I woke up one morning out of a deep, coma-like sleep.  Inexplicably, I felt awash in a sense of newness. Foreignness.  Something had changed.  Something was different.

I looked at the calendar—Monday, January 21, 2013.  Oh yes.  Now I remembered.  It… Read full post »

 

As a writer who uses television as white noise, I see a lot of things I wish I hadn’t.  I might look up from my reading or keyboard and see on the screen a person behaving so badly in front of a judge, for instance, I just cannot… Read full post »

 

 

          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, at 28 years of age, Sunny, pictured above, seemed to have gotten stuck in a time warp with Tinkerbell as her stylist.  And, no, it wasn’t… Read full post »

   

Danger dressed in black lace

Billowing above the limbs

That will soon become rockets

Landing where they may

 

Beauty trumps fear

and offers the promise of raindrops

For the crackling landscape

Begging to be slaked

 

 Subtle vertigo-inducing Mo… Read full post »

 

 

 I am single because it’s easier.  It’s as simple and as complicated as that. 

If I had a dollar for every time someone said to me “Humans aren’t meant to be alone so you need to find a boyfriend/husband,” I might be able  to… Read full post »

 

As often happens, this post was triggered by a post from another blogger.  This time it was Jonathan Wolfman’s Widening Sex-Crimes Scandal @ Air Force Training Command(s).

Power and control are the lifeblood of military life. I know this not from personal experience &nd… Read full post »

That’s what she tells people sometimes.  Right in front of me, with a smirk that can be seen from the space station, she says it as if it were carved in stone.  And it never fails to break my heart.

It’s been interesting spending my entire life trying to… Read full post »

 

To hear my mother tell it, I have been “busy” from the moment of my conception.  While I gestated over those long nine months, she says, I found ways to interrupt her activities – like sleep – in ways for which she had not been prepared.  In… Read full post »

 

 

I'm outta here. You might ask "where?" I do not know, and I do not care.  #OnTheWayOut

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I came to OS in October 2009, mainly because my friendly ex-husband saw Julie and Julia and mentioned Salon.com.  I decided the “Open” aspect of OS was exactly what I was looking for, because I wanted to share my experiences with turning 65 right in the middle… Read full post »

 

Nearly 19 years ago, when I was still working as an AT&T public relations specialist, a monumental corporate-wide brouhaha was sparked by some creative graphic artist who thought it was a good idea to use a cute little monkey talking on a telephone to designate the goliath&rsq… Read full post »

 

With the flurry of activity anticipating this latest OS Vaporization Theory, many have called for reposts, Open Calls and contingency plans.  After reading Matt Paust's letter to Kerry this morning, I got to thinking about what the real currency is for the owners of OS: Page Views.

Let's… Read full post »

 “I don’t know, Mark.*  Your parents have never even met me, and I’ll just bet they are a little torqued off at you for getting engaged to me before they do!”

“I know, but they’ll get over that.  Besides, that’s why I think we s… Read full post »

 

Just about every morning I wake up naturally between 6:30 and 7:00 a.m.  It takes me a few seconds before I realize, once again, that I do not have to get up just because I wake up.

This morning when I clicked on the TV to the just-beginning… Read full post »

 

 

Everybody seems to have accepted the term as a way to describe a jerk, a cad, a boor, an asshole or a dweeb.

When was dirtbag – a term I could wrap my brain around, given its obvious reference to the unwashed and disgusting – replaced… Read full post »

 

A man I’ve never met face-to-face, but whom I adore, said something in his recent excellent post that inspired this essay.

In Stop Your Damned Whining, David McClain wrote, among many other things,  the following:

One last thing. Stop being afraid to voice your opi… Read full post »

 

 

Suddenly I was driving a vehicle.  It must have been a mini-van, because of all the people.

As we drove along I noticed the shimmering surface of water in the intersection, which didn’t make sense because the sun was brilliant and the sky cerulean.  Without… Read full post »

 

S is for the sudden siege of consonants showing on the feed

P is for the positive productivity it prevents 

A is for the absolutely asinine attitudes of spam bots

M is tor the mostly moronic messages meted out

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I received the following today from an organization I have belonged to for a couple of years.  If you are interested in preventing more of the Republicans' dirty tricks in Florida, please read and join in the protest:

Dear Lezlie,

An unprecedented attack on the right to vote is… Read full post »

 

Love.  We all seek it.  And we all think we know what it is – or at least, we can recognize it when we see it…or feel it.

We all know there are a myriad of sources from which it comes.  And we know it is powerful.  It… Read full post »

 

Every time I go to a movie theater or a fast-food store and order a soft drink (diet-only for me) I am shocked that the size of the “small” has increased to what was once considered excessively large.  Portions have gotten so big, one might as well… Read full post »

 

 Just when you think you have seen it all.  This is a vegetable that grows in Brazil.  It’s called a Chu Chu, pronounced shoo-shoo.  Who knew they grew on trees, too?!? 

 

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Yesterday was spent at my grandnephew’s high school graduation and the partying that followed.  It was a grand hodgepodge of blended families, ex-spouses, new spouses and best friends.

The honoree has always been a study in contrasts.  His grandmother, my sister, raised him… Read full post »

 

A lot goes on in the dark of night, no matter where one happens to live.  Nocturnal animals of countless species wake up, yawn, stretch, and set off to do what it is they do just as soon as the dusk has morphed into darkness.

Most of the midnight predators… Read full post »

 

Desmond Hatchett might be an irresponsible idiot who is probably the poster boy for out of control sex addiction, but one positive thing I can say about him is he sure stays busy.  Unfortunately, he’s not busy earning a living wage commensurate with his responsibilities.… Read full post »