SoCS – Coffee: The Good and the Bad

The strangest thing just happened. I read the prompt from my phone and was going in several different directions, not really sure what I was going to write about while I booted up my laptop.

I poured myself a cup of coffee about ten minutes ago and decided to sip it while waiting for the computer (it’s old and takes a minute, the poor thing).

Isn’t it strange that you don’t realize how good your coffee really is until you’ve been drinking really bad coffee all week? I knew the coffee at work was bad, but it saves me time and money to just drink their coffee rather than brewing a pot of my own in the morning and taking a to-go container. Plus, you don’t have that wretched thing happen where you take a quick turn and coffee spills everywhere, then you have coffee stains and smell for days or even weeks (yeah, that just happened about three weeks ago).

This doesn’t have anything to do with anything really, except that I just finished reading a book and one of the big things was that, to put it simply, we are all connected. Things are all connected. You can’t have black without white, up with out down, dark without light.

And I had this aha moment this morning. Granted, it has to do with coffee, but sometimes it takes the simplest of things to make you realize something profound.

Before starting my new job, I took my coffee to work every morning and I loved it, but there were mornings it was like a chore to drink it. I wasn’t really savoring it or enjoying it. It was just the thing I did in the morning on my way to work.

So, when I realized what kind of coffee they had at work, at first I was put off (cause it’s really bad), but then I just said screw it. I’ll drink it. And I have been. All week.

Then I taste my coffee this morning and I just about melted, it was so good.

So, you see? You can’t really experience something as amazing as really good coffee unless you have had the opposite. Because if you’ve never had coffee that tastes different from what you always drink, you won’t have anything to compare it to.

I suppose that is the simplest version of what I read. It was an amazing book. In case you’re interested, it is The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are by Alan Watts.

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This rather strange post that came from a random thought is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday hosted by Linda G. Hill. The Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “strange/stranger/strangest.”  Use one, use ’em all, or just let them inspire you. Have fun!

Thoughts on Hamilton – Which sounds really boring but it isn’t… I promise

Okay, so my blog is a bit schizophrenic. I write flash fiction, I write poems and I also partake in stream of conscious writing. I’ve started a song lyric post that I ended up missing on Sunday for the first time.

That’s another thing. Sometimes I just disappear.

But I realized last week that I do this blog for fun and pretty much for me (being the selfish person that I am), so if I miss a day or two or don’t do that challenge on that one day, I’m not going to beat myself up or get upset. I’m just going to accept it. (That’s the plan anyway).

Today, I’m going to jump into a whole new genre. I suppose this is a review, which I have done a few times, but not this kind of review.

I received a text from my daughter yesterday morning on my way to work.

“Mom. You absolutely have to listen to the new Bway musical Hamilton. It is amazing ugh.”

My first question was, “Bway?”

Broadway.

Yes.

I honestly love the performing arts. I don’t think I realized how much until Adelle went to a performing arts high school. We constantly attended plays and dances and she kept me in the know because they follow all the current performing arts things.

Apparently, Hamilton is all the rage right now at her school and after completely immersing myself in it for the last two days, I have to say that I completely understand it, and I haven’t even actually seen it! I just listened to the album.

To be honest, after listening to the first song, I was reluctant. It was so weird. I was a little put off that it was actually about Alexander Hamilton and I was even more weirded out about the hip-hop aspect. But it grew on me fast!

I love when things don’t take themselves too seriously. Writing, performing arts, music… pretty much anything you can think of, but since this is a creative blog, I’ll stick with some of those things.

I think music has stretched limits and changed and blossomed in many different ways, but Broadway has stayed relatively the same. I don’t know if that’s entirely accurate. Maybe it has changed. But honestly, this is the first time I’ve heard a Broadway musical that called itself “hip-hop.”

I love that Hamilton is current. I love pretty much everything about it. I only wish I could fly to New York tonight, pay for tickets and see the show, it was that good.

And that’s pretty odd coming from me, because as much as I like performing arts, I really don’t much care for history. That love went to my sister. But even given the fact that Lin-Manuel Miranda tried to keep Hamilton as historically accurate as possible (yes I looked that up), I fell in love with it.

So, this is me texting you on this late fall evening, telling you to listen to it if you can or buy it and listen. It is definitely worth every moment! (Oh, and I cried. Just sayin…)

Here is a snippet I found on YouTube that the Wall Street Journal posted.

Just give it a chance.

I dare you!

Monday’s Finish the Story – Laughing My Way to Hell

I watched the vulture looking at me hungrily as I lay on the ground bleeding and injured.

“No need to look at me like that. I’ll be yours soon enough,” I managed to squeeze through lips I could barely feel.

The bird tilted its head to the side and blinked its eyes, clear signs to me that it understood, so I kept talking, hoping to forestall the inevitable for reasons perhaps only the bird understood.

“You know, you should have more respect for your food. Dying is a painful, messy business.”

The bird squawked loudly in response.

“Well, yes. I know it’s not fair of me to say that. After all, I’ve always been painfully rude to my food.”

The ridiculousness of it all slammed into me at just the right moment, and if my body would have allowed it, I would have laughed my way to hell.

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Monday’s Finish the Story is a unique flash fiction challenge where we provide you with a new photo each week, and the first sentence of a story. Your challenge is to finish the story using 100-150 words, not including the sentence provided. Click on the froggy link to read other stories or upload your own.

My story today is coming in at 131 words. I’ve been absent for a while, adjusting to a new job and writing some poetry, so I didn’t have time to do it all. Besides, sometimes I’m inspired by the photos and the sentences and sometimes I’m not. I’ve learned not to fight it too hard, which means that sometimes I’ll post and sometimes I won’t. What can I say. It works for me.

Happy Monday!

 

Song Lyric Sunday – Unwell by Matchbox Twenty

Sometimes the hardest part about this whole process is picking the song, like there could ever be just one song that is the one. Especially when we are discussing a band that’s been around for a long time and they have multiple albums.

I almost picked the very first song I heard from Matchbox Twenty and fell in love with. It was my first foray into alternative music because up until that point, I was a country music girl. I still hear some country music and remember why I loved it for so long, but for me, I find so much more depth in alternative music. Not that I can’t listen to something just because it sounds good, but I enjoy it so much more when the lyrics combine with music to create a whole piece that touches me on multiple levels.

I find this song to be delightful, taking a lighter look at feeling like you just aren’t normal, which has been my status quo most of my life. I’ve been known to say, “I’m not crazy!” as if just the words would prevent it from being true. There have been moments in my life where I really felt like I was crazy, but I don’t know… Sometimes you have to just change the way you look at it. I’m not crazy, I’m just “a little unwell.” Fake it ’til you make it really can work.

I hope you enjoy this installment of Song Lyric Sunday from one of my very favorite bands, going all the way back to almost the beginning. Who doesn’t love some Rob Thomas, anyway?

Feel free to read the rules below and post your own!

Unwell by Matchbox Twenty
Lyrics found at AZ Lyrics

All day staring at the ceiling
Making friends with shadows on my wall
All night hearing voices telling me
That I should get some sleep
Because tomorrow might be good for something

Hold on
Feeling like I’m headed for a breakdown
And I don’t know why

But I’m not crazy, I’m just a little unwell
I know right now you can’t tell
But stay awhile and maybe then you’ll see
A different side of me
I’m not crazy, I’m just a little impaired
I know right now you don’t care
But soon enough you’re gonna think of me
And how I used to be…me

I’m talking to myself in public
Dodging glances on the train
And I know, I know they’ve all been talking about me
I can hear them whisper
And it makes me think there must be something wrong with me
Out of all the hours thinking
Somehow I’ve lost my mind

But I’m not crazy, I’m just a little unwell
I know right now you can’t tell
But stay awhile and maybe then you’ll see
A different side of me
I’m not crazy, I’m just a little impaired
I know right now you don’t care
But soon enough you’re gonna think of me
And how I used to be

I’ve been talking in my sleep
Pretty soon they’ll come to get me
Yeah, they’re taking me away

But I’m not crazy, I’m just a little unwell
I know right now you can’t tell
But stay awhile and maybe then you’ll see
A different side of me
I’m not crazy, I’m just a little impaired
I know right now you don’t care
But soon enough you’re gonna think of me
And how I used to be

Yeah, how I used to be
How I used to be
Well, I’m just a little unwell
How I used to be
I’m just a little unwell

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Here are the “rules”:

• Post the lyrics to a favorite song or a new song you want to share
• Make sure you credit the singer/band and provide a link to where you found the lyrics
• Link to the YouTube video, or pull it into your post so others can listen to the song
• Ping back to my post that will go up every Sunday by 9am MST
• Read at least one other person’s blog so we can all share new and fantastic music and create amazing new blogging friends in the process

 

OctPoWriMo – Joy Within

Joy Within

She found happiness in the small things
Until she discovered joy within
Throwing her hands out, she laughs into the sun

Darkness shrouded her waking moments
Pain radiating from thousands of sharp knives
She found happiness in the small things

Finding courage hidden somewhere deep
She walked away, with doubt her constant companion
Until she discovered joy within

Opening her eyes to inner peace
She realizes she is finally free
Throwing her hands out, she laughs into the sun

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OctPoWriMo asked us to explore the following quote and write a cascade poem in response.

“Dance, when you’re broken open. Dance, if you’ve torn the bandage off. Dance in the middle of the fighting. Dance in your blood. Dance when you’re perfectly free.” ― Rumi

The cascade poem structure is a/b/c, d/e/A, f/g/B, h/i/C . It was my first time trying this poem and I quite enjoyed the experience. Just in case you’re wondering, I don’t always enjoy writing different types of poetry, especially when there are tons of rules or lots of rhyming.

SoCS – Inner Stillness and Creativity

I’m not sure I’ve mentioned it here on my blog, but I love to crochet. It’s not something I always find time to do, what with working full time, having three kids (well, six if you count my boyfriend’s kids), and writing. But every time I pick it up again, I realize how much I enjoy it.

I just started a new project the other day and there’s always that point where you get about four or five rows in and you can start to see the pattern come to life. I think it falls into my creative space. I just love creating things and crochet is something I find I am relatively good at, although I haven’t tried anything super challenging.

There is a point, though, where it seems nothing works. I found myself last weekend reading that pattern, crocheting, undoing it and starting over. I think I did that about three times before I realized it wasn’t the yarn; it wasn’t the pattern; it was actually me. There are times, though, that I still struggle through, hoping for a different result and I end up getting frustrated and upset, rather than just letting go.

If I think about it, it’s almost like taking a breathe when you are angry to stop the flow of angry energy. It’s the same thing with crocheting or writing for that matter. Sometimes, you just need to find some stillness within before you can begin again.

I ended up undoing the whole project (I was only about four rows in, thank goodness) and putting it away for the night. The next day when I picked it up, everything flowed much better and I realized I had it right all along the night before, I just didn’t realize it. I couldn’t see it. All I could see was how wrong it was and I was completely frustrated with it and my ability to crochet, thinking that maybe I had picked up a pattern that was just too difficult for me.

I’ve found that my writing is the same way. There are times that it just flows out of me and I’m not sure where it comes from and other times it’s like fighting for every word. I’m not saying you stop trying. I’m just saying there is some benefit to walking away, taking a breath, maybe finding some inner stillness and then picking it back up again. I have found, though, that the best thing to do is to walk away and come back to something new.

I follow a lot of challenges and rather than beating my head against a genre that I’m just not comfortable with or writing for a challenge that doesn’t interest me, I wait for the next one. There have been times over the last year that I struggled on and posted something, but not many of them have been my best work. I’ve surprised myself a few times, though, so sometimes it can be worth it to struggle on.

But maybe even just finding the stillness for a few moments will bring a better outcome. Or maybe you will get to the end not quite as frustrated.

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This rambling post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday hosted by Linda G. Hill. Our word prompt today was “still.” Feel free to click the link and join in or read other amazing posts.

OctPoWriMo – The Loss of Words

The Loss of Words

A long walk
By your side
Created a sense of peace
Dreaming in
Ethereal words
Flowing from my finger tips
Gave meaning to my world
How was I to know
It wouldn’t last forever
Just because I begged
Keeping thoughts fluid, I
Lie awake for hours
Musing on empty spaces
Nestled between my ears
Oh, how I long to
Play with words again
Quitting is not an option
Regardless of the absence of
Sweet stories
Tumbling from my mind
Unflinching, I labor on
Vibrant air sizzles across
Wavering stillness
Xylophone notes play
Yearning melting from every strain
Zany measures may be required

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This installment of OctPoWriMo almost didn’t happen. I’m not one for long poetry, and this one required a full 26 lines because each sentence had to start with the next letter of the alphabet. I don’t know how it all came together, but it actually did. Or, at least, I think it did. I hope it makes as much sense to everyone else as it did to me. Poetry is subjective, after all.

Song Lyric Sunday – Undisclosed Desires by Muse

Muse is one of those bands that isn’t to everyone’s taste level. To be honest, I have to pick and choose the songs of theirs that I like because some of them just go to far into places I don’t necessarily like in music. But they have rare gems throughout their collection of music that I am in love with.

I think one of the things I love most is how much they put into their songs. Or, at least, that’s how it always seems to me. I’ve never seen them perform live, but I can only imagine they put on a fantastic show.

This song has been pretty main stream, but it is still one of my favorites. As usual, the lyrics spoke to me. I have a past, I have demons and what more can anyone hope for than to have another person want to understand and help lighten the burden.

There are too many lines in this one that stand out as favorites, so I will let them stand on their own this time. I hope you enjoy this installment of Song Lyric Sunday. Please feel free to read the rules below and post your own so we can explore music together.

Undisclosed Desires by Muse
Lyrics found at AZLyrics

I know you’ve suffered
But I don’t want you to hide
It’s cold and loveless
I won’t let you be denied

Soothing
I’ll make you feel pure
Trust me
You can be sure

I want to reconcile the violence in your heart
I want to recognise your beauty’s not just a mask
I want to exorcise the demons from your past
I want to satisfy the undisclosed desires in your heart

You trick your lovers
That you’re wicked and divine
You may be a sinner
But your innocence is mine

Please me
Show me how it’s done
Tease me
You are the one

I want to reconcile the violence in your heart
I want to recognise your beauty’s not just a mask
I want to exorcise the demons from your past
I want to satisfy the undisclosed desires in your heart

Please me
Show me how it’s done
Trust me
You are the one

I want to reconcile the violence in your heart
I want to recognise your beauty’s not just a mask
I want to exorcise the demons from your past
I want to satisfy the undisclosed desires in your heart

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Here are the “rules”:

• Post the lyrics to a favorite song or a new song you want to share
• Make sure you credit the singer/band and provide a link to where you found the lyrics
• Link to the YouTube video, or pull it into your post so others can listen to the song
• Ping back to my post that will go up every Sunday by 9am MST
• Read at least one other person’s blog so we can all share new and fantastic music and create amazing new blogging friends in the process

 

OctPoWriMo – Embrace the Wild Ride

Embrace the Wild Ride

Heart beats
In time
To the stomping beat
Face flushed
Heat rising up
Engulfing flames
Smother
Swaying in the wind
Embracing the wild
Ride
Nerves prickle
Stomach tightens
Expectancy overwhelms
Until the breath blows out
And there’s nothing left
But this moment
Peaceful recognition
Of self divinity

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OctPoWriMo day 10 finds us exploring the wild side of our writing through music. Morgan gave us this video to use if we didn’t have one of our own, and it inspired my poem. I have to say, I didn’t edit this one. It just flowed out through the music and it was written before the ten-minute song was finished. I quite enjoyed this exercise.

SoCS – My son and his love of the game

Seeing the look on my son’s face last night when I told him I had box suite tickets to the local college football game for today was priceless. I would have told him about the tickets sooner, but I knew he had a friend’s birthday part to go to and I didn’t think he would want to miss it.

When I asked him about it, he said he would talk to his friend. The party starts earlier in the afternoon (which I found slightly weird for teenage boys) and he was hoping to go for a few hours and then leave. I said, “Once he finds out why you’re leaving, he’ll forgive you.”

Jaxon said, “He’s not really a sports fan.”

My response, “Never mind. If he doesn’t like sports, than he’s going to think you’re an asshole for leaving his party early.”

Jaxon spent the rest of the ride home talking about the game and how excited he was to go. It sounds to me like he’s going to go whether his friend never forgives him or not.

I know not many people reading my blog are sports fans. Maybe there are more of you than I realize, and if there are, even better! But we are huge sports fans, my kids and I. We were watching the Dallas, Cowboys game on Sunday night and it turned into a real crap-fest for the Cowboys. I love watching them play, but lately, with all their injuries, they’ve had a real rough time of it.

Jaxon counted down the hours all day. “Only two more hours.”

“For what,” I asked.

“Mom… the Cowboys!” He then gave me that look, like I should have known.

I was surprised he chose to stay at my house to watch the game. His Dad is a huge Cowboys fan too, so normally, he watches it with him. But this time, he decided to stay. There was a lot of swearing and nail biting and general sadness for the whole thing. Our cries of excitement were full of desperation.

The Cowboys ended up scoring a touchdown in the last two minutes to tie up the game, which was pretty miraculous given how they played all day. But, I knew there was too much time on the clock and, of course, the Saints went right down the field and got within field goal range with only about 30 seconds left on the clock. When I looked over at Jaxon, he was devastated.

Watching an NFL kicker set up on about the 30 yard line is a no-brainer, for the most part. It’s going to happen about 90% of the time. But wouldn’t you know it, the ball hit the goal post and boinged out onto the field. I screamed and looked over at Jaxon. He had his hands over his face, so I told him, “They missed, honey. We still have a chance.”

My son is a true football fan. I don’t see my son cry very often, but he actually started crying. He told his brother they were happy tears. I only wish the tears would have helped our poor Cowboys, but they ended up losing in overtime.

So, there you have it. My son and his love of the game! I’m excited to spend some one-on-one time with him today watching our Utes play, and it’s supposed to be warm and sunny, so basically the perfect day for some football – laughing, screaming, swearing and cheering!

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This out of the ordinary sports post is brought to you today by Stream of Consciousness Saturday hosted by Linda G Hill. Today’s prompt was to begin and end your post with a letter ending in “ing.” Feel free to click on the link and join in or read other amazing posts.