Blog Archives

Things I'm Better Off Without

1/28/2016

Sometimes, you believe you’re sacrificing when you’re actually doing yourself a favor. You know the drill: you need to save time or money so you cut something, and are surprised to find relief rather than grief. Here are a few things we’ve given up over the years just to discover that we’re better off without them:

Paid television service. Time Warner Cable has a monopoly in our area, so rates are astronomical. Satellite rates aren’t much better: there are only a handful of companies, and while they offer great introductory rates, they balloon out of control after a year or two. Ditto for Uverse, so we decided to heck with it all. Our favorite shows are available through a digital antenna, streaming online through the network website, or through Roku and Apple TV apps (which are cheaper per month than cable or satellite, and can easily be activated and deactivated. We were paying a lot of money for something that we weren’t using. Cutting the cord was one of the best decisions we made.

Our land line. We really wanted smart phones, but something had to give for us to afford it, so we said goodbye to the landline. We rarely used it anyway, so having that and cell phone service really was a duplication that we couldn’t afford. Plus, it’s great not having to check an answering machine every time we come home, or to be responsible for returning calls since people can reach us anytime, anyplace. Honestly, I’m surprised anybody has a land line anymore. In fact, I think it’s more likely that land lines will become obsolete than paper books, which leads me to my next item:

Hardback books. They’re outrageously expensive, and my phone or Kindle are a lot lighter than a 600 page hardback tome. Forget it! Ebooks are cheaper and more convenient because you can synch across devices – plus, the Kindle is easier to read on than a phone or paper book. I’ll occasionally read a paperback book, but I’ve converted to ebooks 98% of the time, and I’m not wearing out my bank account or arms with a hardback again!

Going out to eat on Friday nights. We realized a few years ago that we were getting take out for dinner after work on Friday’s, which was a waste. If we’re going to eat at home, why not cook and save the meal out for a day when we feel like going out? We decided to cook a quick, easy meal (often in the crock pot) for Friday supper, and go out for lunch on Saturday or Sunday. It’s perfect: we can some straight home from work and relax instead of battling more crowds at restaurants or drive-thru’s after we’re tired from a week of work. Plus, eating out for lunch is cheaper than supper, so we save money. Invest in a crock pot, and learn how to work it for Friday dinners. It can be quicker than takeout if you plan meals wisely.

Travel. While it was interesting to see more of the country during my few years of work travel, I’m glad that season has passed. Most people don’t believe that I don’t care for travel. It’s expensive and stressful. I see travel as an investment that I’d rather make less frequently and with more wisdom so the experience of “seeing the world” and “expanding my horizons” means more to me than simply dashing out the door “because I can.” And what’s so wrong with home that some people want to escape it every chance they get, anyway?

It’s amazing how less can be more, and what you learn about yourself in the process.

That’s all today. Take care. Have a Happy Friday tomorrow and a wonderful weekend.

Bye!

In Defense of Thinking

1/20/2016

Today, I’d like to expand on something I posted on social media last week regarding the value of a liberal arts education. The catalyst: I was reading Stephen King’s The Stand, and read a scene where one of the characters was talking about how a liberal arts education was great for teaching people how to think, but she’d give it all for one person with practical skills to save a member of their group that was dying of a burst appendix.

My comment was that while I understood the context, I wish for the opposite in our current day/time/world. I feel that the increase in technology has led to too much specialization, and that the social sciences and arts are no longer valued. Sure, the Internet gives independent artists (like myself) a medium to express our talent and vision, but we’re up against a barrage of information that makes it difficult to be seen and heard over loud minorities and endless voices demanding to make their every opinion heard. The 21st century has whittled us away from creativity and more toward function, and I fear we’ve come to a point where there isn’t enough balance between “thinking” and “doing.”

My proof is the increased pressure for conformity to “political correctness.” The increasing sensitivity and petty arguments that you see, both online and in face-to-face interactions, are proof of this. People used to not get offended so easily, and I blame our lack of emotional resiliency on a lack of proper education. Simply stated, people are too stuck in their heads. They don’t realize that the world is bigger than them, and can’t fathom that other people see it differently than they do. They aren’t taught to think, to observe, and to consider viewpoints and theories different from their own, so the altruism vanishes as people are trapped in the narrow confines of their own mind. They don’t know how to change their perspective, so they can’t do it. And the circle goes unbroken.

I have a degree in psychology, and I miss the discussions we had in those college classes on varying theories of human thought and behavior. The classes in psychology, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, and even English and history opened up the world for me, and so many others. For all of those who said that what I learned in college had little practical application, I would argue that I have used that degree every day of my life since obtaining it, and not just in work situations. It’s helped me in every area of life, and I use it every day because I think and interact with other people daily. Can I remove a burst appendix, or to fix the radiator in your car? No. But I can realize that you have a different perspective, and adjust myself to it so we can work cooperatively to find middle ground and solutions to the problems and issues of everyday life within my realm of expertise and experience. That’s more effective than circular arguments that lead to no resolution, strife, and ruined relationships.
And make no mistake: the pastor that told me that relationships are the most important thing in life was 100% correct. We interact with people every day, and the ability to do it well is critical to a happy, prosperous life.

I know there are plenty of people that say I’m wrong, but I maintain that “thinking” and “doing” go hand and hand. All of the skill in the world doesn’t mean a thing if you drive people away with a narrow minded, abrasive “my way or the highway” attitude – and no man is an island. There are always others in the world that can do what you do: some better, some worse, but personality is the difference between being able to fully utilize your abilities, and watching them waste away while others succeed. I believe we’ve all heard the Charles Swindoll commentary on attitude, because it’s absolutely correct: it can make or break not just you, but everything you’re a part of: your home; your work; your family; your relationships; your potential; your skills; your abilities; your mental and physical health; your reality.

The ability to relate to other people is never useless. It’s vital in our increasingly connected world. The Internet has literally connected the entire planet, and has extended the reach of the individual further than it ever has been before. We’d be wise to learn how to respect what makes others unique so we can use it as a uniting force instead of one more thing to drive us apart.

And for all of those who say, “Sherri, you’re wrong,” please, by all means, prove it. I’d love nothing more than to be wrong on this. I find it disturbing that people are so selfish, disrespectful, and rude. I would love to see courtesy and respect become the norm of society without a disaster forcing us to unite. Sadly, that’s often the only thing that inspires kindness and altruism these days.

That’s all today. Take care, stay warm, and have a great rest of the week.

Bye!

Schism Excerpt

1/18/2016

Hi all! Sorry the blogging has slowed. All of my creativity has been poured into revisions of The Earthside Trilogy. My mind really has been overrun by cybernetic aliens trying to hack into Earth's infrastructure - and they're doing a pretty good job of it, too. Today, I'll give you a look at what I've been working on so diligently. It's from Schism, which is Book 2. Enjoy!

Chapter 6

You have been chosen.

Hailey's mind drifted from the soft, mechanical voice to the darkness, pierced by shadows of bodies illuminated by twin pricks of red eyes glowing. The bodies were engaged in the routine activity of station duties: entering commands, checking status reports, running scans for habitable systems. They were drifting through space, with no time to mark their wanderings. Concepts like days and years have no meaning without a star to orbit, and they melt away when you reach the speed of light. But there was no light in the place she witnessed. There was just darkness, and data. The light of a star would occasionally illuminate their hopes, just to be dashed by scorched, dead planets showing no inclination toward supporting life.

How long has it been? Centuries? Millennia? These were words they just learned from human logic, but these words were still too small to grasp the depth and breadth of their wanderings. Time was marked by how many systems they passed. The data archives held information on over a thousand useless systems. Some frozen; some scorched; some in the birth pangs of creation; some in the throes of death. But none held life. None could sustain their essence, and none could be modified to do so. Not with the technology they had. It was imperative that they evolve, or they would follow their planet into extinction – and worst of all, an extinction by their own hand.

What have we done? We thought the vastness of space would show another home, but none exists. Efforts to terraform repeatedly failed. Hailey saw the devastation first on the home world, where the atmosphere shifted from a life-sustaining blue to a noxious green that smothered both plant and animal life on the ground within one rotation. Just like that, their society went from struggling to survive on a rotating rock to confinement on a grey, metal station. The terraforming delivery was adapted from an energy beam to a high atmospheric dispersal method, but it still failed despite repeated recalibrations.

Her stomach clenched as the home world, after repeated attempts for salvation, imploded on itself, ripping a black hole in the solar system that pulled the seven other planets before swallowing the triune stars that gave their system life. Not that terraforming those other planets had worked any better, but the crushing sensation in Hailey’s chest made it clear that their best chance of survival died as they fled the event horizon of a critical error that threatened to take them into extinction right along with their system.

Hailey’s throat closed. She gasped for breath, jolting up to see the shadow of her reflection in the dresser mirror. But it wasn’t her. Suddenly, she was aware that she wasn’t the only one that witnessed the chaos of the cybernetics. She squinted to see others in the mirror, also grasping their throats at the dark visions: a woman with greying hair, a young man with dark hair, an Arabic man frantically clawing his throat, a greying man coughing and reaching for his cell phone as his wife beside him mumbled protestations at the late night waking, a man in tattered robed staring at his reflection on the bench of a bus station, where he jolted from a restless sleep on a bench.

“No!” Hailey screamed. She looked around her room, remembering the mechanical voices and hoping that she left her weather radio app running. She listened to it every night before bed and often fell asleep before hearing the full forecast. It was another one of those million things she did that drove her ex-husband crazy, and she prayed she did it only to herself this time. But no, it was all in her head. She was surrounded by nothing more than moonlight through the sheer curtains of her bedroom, and the dull whirl of the fan circulating heat through her condominium.

You have been chosen.

Hailey jerked at the voices again.

Chosen for what?

Hailey’s eyes widened as she saw the soft blue glow of Earth in her mirror, as if seeing it from far away in space.

This world is ours, the voices said, and you have been chosen to heal the schism between what it is and what it will become.

Hailey shuddered, pulling the covers around her, despite the sweat breaking out over her skin. Why me?

The image of Earth ignited, shattering into an explosion of light before turning in to implode like the planet in her vision.

Because this world has tried to destroy you, and you can set it right.

Hailey thought a minute as images floated through her mind:

Of Dad’s ex-wife, putting her hand against the glass partition between them as tears ran down her face lamenting the fact that an apology can’t take back murder.

Of her father blowing out his final, ragged breath as the machines flatlined.

Of her husband watching her walk out of the door with her things in a measly suitcase, his arm draped around the young twig of a woman he chose to move into their home.

Of collapsing in her office when the tremors and spasms finally forced her to admit that her body was failing just as her marriage had.

Of shivering in the hospital room as the needle pressed on her temple, injecting another round of nanotech to stop the tremors that took her hands hostage.

“Goodbye.”

Hailey screamed, throwing her phone against the mirror, causing it to crack as the word rang through her head. There was always something leaving: people, relationships, health, her way of life. Everything taken away by somebody or something else. There was always something better; somebody better; some cause greater than her own. She was never good enough for this life; for anybody other people; for this world.

It was time to end it. She was sick of everything she loved being sucked into a black hole. This world had tried to hurt her – to kill her– and it was time to strike back.

It’s our world, and we mean to take it back.

“You’re darn right,” Hailey said, smiling bitterly. People would respect her now – or they would die.

Beating the Winter Blues

1/12/2016

It’s the most depressing time of the year. Scientific studies even show that you find the most depressing days of the year two weeks into January. It makes sense. We’re back at the mercy of a schedule, and usually broke from recent holiday shopping and festivities. The short, hectic, work-filled days leave you too exhausted to deal with people, problems, or circumstances. You’ve had your fill things, you’ve had your fill of people, and all you want to do is hibernate. Maybe bears, snakes, and insects have it right.

They might, but unfortunately, we human beings don’t have the luxury of hibernating. Today, I’d like to offer tips on beating the winter blues. These small things can make a big difference, and best of all, they don’t cost anything but time and effort.

Take care of yourself. The first step to feeling better mentally is to feel better physically. If you don’t like how you feel when you get up in the morning or the person you see in the mirror, then nobody else will either, because the only respect you receive from others is the respect you give yourself. Get on a diet and exercise program that’s right for you, get enough sleep, and take your maintenance medications. And yes, take your lunch hour and breaks too. Don’t fall into the trap of working all of your time away, which leads me to my next tip:
Stop being busy being busy. We’ve fallen victim to the lie that we have to have it all, and we have to have it all right now. This isn’t true. You have to make choices on what you value in life right now, and live by those values. You can’t work full time, run a home based business, go back to school for an advanced degree, write a novel, make quilts for everybody for Christmas, and be on three committees. There isn’t enough time, and no amount of multi-tasking can master that insanity. You have control over your schedule, so take it. While there are certainly some unmovable mountains (like work), you can still choose what you do with everything around them, which is usually more than we realize. And yes, you should take at least one day a week off for nothing but fun. Even God took a day off when He created the universe – so you can, too.
Do one nice thing for yourself every day. Do you know why some people are respected and revered, even though they aren’t intelligent, influential, important, or even nice? It’s because they expect to be treated well, and others concede privilege to them regardless of whether they deserve it or not. And the reason that others are relegated to the periphery (even though they are obviously more intelligent, kinder, and capable than these “popular” folks) is because they don’t expect the respect that they deserve. Why not? We are all children of God, and make a contribution to the world that nobody else can – so isn’t it time we started expecting some privilege for what makes us unique? Treat yourself well and make sure your intentions are pure, and you’ll find the world treating you better. This could mean things as simple as wearing special clothes or jewelry on a “normal” day, reading a chapter of a book, taking thirty minutes to watch a TV show you love, taking ten minutes in the morning to drink your coffee and pray/meditate, trying a new hairstyle or makeup, cooking a favorite meal, or wearing a fragrance you love. And in return, you’ll give more respect to others, because expecting respect will open your eyes not only to your own needs, but the needs of others. It’s not arrogant or selfish; it’s actually a good self-fulfilling prophecy that can benefit you and everybody around you.
Shop your home. Most of us have more in our homes than we realize, and we aren’t taking advantage of it all. Do you have clothes or accessories you don’t use? Are you familiar with all that the services you subscribe to have to offer? Have you redeemed cash or rewards points on all of your cards or memberships? Do you have old technology that you can revive, like taking an AM/FM radio to work, or playing old CD’s in your car? Often, we get stuck in ruts and do the same things out of habit. Open your eyes. There are plenty of ways to spoil yourself and make old things new again without spending a dime on shopping, or even leaving the house. Case in point: do you know how many free ebooks there are on Amazon? Just go to Kindle Books and type in “free kindle books” followed by your favorite genre (i.e. “free kindle books scifi” or “free kindle books mystery suspense”).
Go ahead and hibernate. If it’s at a point where you’re sick, tired, or too frazzled to keep things in proper perspective, then it’s ok to wipe your schedule clean for the day, the night, or the entire weekend to take care of yourself and get well and back in balance. Getting “back to life” is tough, and some of us need extra grace in making the transition back to full-time-real-life, especially if the return was abrupt or if you were railroaded on January 4 (and you’re still trying to clean up that wreck – and this often happens because people “phase out” and coast through Thanksgiving and Christmas, which means pandemonium in the new year). You’re an adult, and if you need a “time out,” then you don’t have to justify it to anybody. Just take it. They’ll accept it, get over it, or move along, but whichever reaction they choose will be right for everybody. Including you.

It’s not magic, but sometimes small things get us through the bigger issues that wear us down. And take heart: spring will come again. For now, take it as easy as you can, and embrace this season of rest as you are able.

That’s all today. Take care, and have a great week.

Bye!

Fracture Prologue

1/10/2016

Despite a busy week last week, I got revisions on Fracture, the first book of The Earthside Trilogy, done. I've shared this before, but I've made major modifications to it, so tonight I'd like to share the prologue with you one more time. Without further ado, this is where it begins. Enjoy!

Prologue
There’s no way to mask the fact that people die in hospitals. It happens with regularity that disinfectant can’t wash away. Souls enter and leave the world in hospitals with such consistency that it’s nothing more than another day for the people working there, or passing by on their daily business.

It’s different when it’s someone you know. It’s not just another death. This time, it’s Uncle Carson.

Kalea blew out a sigh as she fanned herself in the stifling room. “Why is it so hot in here?”

No reply. Just the hiss of the air conditioner and Uncle Carson’s rattled breathing. The same as the last two hours: a machine that wouldn’t cool below eighty degrees, and that awful death rattle. The nurse called Aunt Tabitha and her cousin, Avery, out of the room for a “conversation” five minutes ago, leaving her alone to watch Uncle Carson just in case – of what? Maybe he could still hear, but if his demise was inevitable to everybody else, then surely it was inevitable to him. He was the one stuck in the bed. He was the one hooked to machines. He was the one rattling.
She heard a muffled sob escape her aunt in the hallway.

“Geeze!” she leaned over to unlatch the thin, stabilizing rubber mesh wrapped around her left foot and ankle. “It’s a hundred degrees outside, and this broken foot is so swollen that it’s almost the size of the pumpkins you used to grow. Remember the pumpkins?”

No response. So much for reminiscing over the good times.

Kalea leaned back in the chair, propping her foot on the edge of the bed. “I’m sorry, Uncle Carson. I’m sorry the cure came too late.” She raised her water bottle in a mock salute. “Here’s to the world’s best technological advance in the world’s worst timing.”

Rattling – from the air conditioner and from Uncle Carson.

Kalea sat the bottle on the table and leaned back in the chair. “This is crap,” she pressed her hand over her head where she felt a migraine coming on. Great, one more problem. Her uncle was dying because the nanotech that could have reconnected his neural pathways was put on the medical market too late to help him. She was hobbling around on a broken foot because she couldn’t afford the same tech that could have healed it in a matter of hours. And now her head hurt, and her medication was in her office, forgotten in the “your only uncle is dying” haste of picking up Avery at the airport and rushing here, just to sit and wait. She pressed harder, trying to press out pain, the rattle, her aunt’s sobs in the hallway; the deep murmur of Avery’s voice; all of it.

Kalea groaned as she squinted at the late afternoon summer sun streaming through the window. She reminded herself that whatever chaos reigned in here, the world was going on as normal out there, and she’d be part of it again as soon as they got through this. Tomorrow would come and they would make it through that day, and the next, and every day after that, until they faced this moment themselves.

That was the chaplin’s logic an hour ago.

“Uncle Carson,” she studied his thin face, “Mom and Dad are on the way. Remember that I told you Mom is teaching the advanced physics class at the University of Tennessee for the fall semester? They’re living in the mountain cabin until the semester is over. She’ll sing in the church choir at Christmas. You always enjoy hearing her sing.”

More rattling. Kalea fanned her shirt, pulling it away from the sweat. “You like The Canticle of the Turning. She’ll do it again this year. She’s probably singing it already for Dad. He laughs about how she sings a Christmas song year round.”

Kalea thought she heard him stir, but couldn’t perceive movement. She looked toward the evening sun shifting through the window. “I can’t sing as like she can, but I remember your favorite verse. It’s the third one, isn’t it?” She closed her eyes and sang.

“From the halls of power to the fortress tower,
Not a stone will be left on stone.
Let the king beware, for your justice tears
Every tyrant from his throne.
The hungry, poor shall weep no more,
For the food they can never earn;
There are tables spread, every mouth be fed,
For the world is about to turn.”

Kalea relaxed, sinking in the chair. Peace seeped into her; a quietness that told her that everything would be alright. Tomorrow wouldn’t come for Uncle Carson, but it would for everybody else.

A hand grabbed Kalea’s foot. She jumped, her brown eyes widening to see Uncle Carson sitting up in the bed, grasping her broken foot

“Kalea?”

Kalea tried to pull back her foot, but his grip tightened. She whined.

“Kalea, it’s going to be alright.”

“What?“

Carson smiled, his own brown eyes glinting. “We’ve been chosen.”

Kalea stopped fighting his iron grip on her foot. “For what?”

Carson stared at her with a strange glimmer in his eyes. “You’re right. The world is about to turn.”

Kalea resumed her struggle, pulling harder on her foot. A shock went through her as she jerked free from his grip, leaped out of the chair, and dashed out of the door. She ran down the hall to the nurses station where Aunt Tabitha and Avery retreated with the nurses, her left foot leaving bloody prints on the linoleum. They stopped as they saw her approach, her long, brown hair flying behind her. Avery hurried to meet her, catching her in his arms. “Kalea, what is it?”

Kalea gasped, staring at Avery. “He’s awake.”

Aunt Tabitha turned from the nurse she was talking to. “What did you say?”

“Uncle Carson is awake!”

“That’s impossible,” the nurse pushed past them. They followed her to Uncle Carson’s room, where they found him sitting up and calmly removing the morphine IV from his arm. He smiled at them.

“Hello everybody. Isn’t it a beautiful evening?”

Aunt Tabitha and Avery rushed to Uncle Carson, engulfing him in a hug.

The nurse pushed her hair out of her face, her shaky arm exposing a phoenix tattoo. “I don’t understand.”

Aunt Tabitha looked up from her embrace, tears dripping down her cheek. “It’s a miracle!”

Kalea sagged against the wall, smearing the blood trickling from foot over the floor. “The world is about to turn.”

Deflated Balloon

1/7/2016

Yes, it’s over. We made it through the holiday season. The meals are eaten, the gifts are exchanged, the decorations are packed away, the Champaign bottle is empty, and the celebrations are over. Now, we’re back to life as usual. If you’re like me, you probably feel like a deflated balloon right now: let down and weighted down by a routine that feels too heavy to carry right now.

It’s natural to feel some disappointment upon returning to a normal routine. November and December are filled with excitement and anticipation that have come to fruition, and they’re over – just like that. The hustle and bustle, shopping and parties, planning and prepping, and visiting and fellowshipping have come to an end. It stops as quickly as it started on Black Friday (or Halloween). It’s shocking.

That’s alright. Give yourself time to adjust, and realize the post-holiday melancholy will pass. You’ll settle back into a routine as you treasure the memories of the season just passed. One thing I try to do is to something small and personal to mark this post-holiday time. Do one small thing a day to pamper yourself. It can be simple and doesn’t have to cost anything or take too much of your time. Something as simple as wearing a favorite piece of jewelry or clothing, fixing your hair in a new style, trying new make-up colors, or reading a chapter of a book you enjoy during your lunch break can be a reward to put some light back in your days. Plus, when you bless yourself, you feel better and become a blessing to others.

I hope your return to routine has been merciful. No doubt it has been shocking after a time off, but we always manage to find our way back into that familiar routine that is life.

That's all today. Have a Happy Friday and a wonderful weekend.

Bye!

The Gift of Time

1/2/2016

One gift that Rick and I gave ourselves this past week was the gift of time - and as all of us who work full time and have full time lives know, that's a gift you have to take. "Down times" like the days between Christmas and New Year often bring young and middle age adults to the realization that their time is not their own most days. I know that's true of me - on a typical weeknight, I'm lucky if I have 1.5-2 hours to call "my own" at the end of the day. I hear others say much the same.

Not that we've been snarky about our week off. We're grateful for the blessing and have treasured every moment of it - plus, we did prioritize. We spent four days celebrating Christmas with family, which we were happy to do, before even taking time for ourselves and each other (and the birds). It's been wonderful to have a week where the only priorities are the things we chose to set as priorities, whether it was doing things postponed too long in our normal day-to-day hustle, or taking time out to relax and enjoy the precious gift of being able to do what we want, when we want. I see now why some retired people get sassy about it. There's something liberating and joyful in the "hang your expectations, it's MY time and I'll spend it as I please!" lifestyle.

Of course, it's temporary, which is what makes it special. It's like I told somebody last week about the disappointment of taking down the Christmas decorations: if we left them up all the time, it wouldn't be special anymore. Likewise, stretches of time away from the day-to-day routine of necessity and expectation are special because those are moments that we usually have to take from a full schedule. Having it just there without strings attached is an awesome gift.

I hope you've had time to relax and enjoy a break from your routine this holiday season. Yes, spending time with family and others is a gift - but so is time to yourself.

That's all today. Take care, and have a wonderful weekend.

Bye!

Things I'm Better Off Without

In Defense of Thinking

Schism Excerpt

Beating the Winter Blues

Fracture Prologue

Deflated Balloon

The Gift of Time

Escape Reality

Archives

Categories

Things I'm Better Off Without

In Defense of Thinking

Schism Excerpt

Beating the Winter Blues

Fracture Prologue﻿

Deflated Balloon

The Gift of Time

Escape Reality

Archives

Categories

Fracture Prologue