Friday, June 28, 2013

T.G.I.F.

Some times when I hear some one say TGIF my mind goes back to the 90's when I would sit in front of the television and watch those couple hours of shows on ABC like Step by Step, Boy Meets World and other great shows. Those days are long gone so now the only great thing when I hear someone say TGIF is that I know I get a couple days away from work. In a way it's not near as exciting but at the same time after what feels like a long work week I'll take it. I have a new meaning for TGIF to use, especially on those days you think it's Friday and it really isn't: This Growing up Isn't Fun (TGIF folks, TGIF).

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Throwing stones

You know people talk about the barbaric days when people would stone you to death and they were treated harshly and will say how good it is we don't live in times like that anymore. It seems to me things haven't changed at all, we've changed the stone to a click of the mouse to share with thousands of people in seconds to try to destroy people. If someone does something we don't agree with or don't like we now take them to court to sue them for every thing they have. And yes there are still actual stones being thrown at people as well. I bring all of this up because of the ridiculousness of what is going on with Paula Deen. Now before every one calls me a racist and say I think it's okay for the word she said I will say I truly hate that word and don't like to hear it being said by ANYONE. I have friends from different races, social standing, and ages. The thing that is irritating me and blows my mind is 1) the fact that it was said years ago, 2) she admitted she was wrong, how many people do you know, yourself included will actually admit a wrong that was done, 3) she seems to have sincerely apologized and yet no one is acknowledging that or even willing to accept it. I put on Facebook yesterday and I'll put it here, it never ceases to amaze me how quick we are to throw stones and say people are so judgmental, cruel, etc. Do we not realize those same stones are going to have to be thrown at us because unless you have found the secret formula to perfection and have never made a mistake in your life you've done something that was wrong, possibly even a derogatory remark about someone. Does that give anyone the right to go ahead and say it, absolutely not. There is never a good reason or excuse to demean people in any way, shape, or form for any reason. We're all only human, unless cyborgs are silently taking over and I still haven't realized it yet, but otherwise our emotions can take over at times and words can slip out in a fleeting moment when you lose control of rational thinking. Now someone will likely say so does this make it okay when someone commits murder because they lost control of their emotions or thinking, of course not and again I am not saying it's right what we say or do when we lose control and say things we will later regret. My biggest and main point that I wish every one would ask themselves is this: We're human, we make mistakes. How many times, if you're honest with yourself, have you said something directly to someone or behind their back that belittled them, was mean, or a number of other reasons. If you've went through or are going through your teens I can guarantee you've had an argument with your parents/guardians that you've gotten mad and said you hated them. Nine times out of ten you didn't hate them but you said it anyway. Let's assume you went ahead and apologized it, now when you're in your 40's or 50's should your parent then bring it up again and berate you over it and than say I'm taking all your privileges away, you can't have access to your car, home, computer, etc.? In a way that's what's happening now. So basically I'll end with this, before you throw the stone how about you looking at your own self and realizing that once that stone is thrown there is no getting it back before it knocks the person out and the stones will one day be thrown at you. We have become so quick to be judge/jury and will condemn a person before we even give them a chance to tell the story. It saddens me that we have gotten where we are quick to throw the stone and judge and extremely slow to listen and accept an apology and forgive someone. Lord knows I have said plenty of things I have regretted over my time here on this earth so far, some probably have me earning a stone being thrown at me, but over the years I have grown and seen and owned up to my mistakes and have apologized and asked for forgiveness. We live and learn but we shouldn't have to pay for mistakes done years ago when we've realized and admitted the wrong and have apologized to the people that it affected and asked forgiveness from them and God.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Writing

Last year around November I had the idea that I was going to try to write a short story just because I wanted to see if I could write a decent story. I finished it and it ended up being almost 15 pages which was longer than I intended but I also knew that towards the end I kind of rushed through just to get to an end. I ended up only showing that to one person and than I put it away figuring it'd just be in the pile of things I'll probably never completely finish. Sadly, that pile of stuff is much bigger than I would like and I am working on really finishing it and not having a 'pile' for stuff like that. I honestly figured that was the end of it, I realized I could write a half-hearted, half-way decent story and that's all I really wanted to prove to myself anyway, but I guess that's what I get for thinking. I'm fairly certain people think I exaggerate when I say I have very random thoughts but this past Sunday if you could be in my head (and thank God you can't, it's terrifying at times!) it would be evident it's truly not much of an exaggeration. On this particular day I was driving down the road when out of the blue I got a couple ideas to add/change to my story that I had long put away and thought I had forgot about. Usually, this is where it would end because I would honestly forget about it or conveniently put it in the back of my mind until it was no longer a thought. This time I decided why not see where it goes....again. Last night I even got started making some notes on what to add or change.  I got through about seven pages of making notes before I gave up for the night and got thinking why am I even doing this it's not like I'll show it to anyone. As I drifted off to sleep last night I truly didn't have an answer to my own question but as I type this I think I now know. I'm not doing this for anyone else and if I never show it to anyone that's okay but I am doing it because writing, or attempting to write, is something I enjoy doing and as anyone who enjoys a good book or writing knows you can't leave a story unfinished.

Friday, June 21, 2013

Focus

Some days, actually most days, I find it extremely hard to focus. Now I'm at this point where I get bored with stuff so easy and am ready to move on to the next thing before I even complete a thought. I hate that too, it annoys me. I have a long list of things I want to do, learn to do but I seem to be stuck at the point of running the ideas and plotting them very carefully in my mind. Somewhere in my mind is where they get sucked in to the abyss, jumbled up with all the other things that have got lost there, only to come around for a brief moment every so often. I just don't want to get to a certain age and look back with regret for not trying. I've asked myself why I get bored so easily and I'm not sure but my possible answers are as follows: 1) I'm afraid I'm going to miss out on something so I try to do every thing I can at once, 2) I'm afraid of failing so I just let myself get so far and think that's enough 3) I just legitimately  have a problem being able to stay focused. Of those reasons two of them have a word I loathe in them, which is afraid. I know you got to have a bit of fear that equates to just having common sense so I won't do dangerous things and the like. However, if it's just plain old fear than that's a terrible excuse for me to be holding myself back and not trying to complete these ideas and things I want to try to do. For a while now I've been trying to step out of my comfort zone, especially when I realize that the only reason I'm not doing something is because it's out of my comfort zone. It's little things but as they say Rome wasn't built in a day. I guess it really isn't a bad thing to take your time and make sure you're adding the right stuff to become who you want to be. I don't know a lot about carpentry and construction but I do know the foundation is very important to be able to hold up the structure for years and I think I'm just trying to make sure my foundation is being made right and can withstand whatever comes my way over the years and I can stand as the person I want to be.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

A few things I've noticed

 Just a few things I have noticed and thought I would put my twisted sense of humor and thinking to them:

  • If you want people to really pay attention to you when you talk and get your point across grab a cup of coffee. It doesn't matter what is on the cup or mug but to really make it work you have to be aware of how you hold the cup. When you start out with your point hold the cup mid torso and as you talk and the suspense grows bring your cup closer to your mouth and when you have ended the tale you will then proceed to take a victory drink of your amazing coffee. You will have a smile on your face leaving people not sure if it's the coffee, the point you just made, or both.

  • Never get in the way of someone and thier coffee...ever, you are never prepared to face the wrath of someone that hasn't had their coffee yet.

  • Don't try to figure out how someone could not like to drink coffee, it will cause you to try to use your scratch n think buttons (see sentence below) and you will never be able to figure it out, it is officially on the list of unexplainable happenings.

  • Every one has a scratch n think button and apparently it is on their head. You will notice this happening when someone is trying to figure something out or try to remember something, when they have trouble they will go for the scratch n think button on top of their head. Sometimes this one doesn't work so they resort to the scratch n think button hidden on their chin. There are times the scratch n think buttons malfunction or just don't help the person, when this happens the person may be seen pacing. When pacing happens, no matter what reason or how serious, the person may choose to pace with hands behind their back, on their hips or in their pockets, it really is a personal preference.

  • Every year I get the wrong pair of glasses. I'm going to take them back one year and tell them there is something wrong with them because people can still recognize me and I specifically wanted the Clark Kent/Superman kind of glasses. I'm fairly certain I am the only one that would even remotely find that hilarious.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Over the Rainbow

I am a huge fan of Judy Garland and Wizard of Oz, in fact my favorite song from the movie is Judy singing 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow,' something about just pulls on so many emotions. With that being said, nothing beats actually seeing a rainbow in real life and I can't see one without thinking and sometimes even humming a little bit from the song. On my way home last night it was raining, one of those monsoon types of rains, and as I went a little further the sun started peeking through the clouds as it was still raining. If you've ever played with a water hose spraying the water on a hot summer day trying to cool down or the basic science experiment this automatically gets you thinking somewhere there should be a rainbow. Usually I hardly ever get to see a rainbow even though the conditions may be right for one so I didn't look to hard, plus I figure the other drivers would appreciate it if I kept my eye on the road. A little ways down the road I just happened to look to my left, nothing caught my eye or anything, I just happened to look that way and wouldn't you know I see a beautiful rainbow. I haven't seen one in what seems like forever, which makes it even more special and beautiful when I get to see one. However, last night was double special because as I had long left the rainbow behind and thinking that's all I was getting to see I was driving down a hill into the county I live in and I see a rainbow again. I guess it's probable it was the same rainbow but nonetheless I was excited to get to see a rainbow twice in one night. That's when I finally remember I actually have my camera with me and so I pull over and get my camera out and take a couple of pictures of it. It always blows my mind but it truly seems I'll hear a song, have a conversation with a friend, or in this case seeing a rainbow twice in one night to remind me to not give up and it's all going to be all right and of course all of these things always makes me smile.

Monday, June 10, 2013

Simple is better

This past weekend I got to go walking through Cumberland Gap for a little bit and was reminded how beautiful and peaceful it is just to walk through the woods. As we was traveling there the closer we got the more mountains we saw and it just made me smile, which sounds like I've lost my mind I'm sure, but to me I'd much rather look out the window and see trees instead of buildings. My reasoning behind this is, as stated before it brings me peace to just look at nature and more trees means less people, or generally it means less people than if say there is sky scrapers all around. Nothing against the big cities or people, I just like to get out and just hear the sounds of the birds and even the bugs if they'll leave me alone. To me I get to appreciate the simple things in life when I'm walking in the woods or even in my back yard. For a short time I can forget every thing and it's like time slows down to a much easier and better pace where I don't have to feel so rushed. It just reminds me that you don't need the most up-to-date gadgets or a ton of materialistic things to enjoy life. I truly believe that if you can't appreciate and enjoy the simple things that we have no control over, like a water fall, rainbow, or a wild flower growing, than how can we appreciate anything. Maybe it's the small town girl in me talking but I think it's these things that mean the most and will give someone the truest most pure joy that they can have. By many of societies standards I'm poor on so many levels but there is a line in Dolly Parton's song 'Coat of Many Colors' that is said so well and stands true nowadays and always:

 But they didn't understand it
And I tried to make them see
That one is only poor
Only if they choose to be
Now I know we had no money
But I was rich as I could be

I don't need brand names, all the latest gadgets or a brand new car from some high named company to be rich, let me be able to set outside looking at the trees and reading a book and I'll gladly consider myself the richest girl around. 

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Over thinking, it's what I do...

The other day as I was walking outside I saw a little bird flying at a larger bird trying to chase it away, presumably from it's nest. My first thought was you go little bird and then my over thinking kicked in. First, forgive me for over using the word bird in this post but I honestly don't remember the kind of bird it was so I'm kind of stuck over using that word. After seeing this it got me thinking here is this little bird that is going after another bird twice its size to get it away from something it cares about with no regard for itself and the fact that by most standards it shouldn't be able to get the bigger bird to go away. The instinct of this little bird is to protect what it cares about and it doesn't pay attention to how big that problem is and how little it is but it gives it all it has to do every thing in its power to protect and face its problem. I guess I'm taking the long, scenic road to say we should have the out look as the little bird does when we face a problem. I can sometimes make a problem much bigger than it really is and that's my first mistake. I shouldn't focus on how big the problem is or looks, or how long it may take me to get over this obstacle but I should stay focused on the fact that I can face this and I will see this through even if it doesn't end the way I plan it'll end the way it should. The whole thing kind of reminded me of the saying, don't tell God how big your problems are but tell your problems how big your God is. Here is where my little tale of yet another example of how I over think ends and in case you are wondering the little bird was successful in chasing away the other bird.


Saturday, June 1, 2013

One man's trash is another man's treasure

Every time I find myself wandering through a flea market I can truly understand the statement, one man's trash is another man's treasure. Like most every one else I have certain items that interest me and I may keep an eye out for but sometimes it's just interesting to go look and see the treasures, or trash, depending on how you want to look at it, you can find.  I especially love finding a booth that has really old items, it always makes me feel like I'm having my own little time travel. It always interests me when I see old pictures, although some times it can creep me out because like all pictures it can almost feel like the person is staring right back at you. Any time I see old pictures I can't help but wander what was going on in that person's life, what they may have done that day leading up to waiting to get the picture taken. Or seeing things like appliances, radios, or even old magazines and wondering who all has used them and what might have been going on while the items were used or read. Perhaps I think to much but I'm a big history buff and the past fascinates me. As I said earlier in a weird way it's like going through a museum and looking in to people's life and a glimpse in to a time that occurred before I was born. Although many see things in the booths in flea markets or even in peoples own homes and think it's trash and should be taken to the land fill. It is my belief that a persons treasure doesn't have to be found buried in a chest that can only be found with a map marked with a X but it can be found in your own home, maybe it's a family heirloom that has been put away and forgotten about, or maybe it's an item that may be unexpectedly found while walking through a junk store. Whether it's considered trash or treasure I always figure and wonder what person at one time thought the item was the big thing to have and what they had to go through to get it.