Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Shout out to my fellow nerds

The stereotype of a copy editor: "Copy editors are a bunch of nerds and dweebs and dorks, obsessive-compulsives preoccupied with minute distinctions invisible to normal human beings. It’s just as well that they work at nights, because no one would invite them to a party."
- John McIntyre, copy editor extraordinaire

After being angry over trying to clean the house before move-out time, I am glad to find something to laugh at. :-D

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Life update

I just got back from a weekend at my mother's house. I don't know if it's that place or the people there, but I never sleep well (bad dreams and all). So of course I've been really tired lately. I did enjoy getting to see my bird, my cat and my dog. I gave them plenty of the love and attention I'm sure my mom and stepdad are not providing right now. It was a joy to have someone by my side whenever I was at the house (inside it was my cat; outside it was my dog). I need a dog at home.

The reason I went up there was to scatter my grandmother's ashes. She died a while ago, but it was only last weekend that we could finally get organized enough to get it done. We went up to Skyline Drive and scattered off a beautiful overlook (pictured at left). It was sort of a surreal experience, especially because neither my father nor sister are much into crying in front of people, so I spent the whole time taking pictures so that I could divert my attention away from the sadness. My sister didn't want to go near the ashes and the whole time I was imagining accidently inhaling them and then having to sneeze out my grandmother's remains. I then thought that I would want to be cremated but I'm not sure I'd want to put anyone through the experience of having to scattered the burnt up particles of someone you loved and talked to and laughed with. I then immediately went into the bathroom and cried.

There are big things happening with my sister now. It's hard to figure out how to deal with a family member when such things happen. We may know too much about each other to really help each other. I would give her money, but she wouldn't accept it. All I can do is talk, but because I'm the younger sister who *seems* to have her shit together, she never wants to listen to me because I "have no idea where she's coming from."

All that has added up to a really dark mood lately. Which is affecting everything. I need a lift but I'm not sure where to get it. I'm going to an Umbilical Brothers show on Saturday. Maybe that will at least take my mind off things. Which is why I need a dog. I need a creature to divert my attention away from my life. *sigh*

Thursday, June 18, 2009

What about Bob?

Bob my lovely tomato plant, who up until a few days ago seemed set to produce a grand number of delicious (muhahaha) offspring, seems to have tried to commit suicide. It's sad really, but what can you do? Maybe my pot was too small or the fact that the sun hasn't really shone for the past couple of days made living too difficult for the little guy. I'm trying to ressurect him, but as of right now, I can only hope that his three surviving offspring will reach their deep-red maturity. As I was transporting my droopy, yellowing buddy to the town house, I almost started to cry. Which is silly...but still. *sigh*

Friday, June 5, 2009

A mandate for journalists

If you're still interested in some of my observations on journalism, go to http://beckelizabeth.wordpress.com/ to read a piece designed to get journalists to take responsibility for newspapers apparent death and for the resurrection of the industry.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Childhood hero(ine)

The first person I remember looking up to wasn't real. As with most children, I had my pick of figments to admire. I picked She-ra.
Now laugh if you want, but I think it reflects well on me to have picked a strong female figure as my first hero (or heroine). Too often little girls want to be Barbie or Hannah Montana when they grow up. I wanted to kick some Evil Horde ass with my trusty side-kick Spirit and a cadre of pals, including Kowl...another favorite.

Heroes exist for a reason. We look up to them. We learn from them. We even emulate them (though I've stuck more to looking like Princess Adora than sporting a white mini skirt and knee high boots like She-ra). It's good to wish to be better than you are. That helps us strive to be better people, to try to better humanity.
An important thing to remember though, and one not realized by most children, is that its okay to fail. And that there are other ways to try to better humanity than to call on the power of Grayskull and wield a sword to fight the Evil Horde. Smiling at a stranger can be heroic. Letting someone get in front of you on the road can be heroic. Who knows what pain and disaster you may be averting by just taking a moment to call an old friend to say hi.
Yeah that's something we should all learn. With that in mind, tomorrow will be about a much more realistic hero.