Notes of thought

I can’t recall anyone ever telling me I write too much. This observation should provide motivation to write more. Yet my motivation withers.

just a short note can mean alot

I don’t believe you need to be a writer to write. Talking is easier but maybe not as effective. Talking doesn’t easily create a permanent record. 

Writing doesn’t flow out of my mind. It's more like small bubbles of thoughts popping up. Just creating occasional blog posts were not always easy for me. A blog post doesn’t require any publisher/editor approval. You can just do it. Of course, just doing it probably won’t mean much to anyone other than the ad agency for Nike.

I did technical (engineering type) writing in my career. Creating a blog post is much more fun.

Those that have written a letter or a note in a card (I wonder if many of future generations ever will) know the process requires more time and thought than talking.

Has the speed and ease of texting changed communication for the future? It does seem so.

Twitter requires less time and thought than any activity except maybe relieving yourself in the bushes after leaving a late night party. The speed of twitter doesn’t provide quality thoughts.

This past week I’ve enjoyed the PBS Ken Burns documentary Country Music even though country music is lower on my musical listening list. Watching this multi-part show, you realize country music spans many different types of music.

Lyrics are poems set to music. The music story presents a number of very descriptive phrasings that since I seldom listened to country music, were new to me.  There are many great songwriters in country music.


from Hank Williams:

Hear that lonesome whippoorwill
He sounds too blue to fly
The midnight train is whining low
I'm so lonesome I could cry

from Kris Kristofferson:

Busted flat in Baton Rouge, waitin' for a train
And I's feelin' near as faded as my jeans
Bobby thumbed a diesel down, just before it rained
It rode us all the way to New Orleans

and another one from Kris:

On a Sunday morning sidewalk
I'm wishing Lord that I was stoned
'Cause there's something in a Sunday
That makes a body feel alone
And there's nothin' short of dyin'
That's half as lonesome as the sound
Of the sleepin' city sidewalk
And Sunday mornin' comin' down

One song that exemplifies country music is Will the Circle Be Unbroken. 




 

blogging by a liar

Get back Jojo.
Get back to where you once belonged.

I was just getting back to some old postings. (hey that was a warning and the last old post warning you'll receive) As I dug through my stale digital HTML ramblings, I found this gem from 2015. Here's a revision. (oh if you know Jojo send him over) Please hold your comments until the comment section appears below.

👇

Don't worry about the little flamer.  He is a nice dragon.

Writing is a burning thing
And it doesn’t help me sing
Bound by wild desire
I posted words of fire

I fell into a bloggin ring of fire
I went down, down, down
(but not past the comment section)
And the flames went higher
And it burns, burns, burns
The blogging liar
The blogging liar

The comments can be sweet
Give a facebook like or a tweet
I fell for readers like a child
Oh, but the fire went wild

I fell into a bloggin ring of fire
I went down, down, down
And the flames went higher
And it burns, burns, burns
The blogging liar
  It’s hot sauce I’m a liar.

Count them on one hand

Too many for one hand, six of one, half a dozen of the other.

On the other hand, you have different fingers.

Play the hand you're dealt, then put your hands up.

What do I know. Not much, how about you?

Most of the sayings/idioms I have heard and used are seldom analyzed. Maybe they were more relevant back when they were first created. Join me in mixing-up a few and far between sayings. Please add any favorites in the comments.

It’s hard to hit the nail on the head, between a rock and a hard place.

I need to bone up on this. I’ll make no bones about it, look what the cat dragged in? (a triple!)

Waiting for my ship to come in, because I’ve heard there is one in every port. No big deal except we are all in the same boat. (a triple!)

Come hell or high water I’ll go down like a lead balloon.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket, unless they were only a dime a dozen.

Don't hold your breath, unless you just took a dive.

It’s hard to hit the ground running when I don’t have a leg to stand on.

Close but no cigar til the cows come home, mum’s the word. (a triple!)

When it rains it pours, then there’s water under the bridge so you’re off the hook unless things smell fishy. (grand slam)

I’m barking up the wrong tree but at least I’m not at square one.

Talking trash - when neighbors meet at the curb on garbage collection day.

Not in my book - more applicable for me would be “not in my blog.”

Hey now, all you bloggers put your lights on.

retro looking

Oh I could have titled this throwback posting or something more catchy. Here in a few months we will become the land of ice and snow again. But the reason for this post is not the season. Recently I enjoyed a PBS show about the brain which of course included findings about memory. This and perhaps the change in the weather gave me an idea or the reason.

What if I reread all of my 2012 posts would it bring back anything? Just rereading a few posts brings back memories and old thoughts. In my last post of 2012, I wrote:

when I was younger
so much younger than today
I never needed anybody's help in anyway

Any Beatle fan will recognize those lines from the song “Help”. (here’s the post link if interested) If you have followed this blog, you’ll know I’m often puzzled and inspired by lyrics.

Why am I soft in the middle now?
Why am I soft in the middle the rest of my life is so hard?

climb up see more but you still can't see the future

Some people look back much more than others. Some study the past and make a good career of it. Do you recall those few studying (actually I doubt anyone doing a serious study was involved, just new age book sellers) the Mayan calendar that predicted the big end for all of us would be Dec. 21, 2012? Little did the Mayans know that social media would latch on to this craziness since clicking likes and reshares have become so easy today. I’m so happy I posted my view of that. Now I can go back and reread it in 2015. (here’s the post link if interested)

we just had back-the-future day

Back in Dec. 2012 I wrote:

I just don’t get it. Had I gotten it, would I had known I did?

In that post I pondered the possibility of my old duffel bag becoming trendy. (here’s the post link if interested) 

She loves me like a rock

Throughout blog history man has marveled at the vast richness of A Few Clowns Short postings. Ok, it’s my blog history. But I do marvel that I was able to make a post from the phrase “in a world”. (here’s the post link if interested)

Oh BTW, going back and reviewing my posting while triggering memories also frustrates me with all the broken/removed youtube clips.

Having read this far, you are certainly qualified to leave a comment. 

This wasn't much about my photos (two of the above are mine) but if you like photos click the Unknown Mami button below

an example of how my blogging is going

Tonight's subject - How my blogging has been going recently or in other words where did the spirit that moves me go?

your right (the red shoe kid)

My travels through blogland have shown me that the desire to post and the ability to post get out of sync with each other at times. Even when life events have little or no impact, the keyboard and the fingers just refuse to play well together at times. When I find myself in times of trouble, (mother Mary comes to me, posting words of wisdom, let it blog) I often go back and read a few of my old posts.

I came across this conversation example I posted once that shows how we can all get stuck expressing ourselves. As we age and our focus dulls, often our conversations turn into word guessing games. The guessing can provide comic relief in some situations. This was taken from the middle of an attempt at conversation with a sibling not too long ago:

“Oh what was it I was going to say It was somewhere we were and I was laughing about something.”
“That’s pretty vague. How would I know but here’s a few clues from our conversation so far:
teens,
parties,
the beach,
seagulls,
sunscreen...”
“No that doesn’t help. Oh darn, it was a good story too.”
“Well maybe it will come you later.”
“Oh, oh, now I remember. Remember the time you dropped your ice cream cone on the back seat and then tried to lick it off?”
“No not really.”

( ... there will be an answer
let it be ...)

what will blogging bring

I have no idea. After blogging for more years than fingers I have on one hand (never lost a finger yet) you would think I might have a better idea.

Once in 2013 I wrote about feelings - "do you have something to say". As one reader commented, it was painfully sappy.

Sappy - Too much of that can make me happy because it gives me a laugh.

Yeah runnin’ down a dream

That would never come to me

Workin’ on a mystery, goin’ wherever it leads

Runnin’ down a dream

runnin down the snow

Had I known Tom Petty’s song would have fit my blogging so well I would have titled my blog “Runnin Down A Dream.” The clown idea for the title came from a co-worker long ago. Since then I’ve had second thoughts about the clown part. The later generations seem to fear clowns much more than I realized. I clown around a little but I’m not a clown and have yet to join a circus but I like elephants.

Back in July 2013, I noticed that July seems to be a month of ideas for me. I don’t know why. This year I might need to wait until July for my brain to complete thaw from our polar vortex frozen days. Here’s the post on my July idea month.

A characteristic of blogging that still surprises me is how it starts recursive thinking between my neurons. Thinking about how we think is recursive. Blogging about blogging certainly is. I imagine a post about other posts which I’m doing now is probably not very interesting. Not much different than complaining about FB on FB (have you done that?).

There's something good waitin' down this road

I'm pickin' up whatever is mine

self imposed pressure

I received this unique photo in my email.

Blogdramedy

If you look closely you can figure out where it came from.  The blog diva at Blogdramedy offered it to me.  You can read the comment/reply exchange that lead up to it on her post.  Her post was not about playing monopoly (great game that I have not played in long time) but about the new US $100 bill that was issued the other day.

is it raising or falling?

Long long ago in internet time (2011) I took up the seasonal challenge offered by Blogdramedy. She called it Blogfestivus. It was 12 days of racking my limited creative mind to write posts about that goofy song. Looking back I know it would have gone better had I stocked up on eggnog and rum first.

This mostly self-imposed challenge (makes me think she is the competitive type) was much easier since only one post was on the table monopoly board.  I think this post gets me out of jail.

Any monopoly players reading this?  How much did a player (games are fun because we are all players) pay to own a railroad?