Poetry Thursday

Greetings,

Happy Thursday, one and all. We’ve nearly survived another work week. To celebrate, let’s all take the weekend off. What? Oh, you’re doing that already, well never mind then.

I received good responses to my post, “Strive to live the ordinary life in a non-ordinary way.” A lot of philosophers out there.

The above quote made me think of other quotes that I have found inspiring, profound or thought-provoking. One of my favorites is by Socrates, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

I see too many people who blunder through life seemingly unaware of how the chaos inherent in their lives is similar to or a virtual repeat of past  experiences. If they would take a moment to think about cause and effect, to reflect on past actions and the outcomes that developed therefrom, these individuals might have a less stressful, more emotional fulfilling life.

We all need to reflect inwardly upon occasion, to take stock of where we are, emotionally, spiritually and physically. If we don’t know where we are, how are we going to know how to get where we want to be?

Enough philosophizing, I am not particularly good at it but I keep trying.

Today’s poem is called “The Dark,” and is about the things that go bump in the night.

Scale said 252.0 yesterday. Looking for the 240s next week sometime.

Still writing “The Curious Item That Fell From The Sky.” The trouble is not that it is a particularly difficult story to write. The problem lately has been finding a block of time big enough to “get” into the story. Deadline is still aways off. Hopefully, i will have it finished before my writing group meets again.

Enough rambling for one day. Thanks in advance if you take time from your busy schedule to read these scribblings.

Till next time, be safe, be happy, be creative.

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More ramblings

This my second post today. I was unable to post this weekend. I was, unusual for me, busy socializing. I am normally a bit of a hermit. The hours I work are not conducive to social interaction. Noon is my midnight. When I am awake and alert most everyone I know is sleeping. To socialize on the weekend entails disrupting, what I laughingly call, my sleep schedule. Most third shifters flip their sleep schedules on the weekend to spend time with family or friends. Monday night at work is never pretty.

The picture of the flower is one I took while on vacation in Missouri several years ago. It was early in the morning and the dew still lingered on the petals. I have taken lots of flower pictures over the years, this is one of my favorites. There is no particular importance to the picture other than I wished to share it. It is a bit of nature’s fleeting beauty. Beauty is something that should be shared simply because it exist.

I also want to share a poem today. I will post another Thursday but I was in full luddite mode last Thursday and the whole poem thing just didn’t happen. The poem is called Nature Wild. It is a poem about a time that was nearly gone when I was a child. I lament what we have done to nature even while I enjoy the fruits of what that abuse has wrought. I was raised in the East Texas piney woods. The forest was vast and healthy. The undergrowth was so thick so at times to be near impenetrable. It was a wonderful, wonderful place to grow up. It is still lovely but I remember it from fifty years ago and the change saddens me. The children growing up in that part of the country today will never know the wilderness that I and my childhood companions knew. A lament, I recall, that my father shared with me nearly fifty years ago, Too many people, too many houses, but people have to live somewhere and it might as well be somewhere lovely. I hope the children living there now enjoy the beauty. Overpopulation, the logging industry and climate change all make me fear for that lovely land.

The picture on the front page of my blog was taken by me in East Texas a few years ago. It is one of the few places I saw that really captures what the forest was like when I was a child. There is remnants of an old house hidden behind that mass of greenery. If you stand at the edge of the road you can just make out the roofline. The old place may have collapsed by now, Nature has a way of reclaiming what is hers.

Thanks for letting me ramble. I hope you enjoyed the picture and the poem.

Till tomorrow, be healthy, be happy, be creative.

Mind, Body, Spirit, Your Personal Trinity

It’s Wednesday, for the first time in a while I got to sit and chill, after working my butt off at the gym of course.

I joined  a couple of blogs, placed an order on Amazon and listened to some music on iTunes.

This whole blog thing is interesting, I lead, basically a pretty average, pretty boring life. However, it’s a good life, I laugh a lot and at my age I’m pretty cool with boring. But trying to find something interesting to say daily is a bit of a challenge, but in a good way.

My job, I am proofreader for a major printing company, can be extremely high stress. The documents we work on are very stylized and each customer’s document has a different style. We often have a high volume of work due in a short period of time and very few people to do the work. Basically, I need a way to relieve the stress. Writing and boxing are my two major outlets.

The writing is an interesting hobby, at least in my small circle of friends, who by some strange coincidence write, used to write or wish they had time to write. I hope to make my writing an avocation when I retire, which seems like a long time emotionally but a short time in actuality, six, no more than seven years if you’re curious. Writing allows me to leave, temporarily, all the stresses behind and visit a place where I am in total control. I make the decision what my fictional world is like, who populates it and what trials, tribulations, successes, failures, joys and tragedies befall them, In essence, in my little creation, I am God, too cool. If a reader finds my creation interesting and/or entertaining, beyond cool.

The other thing I do to relieve stress is take boxing lessons. I do it for the exercise and the off chance I may need to defend myself someday. I try to avoid places and situations where that might prove necessary but you never know. Beating the hell out of a defenseless punching bag is a great way to relieve stress. The half hour on any given day may consist of weight training, aerobics, practicing combinations for speed or power or a mixture of the two, left jab, speed, right cross, power, or left uppercut speed, right uppercut power. Different days focus on different things, footwork, defense, attack, stamina or combinations. For strength training there are kettle bells, barbells, bands, huge ropes, sledge hammers and tractor tires, etc., etc., etc, you get the idea. I nearly forgot stretching and balance exercises. I can’t do this all in thirty minutes of course but with all these options the coach is able to make each session different.  I have no clue what to expect when I walk in the gym and I find that interesting.

Of the two main ways I relieve stress, one I have total control, the other I just do as I’m told. Surprisingly, for me, these two extremes keep me pretty mellow. I find that interesting as well. I still have days when i’m a grouch but they are few and far between.

I stayed up too late again but I have enjoyed writing today’s post. Articulating these hobbies of mine have given me a new awareness of just how important they are to me. Writing is exercise for the brain and boxing is exercise for the body. Together they help make me a happy, contented person. Mind, body, spirit, the personal trinity, I hope your trinity is as healthy as mine.

Tomorrow is poetry Thursday. I may post a short story instead of a poem, depends on my mood.

The scale was kind today: 254.0, down 5.5 pounds so far. However, it is getting late and I am hungry so if the scale tomorrow stays the same I will be happy.

Till tomorrow, be safe, be happy, be creative.