Just Who Has Been Reading This Blog?!

Mashable.com, via Google Reader, informs me of a new service being launched by Pitney Bowes, the postage-meter pioneer.


Described as "a free digital mailbox in 2011 that will allow customers to pay multiple bills online without remembering more than one password," it sounds like a winner.


But the name they came up for it?
Click Here to Read More..

A Happy New Year Wish

and word of appreciation to all my loyal Blogger friends who keep their Thinking Caps on Amid Life's Crises, even when Negativity is the Norm and you feel like a Bad-Tempered Zombie.

Raise your glass of Alpen Wasser!  Have A Taste of Ipecac if you're Pleading For Sanity!  Never turn off those Deep Thoughts or cease your Internal Monologue.  Whether you're a Clergy Guy or just an Everyday Unitarian, I hope the New Year finds you No Longer Quivering and free from Katastrophe.

May all the truly Stupid Evil Bastards in your life Swerve and Vanish -- let them be Forever in Hell, while the rest of us are just Laughing in Purgatory.  No matter how many Post-it Notes From Hades they try to stick on us, despite their Ramblings, we'll just say "Down With Tyranny!"

Let Me Be Frank:  It's All One Thing.

So, my fellow scribes and constant readers,

Namaste, For Today.

...and if you're not included here, my feeble brain just couldn't figure out where to work you in.  I appreciate you just as much!  :) Click Here to Read More..

Too Compulsive? Not Enough? Hell If I Know!

I spent about an hour today with this little red notebook I have. It's spiral-bound, lined, perforated and hole-punched, and I've had it for about 2 and a half years. My goal was to record daily events and also to house keepsakes such as movie tickets, programs, etc. to keep sort of a 3-dimensional record of my daily activities.

Today I decided to ditch the scribbles and just use it as a scrapbook.

A quick side-note: People either love scrapbooking or hate it. Those who love it are among those who turned "scrapbook" into a verb not all that long ago. I personally have no time or use for the type of activity that involves buying little cutout frames for a scrapbook.

Click Here to Read More..

Absolutely nothin'

A fellow blogger has been conspicuously absent the last week or so; today he resurfaced with an explanation that his neglect of an urgent project has made him decide to cut back on his Internet activity until he gets it all done.

At least he's got a legitimate excuse. I check in here every day; see my most recent post growing cobwebs and still can't come up with a decent topic that's postworthy. I comment plenty, both here and on LiveJournal. Just no original posts.

Some of my mental energy has been diverted to one of those sites where you write "articles" for which they "pay." The quotes refer to the fact that no magazine I know would accept the stuff I crank out at its current level of quality, and the fact that the "pay" amounts to pennies and you have to accrue $25 before you can get it out via PayPal. Still, it's become mildly addictive.

Have been catching up with several old friends recently unearthed on Facebook. Trying to come up with a way to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the publication of Thomas Harris' novel Hannibal, which launched my brief fanfiction writing career and some decent friendships, both on- and off-line.

So, in case anybody was wondering, I'm not dead, at least not in the physical sense. Depressed, maybe, a little. Looking forward to the next burst of inspiration. It will come. It always does. Click Here to Read More..

Making Lists, Killing Time

Confession: I'm killing time to avoid having to confront the painful reality of tax preparation. And that's all I have to say about that.

As for the lists, I have subdivided my blog list into categories, mainly because the list was getting unwieldy. Some of the categories are pretty easy, especially "Atheist Blogs," because a great many have the "A" word in the title or the "scarlet letter" prominently featured.

I originally had two separate categories in mind for "liberal" blogs and "political" blogs, but truthfully, you're not going to find any "Townhall"-style bloggers featured here, so for me, "liberal" and "political" are a tad redundant.

Skeptic/atheist/freethinker that I am, I still attend a Unitarian Universalist church, as I've mentioned here and there; it's an adventure to sort out objective reality from wonder (or "woo-woo," as our minister calls it). Yesterday's "unknown" is today's science and the same undoubtedly holds true now, for the most part. Yet, there are still questions about how we grow our worldview, and anyone who takes on this challenge full-time deserves recognition, which is why the "Religion/Philosophy" list is separate.

The feminist blog list is small, and I am in the process of remedying that.

As for the rest, a number of my favorites fall into several categories all at once, or offer an unblinking and unintimidated view of the author's everyday life, which I find irresistible and often inspirational. We are, indeed, all in this together and blogging helps provide great reassurance of that. There are a few expert blogs in here, as well as irreverent humor -- in all cases, you'll find an abundance of talent and great writing.

If you're a blog author and you want to persuade me to move your blog to another list, drop a line. Meanwhile, enjoy and have a good rest of the weekend. Click Here to Read More..

Leave My Elevator Alone

I wish our internets would refrain from spontaneously inventing new games...

Yahoo, where my home page is, has been up to some weirdness in the last 12 hours. First, it took several tries to access my e-mail. Then it decided that my life wouldn't be complete without "instant" access to and from everyone on my list via instant messaging. Just what I need -- people popping up to say hi. I get it on Facebook, and now Yahoo.

Now it (or maybe Blogger) has decided that some of the blogs on my list at the right are more properly enjoyed after being turned into "feeds." So I can't just click my faves and read them; I have to go back to Yahoo. Any time this happens, I will choose to Follow if the option is available and then take them off Yahoo. So far, it's happened with 3 blogs and I was able to use the follow option with one.

So go ahead, change it! Improve it! But at least have the courtesy to ask me first...

Grumble, grumble... Click Here to Read More..

Welcome!!!

I add new blogs to my list all the time (yeah, I'm up to 80 of 'em), but this is the first time I'm making a formal announcement about it.

This is because I'm hoping everyone will tune in to Vyckie and Laura, who were recently featured on salon.com as having escaped from the patriarchal fundie "Quiverfull" movement. Their story is fascinating. I hope they will get plenty of support from like-minded bloggers. Solid backing will help so many other women in the same position gather the courage to save themselves from this lunacy.

Their blog is called "No Longer Quivering." Click Here to Read More..

Yakkety Yak

I seem to be on a roll tonight...not to produce any original, thought-provoking material, but to comment at length on other people's.

Forty minutes ago I was threatening to doze off in front of the tube and drag myself off to bed. Now I'm wide awake and verbose.

Was it the green tea? Click Here to Read More..

On the Last Day of Christmas...One Busted Blogger

Could this happen to anyone, as the man claims?

I tend to doubt it. Perhaps he needs to consult a neurologist if his memories are that disorganized. Click Here to Read More..

234 and the year's not over yet

I created an Excel spreadsheet to include this blog, as well as three others I maintain on different sites, and charted my activity for the years I've been at this.

This year, Blogger wins hands down with 129. This doesn't count all posts, just days on which I posted.

August was my heaviest posting month this year, but my lightest in '07.

Between 2004 and 2005 I had a total of 3 posts -- here. Then zero activity on '06, then 65 in '07 -- none of them here.

I'm hoping to do more and better posting in 2009.

Maybe for next Halloween I'll dress up as The Mad Statistician.

Personally, this hasn't been the best year for me -- not the worst, but there were some significant bumps in the road that I could have lived without. My activity on this site, especially, and the people I've come to know here, have been one of the bright spots. So THANKS!

Expect a different theme/layout as of early January.

/v Click Here to Read More..

Randomosity

I've been both busy AND blocked, to the point that I haven't even had time to sit down and check in with all the blogs on my list. Typically, I comment way more than I post, but in the last week, that has fallen off. Still, I find myself reading various things online and thinking it would make a good topic for a post if only I had the time.

So, here I'll just toss a few out, hope one or two sticks to the wall, and then perhaps come back this weekend and and expand.

1. Blame it on (the) Moon
This article from 3 months back fascinated me when I was directed to it this morning. It had always struck me, however vaguely, that while in the early 1970s, Rev. Moon was viewed as nothing but another potentially dangerous cult leader, all of a sudden, seemingly out of nowhere, he was the owner of a respectable conservative newspaper, The Washington Times, and no one was sounding alarm bells about him anymore. In view of Jim Jones and David Koresh, to name but two, it did seem odd that Reverend Moon was no longer the focus of suspicion and distrust. This should help clear it up quite nicely, for anyone else who might have wondered about it.

2. Just move it to "fiction," already.
Some online friends of mine are having yet another debate about what the creation story in Genesis really said, really meant, etc. One person pointed out the passage in which Adam and Eve, having eaten from the tree of knowledge, covered their nakedness and then tried to hide from God. God came looking for them, and this person pointed out how silly that was -- what, his omniscience failed all of a sudden? He couldn't see behind a rock or a tree?

I just don't get why people debate the bible at all. How much simpler our lives would be to just say "Ah, some primitive type trying to make sense out of life's mysteries. An interesting take...flawed...I mean, look at the terrible plot devices and stilted dialogue. But kind of quaint to read. Now what were we talking about before? Oh, yeah...what we're going to do this weekend..."

Well, lunch hour is rapidly drawing to a close, so I'll post more as I think of them. I'm very, very glad it's Friday. Click Here to Read More..

Volly's Souvenir Post

Other than "Yay!" I can't think of anything terribly original to say about this awesome, wonderful, hope-affirming election result. So, I've decided to paste the first headline from all the bloggers in my sidebar (or the best ones starting around 11:00 last night, since many have posted several times already).

This, after all, is what blogs are for.

***

From The Immoral Minority:
Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States!
*
From The Chaliceblog:

WAHOO!!!! Thank you, Virginia!!!

*
From Atheist Revolution:
OBAMA WINS!
*
From Fran's Ramblings:

If she could .....

Lady Liberty would be dancing!
(picture at right pasted along with the headline).

*
From Lugosi's Mirth, Musings & More:
This Race is Now Over.

*
From James Ishmael Ford:
Joys & Sorrows
(a sober reminder that all is not well - Proposition 8 appears to have passed in California)
*
From Hugo Schwyzer:
Quiet Tears
*
From Mound of Sound:
McCAIN CONCEDES!
*
From Cosmic Connie:

"Sail on, sail on, o mighty Ship of State..."

*
From The Atheist Experience:
One big victory
*
From the divine Ms. Kay:
All Done.
*

From Bad-Tempered Zombie:
thank you, America
*
From The Rev. Reed Braden:
That Was Quick
*

Letters from a Hill Farm:
Quote du jour/Mary Lois
Tomorrow will be another day. But this is the big one.
*
From Primordial Blog:
Way to Go America!
*
From The Invisible Pink Unicorn:
It's Obama!
*
From Tangled Up in Blue Guy:
I Have Been to the Mountaintop
*
From Questions About Faith, Etc.
Obama's Hope
*
From Internal Monologue:
Fireworks lighting up my neighborhood
[mine too, Zach, and surprisingly few gunshots!]

From Dennis Palumbo:

MURPHY'S LAW REPEALED!!

*
From Helen Wheels:
America WINS!
*

A good representative sample for now and a good stopping point, since I'm late for the shower.

Have a great, inspiring day, everybody!

-Volly Click Here to Read More..

Doing my bit for the cause

This is for Reggie Finley, The Infidel Guy.

He has a MySpace page, and I've been a fan ever since he appeared on Trading Spouses (or was it Wife Swap? ... anyway, you get the idea).

Please check him out if you haven't yet, and help him out if you can!

====

Keep The Infidel Guy Show on the air!
Much like PBS, it's time again for fans of The Infidel Guy to help keep us on the air.
More details are available at infidelguy. com

http://www. infidelguy. com

--- John Loftus will be our guest this Thursday discussing his new book. Why I became an atheist. 10-30-2008 @ 8PM ET.


-- Thanks for all of the help guys.


-- Reggie Finley Sr Click Here to Read More..

I love blogging but not at 3:39 in the frickin a.m.

My damn arthritic toe woke me up and then I couldn't get back to sleep, and I only went to bed at 11. Grr. The radio is going to come on at 6.

So anyway, here I am, might as well do something with it.

I started looking for new blogs to add (like I don't already have enough...it's gotten to the point where I'm missing some good ones and letting days go by before I can catch 'em) and decided to add Rex Stout to the "favorite books" section of my profile. I stumbled upon Nero Wolfe almost by accident last month and wish it hadn't taken me so long. Then proceeded to check out some other bloggers who listed him.

I have discovered something interesting. Most of the Stout fans have been blogging for more than a couple of years, like me. New minor pet peeve: Finding a good blog and enjoying the first couple of entries, only to discover that there are no other pages and I'll have to wait several weeks before I can settle down to a good read.

A great many of the Stout fans also run multiple blogs with multiple teams, and quite a few (perhaps not surprisingly) share my interests in other areas such as movies and music, and rely more on words than pictures to convey information.

[static while I desperately surf, looking for something else to put here...]

Aha. CNN. My trusted source for blogfodder.

Here's an article in the Oprah section about how to disconnect from people who drain you.

Lest the link die someday in the too-near future, here's an excerpt -- the part that made me nod my head:

3. Play favorites -- Your ability to connect is a resource much more precious than money, so manage it well. Make a list of everyone to whom you feel bonded, then consider what kind of return you're getting on your investment.

It may sound cold-blooded to say you must divest yourself of the relationships that give you consistent losses, but unless you do this, you'll soon run out of capital, and you'll have no connection energy left to invest in anybody. So, please, decide now to deliberately limit the time and attention you spend on "low-yield" relationships. Above all...

4. Get rid of squid -- Squid is my word for people who seem to be missing their backbones but possess myriad sucking tentacles of emotional need. Like many invertebrates, squid appear limp and squishy -- but once they get a grip on you, they're incredibly powerful. Masters at catalyzing guilt and obligation, they operate by squeezing pity from everyone they meet.

Getting a squid out of your life is never pretty. Tell them straightforwardly that you want them, yes them, to leave now, yes, now. This will be unpleasant. There will be lasting hurt feelings. Don't worry. Squid love hurt feelings. They hoard them, trading them in for pity points when they find another victim -- er, friend. Let them go, their coffers bulging.

I'm discovering this thing that I call The New Introversion. More and more, just lately it seems, I'm hearing people declare that they like being alone and would rather not talk to others that much. If they're single, they want to stay that way. All of this takes me by surprise, because I've always been an introvert, as were my parents, and we all lived under the impression that we were somehow "wrong." The story that always comes to mind was my first day of school in the 4th grade. The average class size back then was about 30. The desks in the room were arranged in pairs. The only unpaired desk was one of the older, roomier models -- it sat in the back and I headed straight for it. The teacher (who turned out to be the bane of my childhood) came by to talk to everyone; when he got to me, he observed that I was not paired with anyone and asked "Aren't you afraid you'll get lonely back there?"

This man, by the way, was lauded far and wide as being some sort of "uber-teacher." Everyone wanted to be in his class. I know he entertained fantasies of being voted Teacher of the Year or something similar, because my non-conforming, daydreaming, independent ways had him tearing his hair out. He quite honestly did not know what to do with me, and tried every trick in the book to bring me into harness -- everything from consulting a psychologist to subjecting me to months of endless ridicule. In the end, he simply demoted me off the advanced-placement track -- and then proceeded to follow me around the school, trying to determine what kind of progress I was making without his divine guidance. My mother finally called the school and told them she wanted him to leave me alone. I don't remember anything overtly sexual in his behavior, other than bear hugs, but there was certainly some sort of obsession at work there.

Yes, he seemed to genuinely think I'd be "lonely" sitting in the back of a class with 30 other kids. I can't go so far as to say he was an idiot, but without a doubt, he was an asshole.

Forty years later, it still feels liberating to say that.

But that was the first inkling I had that wanting to be physically or existentially separate from other humans was abnormal. Through the ensuing years the same message came through in different ways, up to and including the girl, whose name I have long since forgotten, who made me miss the opening number at an Eric Clapton concert in the 80s because she needed someone to accompany her to the restroom.

The mindset is a common one. The article quoted above is welcome, just for its ability to reassure the introverted reader that "no, it isn't just me." I only wish it hadn't taken so long to unhook myself from one squid in particular.

Of course, the most common variation of the "must not be alone" fallacy is the one that leads people to marry the wrong person. Plenty of people still do it, but here again, I see the beginnings of a trend whereby a newly divorced or widowed individual will say "Been there, done that, got the t-shirt, finito."

I love my spouse, but this is my second marriage, and if it should ever end it will be the last. You can take that one to the bank.

4:31. I'm getting back into the bed now in a last-ditch effort to snag another hour or so of sleep. Most likely if sleep comes, it will be crammed with weird dreams. Click Here to Read More..

Funny? Sad?

I spend more time hunting around for sites to add to my blogroll than I do blogging. I spend an equal amount of time commenting on other people's blogs.

Well, perhaps there's hope. After all, the weekend is coming, when I usually am sufficiently bored and idle to summon up some creativity of my own. Click Here to Read More..

A handful of random one-liners

Just not organized enough to stick to one topic today, so here's where I dump the lint-catcher that resides between my ears...

Didn't want to to go church today, but glad I did.
A lot of people there have suffered losses in just the last week or so.
The choir has some good new people in it.
I waited too long to see the doctor about my foot, but we're working on getting it taken care of now.
Life could be better.
Why does the mutt next door always stop making noise as soon as I put on music to drown it out?
If Wally loses much more weight, he will disappear.
Seriously thinking about changing the theme for this blog, but worried I'll make a hash of it.
The days go by too damn fast.
Talked to my bff last night; it was good to catch up.
She hates weddings as much as I do.
I'd rather go to a funeral than a wedding.
At least with a funeral you can leave early and people assume you're grief-stricken and not just bored silly.
Funerals are way cheaper, too -- no gifts expected.
I'm feeling glimmers of optimism for this presidential election.
I just hope no one I'm pulling for does anything monumentally stupid to screw it up before Nov. 4.
Interesting how the tide seems to have shifted just recently.
Took long enough.
Michael Clayton was such a boring, pointless movie, I sent it back to Netflix after sticking with it for 30 minutes.
I like listening to Chris Isaak and have no idea why.
Coffee's ready; be right back.
Coffee pot needs cleaning.
Bookcases need reorganizing.
We surely do need rain.
The kitchen counter is a mess.
We really need a new refrigerator.
Facebook is addictive.
The husband of a friend of mine has been diagnosed with squamous-cell carcinoma.
Christmas will be here before we know it.
Anticipation of a bad outcome often keeps me from taking decisive action.
There sure are a lot of people in the news media who get paid beaucoups bucks and still haven't a clue about spelling, grammar or usage.
Ahh -- Warren Zevon.
Die Hard is still a great movie.
The first one.
Samsung makes better cell phones than Nokia.
I need to call Pete and wish him a happy 61st.
Slim Fast is a better idea than a milkshake from Arby's today.
They're closing Coney Island's Astroland.
Putting up more yuppie condos, no doubt.
I just hate what they're doing to New York City.
I'm so, so glad that Thomas Kinkeade is out of Carl's price range.
It's amazing how things can change in ten years.
Another hopeful sign: Michael Dowd
I don't even want to think about a fall wardrobe.
Comedians annoy me when they toss out what made them famous in the first place and go out of their way to create a "serious" public image.
Chicken parmigiana sounds like a good plan for dinner tonight.
I haven't owned a swimsuit since 2005.
Being an only child isn't such a terrible thing.
With an older sibling I'd have been an insufferable brat.
With a younger sibling I'd have been an overbearing bully.
The guy next door finally emptied out the crap from the bed of his old pickup.
There was someone sleeping in there yesterday.
Why do all ice cream trucks use the same music?
And what does "Turkey in the Straw" have to do with ice cream?
If I had my way, all existing recordings from Evanescence would be destroyed, and the lead singer would be sentenced to sing nothing but polkas for the rest of her life.
Three vacation days left.
One is scheduled already.
Sitting here doing this is not the best use of my time. Click Here to Read More..

Blog-shopping

My bloglist grows steadily ... my normal way of finding new ones is perusing those already on the list and seeing who's on theirs. But occasionally I browse through, using the "next blog" function, just to see what comes up.

This evening I set aside about 15 minutes to explore and came up with one winner. The rest?

If it's not in English ... next. I quit at 30.

If it's mostly photos ... next. Eight of those.

If the intro contains a Bible verse or "this blog is a chronicle of my walk with the Lord" ... next. I got lucky tonight -- just one!

If it's intended for a limited audience such as family and friends ... next. More than 10 tonight.

If it's dedicated to a topic that doesn't interest me in the least (such as gaming) ... next. One of those this time around.

What I look for in a blog is word-density, with frequent updates. The topics can be public (politics, religion) or private (one individual's outlook and experiences) as long as they meet the aforementioned criteria. Humor is always a plus -- I find that people with a sense of humor are far more likely to be rational and readable.

This is not to say that I hold any illusions whatsoever that my blog is making anyone's heart go pitter-pat. I often despair at the dearth of topics that occur to me.

If it's personal angst, I'll usually post somewhere else (another blog or personal journal on the hard drive) unless I think it might be something that others can relate to...

My philosophical/political acumen is pretty weak. I have opinions, of course, but doubt that they break any new ground in discourse.

And then comes the fundamental laziness that prevents me from exploring a topic in depth or creating a series.

A large function of this blog has been venting - just laying it all out there. I have known a lot of people who could have benefited greatly from this exercise. It clearly keeps me from rehashing the same old tired themes ... but then the ideas start to dwindle.

Frustrating for me & everyone... Click Here to Read More..

An Era is Ending

Actually, less than 2 years, but it felt like an era. Carl has gotten the job he's been after for the last month. He starts in about 10 days. Hooway.

If he doesn't sign up for the medical insurance, I may have to kill him.

[edited the next day] On the current job, he's been told not to come back next Monday -- supposedly the day he took off for the interview was a no-no ...
We'll see. There are other back-up options before he starts at the new place.

***

Two posts in one day? I'm getting BLABBERY again. The real reason for the loquacity is that it feels like Friday. One more day, one more day.

I'm in a month-long feminine theology workshop. A bunch of us femmes sat around talking about our earliest impressions of sexual issues (menstruation, relationship, childbirth, menopause, etc).

It occurs to me that EVERY WOMAN I KNOW feels she comes from a home environment where these matters were treated with secrecy and embarrassment to some degree or other. Is this inevitable, and is it universal? I would say yes, it's universal, and in some cultures it's downright pathological (FGM, for example). I think my mom wanted to pretend that it wasn't that way in our home, and I must give her credit -- she boldly went where other moms dared not go. She did the best she could, she really did.

I still haven't figured my mother out, and I suppose I never will. Click Here to Read More..

Ha! I just had to stick this in.

My results for the Blog Personality Test, found at:

http://mama.indstate.edu/users/bones/weblogsurvey2.html

Your Weblog Personality Type Analysis

Well, well, well...according to this survey, your answers most closely resemble those we would expect to hear from the following personality type, but bear in mind that you answered 25 percent of the questions in a manner that closely resembles the weblogger personality type described below. You might not resemble the following personality very much.

---

Congratulations! You're a totally normal person.

If you had a weblog, it'd probably be a great one!

Why are you even taking this survey? You're obviously completely normal. You probably look on weblogs with the same disdain shown by all people of your elite personal perfection, however, if you do like weblogs, I'm sure you have a damned good reason. Kudos to you for retaining some measure of sanity in this mixed-up, shook-up, fucked-up world. We thank you for taking time out of your busy normal life to look this survey over.

Click Here to Read More..

Why I'm Here

I'm thinking this might be the blog where I let myself bitch and moan and get negative. I don't do much of that on other blogs because as mentioned before, people know who I am. It's not a matter of wanting to be phony, but I definitely self-censor. Probably because in my pre-'net years when my diaries were handwritten or typed in Word, I did plenty of venting, and then later, when I read the things over, I got depressed!

I even discarded my diaries going all the way up through my late 20s, before Wally was born. From that time forward, there was some journaling, but not that much. I transitioned over to more of a log format -- just recording things that happened each day. That has proved surprisingly useful. But by and large, I've fallen away from the "emo" style of journaling.

I need to get some of it out of my system, I think. I caught myself doing it a bit on a message forum that I participate in. Last night I was in a fairly foul mood, and that might be PMS. I kind of let it rip and still feel a little uncomfortable saying those things to people who generally have a good opinion of me. What I basically said was -- the question was 'what do you think is the meaning of life' or some such -- that life sometimes has too much meaning, and the casual conversation you have today can go so badly wrong, you're feeling the repercussions for years to come. I also expressed the opinion that life ought to get a bit easier and simpler to figure out as we age, but instead, these stupid potholes in the road just seem to appear out of nowhere and you're back to square one. There are days when life seems like more of a struggle than it needs to be.

Again, my overall state of mind is not a negative one. I had one huge depression that lasted 4 years, and then it lifted. I did go to a therapist, but she was a disaster; I considered reporting her to the American Psychological Association. The thing that got me out of the dumps was having a few key things start going right (or less wrong at least) and building on that.

I also need to mention here that I "lost my religion" about 5 and a half years ago. I had been a born-again Christian for 15 years and one day I just stopped. Just like that. I got tired of waiting for "God" to do something for me. I got tired of saying "Thank you" for whatever little crumbs of good luck came along, only to find them taken back a day or two later. This was during a long stretch of unemployment. I have not been unemployed that way since. I decided that EVERYTHING in my life was going to be MY responsibility. No one else's. No God, no people, nobody but me. I don't find it that daunting to accept the blame when things go wrong. It keeps me focused and shortens the time needed for absorbing events and learning from them.

I belong to a free-thought church, which I joined almost on impulse but have greatly enjoyed. I have some small curiosity about matters of the spirit, but my exploration of those will be entirely on my terms.

---

Okay, on to the next topic. I'm active in my neighborhood association, having been asked by several members to serve on the executive committee. I seem to be having trouble with "TL," who is also on the committee. She's the one I have the most contact with, and I'm starting to get the impression that she's a moody type. She will text or e-mail me something, and when I respond with a question about what she said, I get no answer. I mean, we're having a back & forth conversation, and suddenly, it's like space aliens came along and snatched her off the earth. I won't hear a peep out of her for days. She's either very moody or very scatter-brained. Either way, it's tedious to work with her.

Okay, that seems to have gotten it out of my system, at least for now. This may be blogspot's most depressing blog ever. We'll see...
Click Here to Read More..