V is for Vacation

I know I haven't written, but I swear that I have the most valid excuse of all time. My husband and I went to Disney World to have a small and awesome family reunion with his relatives.  Although EXTREMELY hot, a good time was had by all.

I wish we had more time to spend with them. My in-laws are exceptional people who are truly sweet.  If you look up good people in the dictionary, I am positive you would see their pictures.  I am blessed to have great in-laws.  I'm not boasting. I promise.  But I realize it is truly awesome to be able to appreciate the in-laws. 

Anyway, enough of all the sweetness before I give myself double diabetes. (No such thing but I really do have diabetes, so that gives me the right to make fun of myself having the chronic disease.)

We went to Universal Studios, my favorite parts were Marvel Island and Springfield. (I love Marvel and the Simpsons.)  Then on Thursday, we all went to Magic Kingdom.  Hot would not be the word I'd use to describe the heat.  How about soul-shattering, bra-melting, crabbiness inducing,  and  all around a horrible temperature.  Especially for a dainty flower such as myself.  The Magic Kingdom was a blast, though.  Just very, very, very hot.  I would say Florida is as hot as Homer Simpson's Guatemalan Insanity Pepper.

I would write more, but I've got to run.  Vacation's over and I go back to work tomorrow.  Let me leave with this quote:

“Man surprised me most about humanity. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”--Dalai Lama

So if you are thinking about a vacation, go. Have fun.

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. –Benjamin Franklin

Good words written or spoken by, shall we say, an interesting man.  I guess it means that people have two choices in life:  Either be the author and creator of good books or live an interesting life.

Guess what I choose to do.  Well, right now, neither but since I’m gradually writing more. (Which is hard.  The creative part of the brain is like a muscle, if you don’t use it, you lose it.)  My goal is simply two hundred words a day.  No less, but a little more is fine.   It is time for me to step up, not be a whiny wanna-be, and do what must be done.  OK, so writing fiction doesn’t have to be done, but my point is made.

Which brings me to a thought I just had:  If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it.  Is there any scarier phrase in the English language?  It intimates that if you neglect a part of yourself, it will drift into the nether. Quite possibly to never be seen again.  Whatever dreams you have: Never give up.

Here’s a little something I’m working on.  I’ll do more later, but here’s a sample:

           Amanda shivered, not only from the frigid stone, but from the mist and breeze drifting from the coast that lay a short distance away.  Amanda hated the very nature of the gravestone, turning someone so vibrant and loved to simply a name and a set of dates.  Rendering him into facts, nothing more.  The other markers were a blur to her. They were there, but meaningless to Amanda, like a gnat whose presence could be easily forgot. Then she felt a creeping disgust at her self absorbed grief.  Those graves meant something to the families left behind.

/That is what death is--a transformation from beauty and life to becoming nothing more than dust and history.  Death is the loss of what was and what could be--the loss of potential./ Amanda mused as the combination of biting temperature and the somber surroundings left her chill and desolate.

Jonathan Kendall, Born July 8,1976. Died September 21, 2013. Amanda read his gravestone hollowly and for the seventeenth time.  Age thirty-seven.  /Too young. I need him like birds need to sing. It's not fair./ she thought as a familiar unease made her glance up.  A dark blot, gradually taking the form of a man, edged around the cemetary’s grass. His dull boots teased along the line of green. Her eyes took him in, graceful in his black wool coat.  An intricate pin, of Greek design, glinted gold even in the gray day. The gold burned almost too brightly.

        Amanda’s heart sped up.  The man disturbed her on a level she hadn’t anticipated.  Her blood burst wildly and she rapidly walked away toward her car.  /

Writing Orders The Mind

Life takes people on crazy turns, sometimes.  Dreams can dry up, such as what I had thought I wanted by going to school.  But I discovered that I simply want a life to live.  I don’t want to waste valuable time and energy; life doesn’t stick around long enough for someone to do everything they want to.  I have a confession. I left college.  As much as I did enjoy some aspects of school, facing a fifty thousand bill once I graduated…with no guarantee of a job was more than I personally could take.   However, it was more than the fear of student loans that encouraged me to leave.

I simply ran out of energy.  I found it just too difficult to learn a new job, have a long commute, make dinner, and study.  Then there is the fact that I need to exercise to lose weight.  My health is my priority.  I’m thirty-nine and probably 70-80 pounds overweight. I’ve got diabetes.  So yeah, I’ve got some problems. 

Yet, I’ve not completely given up on the dream that haunts me like a seagull screaming at night.  The desire to be a writer. Not necessarily for the pleasure of others, but for the satisfaction of crafting words and churning out fine pieces of literary art.   If people like what I have to say, that’s great, but I’ve come not to expect what I write to resonate with others.  So writing, for me, has become a selfish thing, a self-nurturing thing.

I haven’t done a lot of writing since I left college--probably because I was burnt the hell out.  But now, as spring has sprung into glorious colors, I feel the tendrils of inspiration come back.

Welcome to the World

Welcome to the newest incarnation of my blogging career.  I've had previous blogs on blogger, typepad and WordPress, but have quit them for various reasons.  My very first one, Randi's Rants, was discovered by my former employer and they informed me that I need to quit.  Rest in peace, Randi's Rants.

After that, I went underground.  Being the secret rebel and iconoclast that I am, I bucked the system. I went through various services looking for the right blogging fit. TypePad is a good blogging platform, but it costs money.  WordPress WAS good before the interface got all confusing.  I tried Tumblr, too. Meh, I say!  Plus, I don't really like my web address for it anymore.  In fact, I think it's sort of lame and doesn't reflect who I am here and now.  A sort of pretentious thought to be sure, but hey, I'm human.

Which brings me full circle to blogger.  After rumbling around the templates, I am pleased to see that I can fully customize my blog however I want.  WITHOUT paying for it, as I would through Wordpress.

I know that I may seem fickle, and I probably am, but it is important to me to be comfortable with my blogging platform.  It is where I give unformed voice to issues I didn't know that I wanted to discuss until my fingers hit the keyboard, like Babe Ruth hitting baseballs.

And if you wanted to know where I got the name for my blog?  I heard the phrase on Bob's Burgers and thought it was quirky enough to use as a name.  Accidentally on Purpose. That's me in a nutshell.  A little zany and a lot of cute with some sweet thrown in for good measure.