I complain, when my youngest son, Alex, is here that I’m not able to sit down for five minutes without having to get up for something he needs or wants, but since he left for his dad’s on Friday I’m finding myself sitting for too long, so, at odds with myself, and unable come up with a One-Liner Wednesday for this week I began pacing the floor between the kitchen, and the living room and, with the puppy looking on suspiciously, came up with this long-assed run-on sentence that’s really going nowhere.
Anyone who would like to participate, 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. Add our new, very cool badge to your post for extra exposure!
It started with an appointment. My son’s behavioral specialist was to go his school to talk to the teacher to observe him on Tuesday, and then come to see me today. On Tuesday afternoon I received a note from the teacher to say the specialist had canceled due to the flu. I, therefore, assumed she wouldn’t be coming here either. Sure enough, I received a phone call this morning from the behavioral specialist’s office. What happened during that phone call is what’s has me… worried? I wouldn’t go that far: thoughtful, perhaps, ever since.
The nice lady who called me only wanted to let me know my appointment was canceled and would be rescheduled. In order to seem, I don’t know, friendly, or sociable, I felt the need to explain that I already knew the behavioral specialist was sick, since she’d canceled Tuesday’s appointment. But even while I was explaining this, my inner editor was screaming at me, “This is not important to the plot! She doesn’t need to know! She’s probably got a dozen more phone calls to make – let her go!” It’s this conciseness with which I feel the need to write, that makes me wonder what it’s doing to me socially.
And isn’t that true for all of us, to some degree? Whether we’re trying to take shortcuts in speech (how many times have you heard someone utter “lol” out loud? Do you do it?) or cutting ourselves short, as I feel I should have done this morning, it has to be affecting the way we socialize. Writing has become the norm, and speech secondary. We spent far fewer hours with pen and keyboard even twenty years ago, unless it was part of our job, versus talking on the phone or in person. Now our lives are largely lived with the written word.
Writing has always been, in a practical way, different from speech. Drafting a formal letter, whether the recipient is a business associate or a lover, is done with care. Choosing the right words is essential to get the point across. With this in mind, are we bloggers actually better at speaking? Has the practice of finding the correct way to say things, and the editing that goes into many of our posts, improved our skills of communication across the board? And have Facebook and Twitter minimalized our speech to the bare necessities?
I have to wonder how we are evolving. And really, that’s what it is. An evolution of mankind who, at one time walked miles to convey a message, now looks no further than his pocket. We’re not quite to the point that our hands get more use than our tongues, but will we, one day, end up with wrists that bend in odd ways, and mouths that are used only to consume food? But I’m getting ahead of myself (and everyone else).
How we socialize with one another–how we communicate–cannot not be affected by what we spend three quarters of our time doing in order to communicate. Small talk is how we connect with one another. It’s how we discover our shared sentiments. It’s what we do on Facebook and Twitter, but without the human interaction–or at the very least it’s human interaction with a machine as a buffer. Will there come a day when we save our small talk only for such situations as taking pictures of our food on social media, and keep our direct interaction as a form of necessity? I think you really have only to look around a restaurant, or peer into people’s kitchens at dinner time these days for the answer.
Mmmm… this is a lovely cup of coffee. So warm and fragrant on a cold winter morning. I sit here with my puppy at my elbow, licking his front paw and the kid on his laptop, grinding his teeth as he’s done since he began to grow teeth… it’s one of those habits that you do when you’re concentrating on something else. Like sticking your tongue out. Apparently when I concentrate the corners of my mouth turn down and I look miserable. I’m not doing it now because I’m thinking about it.
It’s weird, the things we do without thinking about them. I’m guilty of sticking my tongue out when I’m concentrating on a physical activity. My “misery” look is reserved for when I’m doing something on my lap, like writing, reading, or knitting. I think once in a while about picking up knitting again. I used to do it when I watched TV – it was something to do with my hands that I didn’t have to look at. I’ve always been a multi-tasker I suppose, even before it was a well-used phrase. I have to wonder if that is the reason, in part, why I have to get up and walk away once in a while from my intense concentration on my writing. Or maybe that’s just an excuse to snack…
I admit it. I graze. I know I shouldn’t, and there have been times when I’ve been able to stop for months on end. But I always seem to fall back into the pattern of eating when I’m bored, or when I’m procrastinating.
I have a busy day ahead of me. One kid wants to go to a movie and the other wants to go for a ride on the city bus. The latter wanted to go to the mall for something. Earlier in the week I thought it was a good idea, but now I can’t remember what it was we needed to get. I really should write lists more often. Having a cell phone with me all the time is like carrying around a notepad and a pen – I really have no excuse.
I wondered what I should title this post. Now I know.
This is actually week #1 for me, since I’ve never participated in Share Your World before. This is exciting! On to the questions.
Have you done something you truly want to do today?
I’ve been procrastinating all day. I have so many huge projects to get on with, and yet all I can manage is to look at the clock and stress over time running out. What is that, anyway? Is there a name for this kind of anxiety? It’s weird. I think part of my problem is lack of exercise. I need to get out more often.
What can you help the world with?
What I’d like to help the world with is inspiration. I love being inspired and I strive to share my love of inspiration with the world. What I think I do help the world with (or at least I hope I do) is teaching by example, things like compassion, non-judgementalism, and that it doesn’t hurt to be honest.
If life was ‘just a bowl of cherries’… which fruit other than a cherry would you be..?
An avocado. Like me, they’re so misunderstood. Though I’d enjoy being in a state where I’m mistaken for a vegetable more often.
Quotes List: At least three of your favorite quotes?
“Happiness is the absence of striving for happiness.” ~ Chuang Tzu
“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.” ~ Charles Schulz
“Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.” ~ Groucho Marx
Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?
I’m grateful that puppy Winston is beginning to heal from his wounds, and is healthy and active.
To answer the second part of the question, more of just this:
It seems to me that, though life in general is made up of them, there are weeks when little annoyances build up rather substantially. Or perhaps I’m just less tolerant of them. During weeks like these, it’s important to keep a sense of humour lest I end up totally bonkers due to the stress of it all. Failing the ability to laugh at my woes in the privacy of my own closet (which is where the men in the white coats SHOULD NOT LOOK FOR ME!! IGNORE THE GIGGLES COMING FROM THE CLOSET!!!) this blog enables me to share my madness with all of you. Aren’t you lucky? Here we go.
My Top Ten List of Annoying Things for This Week
Having a fantastic idea for a blog post that’s so freaking good that I didn’t need to write it down.
Famous last words.
Getting all ready to have a shower and then realizing I need to wash my clothes first.
Snow days. All one of them.
Firefox crashing every evening at about 7. What’s up with that?
Having a to-do list that’s longer than there are hours in a day.
Meat in the fridge that won’t wait just one more day before it expires. C’mon, meat! Have a bit of decency!
Not being able to get more fridge magnet letters from Toys ‘r’ Us.
on the bright side, the accent is correct
Chocolate. More specifically, orange Kit Kat. Why does it have to be so mouth-wateringly delicious?!
Not being able to come up with ten annoying things, damnit!
Fingers. How could we live without them? I’ve spent more time wagging mine at the puppy in the last couple of months since we got him than I think I have in the last ten years at my kids. Then there’s Alex. He’s Deaf, so there’s not much communicating going on if he doesn’t have his fingers for sign language. Back when he was at the hospital half the time I had to ask them to put his IVs in his feet, so he could still communicate. They couldn’t leave his hands unwrapped (with bandages) or he picked them off. What’s kind of amusing is that I can swear as much as I want to (or feel I need to) in front of Alex without guilt, but I don’t dare give anyone the finger.
Fingers hold rings, but I still haven’t found mine. I probably lost it in the parking lot of the grocery store. Fat chance anyone would turn it in, but I’ve asked a couple of times anyway. There’s a Dollar Store there too. Maybe I should ask in there. One can always hope.
Funny thing about fingers – I’ve been touch-typing since I was a little girl. I learned on an old Underwood with keys you could get your fingers stuck between and letters that got stuck together if you typed too fast. But I’ve never been able to play the piano. It must be a different part of the brain. …then again, you have no idea how many typos I make in the process of typing a single sentence. It’s silly… glad I can watch the screen as I type.
The puppy finally got his cone off his head today. It’s been twelve days since his surgery. He’s looking very handsome without it. Pictures to come. Later. For now, with the cone.
Mendaciloquent. Yes, you read it right. Or did you? It seems to be one of those words that can only be found in places like the Grandiloquent Dictionary. The closest Merriam-Webster and Oxford come to it is mendacious. According to my trusty thesaurus, mendacious is synonymous with deceitful, fraudulent, and untrustworthy, among others. From what I can gather, mendaciloquent means all that, but to the nth degree. Perhaps it’s lying with eloquence.
I was amused in a wry sort of way that a few mentions of politics came up on the first page of my Google search for the word of the day. I could talk about how much I love The Donald, (that’s sarcasm … or is it mendaciloquence? I’m not sure anymore) but you wouldn’t be able to shut me up for days. And then I’d be told to, “go back to Canada!”, to which I’d reply, “I never left!” and then a wall would go up and it would be a complete mess, so I won’t talk about liars in politics.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it ’til I die – I don’t see the point in lying just for the sake of lying. Or for the sake of making oneself look better in someone else’s eyes. The truth always comes out eventually. Even fiction, no matter what the story, no matter how outrageous it may be, has its own truth.
The problem arises when people can’t discern the difference between fiction and dishonesty. There are people out there who build their entire lives around a fiction. They survive by it; then it’s devastating for them when reality seeps in.
The truth is now I need to go to bed. That ain’t no mendaciloquence.
The “Mendaciloquent” prompt is brought to you by Coralee at Musefully Mendaciloquent. If you don’t already know her, click on the link and check out her blog!
To find the rules for Just Jot It January, click here and join in today. It’s never too late! And don’t forget to ping back your January 27th post here! If you’d like to combine this with One-Liner Wednesday (which will be posted several hours after this), have at it! Just be sure to link back to both prompts.
I received a nice email from one of my son Christopher’s teachers the other day, explaining that if he didn’t get an assignment completed he would fail the course. The course is photography. The assignment, landscapes.
I only had one chance this weekend to get out with him, and that was at 7:30 this morning. So we went to my favourite spot, the Waterfront Trail so he could take some pictures. I couldn’t resist getting a few myself.
I wonder about the things which cause us to act surreptitiously. You know, the stuff that makes us want to sneak around instead of doing whatever we’re doing out in the open. I can think of a few: shame that we’re not living up to our highest self-standards; fear of judgement; fear of getting caught because we know we’re doing something bad, like cheating or breaking the law. Some of us even blog surreptitiously because we feel like it’s making us neglect other things. Some of us eat surreptitiously, trying to hide from those we love that we’re cheating on our diets. I think that one may mean that we’re even trying to hide our guilty habit from ourselves.
Where am I going with this post? I have no idea. It’s late, I’ve had a ridiculously busy day and I have another one coming up tomorrow. I wish I could hide from it all but there’s no being surreptitious for me. Actually, speaking of being surreptitious, I have a kid with a 24 hour holter monitor on upstairs. He’s supposed to be sleeping but I can’t help but wonder if he’s surreptitiously picking at the stickers. I’ll find out in the morning.
If you’d like to congratulate me on writing the most inane post of the year, please do so in the comments.
The “Surreptitiously” prompt is brought to you by KG over at Books, Music, Photography, & Movies. If you don’t already know her, check out her blog!
To find the rules for Just Jot It January, click here and join in today. It’s never too late! And don’t forget to ping back your January 20th post here! If you’d like to combine this with One-Liner Wednesday (which will be posted several hours after this), have at it! Just be sure to link back to both prompts.
I used to love playing follow-the-leader when I was little. My favourite part was getting the chance to be the leader, although I never insisted. I always waited my turn.
When I was a young adult I landed a job on a dude ranch, taking out trail rides. I loved horses; riding was my passion in life. Yet my first few experiences guiding a bunch of strangers on an equal number of 1,000 pound animals they couldn’t necessarily control, whilst on my own 1,000 pound animal, practically sitting backwards in the saddle so I could watch the aforementioned strangers was a bit nerve-wracking; for $2 an hour, how could I go wrong? Seriously, it was my favourite job to date. But I digress.
All my life I’ve been able to take or leave the role of leader. In most cases, unless I have no idea what I’m doing, I’m happy to take over if no one else wants to. Except when it comes to my kids. With them, it’s my way or the highway, and I don’t mean the kids directly. I’m talking about anyone who looks after them.
I’ve been disappointed by more doctors than I can mention, the most recent being the one who was filling in for our family doctor the day we went for our flu shots. I had mine done; when Alex’s turn came he said no, he didn’t want a needle. I offered to hold him down while they did it but they refused. It had something to do with the fact that he’s 15 years old… that he’s only 60 lbs and has the mentality of a six year old seemed to escape them. But whatever. It was decided we’d try in a few weeks since he was going for surgery (dental) and would be under a general anesthesia anyway. Only when I got there, the anesthesiologist refused to administer it. That was before Christmas.
Last week our family doctor’s office called me to follow up and make sure Alex had his shot. They were obviously expecting a “yes” and didn’t quite know what to say when I told them no, and then explained exactly what had to happen – I wanted another appointment and I needed them to insist he have the vaccination next time. After all, with his heart issues, the flu could kill him. The doctor’s secretary said she’d get back to me in a couple of days. She didn’t. In the meantime I made an appointment to see his pediatrician. Between us we came up with a plan. We’ll try the nasal spray vaccination at the pharmacy but if he puts up too much of a fuss I’ll bring it with me to the pediatrician’s office and they’ll hold him down. The entire process has taken two months so far.
As a “leader” in my family’s care, I am less than pleased. It won’t happen again next year. I’m not waiting my turn to be the leader anymore.
The “Leadership” prompt is brought to you by Tessa at Always A Writer. Please check out her blog and say hi!
To find the rules for Just Jot It January, click here and join in today. It’s never too late! And don’t forget to ping back your January 15th post here!
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