Category: Telephone

Mischief

6/28/2014

As many of you already know, my mission for 2014 has been to reduce negative energy in my life, and try to focus on more positive, uplifting results. Sometimes, though, this leads to some unintended mischief. My personality type probably doesn't help. I am a writer, after all, so I love reading and writing books, and I don't mind integrating my fantasy into reality every now and then.

I had an incident a couple of weeks ago. It's not unusual for me to post things online related to issues I'm writing about and researching. I ran across a list of sigils on Pintrest and thought hey, this is a neat collection, and I'm using one of them in Obsidian. Other writers might like it, so I shared it on Facebook.

Big mistake. Oh, the writers and Supernatural fans got it. They thought it was awesome, but it completely and 100% freaked everybody else out. At first I thought OMG, they're scared of symbols, isn't that cute? Then it disturbed me because I realized that people really were taking things way too seriously. I thought they knew I was a writer. I thought they knew a bit of weird is normal out of me. I thought they knew how to make the distinction between fiction and reality better. I thought they knew me better than that. But most of all, I didn't realize that they scared that easy.

Well, the good news is that my next writing project is sci-fi. No supernatural there. Now, it's gonna be a lot of neurology and technology. I hope brains and big words don't scare them like symbols do. And by the way, when I shared this incident on Twitter, they thought it was hilarious that Facebook freaked over it. I saw pretty quick where I belong online (and am happy I've made appropriate adjustments!).

Still, it's out there now, Oh well. I'm gonna have so much fun at Halloween. Maybe I'll be a demon hunting alien. That sounds like fun. Or maybe by then, you'll realize it's all for the sake of art. You can't fear the darkness, especially in worlds and characters you create. You go where it takes you, and you enjoy the ride. My crazy is all on the table, both here and on Amazon, and I put it out there so you can join in - if you aren't too scared ;)

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

Bye!

Evolution in Progress

2/7/2014

Last night, Rick watched the movie The Internship. If you don’t know, it’s a movie about a couple of middle age guys that are laid off from a sales job, and they get an internship at Google. I kept a casual eye on the movie while I was pushing Incursion through publication on Smashwords and Kindle Direct, and it didn’t take long for the strange connection between the movie and what I was doing to hit me.

I think members of Generation X are in a unique position in regards to the tremendous advancements in technology. I remember being shocked that Granddaddy didn’t know how to fast forward a cassette tape when I was kid, and now here I am 30 years later and cassettes are as obsolete as victrolas were to him back then. And I look forward to my nieces, who have grown up with computers and cell phones their whole lives. Soon, we’ll have a generation of people that don’t know how to answer a phone you don’t “swipe to answer.” Heck, I was watching It’s a Wonderful Life at Christmas, and Chloe, my parrot, looked at me funny when the phone jingled, and the actors picked up a telephone receiver. I know several people of my parents’ generation that “don’t know how you’re supposed to answer this thing” because there’s no receiver to pick up. And here’s Generation X, right in the middle of it all. We’ve watched it develop. The first home computers came out in the 80’s when we were kids, and we never dreamed that they’d be a part of everyday life, both at home and at work, and that they’d integrate into so many devices we use everyday, like telephones.

We may be the last generation that remember the console televisions, record players, cassette tapes, Comodore 64’s, the original Apple computer, rotary telephones, life before microwaves, and having to get up to change the channel. We’ve watched the world evolve from arcades and Atari to Xbox and PS3. In one way it’s shocking, and in another it’s exciting to grow with technology. When I dreamed of being a writer as a kid, it was the whole “go through an agent/publisher and get a hardback or paperback published, then go on TV, radio, and book signings to promote.” Last night, I published a novella from my recliner with a pink laptop, wearing flowered pajamas. No agent required. And while I do have 2 publishers, that’s also handled completely online. It’s amazing. I went through the entire publication process for Blurry, Anywhere But Here, and Splinter online, and I’ve done all the promotion online too. The future is very different than what we imagined. We don’t have space cars, jet packs, or a cure for the common cold yet, but the Internet has entire world linked, and you can do almost anything from home, your office, or even your phone.

It’s amazing. I wonder what Granddaddy would think of my phone being a computer. He’d probably say the world’s gone crazy. And maybe it has, in a good way. Now I’m waiting for the next big thing – for laptops and tablets to be one in the same device. They already have “combination” devices that serve as both, but just wait. I bet within 5 years, there will be no differentiation between the two.

Yes, I believe I was born at just the right time. The new ways shock the baby boomers. The old ways seem ancient to millennium babies. But Generation X is the bridge between the old and the new. And to me, that’s just right. It’s been great to watch the world evolve, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.

That’s all today. Have a Happy Friday and a great weekend.

Bye!

Contrary to Popular Opinion

8/20/2013

First, I’d like to announce that tomorrow is my husband, Rick’s, birthday. Have a great day, Rick! The birds and I love you! We’re one happy flock!

And now on to the regularly scheduled entry:

I’m a radical non-conformist. That’s one thing about me that hasn’t changed in the 16 years since college graduation (or the 20 years from high school graduation). Ask anybody, and they’ll tell you that they don’t know what beat I march to, but it’s not any drum they can hear. Make the opinion a “popular” one, and I’m more likely to reject it – or at least put it under fierce scrutiny to see if it’s logical or makes sense. If there’s one thing I’ve always been proud of, it’s my authenticity. For example:

·        When I was buying a new car in 2006, I immediately dismissed the Toyota Camry as an option based on a commercial. It was store security store camera where the announcer said “attention shoppers, a Toyota Camry has it’s lights on in the parking
lot” and everybody left the store. They prided themselves on having the most popular car in America. And I said hell no, I don’t want to drive the same car that everybody else drives. I refused to even stop to look at a Toyota lot because of that stupid commercial.

·      Everybody loves San Francisco, and I’ll agree that it’s an intriguing place. I’d love to take Rick there someday. But frankly, it was too cold for my liking. 55 degrees in early September darn near sent me into shock. My sinuses didn’t care for it too much either, as I got the worse nosebleed I’ve ever had the day after I arrived. A lot of people tell me that’s their favorite place in the world. To each their own. It was interesting, but frankly it was a city that was a bit too crowded for me. I was more impressed with the nature, sunshine, and wide, open spaces of Arizona.

·       I don’t care for high heel shoes. At 5’1” I could wear stilts and still not fool anyone. It won’t help, so why bother with the sore legs and achy knees. No thanks. In fact, I refuse to wear shoes with more than a 2 inch heel. It’s a compromise (but not one I make often).

·        I refuse to color my hair (at this point in my life). People keep telling me I should get my hair highlighted, but I like my hair darker. I used to get natural highlights when I was in marching band in high school and college and I hated it. It might
have looked good to others, but it was dried out and frizzy, and I fought it and hated the color every day. Until I go grey, no color. And then, no blonde. I accept what the Lord gave me, so the rest of the world can darn well get over it.

·     I don’t own a flat iron. I don’t need one. My hair is straighter than pine straw. And it won’t hold a curl either, so I gave up on that too.

·        I don’t like the telephone. Frankly, I think it’s the most abused invention ever. People pick it up to ask stupid questions that they could answer themselves if they put their brain on it for 2 minutes. Or worse yet, to jabber about pointless things and waste inordinate amounts of time. Seriously, people use the telephone as a “surrogate brain.” Progress, my butt. That invention has kicked us down a couple of notches on the evolutionary scale. I pray computers and the Internet can pull us back up by the bootstraps before too much deterioration sets in.

·        I don’t think that print media will ever die. And believe it or not, it’s not because of the absurd “paper holdouts” that gripe about the evils of technology. Rather, there’s just too much already out there in the way of books, magazines and newspapers. The world can go more digital, but I don’t see a day where we’ll do away with all paper forever. Frankly, I think we’d already be there if that were a real trend. I believe digital print will take over a majority market share, and will certainly transition to the preferred method of print media. But no, books, magazines and newspapers won’t go away. They might go the way of cassette
tapes – rare, but not extinct.

·        Dogs might be man’s best friend, but this woman’s best friends have always been birds. I’ve never had a dog. It’s always been birds for me, because they’re more sociable, they’re happy, and they live longer. Much longer. Case in point: our oldest sun conure, Zack, is 13 years old, and he’s outlived 3 of my parents’ cats.

·        My laptop is pink. So is the mouse. And my phone case. And my work ID is on a lanyard with pink beads. Hey, everybody else has black, white or silver everything. There’s no question which stuff is mine!

I could go on for quite a while but I think one thing is already clear – I make up my own mind about what I like and appreciate in life. And if it’s contrary to popular opinion, so much the better. I don’t have a problem with being unique. In fact, I prefer it that way. How can you be authentic if you’re just like everybody else?

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

Bye!

Things That Blow Up My Brain

3/22/2013

Many of you know that I have my bachelor’s degree in psychology. My original life plan was to get my master’s degree and become a therapist but obviously, that didn’t happen. I went into administrative work, started writing, built a house, and now here I am.

I’m still glad I got my undergraduate degree in psychology because frankly, that education is something I can apply to every area of my life. At some time or another, it’s helped me in every area of life and it continues to. But I don’t regret foregoing the higher education and the original life plan because frankly, I think I’d be ill suited to be a therapist. I thought it would be a great way to
help people, but if there’s one thing that the 16 years since college graduation taught me, it’s that people won’t change unless they are internally motivated to do so. That usually comes from one of two things: the threat of losing something they don’t want to live without, or a court order (and those are violated often (and frequently enough that I’m thinking about taking that off the list). Usually, when people break down and seek guidance for things, they either want a pill to fix them nice and quick, or an excuse to stay exactly the way they are and demand that the world accommodate them. As if that’s going to happen.

I know this sounds cynical, but people thought I was an idealist when I was younger. They should be happy to hear such an admission out of me. Few people would have the guts to go on an open forum like the Internet and say yep, you were right on
that one. The idealism isn’t 100% gone, though, because there are still some things that, to this day, blow up my brain. I just don’t get it, and no amount of talking is helping me to understand the logic behind some things such as:

1.People that “let it fly,” then complain about being lonely. I’m not saying to sugar coat everything because that’s fake and ridiculous, but every word that flies through your brain doesn’t need to fly out of your mouth either. The problem is; people don’t give a crap about what you think 99% of the time, and the other percent it’s only to get your agreement, money, support, or vote. Truth is fine but you have to deliver it with discernment. If you just say what you think, unedited, then people are going to avoid you because you come across as rude, and everybody responds better to respect than to criticism. Building and maintaining relationships means you have to at least act like you care, even if you don't care anymore about them and their problems than the extra 40 minutes in a Martian day.

2. Envy and jealousy. Folks, I’ve known people that have married, moved, bought high ticket items and ruined their finances because they simply couldn’t stand the fact that someone had something that they didn’t (or had something newer, bigger, or better than they had). Then they got depressed and angry when it didn’t work out for them. Usually, that failure came from not being willing or able to do the work that goes with having the prize. Then again, I remember hearing Joyce Meyer say once that if you put yourself in a place that the Lord doesn’t mean for you to be, then it’s up to you to keep yourself there. That’s tough, but there’s another reason I don’t understand this: if you have time to fixate on what other people have, then you aren’t investing enough into making your own life the best it can be. Sure, you should care about and support other people, but your primary focus should be on taking care of and growing the talents the Lord provided to you, not on what He gave to other people. Work with
what you’ve got and if He means for you to have it, He’ll bring it to you in the best timing – and give you what you need to keep you there.

3.People that are sure they’re better than everybody else. I like what C.S. Lewis said about “a good man knows he isn’t good because he can see his badness. A bad man thinks he’s great guy because he can’t see his badness.” Before you say “it’s not personal, it’s just business,” I’ll be bold enough to tell you that’s absolute crap. I’ve worked at different places and I can tell you from recent experience that people are not like that everywhere. There are good, honest people working hard to do what’s right and succeeding at it. I’ll go further and say that I’m fortunate enough to work with an entire group of them. Acting like you’re king or queen of the world isn’t commanding respect, it’s arrogant and makes you look like an insecure fool. Please, get over yourself before you sprain something sticking up your nose at people. There will always be people in authority over you. You gain more by working hard and being dependable than having attitude and playing games. Because folks, nobody wins all the time and if you play games, you'll eventually lose.

4.Know it alls. You know the type I mean. There’s always somebody around that has seen it all, heard it all, and done it all – and probably bigger, better and more recently than you did. I have to admit that these types are a paradox to me. The pompous attitude is infuriating, but they also amuse me greatly because through all that big talk I know that a jack of all trades is a master at none. I’d rather know a few things well then know nothing well at all, but I guess some people don’t feel the same way. Anyway, the Bible says that King Solomon was the wisest man that ever lived, so give it up. You aren’t him and nobody knows everything under the sun. It seems to me that people respect humility over knowledge any day. And nobody likes a know it all.

5.People that use the telephone as a surrogate brain. This was the #1 reason why we (and many others, I hear) gave up our land line. The amount of time wasted by dealing with unnecessary phone calls is ridiculous. There are people that feel like they need to make a telephone call every time they have a thought. There are other people that feel like they need to make a telephone call every time a question pops in their head. There are some that do both. And this is what makes the telephone the #1 most abused thing in human history. I hope that Alexander Graham Bell isn’t still in purgatory answering for why he created something that has incrementally decreased human intelligence over the years because I know he didn’t mean for it to come to this. But I take heart in knowing that the abuse of this tool is offset by the greatest things that have been invented since the telephone: Ignore buttons and “do not disturb” mode. If only every telephone were required to be equipped with these!

6.Basketball. I sent out tweets and posts on Facebook in the fall asking people “do you like basketball?” I don’t, but I was just wondering because the last people I heard admit to liking it were of my grandparents generation. The request was largely ignored, but the few responses I got were a resounding “no!” So why is it all about March Madness now? Hello? I thought people didn’t like basketball?

Hmm. Maybe I should have been a therapist because I could charge these people by the hour to explain themselves to me. As it is, all I can do is avoid them when I can and take notes to put them in my next novel when I can’t. But who knows? I have several books published and if I keep writing then this will all work out okay anyway.

As for the basketball thing, I don’t know. Maybe that’s something else to add to the list of crazy that I am. But at least I know it’s a strange thing about me. That’s the one thing about having a psychology degree. Other people think you’re always analyzing them, but the truth is that you spend more time analyzing yourself. And there’s no hiding from what you know is out of whack there!

I hope you enjoyed this silly musing on reality. Happy Friday to you. Take care and have a great weekend.

Bye!

Mischief

Evolution in Progress

Contrary to Popular Opinion

Things That Blow Up My Brain

Escape Reality

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