Listen, I'm kind of showing up here because I'm afraid that if I don't write something--anything--right now, I might never write a single word in this space again. That would be sad, I think, for me, so here I go.
It would have been a good idea, probably, if I had thought a little bit about this ahead of time, but then I would have shrugged it off yet another day, and soon it would be March, and who knows what would happen then?
Perhaps a couple of General Categories Off The Top Of My Head will help Break My Writer's Block.
1. Television: Oh, yes, I am one of the Philistines Who Watch Television. Or tries to. We gave up cable aeons ago, so we suffer through commercial/antenna TV and use streaming services. When a series ends on Netflix, we are bereft and have that terrible period of grief followed by The Terror Of What To Commit To Next. We just finished Broadchurch, which we loved. But, because the lead actor had such a rapid and heavy Scottish accent, we had to be like The Olds and put on captions. Imagine our shame and dismay. And do not get me started about how many times I lose both remotes in the folds of my blanket.
2. Seasonal Affective Disorder: My SAD, which is usually on overdrive right about now, is not so bad. I think it's because we're seeing more sunshine than usual; I'm getting outside more often; and Sam got me a Happy Light for Christmas, which I use on cloudy days. I'm also getting better at what my friend Shirley would call Practicing Self Care.
3. My Pathetic Life: Jared went on an Axe-Throwing Date for Valentine's Day. Yeah. You read that right. Apparently, it's a real thing. He sent us pictures of him throwing an axe at a big slice of wood that was painted with a target. He said he "had a blast" and "hit a couple of game winners." I sent a text back that said, "I would do terribly at that. You should see me just try to throw stale bread out the back door for the birds and squirrels." And it's sadly true. Not only do I have zero arm strength, my aim is laughable. Ask Zydrunas, who has been hit in the face by innumerable ricocheting bouncy balls that I have attempted to toss through the doorway, but have instead rocketed squarely against the wall on either side.
4. My Newspaper Is Toying With Me: My Plain Dealer had the following headlines today, which I will place here for you, exactly and without comment: That 1 Guy Makes Music With His 'Magic Pipe' and France OKs Lightsaber Dueling As Sport.
I hope I'm back, but I can't make any promises. February has been kind of a bitch.
Glad you're back!
ReplyDeleteJill--Thanks, Jill. Hope you've been well. And happy.
DeleteI'd be sad if you weren't here! We, too, watch the television box. In what seems like forever, we will be only too happy to watch and listen to baseball again. I've just caught the cold that has been going around here. I hope I can get to the barn Thursday to help , but I may have to bail so as not to get everyone else sick
ReplyDeletekathy b--Thank you. I don't watch or listen to baseball anymore, but I was happy to hear when our Cleveland Indians left for Spring Training, an important seasonal milestone. Not too much winter left if the teams are headed to warmer climes! Feel better soon!
DeleteWriter's block is not allowed more than a couple of weeks. I'm glad you're back.
ReplyDeleteSo those "happy lights" really work? I've been tempted to get one.
Jean--Writer's Block takes a lot of forms, and this one was a combination of factors. After a while, the blog felt like One More Responsibility. I knew that wasn't good.
DeleteThe light works for me. Mine is actually called the Verilux HappyLight Compact Personal, Portable Light Therapy Energy Lamp, and is available on Amazon for $39.95. There are also larger, more expensive, brighter models, but this wee one is perfect for me.
(And no, I'm not getting compensated--nor am I a representative for--this product or Amazon.)
It's lovely to see you post here, as always. I usually check in every few days to see if you've posted something, and I always get so excited when I see a new graphic at the top of the page, signaling that there's something new to read.
ReplyDeleteI'd never heard of a Happy Light until you wrote about it. Do you feel a difference when you use it? I'm actually horribly sensitive to light when I'm trying to sleep, so I have blackout curtains, and I'm usually too lazy to open them in the morning if I'm just going to head downstairs. So maybe I need a Happy Light when I'm waking up, even for the sunny days.
Honestly, I think that if the technology ever gets good (and more importantly, inexpensive) enough to have blackout curtains or blinds that can be set to open at a certain time in the morning, I may spring for them.
As much fun axe throwing could potentially be, I imagine you're not truly missing out on much. Though I've always wanted to go to one of those places where you can pay to destroy everything in a room, so maybe I should give axe throwing a try.
It's always nice to see you on here, and even if you aren't terribly excited about what you have to say, your audience clearly loves it every time. I'd be quite sad if you ever truly stopped writing here.
xoxo,
- Mikey G.
Mikey G--You are a sweetheart. I don't really intend to stay away; things have been hectic here with Rick's spinal surgery, then he had a brief heart scare and another hospital stay, and yada yada yada, February is almost over. Add in my other concerns (my mother, for one), and Priorities got shuffled dramatically.
DeleteI, too, have to sleep in an entirely darkened room. Staying in hotels, B & B's, etc. drives me nuts and I get very little sleep. The light coming in the many windows in the rest of our house (I sleep with the bedroom door open) helps me to wake. I like your idea of Wakeup Blinds.
My Happy Light is just one of many SAD-fighting lights available on Amazon. And yes, it helps a lot. It's tremendously bright, which I thought would bother my migraine sensitivity, but it doesn't. I use it in the afternoons when it's cloudy. I really have not suffered from SAD this winter at all. And yes, I'm very aware that it could be entirely a sort of placebo effect. Who cares? I feel better!
xxoo
That is a lot on your plate, and those are good reasons to shift your priorities. I hope things get easier for you soon.
DeleteAnd yay for the placebo effect! If it makes a positive difference, then it's good.
Well, I'm glad you decided to write!
ReplyDeleteWe also watch TV, which of course is just *so* wrong, unless of course you are only ever watching PBS, which then makes it OK.
I get SAD in the summer - for real - so I understand your wish to feel better. I'm glad some things are helping.
My favorite headline will always be one from my hometown, where they showed a photo of a heavyset woman who had just been elected head of a local organization, but the article was next to the photo rather than under it. Under the photo was the headline, "Blimp Visits Wheeling." I know it's wrong, but it was funny.
Bridget--Thank you! And I'm glad to count you among us TV People. Our shared TV does not even bring in PBS, which I lament daily, but I get my fix on the bedroom TV every now and then.
DeleteYour hometown newspaper's gaffe is probably still talked about by lots of people! It makes me wonder if it was truly a coincidence/mistake or not.
Dee--Oh, thanks. Just a lot of other stuff going on, you know? You've been there; you know.
ReplyDeleteNOPE is right! I have a deep, gut-level fear of snakes. Since childhood. That headline is perfect.
I always love to see a post from you. I think that even if you just posted a recipe with a bit of explanatory comment I would still find it hilarious. Ha!
ReplyDeleteBug--Thank you. You let me know what you need a recipe for, and I might just do that one day.
DeleteWell look at this! If I use my [newer] laptop I can comment on your Blogger blog, but my [ancient] desktop computer won't let me comment here. Ain't life a pip? 🤨
ReplyDeleteAlly Bean--What the heck!? I'm not going to even delve into the reasons, but just say Glad You're Here! And thank you for continuing to comment via email, which I enjoyed immensely.
DeleteOh those headlines - priceless!! Fletch uses a SAD light (I can't say that I've seen it make any difference though...he's just a tad bit disagreeable in the winter AND in the HOT summer). Finally, it is very good to have you back!
ReplyDeleteVera--Thank you. My SAD light, combined with my snow shovelling, makes me at least feel that I'm not letting Winter win. And there is nothing more gloomy than the dim greyness of a cloudy day and a dark room. I like a lot of light.
DeleteThe Cleveland Plain Dealer has had a staff shakeup recently, unfortunately letting a lot of more experienced people go. This has had some interesting results, and eyebrow-lifting headlines and quirky stories have been some of them.
Headlines put humor in my life! Really enjoy all the blips in ads, signs that mangle the English language, too.
ReplyDeleteI, too, am among the antenna TV viewers. Do have access to two PBS stations plus all the L.A. area commercial stations and their several sub-channels, or whatever they’re called — you probably know what I mean — channel number,1, .2, ..3, etc. Netflix provides me some other viewing entertainment.
Axe throwing immediately conjures in my mind Ed Ames on Carson snow demonstrating throwing tomahawk. If you aren’t seen this, check out this YouTube video: https://youtu.be/0L5QC9ZJkM8. That should warm you up with laughter on a SAD day.
Let’s get those Cleveland Indians team going — they have a special place in my heart from 1948 and can recall names of so many players. Just heard on news the fastest growing sport in U.S. is baseball!
Oops...that’s not what I typed ... if you “aren’t” should be “haven’t”.
ReplyDeleteI should have verified that baseball news report as only supportive link I can find is that baseball is one of many outdoor sports that are growing — no mention of it being fastest.
ReplyDeleteJoared.3--Yes, we have the "Point Channels", as we call them, and they often give me some nighttime Off To Sleep viewing if I don't want to mess with Netflix. I remember faintly Ed Ames (Mingo from the old Daniel Boone series!) and his tomahawk. I'll check out your link; thank you.
ReplyDeleteMy son Jared is an Indians fan. I used to watch and listen to the games back in the Omar Vizquel days--their more modern heyday. Then I lost interest in them and baseball--games take too long for me. I am impatient. But I keep track of the Indians, of course--that's my home team!
We subscribe to the most extensive package Direct TV offers and supplement that with six streaming channels and watch very few of them. My dear husband and I rarely watch anything together. He loves the Alaska and swamp people reality shows and is on good terms with all the veterinarians. I detest all of those shows so I watch PBS series and British mysteries and comedies. Thank goodness we have a great room as well as a den and both have very good televisions.
ReplyDeleteThe weather has been so bad we don't bother to watch the forecast. We can't watch what would be our "local" station because it has been purchased by Sinclair. My husband flips from channel to channel in the morning because each will invariably have a guest at whom he must yell expletives and change to another channel where they will soon have the same guest. So I take my coffee and laptop into the library and get news from trusted Internet sites. As for newspaper headlines, we have the very worst copy editors in the nation. Not only are the headlines grammatically incorrect, they often are hardly related at all to the subject of the article. But we feel compelled to continue to purchase our local newspaper. It seems the right thing to do.
NCmountainwoman--What is it with our husbands and those stupid reality shows? My husband is a very kind, concerned person who loves to collect good wine, eat well, vote Democrat, and truly enjoyed Downton Abbey and Doc Martin. However, left to his own devises, he will watch hours and hours of backwoods hillbillies track down feral pigs, parking officers put "boots" on illegally parked cars, and goofballs go fishing for all manner of...well, fish. I'm deeply dismayed.
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way you do about our local town paper, but I cannot bring myself to actually buy it. Once in a while, I'll read it online, but its editors continually choose to report only the worst stories going on, and its bias is so blatant. So, in my case, the Right Thing To Do, for me, is to largely ignore it.
I hope you soon get some dry sunshine! You certainly deserve it.
Hmmmmm...those headlines are frankly incredible. So glad you are back, don't stay away long we all miss you.
ReplyDeleteMereknits--Thanks; that's nice to hear. Sometimes, with headlines like that, I don't even bother to read the story. The headlines are enough.
DeleteJust checking to see if I posted at all in February, and it turns out I did, once, just a recipe. Now that we are well into March I need to get on it, don’t I? Glad your SAD is mitigated. I think the jet stream that has been giving you some sun has been giving us rain, so it’s a win-win.
ReplyDeleteJ@jj--I think February was a tough month for a great deal of people. I'm in awe of blogwriters who can post every day, every week, or with any sort of regularity.
Delete