Visiting La-La Land????

With allergy season flat out pollenating us to-all-get-out, as southerners would say, icky cars, icky sinuses, I'm getting annoyed at a lot of things.  And a lot quicker.

I'm annoyed at Word because it does weird formatting things to my writing.  Sometimes as I am writing!    It is Soooo different from 'old' Word.  I liked 'old' Word.  Well, best I recall.  Since as my mother used to say, and my writing group often hears, when not remembering something, "I've slept since then."     Although that annoys me these days too, with all the pollen and all that goes along with it, I'm not getting the sleep/rest that helps me not to be tired and annoyed by everything.

I get annoyed at Vista.  To be fair there are Some things I like about it, but not sure on the whole they out-do the annoyances, at times anyway.

Like being able to put a computer to sleep rather than just shutting it down.  Nice at times, at times too much like a hyperactive child that just won’t stay asleep.  Annoying to put it to sleep and having barely reached the couch to relax, or worse, settled upon said restful furniture piece in exhaustive disarray, and you hear the pesky 'footsteps' of said ‘child’ awake again.

This time after checking traffic and heading downstairs ready to head out the door I heard the whoosh up.  In annoyed parent mode I traipsed upstairs ready to wrestle it to bed, or just shut the durn thing down.  But it was oblivious to all my attempts to have control over it, just sitting there with its blue light glaring at me while resisting any efforts to bring it to the screen where I could wrest the reigns again.  And assert my control - like any ineffective parent knows about.

With time ticking away, as well as my patience, and not having time to dredge up my past computer background, I broke down and called my computer engineer husband.  Unsurprised, he told me, yeah, it goes to la-la land sometimes.

I realized as I was driving to my appointment I was in resentful mode.  I was resenting the computer.  How dare it go to la-la land when I was stuck in reality-land.  I haven’t even been to never-land, let alone la-la land.  I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.  But I still resent my computer going there.

Recommend book

Okay, so I know Everyone has different tastes in clothes, music, and books.

I'm no different. ;)

Being a reader and a writer I read a Lot of books, and I am writing, well, let's just say the file is pretty big and leave it at that, shall we.  

I also have a Lot of books in various stages of completion, both as a reader and a writer.    Hey, at least as a writer I'll wait until I can fix a sucky ending!

But if any of you have read this blog much, I don't often recommend books.  Mainly because I realize people are so different in their tastes.

But I have mentioned some of the books I've read that something about them touched me in some way and caused me to think.

Different than the books I'll just pick up to have a quick lark with.

And different than ones that I would take a chance on recommending.   Like Melina Marchetta's books 'Saving Francesca.' 

And now a local Richmond, Virginia writer, Gigi Amateau.  Her book 'Claiming Georgia Tate' is good, disturbing at some points, but good.  Has great characters.  

But her book 'Chancey of the Maury River" is a book to definitely pick up and read.  

And I'm sure Gigi would appreciate if you bought them of course, but I say you should definitely pick up and read 'Chancey' - it is definitely a 'chancy' book in more ways than one but I think Gigi pulls it off great.  And her writing is almost lyrical at times in it.

Gigi has become a great asset to the James River Writers here in Richmond.

I hadn't really talked to her, or read her books before....always thought of her as rather unassuming, quiet-like.  But she's rather a dynamo - but sort of a quiet seeming one. ;)

  And her books are like that.  I've not seen a lot of talk about them but they sort of quietly weave their way around your thoughts after you read them.  And they sort of keep themselves known there.  It's a bit hard to put into words, even for a writer!  But do check out her books, both of them, but especially 'Chancey' - I think you'll be glad you did.   And after it's woven it's way around your thoughts, come back and share.

You'll be glad you did. ;-D

Facebook?

Criminy, I've gotten pressured into having a Facebook ...thingy...

 Well, at least I resisted longer than my husband, Mike, did!

Someone that Hates - HATES - to see pictures of herself - is on somewhere called Face book.

Okay so I like the book part, I Like books.   Altho' I'm not sure I should admit it, but much like Wildcat's and the Dragon Queen's crazy dragon Waffles [yes that's the name!] that goes around saying Waffles all the time, I most likely go around at least Thinking Books!

But the Face part - I don't want to see my face out there!   But I might have to do that also! { hey, was that a shriek? ! }   I know, I know, I Really Really don't want to - but then again have you seen that blank icon thingy?  It's worse than this one here!   Really, it's true!  At least here it sort of looks non-descript, could be male or female?  But the Facebook one looks like a guy!  I'm serious!

And a creepy sort of blank guy at that!  Or is that just me?     Sigh.    First I succumb to pressure to have a blog, then another blog, now a Facebook.  What's next - Twitter? 

I better go attend to the mountains of laundry before that happens!

Great Now I have Facebook Trauma!!!!     

Become Your Life's Dream

Okay so I can be a romantic sap sometimes.  Not often perhaps, or often enough, being that I'm, ah, :::cough, cough::: older than, well, let's just say I'm not a teenager anymore though I sure seem to be spending an inordinateamount of time with teenage characters!  But I'm definitely not the dewy-eyed ingenue I once was. ;)   Not sure I'd refer to myself as a cynic, even though others not so lovingly minded might. ^ ^

But I am crazy about the Susan Boyle video clip.  And if you don't get that reference, scroll down the blog a couple of entries.  And then go check it out for yourself!  Seriously!  The 7 minute clip.  It's fantastic, heartwarming, and inspiring.   Altho' I have to admit while the music she sings to is Fabulous, as is her voice of course, but the lyrics..... yes, I think it probably fit where she was in her life but they are rather downers.   So with all due respect to the writers of Les Mis. et.al...I've decided to change the line that is continually roaming around in my head.  I don't want my life killing my dreams, thank you very much, I've had enough of that.  So along with positive thoughts, and dreams, etc...I decided my lyrics to roam in my head is going to be - my life's become the dream I dreamed.

Of course it hasn't really, yet anyway.   But I'm preparing.  ;-D    Along with the now successful dreamer Susan Boyle.

Here's to all successful dreamers.  I'll be meeting you soon. ;)

Tread Softly, Fulfill Your Dreams

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet,
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams

W.B. Yeats

In honor of Poetry Month –

And with talking about dreams and fulfilling them.

And inspiring everyone to fulfill their dreams.

A reminder from W. B. Yeats –  Tread softly because you tread on my dreams

Tread softly lest you damage anyone’s dreams.

Including your own.

For we all come from a place within                                                                                                    That tags our hearts and calls them forth                                                                                          Into the brightness of tomorrow.                                                                                                        Even while we are sunk in the morass of yesterday                                                                         Our dreams are tugged at and whispered out                                                                                    Into the today we have now.                                                                                                           [sgchris 2009 ©]

She stunned and took the breath away of the world

By now most everyone that has watched a bit of tv, and with any kind of computer savvy and/or curiosity has heard of the 'unassuming' looking, unmarried [she says never even been kissed] unemployed 47-year-old Scottish woman that stunned not only Britain's Idol equiv. audience, but also Simon Cowell, and now the world, with her dream.

If you've not checked out her performance yet, do!  It's a stunner.

Not to mention worth it to see Simon's face. ;)

You can easily find it by googling Susan Boyle.

I'm stunned every time I watch it.  Watching someone's dreams walk across the stage in human form.  

You could see the looks on Everyone's faces of what they thought of her based on her appearance.

Then she opened her mouth and began to sing and took away everyone's breath.  

The judges, the audience, and all the people there.

And now thanks to the internet, everyone across the world.

Including mine.

Tearing up and having to wipe my eyes not only for the dreams being sung out in front of me but for the dreams living inside everyone.  And the witnessing of hope realized.  For someone somewhere.  And eventually for all of us.

Here's to dreams realized for us all.

Now I'm off to work on some dreams of my own - inspired by a 47-year-old, unemployed, unmarried, 'unassuming' looking woman a world away.

 How 'bout you?

So what dreams are you not giving up on?

And what are you willing to work on and take a chance on?

Like a woman named Susan Boyle did.

Good Book if you slap the main character?

Just wondering.

Is it a Good Book if you just really want to haul off and slap the main character?

I've read a couple like that recently.  No, I'm Not going to tell you!

[Makes it too awkward if you happen to run into them in person.  Which with the great writers the James River Writers Conferences pull in.....

So Nope, No Can Do!

But what do you think - can you deem a book a Good Book if you sort of like it but want to slap someone in it?  Like the main character?        And more than once?

I mean the book did have some interesting points.  Course it did have some convolutions that gave me a headache too.    And that wasn't even including the slap-worthy-main character. [Just her family relations.]

Okay, so tell me, what was the last book you read that made you want to slap a character?

Come on, you can tell me.