Hope this Works

Well of all things fair and foul....
It seems I can only blog in the Blogger in Draft area and not my regular dashboard. Also gone is the ability to track my followers. They do nt appear on my front page. I can link from the dashboard but the page is blank. And the one time it did work they tell me that YouGotCrossed Son is my only friend.

Getting crossed doesn't sound like a positive thing. And right now there are only two bloggers, me and another, who know anything about it and are willing to sqwauck at blogger about it. Man what a pain in the ass.

And with my luck no one will be in for the holiday. So I will continue with my weekend and leave the profound for another time. Got the boyfriend hooked on Sudoku, played some killer bunnies, catching a little Voyage Home on Syfy after watching Big Bang Theory last night. Have some drawing to do later and a few hours to put in at work.... what an insanely dull weekend. But I needed it.

Later I will tell you all about this Summer's reading list. I have to get my but into Borders and have a look around. Our library is woefully understocked with current titles. Not that there is nothing fascinating on the shelf. Its just that I really want to read a couple of books that I heard about from USA Today articles, especially the one about the 80s. Sounds like a fascinating thing to me. And mostly because I want to see if the author got it right because he lived the 80s or if it is really lalme cause he is going by what his parents said.

on pondering

so i just found another cool blog at Book swept and the following quote showed up. it is from salinger's 9 stories that were published in the 1950s. yeah i thought he only wrote the catcher in the rye. i guess when he died last year the fact that he wrote short stories was too tedious to mention. at any rate here's the quote. what do you think?*

the fact is always obvious much too late, but the most singular difference between happiness and joy is that happiness is a solid and joy is a liquid.

 Now what do you think about the collective consciousness? i ask that because as soon as i read it i thought to myself  "well duh". then i realized that isn't exactly a duh kind of thing. that is a bit of genius insight. if it was a duh kind of thing we all would mention it in conversations on the subject. but I have always known that kind of thing since i was a kid. so salinger writes a bunch of shorts, a few phrases stick and pretty soon give or take 30 years everyone knows this so well we don't bother with attributes? i think that is probably how it happened. grampa liked salinger. i never read anything but parts of catcher for Mr. Trapp's class. so how would i know joy is a liquid?

and why do i believe that joy is a liquid?

because of how it feels when it envelopes you
because happiness can decay
joy is bliss
joy and bliss transcend location
                                     substance and form
                                                      events and occasions

happiness is an emotional carb
joy and bliss is manna





www.bookswept.blogspot.com

*the shift button is not cooperating today. sorry for the weird typography

Ends of Eras

I haven't watched Oprah in a long time. I have worked when she has been on in my area or I have slept during her time slot when I was self employed. I think that it had probably been 10 years since I have sat down to watch an episode on purpose. I wonder how many viewers she has lost to circumstance that makes her departure a sensible thing. But then who's want to work 48 weeks out of the year?

It's jsut odd that she won't be watercooler talk any more. For as much as I complain about the lack of commonality because there are so many networks the Big three plus Fox are still staples of TV viewers. At least for the next decade... I think.

it used to be Phil Donahue and Oprah. Then it was Oprah and Ellen. Now its just...... nobody.

I read, write, work and all of my information comes distilled from the things that I read. I do not watch news programs. I guess fall out from 9/11. So maybe Oprah is s bit of a casualty there. I just don't have the desire for more information.

More Unsolicited Advice

Wil most likely be out of the loop for a few weeks. It has little to do with technical difficulties and a lot to do with a pretty heavy project. Monumental doesn't even really begin to describe the scope of the project. And no... it won't make any money. And it isn't artistic. But it is going to help in the long run.

A lot of times we try to build things in our lives without doing the foundational work. You ge the structures built and it looks great on the outside. Looks like its a lot of fun and it feels comfortable to be in. But when the "weather" and the normal daily wear and tear do their thing your "Thing" be it a job, a relationship or whatever you've built for yourself, starts to show the signs of decay. Repairs don't fix the problem and cosmetic fixes don't work. You don't know why this Thing you've built is falling apart. But you keep sinking your time and resources into the Thing to keep it going. Then it totally falls apart and someone comes along and points out that your support beams weren't sufficient to carry the load.

Simple diagnosis. And had the diagnosis come sooner you could have fixed things so much sooner and had a beautiful Thing instead of a pile of rubble. Oops. That's what you get for listening to the "helpful" people who do mean well but don't know what they are talking about. Its like letting a lawyer diagnosis stage 5 cancer and prescribing treatment. A Lawyer knows law, that's what they should stick to. I know. I know. Friends are there to help. And that is true. But they do not always know what is best for us.

Some of the advice I got years ago camefrom people who are very good at running from their issues and pretending that there are no issues so that was their advice. Not sound. Well meaning, but unwise advice nonetheless. Some people I sought advice from just hd no idea that one thing could be connected to another so their words were uhelpful as I was told that issues were in my head. And still there were some advice givers who were so disconnected from life that they could not give good advice. I didn't see that could be true while I was in crisis mode. So I did more damage to myself by expecting more from my friends than they could give and not doing the one thing that I should have done....

I should have sought professional help. I needed a counselor and a support group. I may not have needed meds. I may not have needed extensive treatment. But I did need to talk to someone who knows the process of recovery and who had the tools to deal with the issues. My friends should hve been relied upon to do what friends do best.... love you, hang with you, a hug you while you are working through something difficult [And in the case of Desperate Housewives maybe they should help bury the bodies] not doing the job of trained professionals. I wouldn't even use a friend who is a trained professional for counseling. They are too close to your crap to be as effective as you need them to be.

So I guess what I am saying is this: if you are going through something painful and difficult and life shattering then go to the bar or the beach with your friends and go to the pros for the heavy lifting. I didn't and the repair work now is going to be enormous.

So is the bill.