Oh, please

It is nearly the 4th of July, and it is 57 degrees out and rainy.  I have a spirited fire in the kitchen stove.   The plants, of course love it,  and the two inches of rain we're getting tells me we might just have a good summer,  just not when

addendum:  it is now 47 degrees, and I am seriously considering a fire in the dining room stove.  The cat has been out once, looked at me as if  I were insane, and came back in, wind whipped and soggy.   =)

Not a Trick of the Light (6WS)

In the winter, Charlie is a medium long haired grey/white/black leggings cat

In the summer, he is a medium short haired dark brown/medium brown. black leggings cat

I have  no idea why, except that he may have an 'overcoat' of white/grey that replaces the brown.

In Brief

1. Dylan
2. Shakespeare
3. Cher
4. Marilyn
5. Garbo
6. Kennedy
7. Einstein
8. Gable
9. Lennon
10  Lincoln
11. Capote
12. Liberace
13. Streisand



New Thursday 13

The Dark of the Moon Blues (6WS)

Spring Tides

when the light goes out up there

for a day or two, 

I feel the tug of nothing

like trying to sing in a vacuum

and no sounds come out

no song satisfies 

unless it's in a minor key

with that heavy beat behind it

like a steady blow

between the shoulder blades

and I begin to slosh in and out

like the spring tide,

retreating further and further from shore

exposing rocks and broken shells

that won't be seen again

for another year

Color Spectrum Test

color spectrum test

aha I found it  

color is in the eye of the beholder

Red
Green
Yellow
Orange
Grey
Brown
Black
Purple
Fuchsia
White
Blue
Pink
Blue Green



more lucky 13s at: Thursday 13

Recovered from the old "6 sentences" site, now defunct

Oh, Let Me Count the Ways

After 30 years of longing and self-imposed madness, still gifted with a sixth sense about her, Jack took to counting pickup trucks; no idea why that particular item, except they were handy, numerous, and ubiquitous.  The goal was ten thousand even, but with an added handicap of no red or white ones, and no extended cabs.  When he added the last truck on I-81, he stopped for coffee in the next town as a kind of 'seal the deal' event, wondering with rock-solid certainty not "if" but "when"  'it' would happen.

As he was getting up to leave the door jangled open and three stout blowsy middle-aged women walked in,  brushing by as he shrugged awkwardly into his jacket.   One of the voices reached him, resonating for a very long moment before he threw down the tip with a clatter, getting just a glimpse of her as he passed their table--nahh,  he thought,  it couldn't be.  Back in the car again, he looked around the parking lot.  "One", he said, "two, three, four..."

about the nature of game addiction (6WS)

I have an addictive personality--I am also highly competitive. This is a dynamite and dangerous combination when it comes to games in which you pit yourself against opponents, obstacles, or both. When the opponents are not computer generated, there is also a sense of community that springs up among people on one 'side' vs. the other 'side'.

You may maintain your "I"ness, your persona, but it gets subverted into a kind of group mode in order to succeed in quests, adventures, or goals that are group oriented.  The "I" is there, but it's now  involved in making decisions that affect the entire group, and the more independent you are, it is both harder and easier at the same time to devote your energies to that group and that goal.

I have just finished a year long stint with a game called RailNation.  There were four separate games played,  each lasting 12 weeks, with a slight space between each one.  It was played out on a map of the United States, and you settled (with your association) in one city and 'owned' it.  It is,  frankly, maddeningly, one of the best, hardest, and most interesting games I have ever played, one of the most addictive, and it required attention on a daily/hourly basis. Unlike many games, WoW most notably,  it continued on whether you were logged on or not.  That meant you were more or less forced to show up fairly regularly in order to be productive and useful to your Association.

I loved it, and hated it by the end of the last round, which ended last week.

 I'm gone.  The new game started today,  I went over and saw that I could log in,  and I fled. Seriously.  Took down the shortcut and the references to it.

Then I went out and mowed the lawn.

THURSDAY THIRTEEN

                  One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
             Two Happy People...
                 Three Men in a Boat
                                 Four Door Sedan
                 Five Finger Exercise
                      Sixpence
           Seven Days in May
                               Eight is Enough
                Nine Men's Morris
                    Ten Little Fingers Ten Little Toes
           Ocean's Eleven
                    Twelve O'clock and All's Well
                              THURSDAY THIRTEEN

sleeping beauty

I've always had trouble falling asleep.

For as long as I can remember, it's been a tussle to 'get there' no matter how tired, how dark, how late, the brain just kept on humming.  I lay a lot of the blame to being put to bed way too early as a kid, and in the summer being in bed while it was still light out.
Being a night person by nature, I hadnt shut down yet enough and spent probably an hour or more trying to get into sleep mode.

I used to count, sometimes into the tens of thousands, to bore myself to sleep.  As an adult I just waited it out.

Even after I got married, even after we came up here to live,  it was always a struggle to drift off, especially being married to a man who fell asleep almost instantly. That is SO annoying.

Then something magical happened, and Im still not sure what it was, but it worked.  One day I was rearranging the bedroom, and happened to place the bed on the west wall, covering an old bedroom fireplace that we didnt use and had sealed off.  That night I got into bed and the next thing I knew it was morning.

Whoa, I thought. That was amazing. Next night, same thing.  Every night.  No more toss-and-turn, no more waiting for the brain to stop stravaging through my entire life history,  I would lie down, toss and turn once, and wake up the next morning.

It may be part of the Feng Shui thing the Chinese use, where furniture placement is supposed to help or hinder your mood and temperament.  I've lived in many places, some of them with the bed facing east, but never facing a window that way. Always a wall.  It's been over 20 years since I moved that bed and only rarely do I have trouble sleeping, maybe once a year.

To anyone who has trouble sleeping, or falling asleep, this is a miracle every night.  However, Ill never be able to move the bed again  =)

A Poem for Six Word Saturday (6WS)

LOVE SONG TO MY  WIFE

          (by J. Sprat)

Last week we fixed the door.

Today you broke the floor.

Every time you take a bath

I fear for every lath

and every beam and timber.

I am no longer young or limber

and it’s really getting harder

to avoid your mammoth ardor--

I think we need to talk.

You can no longer safely walk

without causing mass destruction

to the sturdiest construction

from the kitchen to the basement.

This will be the fifth replacement

of the stairs.  When you cannot make it

through a door without a jimmy

then I can no longer take it.

I’ve seen you in your shimmy.

I’d love you more, turtledove,

if there were just a little less of you to love.

                                       (published, Melic Review, long ago)

Thursday 13 the hard way (built 'em myself)

THURSDAY THIRTEEN