~A Bitter Swallow~

Tomorrow is not only Memorial Day- it is also Nerd/Geek Pride Day! I am including the manifesto that I copied off of Wikipedia. Now go get your Geek on!

A manifesto was created to celebrate the first Nerd Pride Day which included the following list of basic rights and responsibilities of nerds.[1]



Rights:
1. The right to be even nerdier.
2. The right to not leave your house.
3. The right to not have a significant other and to be a virgin.
4. The right to not like football or any other sport.
5. The right to associate with other nerds.
6. The right to have few friends (or none at all).
7. The right to have all the nerdy friends that you want.
8. The right to not be "in-style."
9. The right to be overweight and have poor eyesight.
10. The right to show off your nerdiness.
11. The right to make an attempt at being as nerdy as Morgana Summers, and the right to fail. (Topher Stumph came quite close, but he too, failed).
12. The right to develop serious crushes on Randall Munroe, Shane Carruth & Bo Burnam, as opposed to say... James Franco. (See 11).
13. The right to carry a Thesaurus with you at all times, as opposed to an iPhone. (See 11)
14. The right to execute shameless self advertisement via the Wikipedia Geek Pride Day page. (See 11).
15. The right to falsely assume the surnames Finkleton, Waldman, Stratzer and Krukemeyer.
16. The right to take over the world.


Responsibilities:
1. Be a nerd, no matter what.
2. Try and be nerdier than anyone else.
3. If there is a discussion about something nerdy, you must give your opinion.
4. Save any and all nerdy things you have.
5. Do everything you can to show off your nerdy stuff as though it were a "museum of nerdiness."
6. Don't be a generalized nerd. You must specialize in something.
7. Attend every nerdy movie on opening night and buy every nerdy book before anyone else.
8. Wait in line on every opening night. If you can go in costume or at least with a related t-shirt, all the better.
9. Don't waste your time on anything not related to nerddom.
10. Befriend any person or persons bearing any physical similarities to comic book or sci-fi figures.
11. Try to take over the world!


Another reason to celebrate on this day- It's the Cookie Monster's birthday! So- go be geeky and have some Cookie Cake! Yum!

Have you ever had those moments where you are truly struck by the error of your life? When you are hit full force by the realization that the life you live is not the life you are meant for? Or that your soul pleads for?

I am having one of those moments, and it makes my Spirit mourn. I don't belong here. Yet- I am unsure how to remedy it.

The Sun is out and shining though, and I have the day to go frolic at the lake with my family. So times are not bad. Just not where they should be. That's okay though. Let this moment of frustration, too, pass.

I have a story line I am suppose to be working on. I'm not going very well at it. I have a horrible tendency to over think things. I don't want to be one of those writers that over describes everything. But at the same time, I don't want to be too shallow, either. I know I should just put it all in there. That is what editing is for, is it not?

But, my over-critical self reads too much into what I write. I suppose I should just allow myself to immerse myself into the scenes in my head. I should let myself paint those pictures on the paper- no matter how minute the importance. I can always go back through later and erase. I hate erasing.

I am looking into the workings of the brain. I wish I could find information on puberty that isn't solely devoted to sex. I am sure I can find info off the Internet, but I never feel wholly confident in what I find on there.

Now I also get to do light research into the voodoos and hoodoos of countries like Africa. That part I think will be fun.

Well, here we go. I promised to take my "word of the day"s each week and combine them into a singular post. I worked on this today. I must admit, I threw it together in about a half hour, because I had forgotten about it. So, it's a bit muddy, but I know you'll forgive me.

This weeks words are as follows:
brachiate , wend , pretermite , cadge , dissimulate , munificent , exigency , bombinate , odium , abnegate , unctuous , querulous


I have a tendency to bombinate on and on in my head about my odium for the stagnation my life has become. For some, life has an unctuous quality, allowing them to sail smoothly through without complaint.
I, however, am quite querelous about the exigency of changing myself. I have been wending my way through life, brachiating from one path to the other without much thought to my own welfare or happiness. I have been munificent on doing whatever it takes to please everyone around me, while being pretermit about what needs to be done for me, thereby abinegating my own sense of satisfaction or contentment.
Consequently, I have been on somewhat of a subconscious level reaching out to others, dissimulating my attempts to cade them into saving me from allowing my sense of of Self to wither away.

Ok.. now, I'm not one to be judgemental about things as food. If it's good, it's good. But this one, I just have to question. http://stores.lulu.com/fotie I have to wonder at what prompted this obscure "ingredient".

I guess I'd have to be really close with the chef!!

For those of you keeping track of my writing prowess (or lack thereof), you will be happy to know that I actually completed(ish) and submitted a piece!

I saw an ad for a gentlemen looking for submissions of father-daughter anthologies from the daughter's point of view. He wanted the story, as well as how that relationship continues to influence the daughter's everyday life.

The piece I submitted I cannot say I am happy with. I have a very hard time writing about my father. However, I finished it. I submitted it. It may not get chosen, and that is okay. I am proud of the fact that I have gotten as far with it as I have. It was not a long piece- only roughly 3500 words. But, again, it's done. That is the highlight.

So, wish me well if you like, but celebrate my completion more. Now, the next deadline I have is for sometime in the Fall of this year. This one I need to start pushing myself more on, because this one is to be an actual book-long story. It will involve copious amounts of research on my part, and with my procrastination level, I need to really strive to keep on task. But the fact that it is per request of a friend perhaps will boost my motivation level. If only to appease.

In any event, there you have it. One down- about 4 or 5 more I'm working on.

I was rereading over my old posts while wiling away the slow hours at work today. I came across a post where I deliberated on what to do with the new words I have been receiving in an attempt to strengthen my vocabulary skills. I had contemplated various ways to adhere those little (or big) words into my brain in order to pluck them out when appropriate. One thing I jested on was writing out blog posts around them, but discarded the idea due to lack of topic matter to write them around.

Today, I decided to disregard my previous disregard, and to indeed use those neglected words in weekly posts. I may not have the topics to use them around, but I can use them as the topic themselves. It will not only use the words in context, but also gives potential for some entertaining blogging.

Stay tuned!

So, I think I'm going to sign up to be an ambassador. A KRL Ambassador, that is. I will be out and about promoting the library and all the goodness it possesses. Yes, all the yummy books and DVDs and music; All the access to Internet, and shows, and classes; The book club, the movie club (both of which I would really like to participate in sometime, but always have dang schedule issues), the children's' programs, the teen programs.

I will get to go out and really help push this stuff. I get to be a pusher. Of information this time, instead of drugs. (Don't worry... I was a legal pusher of drugs in my time!)

So, get ready to see me everywhere! (dun dun dun!)

I was going through the books being checked in today, looking for loose, forgotten items used as bookmarks, markings in the book, etc.. and came across one that had a dedication in it. It was donated to the library in remembrance of a loved one that had passed on. I looked closer, and realized that the dates given marked this loved one as still a child. It brought upon a deep feeling of mixed sorrow. The wretched kind from losing one's darling baby (I have two myself, but still cannot even imagine), and also the happy kind that comes with having something that helps you remember, and makes you smile at those memories.

The book made me think of my own youth, when my troop of friends and I would wander through the graveyards to hang out in the peaceful quietness. There was something soothing about the place. We always made our way toward where there was a remarkable amount of gravestones with dates that spanned a disquieting few amount of years. Like all teens that age, we were a obstreperous bunch, laughing and playing our way through. However, without warning or prompting, the whole of us would be overcome by a hush as we passed into that area of the young spirits. A sort of reverence for those who did not make it as long as we had, and a deep respect for them. We would tell each other stories of these children- happy stories of perserverance and love, and of those left behind who still mourn the happy memories of their lost child.

To this day I do not view graveyards as a place of spooky scariness, but rather a place to rest and relax in the quiet. They have always brought upon a feeling of peace and stillness in an otherwise crazy world. I still find myself wandering, looking through the names and the dates, and finding those of the children. Those souls whose journey ended sooner than we would like to think possible. And I always find myself stopping at them, wondering about them and their lives, and what possibly could have brought them to this place in the dirt. How were their lives, their personalities, their deaths?

Oh, and that book with the dedication? It was "Love You Forever" by Robert Munsch. A proper and fitting title, don't you think?

My son had karate again this evening. He'd had to miss two weeks of class due to a toe infection, and then a camping trip with his Boy Scout Troop.

But in light of this, and a mark of just how dedicated he has become to his karate studies, he was able to complete the next kata in his class, and he got his second stripe on his belt. This was completely unexpected! His sensei told him that if he can complete this kata flawlessly and with confidence in two weeks, he will put his name up to be challenged to earn his orange belt!

So far, his sensei is highly impressed with my son's progress. He's only been in karate for three months, and knows two katas, and strives to further his knowledge of terminology as well as form of movements.

I've watched the qualifying tasks for achieving an orange belt. It was pretty brutal, both physically and mentally. He has a couple weeks to prepare for it. Now it's time for me to be on the ball as well, and while I may not be able to help him with protecting himself in the physical part, I can at least get his mind prepared for the knowledge part.

I'm so proud!!