A Stone Girl Blog first

It was fun and interesting for me to read many introductory blogs from my fellow Holidailies participants on (and around) December 1. One thing that struck me was a common theme that seemed to be running through our first-of-the-month blogs. Many of us are bloggers who aren’t blogging. We started our blogs 10 or more years ago, maintained them for a good while, and then let them lapse. There are varied reasons for this for different people. I think the factors that resulted in my blog’s neglect included moving back to California, having kids, and changing blogging platforms. Many old sites that used to host blogs and blogging communities are defunct, and with them went a sense of community that many of us had, visiting each other’s blogs regularly. I’m glad I was able to transport a lot of my content to WordPress, but it’s not the same around here. Having kids affected a whole host of habits I used to have, for what should be obvious reasons. There are just not enough hours in the day and days in the week to work, maintain a house, and take care of two kiddos. If I’m not out of time by the end of the night, I’m out of coherent brain cells. I suppose I should also blame short-attention span social media distractions for taking up my time (because they don’t really engage my brain cells).

Another theme I saw in a blog I read that I feel I share is somewhat related to the desire to remain under the world’s radar. Maybe not completely anonymous, but at least innocuous enough to not draw negative attention from anyone who would do more than start a flame war. Which, by itself, is something I can barely survive anymore. My flameproof suit shows much wear, enough in spots that I get singed and stung more easily than I like. Sure, I’d love to share stories, ideas, and opinions and learn about what other people think and why. Is it worth it to debate back and forth, either in a civil manner or not? Sure. I can withstand a few flames still. Is it worth it to receive menacing messages or personal insults, or anything more severe? Not right now, it’s not. Not during a time when I’m focused on my work and family. Maybe if I decide to dedicate my life to writing, researching, reaching out to people, or actually trying to influence other people. Possibly then. But not when blogging is supposed to be a good outlet, a good funnel for my scattered thoughts, and a good way to keep in touch with others. So, I think I’m happy to stay under the radar, for now. Which doesn’t mean I won’t continue to post opinions and political thoughts and rants about how hypocrisy sucks. I’ll still do that. But you know what else I’m going to do? Something I’ve never done before. I’m going to post a picture of myself. Most people who read this blog would recognize me. It’s not a big deal if a few “strangers” could someday do so also. I don’t know what I was trying to accomplish by trying to stay out of sight for years. I think it’s a fallacy for any of us with any significant online presence to think we can stay anonymous to everyone. And you know, I’m ok with that. For now. I may delete this blog tomorrow. Ha! But I’ll bust out this little pic my hubby took of me earlier this year when we were hiking around Jack London State Park. Which, by the way, is an awesome little spot in itself to walk and hike and take in some nature. But, if you are a fan of the author, it’s a fantastic place to visit. Learn his history. See his home, the ruins of his dream home, and the beautiful home his widow built after he died. The Park just re-opened The House of Happy Walls home, and I’m looking forward to going back to see it again in its new design. Great little State Historic Park in northern California. Relatively easy for little kids to walk around, and they host some fun events throughout the year.

And with that, I bid you goodnight. Here’s looking at you, kids.

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A Pandora Introduction

I was working a little late in the office tonight, so I turned on my Pandora station for some background music. I have several stations on Pandora (yes, I still use Pandora). Some are seeded by only one song or artist. A few are seeded by a mix of specific songs and favorite artists. Tonight’s selection was my station. The one I named “Stone Girl’s Tunes.” I created this station in February 2007. I listen to it all the time. Pandora reports that, through the years, I’ve “thumbed up” 602 songs and “thumbed down” 905 songs while listening to my station. Tonight, for the first time in a long while, I looked at the list of songs and artists I chose to seed my station. Like my blog introduction, I feel my Stone Girl station is still a fairly good representation of me. I’ve discovered some new now-favorite musical artists in the last few years. I’ve outgrown a few from my old list. But it’s a good list and a good station. And it is, perhaps, another good way to introduce myself to others and perhaps to learn more about you. What songs, which musical artists, seed the music station in your life?

My list, from 2007.

Artists:

• Imogen Heap
• Kosheen
• Lijie
• Art of Noise
• Fool’s Garden
• Maktub
• Ella Fitzgerald
• Paul Simon
• Tears for Fears
• Maura O’Connell
• Cause & Effect
• Rob Zombie
• David Lanz
• Delerium
• Sting
• Third Day
• Hungry Lucy
• Scorpions

Songs:

• Santa Cruz by Fatboy Slim
• Home by the Sea by Genesis
• (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay by Otis Redding
•  Haunted by Poe
• No Mermaid by Sinead Lohan
• Fear by Sarah McLachlan

 

Holidailies #3

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Compulsions

Compulsions.  We all have them.  At least one or two.  What’s yours?

Mine is door locking.  At home.  I don’t worry so  much about car doors.  I have a friend that does.  Check and rechecks them.  Will check them, walk half-way across a parking lot and then run back to check again.  Silly huh? 

But at home?  I’m the same.  I’m a compulsive door-locker at the end of the day.  I guess I don’t trust people enough to leave my home doors unlocked.  My sister may disagree with me as she has had words with me about leaving mom’s garage door open.  But, generally, I run to my front door to lock it.  At night, I check my doors.  Then, I check them again.  Before I go to bed, I check them again.  Occasionally, I’ll jump back out of bed to check again.  If I’m home and Sweetie walks out the door, I lock it after him.  If he forgets something and tries to run back in, he’ll walk right back to the door and *whack* into it as he finds out that I have, indeed, locked the door right after him.  While staying with my mom, I know she sometimes like to keep a sliding glass door open at night to cool off the house.  Security-wise she is probably ok since she is surrounded by neighbors and the screen door has a lock.  I try and respect her choice.  I try and ignore it.  I do.  Sometimes I succeed.  But most of the time?  Nope.  Can’t do it.  I run to the offending door and squeak it shut after Mom goes to bed. 

Not that I don’t miss a door sometimes.  I do.  Usually not the front door.  But I woke up one morning a while ago to realize that I didn’t check the doors the night before and Sweetie left the garage door open all night.  This just feeds and fertilizes my natural compulsion to check and recheck. 

I think there are a couple of seeds to this compulsion.  One is probably from my father who was generally quite security conscious.  The other has to do, I think, with my sleep paralysis.  Since I sometimes panic because I fear that someone has crept into my home while I am paralyzed, it helps me to know for sure that I’ve checked all the doors and someone can’t just walk in without my hearing.  Not that this helps most of the time, but that’s still partly where it comes from. 

As compulsions go, I don’t think mine is the most irritating.  Sweetie can laugh at me as I open the garage door for the 5th time in a night to recheck the garage door.  But other than running the risk of waking someone up from loud creaky doors closing, I don’t think I’m hurting anyone. 

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I play poker and drink rum…

…nothing really wrong with that.

I was thinking about it tonight as I joined a couple of co-workers for a quick drink after work. 

My co-worker and the bartender are great wine aficionados.  They spent a bit of time talking about food and wine, and wine, and wine making.  All good stuff.  I like good wine.  But I will admit I do not have a very sophisticated wine palate.  My senses just aren’t that stellar and the appreciation of the subtleties of wine are lost on my sub par sense of taste.  So, I honestly don’t know oakey from woody or whatever the proper wine terms are. 

So, there they are talking food and wine.  And I’m talking about how the World Series of Poker just started up in Vegas and how I’d love to watch some of it.  Then, I ask the bartender if he has any rum from Belize, which of course he does not.  Don’t know where I’ll find any after I finish the wonderful bottle my dear friend just gave me after her wedding.  It just tastes soooooo much better than regular rum.  Buttery and vanilla-y and yum.  1 Barrel.  Where do I find that in the States?

Anyway, I thought it was funny.  Wine and food.  Rum and poker.

In defense of my cultured side, I also play piano, can eat a five-course meal with good table manners, and I love love love the Academy of St. Martins in the Fields.  And I do like wine.  And wine making.  I’d just rather watch a professional poker player than wine maker.   

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