Delete, delete, delete

I am writing this at 1:45 am. I usually write my posts around 11 at night. Last night I spent quite a bit of time on a long post. Wrote and re-wrote and edited. Scheduled it to run at 7 am, went to bed. Couldn't sleep. The post was bothering me. So I just got up and deleted it.

It was too personal. It said too much. I don't think anyone would have really understood. I edit myself constantly. There are those who would disagree with that, but truly I do. Edit myself when I speak and certainly when I write. Edit for content not for style.

Whatever you think I might be revealing about myself in some of my posts - not even scratching the surface.

I actually started this blog over 5 years ago as a place to write what I wasn't comfortable speaking. Then all of a sudden a year or so ago people started reading it so I had to be much more circumspect.

Somewhere I have a private blog - I started that when this one became more public but I haven't written in it very much.

I do write posts here and then delete them - I just need to get the words out; the feelings out; I don't need to share them.

I am very fond of a lot of you guys; in my mind you are my friends, but no one needs to know everything...and I can't imagine anyone wanting to know everything.

Plus, you know what - I have had this laptop over two years and I still haven't gotten used to this keyboard. I am forever and always hitting the semi-colon key instead of the apostrophe - I hate that. I am always fixing typos - backspace and delete are my most used keys.

It's just about 2 am now and I am going back to bed.

I feel better now.

And the answer is...

I want to thank all of you who have participated in this little experiment, up first is:

Lauren of Think Spin. My favorite tv shows are "Saving Grace" and "Medium". They have never, ever bored me. There are other shows I like but I can miss them and not care. I'm not a big popcorn eater under any circumstances and on the rare occasion when we watch a show with commercials we hit the mute button but yes, I talk back to the tv, I call it "interacting with my environment". If tv sucks big time, then I like to play scrabble. These last 2 weeks with absolutely nada on tv we couldn't play because our dining table has become my husbands office - ACK!

Buggys of Cute As A Buggy wanted to know about my siblings. There is an elder male sibling born in 1944, who I have not spoken to in over 30 years, and I plan to keep it that way. I was born in 1946 and my beloved baby brother was born in 1953.

How we wound up in Filthadelphia is a long story but it boils down to my husband can be a petulant 3-year old and sometimes I forget to say "No". I dislike everything about the place, including the house we live in. Next stop? Not certain, maybe back to Alexandria or maybe home to NYC - time will tell - sooner than later.

Hobbies? I have none. How I occupy my time and what I enjoy are integrated parts of my life, and hobbies are defined as things outside your normal occupation. A hobby to me is something like knitting or building things or a sport of some kind LOL There are a lot of concepts that elude me, this is one of them. Ask me my hobbies and I draw a blank because I don't relate to the word.

And then we have Kathy of The Junk Drawer who had a lot of questions. Some of them were similar to Buggys. I am the middle child, with a 7 year gap between me and my younger brother. The other one is 2 years older than I. "Guilty pleasures" again, like hobbies, not a concept I have a real grasp of. I truly have no answer for that.

Yup, I have read the Harry Potter series, pre-ordered every one and I will admit that the first half of the last book bored me to tears, then it picked up. Haven't seen all the movies because we don't go to the movies.

If I have to drink a cola flavored beverage then Diet Coke with lime. I really prefer lemonade or iced tea or ginger ale.

I am a born and bred New Yorker, honey. I mean New York City of course, supposedly there is a fairly large land mass that uses the name "New York" but it is alien territory. Lived in NYC for the first 44 years of my life in 3 of the 5 boroughs, have been a vagabond for the last 20 - can't wait to get the hell out of Filthadelphia - I answered the "why" of Philly for Buggys. Scroll up LOL

As to the political question - I have typed and deleted several responses. My true thoughts on the subject would offend everyone, regardless of what side of the aisle they sit. I am, and always have been, a registered Independent. But that should come as no surprise.

Awww Monday - Our Christmas present

was this photo nicely framed. The one and only Mr. Gaw-Juss...

Questions and some answers

I said I would answer all questions on Tuesday but I discover your questions require more than a one or two word answer. I think I'll answer the shorter ones today and the longer ones on Tuesday. Still fielding questions if you have any.

Sandee of Comedy Plus: I am half Sicilian and half Neapolitan - could be the reason.

Fullet of Secret Forest asked about my pets. They are all fine and funny. A few weeks ago I posted a video of BB. We have 3 cats, Frankie Lulu Belle, a brown stripped tabby, Zeke, a gray cat of no known breed and the aforementioned BB, an orange stripped tabby. Here they are in order:


Sharla of Beaded Tail asked what my passion was. I'm not quite sure what that means. I can get passionate about anything that moves me, intrigues me, angers me, amuses me. If I had to pick one thing - then it would be words. I am passionate about words. (I did a post called WORDS, you can read it here)

A Valdese Blog (whose name might be Ritchie - see what I mean about not knowing stuff?) asked if I read any good books lately - "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho. I highly recommend it. Others of his books, not so much. Also the newest Alice Hoffman book, "The Story Sisters" - I love Alice Hoffman to pieces.

So the offer is still open - I will answer any and all questions you may have for me. Stay tuned for further answers on Tuesday.

Questions

I read quite a few blogs on a regular basis and have learned a bit about each writer. Sometimes reference is made to a person or place or event that I don't remember reading about so I go back in the archives to see if I can figure out what they're referring to. Sometimes I can't find anything and I am loath to ask because I don't want too seem pushy or overly inquisitive. I am polite, really I am. But I am curious about people, I want to know where they come from, where they live, what they do for a living, about their families - stuff like that.

I don't have any sense of how personal this blog is. Do I reveal a lot about myself? Am I very circumspect? I know Sandee has got my number on a lot of issues LOL

So here's the deal. I will answer any questions you have - put them in a comment and, after letting this post run 2 days, I will answer them on Tuesday. Why Tuesday? Because I have a humdinger of a photo for Monday.

If you are a blogger I will include your name as a clickable link (share the link-love, right). So fire away - anything you want to know about me, just ask.

EDITED AND ADDED: Sandee just commented that I am clear about my likes and dislikes - oh, yeah, most definitely!

Well if no one has any questions then there won't be any answers LOL This was just an experiment - there are one or two blogs that I read that keep referring to events and people that they have never really identified. Makes me crazy - spit it out, tell the whole story or write about something else - sheesh! My shrink once called me the most curious person he ever met - and he didn't mean odd, tho I am that too!

Shhhh...

Happy January - first day of the first month of a new year. The horoscopes are up at Astrology Zone. I haven't read mine yet, I'll get to it later.

I'm sure some of you were celebrating last night. I sipped a glass of sherry, finishing it at the stroke of midnight, there was no point in going to bed earlier as fireworks scheduled for midnight would have awakened me anyway. They were really great tho, I could see them from my upstairs window.

I'll leave you with some nice quiet calming music

Uh-oh...

Today is December 31st, New Years Eve. Tonight many folks will be out and about celebrating, acting foolish and probably more than a little tiddly-poo.

Tonight is also a full moon, and a blue moon and in the northeast the weather will be less than perfect. A recipe for more than the usual mishaps? I hope not.

What is a blue moon you might ask?

"A full moon occurs every 29.5 days, and most years have 12. On average, an extra full moon in a month — a blue moon — occurs every 2.5 years. The last time there was a lunar double take was in May 2007. New Year's Eve blue moons are rarer, occurring every 19 years. The last time was in 1990; the next one won't come again until 2028."

There is no significance to a blue moon, the only superstition about it that I could find is:

"In the twentieth century, there were only forty blue moons. Since the moon is so rare it is believed, the moon holds mystical powers. If you make plans under the Blue Moon, they will come true. However, be careful the moons powers are unpredictable and you may get your wish but it may be more than you want.

Now that is a little scary - you know the old saying about being careful what you wish for, right? So I won't make any special wishes or voice any special hopes. For those of you out and about this evening, please keep safe, yes?

And happy new year everyone - it will be what you make of it.

What are you waiting for?

As the new year approaches many people make resolutions. They are going to make improvements to themselves; correct faults – real or perceived; to be better in some way or another. Sounds like a lot of work and not a lot of fun. You put on five pounds last July, and you are waiting till now to do something about it? On that list of resolutions you are making, how many items concern problems that have been on-going but you just somehow put off facing them. And you really think NOW you’re going to get it done? If you didn’t do it six months ago, what makes you think you’re going to do it next week? Hope springs eternal.

What else are you procrastinating about? Is having fun on that list? Is pleasure on that list? Reading all these blog posts about resolutions I was delighted to read an article in the NY Times (link below) about how we put off pleasure – save it for later so to speak and all too often later never comes.

Did you get gift cards for Christmas? Have you spent them yet? Have you been able to say to the gift-giver “I used that card you gave me and got some cd’s I was wanting, Thanks” No? You’re saving the card for later, right? Waiting for a really good sale? Till then I guess you’ll just put it in the drawer and, oops, forget about it? Pleasure deferred for the gift-giver, pleasure deferred for you.

The article talks about people who save their frequent flyer miles for that amazing trip to Europe and before they can put it together the miles expired – pleasure deferred and lost.

And what about all those things tucked away in the closet for “special occasions”, what about them? The spiffy earrings, that oh so lux sweater, the drop dead shoes – are they making the closet happy? Why can’t wearing them, because they make you happy, be special occasion enough?

Carpe Diem, indeed. I’m not talking about big things, I’m talking about the small pleasures we deny ourselves every day – sometimes the big picture is too big for the modest size of our dreams and our real lives. It’s not just that gift card that comes with an expiration date, so does today.

I’m not suggesting you cash in what’s left of the 401K and buy a Porsche. I am saying that any day can be a special occasion. That pleasure comes in small packages, in small ways and I’m betting you have more than a few little packets of pleasure tucked away in your “some day” file or in your closet.

If you can’t bring yourself to seize the day, then at least seize the moment.

Link to the NY Times story Carpe Diem? Maybe Tomorrow .