The 3-Way Stop

One of the things I like least in life is sitting at a red light. I know, I know... "Why so negative, Stacie?". Well, ok, maybe it's not the worst thing ever, but it's just not my favorite. And those pesky left-hand turns where you don't get an arrow to help a girl along and everyone decided that they needed to drive in the opposite direction at that very moment and before you know it your little green left-hand light is red again, which ultimately renders it useless... wow... sorry, I guess I got a little away from myself for a moment there. *Ahem* So, after all that ranting, I made an observation the other day (imagine that...). :)

I was driving down a road when suddenly I came to... you guessed it... a red light. Now, here I was, at the red light, needing to make a left turn, when I realized that there would be no arrow this time either. This time, however, I was content. Why, you might ask? Because, friends, this time I was sitting at the dead end road of a three-way stop, and I knew that when that light turned green, there would be nothing in my way. I was going to make that left-hand turn totally unobstructed, free as a bird. Oh yes...

So what is the moral of the story? the point even? There isn't really one actually. I just really felt vindicated right there, and decided that if all I can do to deal with my annoyance at the "other" left-hand turn traffic signals is to appreciate the ones that actually let me go somewhere, then that's just what I'll have to do.

Have yourself/ves a fabulous Veterans' Day! :)

Remember, bravery isn't not being scared; it's going anyway. Here's to you vets!

Cold Tangerines

Cold Tangerines is a book by Shauna Niequist that I hope to have in a few days but which I started reading (at least the bits that are available) via Google Books. And already I am anticipating a nice dose of perspective to come from it.

The introduction really drew me in. It says,

"This book is a shameless appeal for celebration.

I know that the world is several versions of mad right now. I know that pessimism and grimness sometimes seem like the only responsible choices. I wake up at night and think about pesticides and international politics and fundamentalism and disease and roadside bombs and the fact that one day my parents will die. I had a hard year this year, the hardest I've yet known. I worry about the world we're creating for my baby boy. I get the pessimism and grimness.

And that's why I'm making a shameless appeal for celebration. Because I need to. I need optimism and celebration and hope in the face of violence and despair and anxiety. And because the other road is a dead end. Despair is a slow death, and a lifetime of anger is like a lifetime of hard drinking: it shows in your face and your eyes and your words even when you think it doesn't."

The intro. continues from there, but I can't help but breathe a little easier after just this short excerpt... finally, a book that isn't all doom and darkness, by a real person who is comfortable being honest about the fact that things aren't great in the world but that there is hope and a reason to be joyful. Someone who understands that even glints of hope, optimism, and kindness are a necessary spattering of light splashed on a world that is otherwise sketched with the tenebrous brush of gloom.

That's why I'll make time to read this one... it's overdue yet right on time. And I'd encourage you to read it too. Check out allbookstores.com whenever you want to compare prices on a book like that one - new & used copies - from all different online booksellers. Enjoy! :)

Bottlenecked Ideas

When someone like me who has a whole lot to say about nothing, spending months and months not getting it out in writing is a disaster waiting to happen. It's overwhelming. Every couple of weeks since last October I've considered jumping on and getting some thoughts out, but each time I think about it, the task seems a little more daunting because there are hundreds of ideas all piling up on top of each other and the sum of them all is ZERO!

Ok, that was my opening rant just to get me back in the swing of this, so here goes nothin'...

I have a crack theory about the elusive chupacabra. There is maybe one other person besides you who is reading this blog or will read it at some point, and you two may or may not know what a chupacabra is, so if you don't, I recommend going to Google or Wikipedia (dare I say YouTube) and do some homework because it's major. Or, in lieu of hours of tireless research, I could just tell you that it's a mythological (or is it?) creature that allegedly drinks the blood of goats and leaves them for dead. Now that we've got that cleared up, I made the observation a while back that there are no goats in my neighborhood. And since it has been months since I first made that observation, the circumstantial evidence leads me to believe that, in fact... are you ready?

Cookie is a chupacabra.

Check out this picture:

That's right. Now, I know that there's only the two of you reading, so that's why I can say that here. I don't want it to get out because then there would be paparazzi and tabloid journalists and various other annoyances associated with having a very extraordinary animal living in my home. So, let's just keep it between us, shall we? :)

Lately my Scrabble addiction has not been helped at all by the fact that I somehow won a free membership to Club Pogo - an online games site that features... you guessed it... Scrabble. I just love words and how people use them to communicate. It's just unreal. It's just amazing that we can use all these sounds and shapes, which are all just symbols, to transmit ideas to one another. Wow... I could go there for hours, but I won't because I know you'd spend all your free time reading this and not get anything else done. So, as a service to you, I'll leave that alone.

I'm going to try to be better about this blog thing, but with school starting next week, we'll see how that pans out... So, until the next time!