Kiss of the Muse: Ponderings & Discoveries of Life

Holding patterns are supposed to be uneventful, aren't they? I mean, by definition, you are bound in some way and unable to move forward. If that is the case, then why do I find myself so busy I can barely draw breath?

Spring fever has bitten hard. I yearn to get out into the garden and dig deep into the soil, plant seeds and eagerly await their emergence. But we're waiting to hear if we will be able to purchase/move to a five acres parcel soon. The asking price is more than reasonable, the location good, the land needing new stewards. All that stands in the way is human-made red tape. Grrr.

Also eagerly awaiting the arrival of a new fleece, beautiful dark grey Rambouillet, to be spun. It could literally be here any day from a great gal in Montana. Oh the joys of the internet - the invention that allows you to reach out and communicate with people of like interests nearly instantly when otherwise it might take weeks - and that assuming you meet them by stray chance somehow. To keep myself from going through spin-withdrawals, I'm plying leftovers from various bobbins to make into dishclothes. Waste not, want not.

Someone expressed interest in purchasing our old house - a ramshackle, unfortunate little place which either needs to be pulled down or fixed up by someone who cares more than I do. To be honest and straightforward, I told her everything I could think of wrong with the house - and she still took my card to have her husband give me a call this weekend (perhaps). I must admit, if they should offer me good hard cash, I'd likely take it and hoard it towards land out in the countryside!

And right after she left, our neighbor came over and asked if he could plow a strip at the bottom of that same yard for a garden. He's over retirement age, and his father had always had permission to have a garden there for years out of memory. Of course, I said yes! If those other folks should purchase the house (it sits on roughly 2/3rds acre), it will be with the understanding that the allowance is as written in stone as it gets (at least for this year).

*sigh* I'm not sure what to do at this point. I hesitate to pin hopes on a farm this spring, but if I don't hope, could that be construed as not having faith? Regardless, I need to 'downsize' this household. We've accumulated too much 'stuff' and it's unruly, cluttering, and unsightly. Definitely, some needs to go to a new home.

Best get to the 'chores' for the day. Clothesline needs to be rehung and dirty laundry piles reduced. I keep thinking that the house brownies will get to it overnight, but mine seem to still be on strike.

In the course of the past month, I've joined two other forums, one a "survivalist" forum and the other a homesteading one. Both have provided me with hours of enjoyment, learning and amusement. The homesteading forum, however, has brought much frustration, as well.

There are wonderful people there. But then there are those who insist on labeling anyone who disagrees with their conjecture - and usually it's those who claim to be conservative (the "right") doing the labeling though not always - "leftie" at the least provocation. This tag is thrown out with such venom, such force it's a wonder the words do not physically jump through the monitor and manifest in front of the computer. Conversations about the government and its antics breed this behaviour by default lately. If you think the war in Iraq is 110% justified as-is, you're in the "right" camp - literally. If you have *any* reservations, *any* dissenting views at all, you're obviously a loony leftie who consistantly uses lies to further your misled cause against the Greatness of the presiding governmental head.

Let's see if we can sort this out and come up with any answers. Here's what society teaches is 'true':

The "left wing" are the liberals, the ones who tend to promote change, tend to be more ecologically/environmentally focused, want to take away our guns and the right to bear arms. "Loony lefties", "treehuggers", "bleeding hearts". The Democrats get filed into this category, although it's a little confusing since we're supposed to be a democracy, and you'd think the party would have all the right values and consensus.

The "right wing" are the conservatives, those who think the government should be run by the Christian God's laws and apple pie served at every meal, and who argue that a woman's place is in the home raising the babies without equal rights to employment (doesn't need it since she's at home) and taking care of her man. Sentiment seems to be, if we were to all shut up and never question the Republicans (the bastion of conservatism), the US would be fine.

The "socialists" are nasty commies that everybody hates because, well, they're socialist commies.

The "libertarians" seem to rate right up there with the "green party" though it seems they're really just a bunch of disenfranchised wingnuts. I'm pretty sure anyone who wears a tinfoil beanie belongs to one of those parties, although lately I've been hearing a lot of people calling the tinfoil folks "lefties".

Now how much truth is there to those stereotypes? I shall have to ponder that answer for a bit. Might even have to put on my tree-hugger's tinfoil bonnet on while peeling the apples for tonight's dessert.

The first post of the newest year ....... bad, bad writer to let some three months to lapse! *slaps own hand*

Ok, now the self-chastisement is out of the way , what shall I write about? I could discuss Jack Frost and his over zealous sharing of ice and snow so far this winter. I could talk about daughter's first accident - going off the road in the midst of the "freezing rain" storm last week (she's fine, car's fine). Another topic could be husband's ordeal of injury at work last fall and the resultant tale of an insurance company's ignorance and inabilty/unwillingness to "think outside the box" for treatment options which resulted in two months more of severe pain and disability than what was warranted. I suppose I could even yammer about seasonal sniffles and coughs, the grips of which I am slowly slipping free. However, these are all the trappings of normalcy most of us experience at some time or another.

Instead, I shall have a mini-mini rant, an occurrence I know you all share but wait to read here.

Daughter's girlfriend really enjoys a 'reality' show called "Laguna Beach", so daughter bought her the season 2 dvd. While we don't watch much tv really, and certainly not reality shows (which, in my opinion, have *nothing* to do any reality I am a part of!), I thought to myself, "I'll watch a bit of it to keep her company". Yeah, right. I had to stop after a couple full episodes or so.

Premise (as far as I can tell): the camera follows two cliques, one of females and one of males, who are intertwined, from Laguna Beach. Now, as a rural Midwestern gal, most of what I know about California is what I read and hear. If I were to base my worldview on this program, I'd conclude that California is comprised of fluff-headed, vainglorious, clueless kids. A minuscule hint of burgeoning maturity teases us occasionally, but for the most part, the entire show is chock-a-block full of spoilt newly-graduated (high school) individuals who don't seem to need or have jobs, whose idea of moving up in the world is 1) having mom and dad buy them a new car, 2) throw a 'fiesta' and/or 3) change boyfriends.

Remember the Valley girl speech syndrome of "like, oh my god"? Well, apparently in Laguna Beach, language has evolved to include "like" as every third word on average regardless of the context. Otherwise, all the female voices have the same twangy, empty-headed cadence (that we all mock as "Valley girl") with little variation -- come to think of it, so do the guys. Unless a name is mentioned, if I'm not actively watching the show, I have trouble differentiating between the characters by voice alone.

Maybe I expect too much of today's youth. In one episode, the girls all hopped into a little compact car which then refused to start. After the second attempt, the passenger turned to the driver and said "Like, it's not starting?" Please, state the obvious again, the rest of us missed it. One of the gals in the backseat said to wait, like, five seconds then, like, pump the gas a couple times and retry. And what do you know! Like, it started, like, right away! Like, oh my god! The girls then decided that she needed a new car since this one was, like, three years old, and now it wouldn't, like, start.

*HUGE dose of sarcastic eye rolling*

Another looming life problem for one of the girls which seems to occupy a great deal of her time and energy is being friends with a guy with whom she was previously involved in a closer relationship. It completely boggles her mind - she just cannot figure out how to do it (act like a friend without benefits).

Maybe my outlook on this show is unfairly colored by my advanced years and vaunted experience in life. Perhaps I am being viciously judgemental of young adults trying to find their place in the world. After all, none of us are the proud recipients of life-maps complete with important stops map-pinned already and instructions. And, to be fair, I am exceedingly critical of all such 'reality' shows since they are so obviously staged, void of intelligence and worth other than making money for their producers, and are an intensely sad commentary on the mediocrity that we Americans have embraced in an effort to escape the reality we have so selfishly and ignorantly created. These young people feel they are completely normal, the average citizen of their age in our society. They expect their parents to foot the bill for everything - cars and resultant expenses, clothes, parties, schooling, etc. with no thought of their own responsibilities to do anything but take reckless advantage.

We are in SO much trouble as a society.

I cannot believe it is autumn already. The weather has - finally - turned cooler. Gone for the moment are the days of 100+ temperatures that have plagued us for months (you know it's hot when even the computer asks for iced water!)

Remember that nifty little site at which I was 'hired'? We have gone from some 30 members to *over* 100 in just two short months! As a result of increased submissions, we even have a surprise in store for our members, but I'm sworn to secrecy until next week. If you haven't stopped by yet (and why haven't you?) visit http://writespot.org NOW. Be sure to check out the newest section, Psst: Ramblings of the Squirrel Squad. It's one of my pet projects ;).

If absolutely nothing else, being there has bolstered my self-confidence in my own writing. Anyone who knows me knows I can debate an issue intelligently and at length but give me a non-fiction topic to write about and I'm stymied.

As for the site I submitted the article to, I have neither received pay (nor rejection of said article) nor have I ever heard from them again regardless of the follow up email I sent.

However, I have taken on another major project. Not only have I volunteered to be a beta reader for a couple writers (one of whom has written a stunningly good book if the first chapter is anything to go by!), I am working on what has been dubbed The Bulgarian Project. It is a manuscript -- notes, really -- written by a pair of Bulgarian musicians, translated (with a transliteration program, so not very well) and needing to be properly formatted, translated, written and edited into something resembling readable text. The basic premise seems excellent and slated to be the first in a series. Trying to make sense of the translated and transliterated text is what is taking the longest: have you ever tried to make sense out of the nonsense those programs spew out? Of course, every language has its own syntax, idiosyncracies, etc., but --geesh!

Well, a small update to the last entry.

I did receive a reply to one of my queries for employment as a writer. I did not accept the position as I was expected to provide an article of specified length on a specific title with no guidance whatsoever to its expected content/slant/et cetera. This was to be a "test article" which would conform to their submission guidelines and which was to enable them to ascertain what fields I would work best in. In other words, they get a free article and I *might* get further work. I declined since I could not logically determine how writing something on a specific topic enabled them to divine what other topics I might be best at writing.

However, I did answer another ad by the same company this morning and submitted an article---after pointing out to the PiC (Person in Charge)that the advertisement was wildly grammatically incorrect. After being candid with the PiC, I was given the go ahead to submit an article. I have yet to hear back. Whether that section of my writing career will yield any further work is up to the Fates.

BUT, on a much brighter note, I also submitted my name for consideration to a website for writers called The Write Spot. It is a remarkable site written for writers BY writers and poised for explosive growth. I exchanged emails with its Editor in Chief, Helene, and she agreed to take me on as an editor. I hope to be part of this lovely site's future and certainly I expect quite a few of the Kiss' readers to visit (and maybe contribute!)

Once upon a grey and gloomy morning, I resolved to ascertain if there might be a writing position or three open. There were many nice sounding positions but they required 2-5 years of experience either in or connected to the field (whether it was the field written about or writing itself) and some required a degree in writing. To my amazement, there were two opportunities which sounded promising. And so, on this overcast and drizzly day, I set out to research and perhaps to apply.

The first was an on-going position, not one in which I would become a world-renowned bestselling author or rich and famous, but one which might garner me some small recognition as a freelance writer. Nervously, hopefully, I clicked the "add to your writing team" button when I discovered that if I did not subscribe to one or more online newsgroups, I was not eligible. Hmmm. The position's description stated nothing of the sort but again, I could not apply unless I was a member of a newsgroup. Since I have found few, if any, online newsgroups that were either well-written or -informed, I declined for the moment.

The second advertisement was a bit more intriguing. In fact, it was illustrative of the grave problem I find in most of writing (online and print) today: poor grammar and apparently no proofreading. The company needed 30 articles about 'home based business' "do" today (the ad was posted today, as well). They were searching for writers who could work under a deadline. Oh, I applied but pointed out the fact that a less-than 24 hour deadline for 30 articles of unknown length and unspecified content ('home based business' covers quite a wide variety.....) might be considered a bit restrictive. I applied for the non-advertised position of proofreader, using the misuse of 'do' as an example. Truly, I doubt if I receive an answer.

My point is actually two-fold.

How can a person gain experience in a given field without an opportunity? I can write in this journal all day, every day, but in the end it is not considered 'proper' writing experience no matter how many people view its content. Smaller 'presses', be it actual physical businesses or online/virtual, come and go with regularity and may not be available for future reference. Technically, I have the 2-5 years of experience in writing, more to be exact, but nothing to prove it since the above mentioned scenario of small businesses ceasing to exist is very real.

Secondly: I have read many, many company advertisements which include glaring misspellings and grammatical errors. I often feel I ought apply for the position of proofreader if nothing else. The errors serve to cast the business in a very unprofessional and negative light. They fairly scream "this business does not care enough".

Which, I suppose, actually makes a third point: language and its correct use has nearly ceased to matter. We in the United States remain in such an uproar over illegal immigrants and their (apparent) lack of respect for our 'national' language of English yet often these same immigrants are the only ones in a group of people who use the language properly. Increasingly, advertisements and newsprint contain misspelled words and incorrect grammar. The errors are explained away as 'typos'........if they are reported or acknowledged. The proofreaders and editors appear to be so busy ensuring that a certain number of articles or ads are printed that quality has become second place.

If I receive a response to my application, I shall be pleasantly surprised, for even a negative response is an acknowledgment. Who knows, perhaps I shall be a proofreader in charge of correcting blogs.

All the anticipation by some (for good or bane) that today, the dreaded 06-06-06, would shed enlightenment or divine wrath on believers and unbelievers alike has not yet been fulfilled. I remind myself that there is nearly eight more hours at my location in which good ol' Satan could still rear his horned head and wreck unholy havok on us all. But as the minutes tick away, this seems less and less likely.

Yesterday, the very air felt uneasy, the birds strangely silent. It was as if the entire planet was holding its collective breath to see if and how we humans would yet again screw everything up. I admit I made sure we had stocked up on foodstuffs and other items in case there was a non-random act of opportunistic idiocy. However, (so far) it would appear that your run-of-the-mill terrorists also have not acted with their usual fear tactics.

Well, the idotic, moronic and fiscally lucrative tradition of Groundhog Day is yet again upon us. And guess what......yep, the poor groundhog who was so rudely awakened and pulled from his cozy little nest saw his shadow which, of course, means we'll have another six weeks of winter.

NEWS ALERT: It's February 2. OF COURSE we will have another six or more weeks of winter. Perhaps I should look up who began this devolution into superstitious lunacy. Clearly they had received one too many blows to the head or maybe inhibed too much 'shine.

Stranger yet to me is...how do the officials (who dress up for this ridiculous occasion) know that ol' P. Phil the groundhog has seen his shadow or not? Is there a special groundhog interpreter on site? Has the groundhog learned to speak American English and the scientists have simply not reported it yet?

What if the groundhog is actually saying "Bugger off, you *fill in the epitaph*. I'm sleeping. Make up your own damned minds; you're supposed to be the more intelligent life form."