Just Another Manic Monday

I'm exhausted.  I thought going to school when I was younger was stressful, but now it's even worse.  I have so many more things to worry about.  I go food shopping after I get out of class, I try to start dinner in the mornings or at least remember to take something out... I just need a break.  I'm exhausted!  We tried to do some home improvements over the weekend and a simple paint job turned into a weekend long project...I guess technically longer, considering I was at Home Depot 6:00 this morning!  Just one night I'd like to be able to get to bed at the same time as my husband.  Bleh.  Just a rant.

Stories I'd Like To Write

I realized that I did the post wrong and wasn't supposed to write about what types of stories I wanted to write but instead actually stories I thought of.  So I'm reposting, this time with the correct info.

5 Stories I'd Like to Write 
• A husband and wife buy a old house as their first home.  It is a fixer upper and while they are doing construction on the home they come across an album of old postcards.  The postcards give the couple a glimpse of what has happened over the years in that old house.
• Two sisters have a pretty close relationship.  They do everything together.  Their family is small and consists of just the two of them and their mother.  One day while the two girls are at the beach the one of the sisters drowns.
• George is a special boy.  He has special needs but his heart is golden.  One day, on a class trip to the pumpkin patch George picks out a green lopsided pumpkin.  Everyone else walked past it but he picked it out as the most beautiful pumpkin.  
• In an effort to not be alone for another Christmas a young woman takes a vacation to New York, a city with so many people you could never be alone.  She sees all the landmarks and city sights but still finds herself alone and jaded.  One stop, Rockefeller Center, inspires her to write a letter that will change millions of people.
• An elderly couple who have been married for 55 years live together in the home they raised their children.  They were immigrants who came here with very little so their home never felt too big for the two of them.  Months after celebrating their  55th wedding anniversary the husband falls ill, and eventually passes away.  The wife doesn't know how she will go on without him, but soon it becomes clear she wont have to.

Revisions

Monday schedule on Tuesday totally F---ed me up!  I missed class but I'm assuming that we need to make a post about revisions, since everyone else has one up.

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I really enjoy making revisions.  Wait, no, I don't enjoy making revisions, I enjoy critiques because I'm a perfectionist and nothing is ever good enough until it's perfect.  I really value other people's opinions on how to make my articles or poems stronger because ultimately it makes my work much better.


I feel like learning is not something that is just done in a classroom or at a school and when other people look at your work and offer suggestions they are teaching you how to look at your work through a different perspective and I really like the insight.


However, I hate revisions when I am told to do something one way and then that same person says they want it another way and I feel like I've wasted time.  As long as the criticism and revisions are helpful then I really do appreciate them.

Today is National Random Acts of Kindness day...

...and this week is National Random Acts of Kindness week. So do something nice for someone and pay it forward!! A little bit of kindness goes a long way. Y

"Your life is your message to the world. 

Make it inspiring." -Lorrin L Lee

Stories I've Recently Told

Some of my recent conversations have been (tonight was Idol so there's a lot about that in there):

There is no room for stage moms at American Idol! What the hell is that about?! They should not be allowed to have contact with the "performers" during business hours. It's like having a choreographer or coach there.

I really like the red head kid (Brett Loewenstern) on Idol. He spoke a lot about being bullied on his initial audition and singing was his thing. You know everyone has a thing. I'm glad he's made it this far and I'm always happy to see an underdog doing well.

A frequent conversation I've had is the struggle of going from being a two income couple to a one income couple. It's difficult, and I hate feeling like I need to depend on someone. My husband has done an amazing job paying the bills but I feel a bit guilty and we have made a lot of cut backs.

Yesterday, when discussing the American dream, I told the story of a man I worked with at my last job. He is from the country of Guatemala and he left his home land about eight years ago. He had a daughter who was eight years old. He has not seen her since. They talk daily but he has been here in America working for the past eight years and sending money back home where the money is building them their new home. His daughter is now 16 and when we spoke last he was planning on leaving this year to finally be back with his family where they would live in their home that is now complete.

Fortunoff used to be my favorite store to shop in. It closed down right after my bridal shower and it was such a mess. They had a great selection of home things and jewelry. Now they only have a back yard store open and it sucks because I live in an apartment and have no use for a out door furniture store. Boooooo!

My friend in Florida said they've been reaching 80 degrees this week. She said she is taking the kids to the zoo, I think that's great, especially since I had to climb an iceberg to sit on a bench on campus today. I can't wait for the weather to get nicer so that we can do outdoors things again. We're going to plan a softball game and invite all our friends as soon as the snow/ice mess is gone. Anyone up for a game??

Suicide has become an epidemic. There are so many young people taking their lives. It seems every day there is another article in the paper about a young adult/teen taking their own life. There aren't enough resources to make people know there is help and most of the time there aren't any programs until after someone has taken their life. As a community and as part of a society we need to be accountable and help do something to stop this growing epidemic.

There was a kid at school today who had his ass and boxers hanging out of his pants. My first thought was eww that looks so dumb, and then I realized he came out of the classroom I was going in. Then, all I could think about was, "I hope I'm not sitting in his seat."

5 Stories I'd Like to Write 
• A husband and wife buy a old house as their first home.  It is a fixer upper and while they are doing construction on the home they come across an album of old postcards.  The postcards give the couple a glimpse of what has happened over the years in that old house.
  
• Two sisters have a pretty close relationship.  They do everything together.  Their family is small and consists of just the two of them and their mother.  One day while the two girls are at the beach the one of the sisters drowns.
• George is a special boy.  He has special needs but his heart is golden.  One day, on a class trip to the pumpkin patch George picks out a green lopsided pumpkin.  Everyone else walked past it but he picked it out as the most beautiful pumpkin.
  
• In an effort to not be alone for another Christmas a young woman takes a vacation to New York, a city with so many people you could never be alone.  She sees all the landmarks and city sights but still finds herself alone and jaded.  One stop, Rockefeller Center, inspires her to write a letter that will change millions of people.
  
• An elderly couple who have been married for 55 years live together in the home they raised their children.  They were immigrants who came here with very little so their home never felt too big for the two of them.  Months after celebrating their  55th wedding anniversary the husband falls ill, and eventually passes away.  The wife doesn't know how she will go on without him, but soon it becomes clear she wont have to.
  

song of the moment

so glad it was performed tonight on Idol!

So True

"If you mess up and learn nothing, It's a mistake.

If you mess up and learn something, It's experience."

Mark McFadden

This House I Cannot Leave

My darling friend Christina found my other favorite poem--so here it is:

This House I Cannot Leave
by Barbara Kingslover

My friend describes the burglar:
how he touched her clothes, passed through rooms
leaving himself there,
staining the space
between walls, a thing she can see.

She doesn’t care what he took, only
that he has driven her out, she can’t
stay in this house
she loved, scraped the colors of four families
from the walls and painted with her own,
and planted things.
She is leaving fruit trees behind.

She will sell, get out. maybe
another neighborhood.
People say
Get over it. THe market isn’t good. The advise
that she think about cash to mortgage
and the fruit trees

but the trees have stopped growing for her.

I ofer no advice.
I tell her I know, she will leave. I am thinking
of the man who broke and entered

me.

Of the years it took to be home again
in this house I cannot leave.

Two of My Favorite Poems

With all these classes canceled and this absurd weather it's hard for me to keep track of what's due when, which syllabi are being changed, etc. I think we had to post a poem that we like, so, here is one of my favorites. Another poem that I was trying to find on the internet but could not is by Barbara Kingsolver and the poem is called "This House I Cannot Leave."

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Forgiving My Father
Lucille Clifton

it is friday. we have come
to the paying of the bills.
all week you have stood in my dreams
like a ghost, asking for more time
but today is payday, payday old man;
my mother's hand opens in her early grave
and i hold it out like a good daughter.

there is no more time for you. there will
never be time enough daddy daddy old lecher
old liar. i wish you were rich so i could take it all
and give the lady what she was due
but you were the only son of a needy father,
the father of a needy son;
you gave her all you had
which was nothing. you have already given her
all you had.

you are the pocket that was going to open
and come up empty any friday.
you were each other's bad bargain, not mine.
daddy old pauper old prisoner, old dead man
what am i doing here collecting?
you lie side by side in debtors' boxes
and no accounting will open them up.

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