Life in progress

Category Archives: Random


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#SoCS – Oh Hey, a Vacation!

No, I’m not going on one. I wish! Nah, I just saw an ad on the Weather Network telling me to visit Orlando. Apparently the temperature there is a pleasant 21°C. That was actually in the ad. But what else might you expect from the Weather Network, I suppose.

The other ad on the site tonight was for Lotto 649. For non-Canadians, that’s our biggest national lottery. Winning that would definitely get me to a warmer climate in a hurry.

I used to buy lottery tickets every week. What a pipe dream that is. Although there was a stretch where I was winning enough to buy a ticket every week for a while. I think it lasted a couple of months. That was a really strange time.

It was back when I lived in Gatineau, on the Quebec side of the Ottawa provincial border. I wandered into an angel shop one day. They sold all kinds of products with angels on them, as well as stones, incense … you get the picture, I’m sure. I saw a sign on the door that said the owner gave angel readings. I asked her about them–she didn’t do them in English, so I was out of luck.

But she told me I have a beautiful aura, and that I have a man who follows me around. Not a real one–someone who was close to me who died. Then she told me to look in my car and spend the money I found there on a lottery ticket. Funny thing was, I’d already found a dollar in my car and spent it on a ticket just before I visited the shop.

And that was the dollar that won me enough to buy tickets for a couple of months.

I always thought that maybe it wasn’t as much that I was supposed to win the lottery as it was a sign that what the woman told me was right.

Well that took a turn, didn’t it?

Yeah, I still need that vacation.

2019-2020 SoCS Badge by Shelley! https://www.quaintrevival.com/

This rambling post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday! Click the following link and find all the other posts in the comment section, and join in! It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2019/11/22/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-nov-23-19/


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#SoCS – Dreaming Through

It’s been a tiring year, 2019 has. Aside from the fact that I had so many great plans that got knocked to the ground, partially because I’ve been tired, I’ve slept in a lot this year. More than any other year, I think.

I used to be able to wake up to the music on my phone. It was a nice way to wake up. To a song I liked. But then, because I was tired, I started not only sleeping through my alarm, I’d dream that I was at a concert, watching the song played live.

That wouldn’t do–I had to keep driving Alex to school because I wasn’t getting up in time to feed him (before 5am) so he could catch the bus. So I added an alarm. One with a tune I didn’t like. One that came with the phone.

For a while that worked, until my tired brain figured out how to turn off the alarm I didn’t like and leave the song on.

Fine.

I added an even more obnoxious tune. That got me up.

But then I figured, okay, I can sleep while Alex is feeding (he’s tube-fed), and just set another alarm to get me up when his feed’s finished so I can get him off to school.

Except guess what I did?

Yep, I chose another song.

And started dreaming through it.

FINE, then.

I switched that for another obnoxious noise to get me out of bed before the bus comes.

Which worked …

For a while.

Last week I slept through that a total of THREE mornings. Out of FOUR! Monday was a holiday!

I think I just need for it to be 2020 already.

Surely I won’t be as tired.

Right?

2019-2020 SoCS Badge by Shelley! https://www.quaintrevival.com/

This dreamy post was brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click the following link to find all the other dreamy posts in the comments, and see how you, too, can join in! It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2019/11/15/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-nov-16-19/


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Just so you know …

Hi!

Don’t recognize the little picture in your tab when you have one of my posts open in your browser? That’s because I’ve finally changed my icon from the mannequin in the Santa hat to this selfie, taken in my hotel room in Akihabara, Japan in December, 2015.

That’s cleared that up, then.

Hope you’re having a lovely weekend! Unless you’re on the other side of the world, in which case, sorry it’s Monday.


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#SoCS – Oh, really?

Oh yes. I’m really sorry about the mess I made of the SoCS badge contest by not realizing the comments were turned off. I haven’t had a chance to look at any of the entries, but there are sure to be some amazing ones there. Because of the screw up, I might end up accepting more than ten … I’ll see tomorrow. I hope.

Because if tomorrow is anything like today, I’ll have my hands completely full with Alex. What a horror story that was. He’ll be nineteen years old on Wednesday, and at this point, I’m starting to doubt the behavior issues will ever stop.

The good news is the swelling in my neck seems to have subsided a bit.

Oh. You know what else? I’m getting really sick of complaining all the time. So, you want some good news?

I managed to get out tonight to see the Downton Abbey movie and it was amazing. I think the thing I really enjoyed the most was just revisiting the characters. It could have gone on for four hours and I wouldn’t have complained a bit.

And now it’s quarter to two in the morning and I think it’s time for bed. I really have to put an end to these late nights. Half the time, I look at the clock and realize how much the time has gotten past me.

As Homer Simpson would say …

SoCS badge by Pamela, at https://achronicalofhope.com/

This unfinished post is part of Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click the following link to see all the other posts in the comment section and join in! It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2019/10/18/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-oct-19-19/


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#SoCS – The Hand-Me-Down

It’s a blue robe.

A hand-me-down from a friend of my mother’s–a friend my mother no longer remembers.

They weren’t friends for long. Perhaps a few years.

The robe was too big for the friend, and my mother didn’t want it.

So here it is.

It’s a fluffy robe. Comfortable and warm on cold winter mornings when I get up in the dark of five o’clock to feed Alex. My fluffy slippers are pink. In them, with the robe, I’m sure I must look like a tired, less-than-sweet ball of candy floss.

It’s all pastel, this outfit.

Or would that be an infit, considering I’d never be caught dead outside in it?

And infit.

Yeah.

So, it’s 3:14am and I’m still up and I shouldn’t be. I should be shrugging on my blue hand-me-down candy-floss robe and crawling off to beddiebyes.

Yeah.

SoCS badge by Pamela, at https://achronicalofhope.com/

This comfy post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click the following link to find all the other posts in the comments, and join in! It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2019/09/13/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-sept-14-19/


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A Few Difficulties and some Good News

Well, it looks like I failed to get the mid-month reminder out for The Escapist Coloring Club again last month. And with Alex being his difficult self today, the prompt for September may be delayed until tomorrow. I did want you to know I haven’t forgotten, though.

August marked the end of the year for the SoCS badge–I plan to get the new contest up once Alex goes back to school …

I’m starting to see a pattern here. Who knew your life could revolve around your child rather than your blog? Haha. Anyway, please watch out for that.

And finally, I called the doctor’s office on Friday when I still hadn’t heard back about my MRI. Turns out no news was good news: everything looks normal.

Obviously they didn’t look too deeply. 😉

So, that’s it. Prompt later today or tomorrow, badge contest to come. Again, sorry for the delays.


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#SoCS – The Grand Scheme

In the grand scheme of things, I’m not that bad off.

When you think about suffering, there are many degrees. There’s having your house burn down around you (that’s really suffering), and then there’s sitting in your living room and being hot but the fan is aaall the way over on the other side of the room (that’s also suffering, but to the 1/1,000,000th degree).

Do I feel empathy for both of those people? Sure. In about the same degrees in which they’re suffering.

I try not to complain about my personal challenges because I have it relatively good.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t feel sympathy for those who have it even easier than I do.

Because a struggle is a struggle. And you never know where someone else’s breaking point lies.

Right now I’m in my own living room, drinking a beer, the dog sleeping beside me. I finished work for the day at 1am, and I feel good about what I accomplished, even though I didn’t complete what I set out to for the day.

I’m grateful for all the well wishes for my MRI–I should get the results this week coming.

For now, my eyesight is good. And there’s no rain in the forecast–the barometer is holding steady, which is likely why I can see.

Now, it’s almost 2am, and I still have writing of my own to do.

With that, I’m signing off.

The water level is going back down.

This post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click the following link to find all the other prepositional posts and join in. It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2019/08/23/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-august-24-19/

SoCS badge by Pamela, at https://achronicalofhope.com/


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Random Update and a Thank You

First, thanks to everyone who participated in and commented on my One-Liner Wednesday and my SoCS. I’ve read all your wonderful comments, and I shall strive to reply to them all tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, I’m going to get my MRI done on my noggin at 7am. I have to be at the hospital 45 minutes early, so that’ll be fun.

Wish me luck. 🙂

P.S. From the date the doctor ordered the MRI to the date of the test was almost exactly one month, for those wondering what the wait times are really like in Canada. Is that much longer than it would take in the US? Just wondering.


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#SoCS – Too Many Minds

Where am I going?

What shall I do next?

Okay, the first question is one I ask regularly and has nothing to do with what I really want to write about. I ask myself where I’m going on a daily, sometimes hourly basis when I get up to do something and I have so much on my mind that I forget what I got up for.

Writing that, I realize it’s all the same beast.

I have too many things on the go. I’m taking courses to further my editing career (please don’t judge this post on any level where grammar is concerned–I’m not allowed to edit it), and I’m taking courses to further my writing career. I’m working full time at the editing job, part time at the writing gig, and learning to boot.

As my mother would say, I’ve got too many minds to go mad.

I have a schedule for myself–my editing and my writing–but that’s all I have listed. Then there are the dozens of other things I do during the day.

I swear, I take multi-tasking to a whole ‘nother level. And what’s worse? I’m still not getting everything done that I need to do.

The good news is I’ve got a few new novels coming out–I’ve written two and a half since November and finished another one. And at least one of those novels will be free for subscribers to my newsletter! Which I have to get organized and start sending out regularly. It’s got cobwebs on it at the moment.

Crickets.

Crickets stuck in cobwebs.

Where was I?

Haha! See what I mean?

So yeah. I’m afraid something is going to have to give, and I have no idea what. It SHOULD probably be social media. I’ve already all but given up my constant Twittering. Facebook is like the alien in Alien–stuck to my face and breeding somewhere in my innards.

There’s something to think about just before bed.

You can see the authoring thing is something I come by honestly. It doesn’t stop.

The imagination, that is. Not stealing other people’s ideas …

I should probably stop while I’m ahead.

SoCS badge by Pamela, at https://achronicalofhope.com/

This totally unedited post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click the following link to find all the other unedited posts in the comment section and join in! It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2019/08/09/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-august-10-19/


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#SoCS – Astronomically Aware

I am astronomically aware.

I am aware that there is a moon and stars.

And planets.

I am aware of the odds (astronomically slim) that caused me to be alive right now.

To have been born into this world, at this time in history.

Although I might think the same thing had I been born in another time …

We don’t know. We just don’t know.

I am aware that I have, up until now, lived a pretty blessed life.

I have what I need.

But that, of course, also comes down to mindset.

I mean, I could say I need a private jet.

I could even believe it if I tried hard enough.

But that would only lead to me feeling like I don’t live a blessed life.

And that would suck.

Astronomically.

I am astronomically aware that there are an astronomical number of things I am unaware of.

Get your mind around that one.

… or not.

It even gives me a headache.

And I wrote it.

Problem is, I believe it.

So it’ll probably keep me up all night.

I am astronomically aware of how lucky I am.

To have the ones I love close by.

To have the means to communicate with the entire world from the comfort of my living room.

To have had all the opportunities I’ve had throughout my life, and the wisdom (for the most part) to know what to do with them.

I am astronomically aware …

that I should be going to bed now.

Good night, dreamers.

SoCS badge by Pamela, at https://achronicalofhope.com/

This deeply astronomical post was brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click the following link to find all the other astronomical posts in the comment section, and join in! It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2019/08/02/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-august-3-19/