Write now, Write away...Write on!

Well, time rushes ever onward and I have let my poor blog sit dormant long enough. I have decided to start posting some of my poetry and fiction that I have been writing (instead of writing in my blog). So that will be forthcoming.

Otherwise I am almost at a year in my new job as Instruction/Circulation/Reserves Librarian at ECU. It has been a whirlwind of trials and adventures. I have really blossomed here though and I hope I will be here for a while. I actually have friends over once in a while which is huge for me the former hermit. And I am trying to get out to singles' activities for church but that so far has been a non-starter. Of course as I am writing this it is nearly six o'clock on Friday night, so I guess I still have some work to do, but ECU is a suitcase college so it pretty well dries up on the weekend. I will be touring the western part of the state next weekend with a friend whom I driving to see his grandparents so that will hopefully make for a good blog entry.

Many of you who read this know that my grandfather (and last living grandparent) passed away this summer. While I am glad that he is not suffering anymore, it is still hard to think that he is gone. He was always my favorite and I hoped that he would be there when I got married but I guess he couldn't wait any longer, so he'll be there in spirit when I get hitched some day.

This summer I got to go to Anaheim for a conference but I went alone so it was not the most exciting event, but I did get to go to Chicago also, and this was with my bosses and a fellow instructor here at ECU. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life! What an incredible city! I wish I had more time (and money) to do all the touristy things, but that will have to be saved for another trip, another time.

As I mentioned above, I have been writing again and it feels amazing to put pen to paper and see it come alive with people and places that I didn't know I had in me. I have a goal to write a short story and a poem every month for this semester. I actually made it for the first month, but feel inspiration lagging, though the next month hasn't started yet so there is still hope. I have lots of ideas but I need to do some reading and just throw some thoughts around on paper until I work out some of the kinks.

For what their worth the next few posts will be some of my short short stories or maybe they are story starts. At any rate they are writing exercises that I did with a group of ladies at work. We have a sort of writers' club. And then I will post my first real short story that I wrote that is presently under the working title of The Constellation Prize. If you have suggestions for a better title, please let me know. Feel free to leave comments and whatever. I appreciate feedback.

Thanks for stopping by.

Of sudoku and history books and missing brothers ...er, brothers I miss...

I spent this last summer with my brother Victor in southern Utah, and like most strange and peculiar situations you don't really appreciate what you have until its gone. (Not that anything happened to him, I just moved away.) It is interesting to me how sitting around as he introduced me to the joys and frustrations of sudoku puzzles, and trying to talk me into reading yet another history book and watching him grow amazing variations of face furniture (he's a bearded version of chia pet!) that I didn't see how much I appreciated him. (And I am not just writing this because he is the only one who reads my blog). I was really blessed when it comes to brothers. I had three as a little kid but then my mom remarried into a family with four more (plus some sisters but I'll get to them another time). Each time I talk to any of them I always feel like I am important and they really want to know what's going on in my life no matter how boring it may be (and it is all too often) but somehow they make it important. They make me feel important. I apologize to anyone who reads this ( if there is anyone besides Vic) since this isn't my usual silly blathering blog entry. I guess I just want to put it in writing for everyone to see - Victor, Warren, Wray, Vern, Val, Wynn and Wade, I LOVE YOU GUYS. Thanks for all you do and for being the world's best brothers!

Burning the Yuleblog...

Well, another holiday season is over. The Easter bunny put some kid's teeth under my pillow and $5 is missing from my wallet. I hung my jack-o-lantern over the fireplace while I cut out construction paper hearts. I have found that buying the old dried out trees are easier to clean up at the end of the season, especially when I keep with the old tradition of putting candles instead of lights on the tree. Poof! Handy-vac the ashes and holiday clean-up is a breeze. Every year I feel a little pang of loneliness since Christmas is for children and the neighbors moved out after I kept 'borrowing' theirs. This year my folks were sick and so I ended up staying home alone and watching way too much tv. At least this time I had my new exercise bike to keep me from being completely lazy. Unfortunately since there was so little else to do, I did the equivalent of the Tour de France in my room in front of the tv, and my thighs may never recover. This is my last year of being in my thirties and I decided I want to make it a good year, unfortunately, I have surprisingly little say in how my life is going to go. Luckily I have a sense of humor and an incredible amount of patience for the junk that comes my way. I am teaching a master's class for the Education Department for the school librarian candidates. I am starting out pretty rough as I don't actually know what I am supposed to teach and there's no textbook and I haven't been added to the online classroom environment (it's a blended class) so I can't access any information, but other than that this should go smoothly. I am taking a yoga class (in hopes of returning some funtionality to my Tour de France thighs) and a guitar class, since I have been toting a great guitar for several years and have never really learned to play it. I figure that is a step in accomplishing some of the things I wanted to do before 40. (Hey I think one of those things WAS doing the Tour de France...I wonder if this will count, plus I save the cost of airfare so I am way ahead!) That's what I like about me...my positive attitude! Here's to being 39...soon.