So that was okay.

“Ready,” I’ve decided, should be an emotion. It’s an abstract sort of thing – ready isn’t something you can touch. It’s not something you can do. It’s the cusp of doing something… the edge of an action. When you’re teetering you may take the plunge before you’re ready just to find that you were ready after all. The opposite can be disastrous.

A machine can be ready but it still takes a human being (most of the time) to make it do what it’s ready for. Is the human ready? What decides us if we’re ready? Desperation, definitely. It’s a gathering of the emotions, isn’t it? Sometimes the gathering is slow – a culmination of years of want, of desire, of need. Sometimes the choice comes upon us suddenly, as in “it’s now or never!” Regardless, we take logic into account (sometimes), but in the end, “ready” is a feeling.

So next time you ask someone how they feel, give them the option: are you sad? happy? scared? content? ready?

And yeah, they’ll probably look at you with their eyebrows scrunched up in the middle and say, “Ready for what?” To which you may reply, “It was just something I read somewhere.”

This tired example of stream of consciousness writing is part of SoCS: https://lindaghill.com/2015/07/31/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-august-115/ Be sure to join in next week!

Badge by: Doobster at Mindful Digressions

Badge by: Doobster at Mindful Digressions


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SoCS – When a bell rings…

…an angel gets its wings.

Wouldn’t it be nice to believe Angels exist? I read license plates sometimes as though they are signs from above. Sometimes they make sense right away, sometimes it takes a while to figure out exactly what their meaning is, if there is one at all. I do remember a time…

Back about ten years ago, maybe less, I spent a lot of time wishing for a partner. I often saw license plates that ended with the letters “YTD.” As a former bookkeeper, this did actually mean something to me – “year to date.” But I couldn’t help thinking that it might mean that I was going to meet someone whose name started with the letter “D.” The letters were preceded with a three digit number however. I hoped it wasn’t going to take more than 100 years to meet “D.” As it turned out, it didn’t. He was a very special part of my life, and still is though we’re now far apart once again.

By now you’re thinking “it’s a co-incidence” or “she’s nuts. Run away!” But what if I’m not?

I saw an experiment done once and I found that the results were phenomenal. I’d like you to try it. You don’t have to tell me you’re trying it, you don’t have to tell me how it worked out. It takes a week.

Come up with a word or a number combination, a name… anything you don’t see or hear on a regular basis, maybe even the ringing of a bell… and spend the next week seeing how many times you encounter that word, or name, or number combination, or sound. Let me know if you feel like it how it worked out. If you even remember this at all.

Is it co-incidence? Is it a force telling you that there is, indeed, something out there just letting you know it’s there? Could it be an Angel? You decide.

This crazy post has been brought to you by SoCS: https://lindaghill.com/2015/07/10/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-july-1115/ Join in today!

Badge by: Doobster at Mindful Digressions

Badge by: Doobster at Mindful Digressions


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Doctor Sleep – A Review

Doctor Sleep (The Shining, #2)Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved Doctor Sleep. It seemed to me a coming of age not only for the main character, Danny Torrance, but for Stephen King as well. Going into this story with the expectation that it goes on where The Shining leaves off will only leave you disappointed, as many of the reviews I’ve read state. The author does his character justice by lending him new struggles, forcing him to put the past behind him. For what I remember of The Shining having read it last more than twenty years ago, I would say that Doctor Sleep can stand alone as an epic.

As a well-told and plausible continuation to the story of a little boy with the shining from the book of the same name, this novel not only exceeded my expectations, it left me wanting more.

I sincerely hope there is a third book, Mr. King.

View all my reviews


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SoCS – Some Respect, WordPress?

I haven’t been online much in the last 12 hours so this might be the dozenth post you’ve read about the subject of the banner pasted at the top of your stats page here on WordPress. If you’re already sick of hearing about it, by all means skip this. I just feel like saying something.

When Canada passed the same law to allow same-sex marriage nationwide ten years ago I was both happy for gay couples and proud of my country. That lasted about five minutes – it’s not a decision that affects me personally. And yet today I’m stuck with a reminder of something that still doesn’t matter to me on a personal level. Yes, it may seem petty to complain but it’s such a non-issue. Fantastic – people who are deserved of rights are given it. Yay! But why should I be forced to be reminded of it? And what about the hundreds of thousands of people who don’t agree?? I can easily see bloggers dropping WordPress like flies over this – where’s the sense, WordPress?

Let’s put it in a bit of perspective, shall we? What if they decided once and for all to abolish abortion nationwide in the U.S.? Would we be forced to look between the legs of women giving birth for the sake of those it desperately matters to? Or if Quebec chose finally to separate from Canada – how would Americans feel about having the Fleur de Lis plastered atop their stats page? It would be, after all, a huge deal to a certain percentage of North America.

To be honest, I go through the same sort of feeling during election time in the U.S., having to scroll past news of who said what about whom on my Facebook page – but at least I can scroll past it. At least the very site I belong to (Facebook) isn’t putting it there themselves. What’s more, I don’t pay to have a site on Facebook as I DO on WordPress.

Get rid of the rainbow, WordPress!

This rant is part of SoCS: https://lindaghill.com/2015/06/26/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-june-2715/ Please join in and write whatever comes to mind!

Badge by: Doobster at Mindful Digressions

Badge by: Doobster at Mindful Digressions