Blog: deceiving eyes:
Eyes that deceive: when I got home from running errands I was confronted by this crumpled-up spider by the dogs bed. I was horrified and although it appeared to be dead I was in fight or flight mode. 
I honestly wanted to flee, but for the sake of my doggies and my ability to sleep tonight I knew I had to confront my arachnid fears. 
My hairs were standing on end and I began pacing back and fourth... My ears ringing and my brain calculating the best way to confront this intruder. I decide to take a closer look to be sure it was dead... I blew on the crumpled mass and it rolled effortlessly across the wood floor. I look again and begin to chuckle with my sly left-sided smile in full view of my two dogs.
It wasn't a spider at all, but a wadded up ball of string... Such a poser! 
I look at my two canines whose heads are cocked, tails wagging and lacking all judgment... yet tell them," haha, I knew all along it was string!" 
*sigh* deceiving eyes...

Writing for Writing's Sake

     Have you ever started something with all the determination in the world only to watch it fizzle out? Yeah, me neither ... haha. 

     I begin this blog to WRITE because it is something I love to do. I thought I'd have endless possibilities and countless topics just screaming to be placed into type for the world to see, but I was coming up empty. Yet it wasn't writers block, I just lost my focus. The pit to which I yelled was so vast I am still waiting on hearing my echo ... I walked away. I left a perfectly good blog to sit helpless on the internet, starving for attention. 

     I never forgot about it, in fact it wouldn't leave me alone. I was reminded on a daily basis of my blog, every text, email or tweet had a subliminal message: "you are a blog failure". "Gasp ... what? Failure? By who's standards?!  Mine. I have no readers stocking me for my next blog post, I still have no comments. I'm not yet established so how did my standards get so high? Well that is how I roll.

     I have the habit of taking on a task with the objective to be a master on the first attempt. I jump from step-one to step-five completely bypassing steps; 2,3 &4. That recognition is monumental because I'm able to refocus and learn.

     Most of our successes are not based on the arrival, but on the journey. Imagine if Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz" was told by Glinda "The Good Witch" to click her heals and was immediately sent home right after landing amidst the munch-kins. Short movie eh?  The middle part is where ALL the good stuff happens, I still need to find my scare-crow before I can be a writing success ... I already found my "Glinda" (you know who you are, if you are reading this).   

     My goal? To be "ME" and write to become a better writer. I want to stretch the bounds of the English language, to engage my readers and take them on a journey with me. Ultimately I want to write a book, get it published and have a best seller ... sound lofty? Probably. Can I do it? If I can dream it, I CAN do it :)

    Stay tuned!

                                                                  (Thank you to my cousin Greta, who helped to inspire me to write today.)

Writing Nest Blues

      My writing nest is in complete disarray as our electrical (in the basement)  is under repair. This morning the wiring was an ominous jungle of pent up hostility dating back nearly a year to when the issue begin.  Two outlet receptacles stopped allowing the flow of electricity. The stubborn buggers carefully hid the source and not behind the walls. We had no choice but to use an "air raid" attack method,  holes were strategically  cut into the ceiling  until the junction box  aka the PROBLEM was revealed.  Eight hours later we've seemed to rectify the issue... for the most part, loose ends are peaking through the walls and my heart nearly palpitating … I am after all a Virgo. 


                                                                                                         the ceiling

missing outlet

     I was hoping to work on a specific writing piece to add to my blog but It feels like I am on a stage in a foreign venue … a seedy sort of environment where the locals  are anything but friendly.  The sectional couch is strewn about while random tools lounge on their laps.  Extra wire is coiled up on the floor and flash lights have lost their brilliance.  I stumble with my words unable to relate to the audience and am anxiously awaiting the curtain.

one part of the sectional making friends with a snake light

wires, plastic and another part of the sectional

     Right now  I am uninspired as I look around the room, chaos stares back at me.  This is of course temporary, Temporary, TEMP-O-RARY!   

This is dedicated to Chad and his uncle Skip, for without his knowledge we would not see the light at the end of the tunnel ... literally!

                                                                             

Is Social Networking Affecting Your Social Life?

     With time being a hot commodity these days social networking is the easy way to keep in touch with your friends.  Think about it, one statement/quip/question or conundrum  has the potential of reaching all 1,219 of your closest friends in ONE shot … how fantastic is that?!   Or is it?

     Whatever your online social scene might be (mine is Facebook), you (or someone you know) are probably guilty of spending a bit too much time eavesdropping  in on your friends lives and/or creating a witty status that will be sure to elicit a slue of replies (score!).  But what are you doing to your friends by doing all of this GROUP work? What are you doing to your self? In the last 24 hours I've done some thinking about these two questions and I've got an opinion to share.

     If you've ever taken a lecture hall at a large university you know the feeling of being just a number.  It’s a  less than stellar feeling when your unique demeanor  and "tight bond" with your professor is all but diminished when you bump into them in public and are asked, "are you in one of my classes?"  Suddenly you see your identity slipping away from you and you fight for every last bit of  "ME" and point to your crazy miss-matched shoes in hopes of sparking their memory. 

     Facebook has become my lecture hall, "Julie's life 101" but I get the special task of being professor AND student (as do you)!  You take my class and I take yours we learn, we share (or not) … and at times we create controversy … verbal spitballs are fired, a student will drop-out or a professor will quit.  Is this really the atmosphere you want to share with your friends … your FRIENDS. Those people who have been there for the last 3-28 years, the ones who pick you up when you fall down, the people who know your inner-secrets.  Those whose lives you have allowed to be cluttered among the rest of the "riff-raff" of your online social scene. Those "friends" are reduced to a number and suddenly  are no longer special. Best friends birth announcements  are given to you at the same time "drunk bill" from across town finds out.  A slap in the face … 16 years of friendship reduced to a mere " 12 point Arial font, unpunctuated, misspelled and poorly received life altering fragment."   What makes it worse is when you want to respond and contemplate a phone call, your teetering with "but maybe they are too busy, I mean if they wanted to hear from me they would have called me, right?!" So you deicide to just type (the now seemingly obligatory) congratulations and again are shot down because among the 802 people that responded your teetering set your reply back by 52. Not to mention  your "endearing" response is overshadowed by "drunk bill's" comment of "better get that baby tested, remember I kissed your woman once ROFL."  *sigh*

     In a last ditch effort to be noticed, to be revered as special and once again gain a "BFF" title you share a truly heart-felt (even heart -wrenching) tid-bit … complete with a sad face and tears for the world to see. Yet, your lasso is sent out into an empty crowed, and you rein in nothing but cricket chirps and hear the faint "Bueller, Bueller" resonating in the background hum of your computer. Why do we subject ourselves to this? And more importantly why do we do this junk while in the presence of friends or family?

     Nothing says, "I enjoy your company and love to hang out with you," more than hiding behind your smart phone while  periodically cracking  your knuckles and chuckle at the many responses of this mornings "snuggies are a bitch" post.  Mean while your friend, the one who rescheduled a meeting to see you and drove through hellish road construction starts fidgeting with the sugar packets until finally logging into FB themselves.  I mean if hanging out with me leaves you wondering what others are doing, then do ME the favor of not wasting MY time! 

     Lets face it,  we are all at one point or another "attention whores" (yes, ALL of us)  but your narcissism should not leave the people you care about feeling unworthy of you.  You have something to say and its great to have that outlet to do so, but take the time to un-plug, be present for life and enjoy the people around you... not just through the screen of your computer.  

A short post

After much deliberation I've become a blogger ... or at least I'm going to try to be. I enjoy the writing process and would like to fine tune my craft by exploiting my perspective on the world around me. 

Its a bit daunting and yet I'm excited to see what I can do with this medium. I myself don't faithfully follow any blogs (yet), but enjoy the goings on of those around me. I hope you will find my musings funny, intelligent, worthy, entertaining etc...

My REAL first post is about social networking ... stay tuned and enjoy!