A Post on a Post

Recently I discovered that I had not been posting often enough. About 4 months worth of not posting. That discovery was stunning to me (read about it here). So, in the interest of continuing to post on a regular basis - here is a new post. One of my many posts about nothing.

Hmm...what to write...what to write...

Meatballs

Architecture

Large family gatherings

Mouse

Squirrels

Stew

Okay...the stream of consciousness isn't very conscious tonight. Must be because of this headache. I shall go to the random topic generator for a random topic. BRB (that's "Be Right Back" if you didn't know)

First question: What is your morning routine? Well, I wake up about 2 hours early, do 50 push-ups and 50 sit-ups, run for 5 miles, read a chapter in the Old Testament and the New Testament, journal and clean my room. Kidding!! I roll out of bed about 20 minutes before I should be at work, watch the end of an old Charmed or Fresh Prince episode, pull back my hair and get dressed. Not so much a routine as the least amount of effort required to exit the house without being arrested for indecent exposure. Next question!

What is your biggest pet peeve? Oh...I have SO many to choose from...improper use of apostrophes, people must think that turn signals and headlights burn more fuel, graffiti (destruction of property in any form really...), non-recyclers, hypocrites...injustice, inhumanity, nSync? My biggest pet peeve? Wastefulness. I think a lot of my little pet peeves all add up to the big one...wastefulness. I don't like it when people waste food or landfill space or things. I really hate it when people waste time - that doesn't mean that people shouldn't have time to just relax with their favorite time waster (TV, Solitaire, Candy Crush, People magazine, etc.). But just burning other people's time with useless nonsense like gossip and whining or making people wait while they check their phone for one more email, text or snapchat... That is a big pet peeve. It always makes me shake my head (SMH) when I see a table of people in a restaurant checking their phones instead of being with the people they are actually with. I am not immune to the temptation to check my phone - my family will be happy to inform you that I am imperfect in that regard! Some times it is because I'm waiting for something important that is work-related. But a lot of the time it is just a bad habit. I'll try to do a lot better with that. Next question!

Where do you currently live? ummm....inappropriate... I've been stalked once in my life and I'm not looking to be stalked again. And most of you know where I live anyway. To be very un-specific: I live in Central Virginia where the snow always turns to ice and the humidity in the summer makes it hard to breathe. My house is not perfect, but it is cozy and I like my housemates. My cat is refusing to kill the mouse that is sharing the basement with us - but if it stays out of sight, I will ignore it. I wish my hot tub wasn't broken (again) but I'm content. One more question!

Describe your perfect day. I think that the line from Miss Congeniality was "April 25. Because it's not too hot, not too cold, all you need is a light jacket." I've actually had a lot of perfect days. Images pass through my mind...relaxing on a couch in the shadow of the Canadian Rockies...paddling down the James River one April (until somebody tipped the canoe over...)...hiking and laughing with a great friend in the Blue Ridge Mountains...having a wonderful lunch that lasted about 5 hours....driving on the north beaches of the Outer Banks...sitting in a natural hot spring by a beautiful river in British Columbia. When I'm in the midst of one of these experiences I try to be completely immersed in the moment - I try to commit the details to memory. I don't want to mundane part of the day to overtake the wonderful part. And generally it works - my recollections start with the beautiful instead of the harsher reality. So I forget that after relaxing on the couch, I cooked dinner...that we had to haul the canoe up a hill and over a railroad track...that the sun set before we got back to the car and had to crawl part of the time to find the trail...that Dan was almost late for work that evening...that we spent part of the next day (unsuccessfully) searching for the license plate that got knocked off up on the north beaches...or that I was mostly thawing out in the hot spring because the night before I nearly froze to death sleeping on the hard floor of the van (or that we had TWO flat tires on the way home). All that fades away and I can still feel the sun on my face and my hand in a stronger one that pulled me up the hill...lots of days can be perfect, if you let them...

Hamster beaten...

I think I smell meatballs.