Thursday, or Thereabouts - August 15, 2013

The Liebster Award - Part Two

I have to admit I'm not entirely comfortable with the process of this 'award' (see last week's post for the background on the Liebster). I get a bit twitchy when called upon to reveal bits and pieces about myself. It's not about privacy - good heavens I write a blog which if read carefully reveals all kinds of stuff about me - as much as it is about my introvert heart whining against all the attention. "All the attention"?? Who am I kidding? I don't have that big an audience, and hence the value of the Liebster Award.

So let's get on with the show! I'm required to come up with eleven random questions for those lucky bloggers I nominate for the award. This took some time. I wanted to keep the questions somewhat superficial without straying into the silly and frivolous.
Here's what I came up with:
1. If you had to give up one of your electronic devices, which one would it be?
2. Red wine or White?
3. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
4. Now, what do you wanna be when you grow up?
5. What's your least favourite colour? (mine is orange, just so you know)
6. What's the farthest you've ever been away from home?
7. What's the weirdest thing that you have ever eaten?
8. What's your favourite Olympic event?
9. Pie or Cake?
10. If offered a free trip to the International Space Station (and back again!) would you go?
11. And for Monty Python fans: What is the average airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

And now the moment you've all be waiting for. Drum roll please!
My nominees for the Liebster Award are, in no particular order:
1. wendystorey53.wordpress.com  Wendy and I grew up in adjacent neighbourhoods in Etobicoke and went to the same high school. Her posts are always a good read.
2. writeinplainsight.com  by my good friend and fellow director of WCYR
3. writingfromthecentre.ca insightful posts about writing from two buddies also on the WCYR board of directors.

And that's it from me! For those just itching to know ... YES! I have been working on my book as per the schedule outlined in Monday's post. I am 3 for 3 (three days x 3 writing sessions) and it feels good!!!
TA DA! That calls for a little gelato:

Thursday Thermals - April 25, 2013

Minus 2 and a dusting of snow out my window today - Thursday thermals indeed! - but it is a clear morning with the sun streaming through our trees and promising a pretty day. I have mixed feelings about today. I am excited about the beginning of a new adventure and also plagued by annoying pockets of doubt. Change is like that.

One of my biggest concerns is having to abandon this blog for a bit. I've only just returned to regular writing here, so it seems like a huge mistake on my part to leave my followers behind, not to mention that the break will be a huge loss to me too! I will try to post something from time to time, but truly cannot promise my usual pace of two a week. Have no fear though, regularly scheduled programming will return in a month.

In the mean time I'm off on assignment, discovering new things to write about. There will be many tales to tell in Monday Moanings and Thursday Thermals.

Take care of each other.

February Funk

Gee, it's been an awfully quiet here on the blog lately.  A month since I last wrote...
What's up with that?

In January I was a beehive of activity -- lots of stuff to do but very little writing time.  Now it's time for my February Funk, that almost annual bloom of apathy and inertia.  Every year there is always just enough energy to propel me through January, but come the second month of a new year, the last of the vitalising drops of cheer have been squeezed out.  The only evidence of life are melancholy blooms waving lazily in a grey mist....

Time to nip these suckers in the bud!  I've learned that there is no point in trampling or weeding this garden of 'un-delight' -- such activities require too much of the kind of energy that is in very short supply right now.  The best strategy is to patiently poison the little punks with small but regular doses of accomplishments.  So, I've stepped up my workout routine a notch and added an afternoon nap -- a balanced approach is always best!  And I've stocked my pharmacy with lots of little enjoyable projects, each one of them completely doable in an hour or less.  On a sunny day, like today, I can easily knock back 4 or 5 doses and still get in that nap!

Speaking of which -- it's about time for a 'toes up'!
Today's poisons: Gym, menu planning, travel research, blog post, nap.  And that's just so far.  The day is not done yet.
Cheers!

A Well Honed Skill



York Regional Forest 2008
©April Hoeller

I've been spending a lot of time lately practising a great skill of mine -- Procrastination!
Of course such a well honed talent really doesn't require any further practice, perhaps a quick touch up here and there would suffice, but that doesn't seem to matter.  In my life, these practice sessions arrive as an intensive study program of at least a week's length.  Furthermore this package deal is never booked in advance but rather shows up unannounced. 
"Never do today, what can be put off until tomorrow." is the ultimate procrastinator's mantra, but this really does not describe what happens to me.  My procrastination never seems deliberate at all -- it just sort of happens.  Take the writing of this blog today for example...
It's been well over a week since I posted anything, so I was getting a tad antsy about writing something, anything really just to let folks know I'm still alive and writing.  So at 12:20pm I sat down in the living room with my pencil, paper and tea (Earl Grey - such a lovely soothing comfort tea, that feels like a warm cozy blanket on a grey, damp Autumn day.  Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.........
Oh!  Then I wrote the first sentence.  Then I had to pee which was followed by a pass through the kitchen during which my computer announced the arrival of email.  Of course I had to look at it!  Useless piece of info but while there, I dashed off two emails (hopefully not useless), then checked Facebook (well I'm there aren't I??), read the new entries and followed this up with two games of sudoku.  I yanked myself out of cyberspace at 1:30pm, only to be told by my gut that was time for lunch.  I set about that task.  Oh but wait! -- Can I have that slice of swiss cheese?  Back to the computer I hastened to consult my food diary.  NO, I can't have the cheese and YES I did put it back in the fridge.  I enjoyed my well balanced repast and returned to the living room with another mug of tea. 
The time now was 2:20pm. 
It is indeed an admirable thing that I have returned to writing this blog, but what I really ought to be doing is writing the 500 word piece for my writing course.  It's due tomorrow evening.  Oh, but that's tomorrow...yabbut I'm in Erin most of tomorrow...hmmmmmm...Now I have to pee again, the consequences of 6 ounces of tea in a vintage bladder.  So look folks, I gotta go -- I mean really I gotta go!  Wonder what things I'll discover need doing on my way back this time?
Cheers!