NaBlPoMo and away we go

Well here we are, November, time of Thanksgiving and good intentioned blog posting for NaBloPoMo aka National Blog Posting Month. I want prizes!

The tickler for today is "What is your favorite part about writing?"

I have not written fiction in a very long time, probably about 3 years. I write a lot of non fiction in the form of acedemic papers. I miss writing fiction. One of the things I am looking forward to if I ever finish school is writing for pleasure. My favorite part of writing for pleasure is creating characters. I enjoy inventing interesting people and breathing life into them. I also enjoy finding the perfect word, the word that conveys exactly what I want to say no more, no less.

I often have a hard time paring down my writing. I read an excellent book on concise writing called "Writing Down the Bones" By Natalie Goldberg and it has helped me make my writing more spare. My natural resting place, however, is verbose. I like the idea of making my writing be the minimum most clean it can be, practice however, eh.

I like writing metered poetry, I like the constraint and the creativity it encourages.

I will leave you with one of my favorite poems of all time, not mine but Pablo Neruda's

I love it not just for the beauty of the words but also the perfect way it speaks to a love I have experienced, simply elegently perfectly described:

Sonnet 17

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,

or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.

I love you as certain dark things are to be
loved,in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms

but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;

thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,

risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.

I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;

so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,

so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,

so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

The above is a salt rose

Old faithful Day Book, how I love ye

We are about to enter into November which is NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) and I am planning to give it a grand effort again this year. In the little quiet that remains of October I thought I would rely on my old friend the Day Book for this month's last (and only) entry. . .

Outside my window:

As people say here in Texas, it is fixin' to rain. A cold front is moving in and with it comes rain.

I am thinking:

I am feeling frustrated about working so many hours. I love my job but it is stealing my life. I believe that I am finally to the point where action on this front is impending.

I am thankful for:

Today I am thankful for a friend of mine who paid back part of some money I loaned her. I was flat broke and worried about making it home with the fumes in my tank. Her small repayment means that I can get home tonight without worry. The best thing is I forgot that she owed me money so it was a delightful surprise.

From the kitchen:

This weekend is a celebration of my friend Ellen's wonderful recipes, I am making her Monterey Beans and Cheese as well as her Tuna Turnovers and her absolutely fantastic Carrot Cheddar Soup (sorry I don't have a link from Ellen's site for it). I am also making a roasted chicken and some jambalaya. (I cook on the weekend for the week ahead)

I am wearing:

A dazzling Marlene Dietrichesque tailored suit with tomato red high heels that match my lipstick, I am wearing white gloves and I have a top hat and swagger stick. Oh and my hair is done in finger waves and marceled. . . or possibly I am wearing navy blue scrubs and white nurse clogs with my hair in a french braid.

I am creating:

Cells and carbon dioxide.

I am going:

Into the frey that is Houston traffic in the morning, I have a doctor's appointment, ugh.

I am reading:

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I am hoping:

That the part time remote coding gig I applied for works out.

I am hearing:

My students diligently working on their assignment.

Around the house:

A pit as usual, it is a comfortable and happy pit, but a pit none the less. I also have absolutely no plans on cleaning this weekend other than the kitchen.

One of my favorite things:

I had a gourmet push-up the other day. Remember those little paper tubes with orange sorbet inside with the plunger to push up the sorbet. This was made with orange gelato topped with a chocolate ganache but still wrapped up on a plunger...wonderful

A few plans for the rest of the week:

Meeting with the president of the Houston chapter of the AAPC (one of my professional organizations) to discuss my speaking at a symposium on ICD-10 next week.

Words I am pondering:

"Mindfulness is the aware, balanced acceptance of the present
experience. It isn't more complicated that that. It is opening to or
recieving the present moment, pleasant or unpleasant, just as it is, without
either clinging to it or rejecting it."

Sylvia Boorstein

Here is a picture I am sharing:

I know I usually share pictures of my dog but this time here is a picture of an owl, well actually a painting. I think I am going to have this tattooed on my shoulder. . .

Day book ramblings. . .

Outside my window:
Earlier this morning the sky was grey and it looked like rain, but now the sun is out and it is just partly cloudy. I wonder when this drought is going to break. It can’t last forever, right?

I am thinking:
A lot about how busy I am and how I need to SLOW the hell DOWN. I have to find a way to change how I live my life. This 5 hours of sleep a night 4 days a week is taking a toll on my body and if that were not enough this working 18 hours a day 4 days a week aint makin’ me any younger either. I want time to sleep 8 hours in a row, to cook daily instead of doing it all for the week in one day, to read and think and stare into space, to paint and write. I know that this is for a short time but it has been 3 years and I am starting to feel a little resentful and like my life is passing too quickly to be spending it working constantly.

I am thankful for:
That the job I have to work so long and hard at is one I absolutely love, even if it is stealing my life away.


From the kitchen:
This weekend I am going camping. One of the things I am going to be making is hobo pie. I have a hobo pie maker. For the uninitiated a hobo pie maker is a little cast iron box on a long metal stick that you put in the camp fire to cook various things. I have 2 favorites. 1. Rye bread, sharp cheddar, spicy mustard and little smokies and 2. White bread, apple slices (or berries), cinnamon, brown sugar, oatmeal and a little bit of butter. See the picture right for a better view of the pie maker.


I am wearing:
A bun cage on my hair, it is a little metal cage with beads on it held in place by 2 silver pins. It captures my hair and keeps it together. (see picture for an example)

I am creating:
I am working on a paper on ROI for EHR implementation for small physician practices and the implications for compliance to the HITECH act and HIPAA.

I am going:
Camping this weekend! Oh I need the woods so much right now.

I am reading:
Bullfinch’s Greek and Roman Mythology

I am hoping:
For rain and that I will get some of the scholarships I have applied for.

I am hearing:
My students working on their test

Around the house:
As usual I need to clean it before I go camping this weekend. I have a friend house and pet sitting and I don’t want them to see what a complete slob I am. (Partial slob is fine though)

One of my favorite things:
Dramatically reading stories to little kids, even adults really

A few plans for the rest of the week:
Did I mention I am going camping?

Words I am pondering: I had never heard of this poem or this poet before yesterday and I love this poem:

Basket of Figs
Bring me your pain, love. Spread
it out like fine rugs, silk sashes,
warm eggs, cinnamon
and cloves in burlap sacks. Show me

the detail, the intricate embroidery
on the collar, tiny shell buttons,
the hem stitched the way you were taught,
pricking just a thread, almost invisible.

Unclasp it like jewels, the gold
still hot from your body. Empty
your basket of figs. Spill your wine.

That hard nugget of pain, I would suck it,
cradling it on my tongue like the slick
seed of pomegranate. I would lift it

tenderly, as a great animal might
carry a small one in the private
cave of the mouth.
Ellen Bass

Here is a picture I am sharing:

This is a pic of Ms Lily and me posing in a hamish way (sorry it is so dark, I couldn't get it brighter)

Cleansing the palate from woe

I have been feeling kind of blue and stressed lately so I decided to cleanse my palate and make a short list of 7 things I am grateful for/love . . .

1. I love it when my dog dreams and barks in her sleep, those funny, squeaky, quiet woofs always make me smile. I also really love my dog, Lily, she is an American Bulldog and is quite smart, and I also think she may have a sense of humor. In addition to all that, Lily is a world class spooner.

2. I love it when my house mate, who is a total owl, randomly makes me breakfast in the morning. My day starts at 5:30 AM while his is just ending and to not have to navigate fire and appliances in my semi comatose pre tea state is lovely.

3. I love my car, yes it has cost me a lot of money in the last year what with a new engine and transmission BUT it is practically a new car now. I like the color- bronze, it is delightfully fast, handles wonderfully, and looks deceptively lady like. By the way, it is a Dodge Intrepid in case you were wondering.

4. I seriously love my job. Every day there is something fun or delightful I get to do, every day I get to make a difference in people’s lives, every day I feel respected, liked and valued. It is awesome. I have the pleasure of teaching something I am passionate about and find endlessly fascinating. I also get to write papers and articles as well as speak at seminars.

5. I enjoy being immersed in academia, I teach for a living and I attend school. I love the conversations, the reading, the research and even the paper writing and how it all meshes together with my career enriching the classes I take, and the classes I take enriching my career.

6. I love my house. I have a beautiful comfortable bed. I have finally discovered the joys of sheets with thread counts higher than 12 grit. I have 9 pillows of various qualities, a very firm mattress and cozy rug on the floor. My room is full of bookshelves with an embarrassment of riches of books as well as little oddments I have collected. I have a great vintage velvet couch and love seat in my living room and 3 large fish tanks with interesting creatures leading their fishy lives.
I have a kitchen that is easy to cook in and I have food in my fridge and pantry. My yard is huge and I have flowers growing, lizards creeping and hummingbirds humming.

7. Most important of all, I have people I love who love me back. Even though we are far apart we still are connected to each other and that is a wonderful thing.

No rest for the wicked. . .

I am feeling stretched very thin. In the last 4 weeks I have. . .

• Finished my externship for the school I attend
  




• Created a lengthy power point, with sound and speakers notes, (ugh I really hate power point) presentation on my experience in my externship as well as a written summary.
  




• Taken 2 practice exams (5 hrs each) for the certification I will be sitting
  for probably next month.
  




• Taken a final exam
  




• Traveled 3000 miles (I am not exaggerating) with a friend my age, 2 very elderly people (88 & 90), and a 1 eyed dog in a minivan with dubious AC in the middle of a heat wave
  




• Worked something like 17 16 hour days
  




• Completed 2 online courses for my ICD-10 trainer certification
  




• Attended a 3 day intensive training on becoming a certified ICD-10 trainer (it was like trying to drink from a fire hose although somehow I managed to do it)
  




• Updated the lesson plan for the class I am teaching because at the very last minute I found out that we have a NEW EDITON of the book I use and all my page number and exercises are off.
  




• Planned a review class for a national certification my students need to take
  




• Planned a career seminar for graduates at the school I teach at
  




• Received a $406.00 electric bill, a $100.00 water bill and a $230.00 phone bill, oh and I need to pay my professional organization $215.00 to retain my credential (insert manical laughter here)




• Still need to come up with $500.00 to fix my car
  
  

I am sure that there is more but frankly I can’t take it.


Oh and this weekend I have to go to a pine box derby for the boy scouts and attend a party for 2 people’s birthdays.

In happy magic fantasy land I want to super clean my house, then spend the next couple days completely alone and sleep at least 8 hours in a row, listen to whatever music I want at an immodest volume, cook and eat interesting tasty food, nap, read a lot, perhaps watch a movie or 3 and think nothing about my career, my future career, my exams, how my future is riding on the outcome of my certification exams, and nothing more strenuous than should the dog and I play in the yard or go for a walk in the woods. I think the odds of that happening are rather small but it would be fantastic if it could happen.

Coming up in the next 4 weeks. . . I have to sit for 2 certification exams and I really need to brush up before I take them. They both have a high fail rate for the first attempt and I would like to beat the odds and pass on the 1st go round.

I am staying positive and attempting to stay in some state close to perpetual motion until everything is done. Just a little bit more, just a little more and I will be able to move on to my next thing . . . finding a job teaching in healthcare that pays enough to pay my student loans as well as living expenses.

Of course if you asked me right this minute when I am so tired I could cry and kinda freaked out about money, I want to be a kept woman, lazing about and not worrying her pretty little head about rent, careers, cars and other important things like that. Oh and I want marabou fuzzy slippers, damn it.

5 random thoughts

1. I am pretty excited; I am getting a real bed for the first time in my adult life. Not to say that right now I do not have a bed. The bed I have now is just a queen sized mattress on one of those little metal frames with wheels, no headboard and no footboard. My new bed is a sleigh bed, queen size so my mattress will fit. One of my coworkers is selling it and I got it for little more than a song.

2. After 6 months of drought it is finally raining today. We normally have more than 24 inches of precipitation by this time of year and this year we barely have 6 inches. It is so bad that ranchers have to sell off their cattle because they cannot afford to feed them hay since the pasture land has dried up.

3. I am going to be visiting Michigan and Indiana in the middle of July and I am really looking forward to it. The plan is to do a tour of both Detroit and South Bend focusing on the auto industry. I will be accompanied by my friend Jana and her 90 year old father who has always wanted to see Detroit. The dad is car crazy and has been his whole life; of course I think that translates to being horse crazy in his early years. I am really looking forward to showing him around my cities and showing him the attractions. South Bend is under recognized as a car city. Studebaker and Avanti were both produced in South Bend and were fine automobiles.

4. I only have 2 more weeks of my externship. I have learned a bit on this ride but mostly I am tired. I have been working 18 hour days for several weeks now and only getting 5 hours of sleep a night for the duration with no afternoon nap. I have been trying hard not to be too exhausted, whiney, & crabby but I think those who love me and have to deal with me will breathe a collective sigh of relief when my schedule clears up a bit.

5. I am feeling tired and thinned out, I need about 3 days alone in the woods with my dog to cure what ails me. Too bad it is too hot to camp here in TX for about another 3 months.

It has been a couplish months and so I decided to fall back on my old friend the Simple Woman's Day book, I love that thing!

Outside my window
It is hot hot hot, the high today is to be 100 at least and even on into the weekend and next week it is in the 90s. It looks like the blast furnace door has opened, I mean that summer is here.

I am thinking
I really would like some cinnamon coffee. The hospital I am doing my externship at has a staff coffee room and they have giant thermoses of the most delicious coffee. My favorite is the cinnamon, it reminds me of the coffee at Union Street in Detroit. I am very tired as this is my 3rd day in a row only getting 5 hours of sleep and no nap.

I am thankful for

The people I am discussing issues of class and socioeconomic levels with. They are not only providing me with insight but also helping me work through some of my apprehensions about my upcoming entry into a higher level in my career field.

From the kitchen

I found this recipe for home made fudge Popsicles. I am SO going to make these this weekend.

I am wearing

HAH! not the usual scrubs, I had to go to my externship site today and had to wear corporate drag, I am wearing black Sanita clogs, black trousers, a black, white, and grey shirt, a black suit jacket, gunmetal grey pearl earrings and a greyish blueish mother of pearl necklace that matches the earrings. I am also wearing 3 silver rings.

I am creating
Not feeling super creative at the moment so I will go with carbon dioxide.

I am going

To lunch with a friend today and I am so looking forward to it

I am reading

The Blue Book of Fairy Tales by Andrew Lang

I am hoping

I will be able to get my O2 sensors fixed soon on my car. The heat is causing my gas mixture to be off and since my O2 sensors are down my injectors are not compensating

I am hearing
The A/C struggling to keep it cool

Around the house

I am getting a new to me couch for my office. It is small, beautiful and free!

One of my favorite things

I really love going to the beach at night. I am so pale that I catch on fire in the sun so at night is the only time I really get to enjoy the beach. I love the sound of the ocean, the quiet dark and the occasional sea turtle or iridescent algae.

A few plans for the rest of the week
Work on my presentation for school and review my lesson plans for next week.

Words I am pondering
“I must learn to love the fool in me- the one who feels too much, talks too much, takes too many chances, wins sometimes and loses often, lacks self-control, loves and hates, hurts and gets hurt, promises and breaks promises, laughs and cries, it alone protects me against that utterly self-controlled masterful tyrant whom I also harbor and who would rob me of human aliveness, humility and dignity but for my fool." Theodore Rubin

Here is a picture I am sharing, I love elephants and am fascinated by India so here are the 2 in one spot. . .