I Didn't Mean To Turn You On

For those in the know the song "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On" was recored by R&B star Cherelle in the 80s.  It was later covered by Robert Palmer, and I love hearing both versions of the song.  The song happens to be on my playlist at the moment.

Today the water was cut off by by the apt complex so that a pipe could be fixed.  That was supposed to happen at 9:30 Am but instead happened at 12:00 right after I fixed myself an omelette and nibbled on it.  Was ready to wash dishes and knew better. I have some saved water but would prefer to only use it if the need arises.

Speaking of Cherelle, "Saturday Love" just came on.  Love this song.  Ah memories of youth flow through my mind. When did I get old? Don't answer that. All things must change and my time came and went.  In the mind to write something and the blogs posts are merely the appetizer for the warm-up writing, and I need to go read some stuff for friends that I didn't get done cause I'm a slacker sometimes, and I never seem to get myself together like I used to.  Gotta change this outlook, cause I'm more than capable of handling things.

Need For Sleep

Last night was a bit of a hot mess for me, because I didn't get any sleep last night.  I woke early with odd dreams, that quite frankly made me feel uncomfortable. I hate those kind of dreams because for the most part I could not decipher them past how they made me feel.  I dunno what my mind attempted to tell me.  Needless to say that I was up and it was still dark outside.  I resisted the urge to turn on the TV, closed my eyes, and prayed that I fell asleep.

Got up out of bed after hearing a lot of commotion outside and stumbled out of bed, and began my morning with some correspondences.

Yesterday was about submitting a couple of applications, and my resume for some positions.  I can only keep my fingers crossed that I get a call for either one.  Needless to say having a decent job would not be bad at this point. A brother needs a job.

Did little writing, and that's being addressed right now since blogging is the first step in getting my mind on writing.

Clean, Clean, Clean

For the last couple of days I decided I did not like the way my apartment looked, and decided to do something about it. I felt mighty blue for the past few months and it reflected in my chaotic surroundings.  While it doesn't matter that it got mess, it does matter to me that it not stay this way. I decided I should do this one spot at a time and organize the area.  yesterday was the coffee and end tables along with the couch.  Today was my chair, ottoman, dinner table and TV stand/area.  Tomorrow will be the open area near the dining room.  Right now it's not so open, but filled with junk.  Gonna tackle it with gusto.  Soon the entire are will be cleaned, and looking great.

It's nice to see areas so clean and functional.  No walking over items or stumbling. Maybe this is reflective of my life, moving on up towards better things. God only knows.

The next debate will be whether to tackle the bedroom first or kitchen.  So long as I get ride of the excess junk, and keep the essentials.

P.S. I need to replace one of my dining chairs, but at the moment I'm not with the money to do so. :(   Time will improve this situation as well.

Wash, Rinse, Repeat

Yesterday was all about editing, or as a professor once said in class, "writing is rewriting."  That's no lie.  This story's getting a healthy does of attention.  As stated before, I know I have the start of something good with this short story, however the true work and challenges lie in the revisions. I wish my writing was perfect from day one, but that never happens. Revise, revise, revise.

When I read the story aloud, several spots came of as awkward or repetitive phrasing. That killed the flow of what I wanted to convey so that needs mad smoothing. I insisted on completing the read through/revisions one page at a time.  When I was done, I reread my notes, then gave it an overnight cool off period.  

I didn't get to my second story as I would have liked to.  I'm going to have to slow my pace and ambitions.  If I did a paragraph yesterday, it would make my slacking off a little more digestible.  Not write a great paragraph, but an ok paragraph. I'm making it a priortiy to get things done today.  If I have to cut the TV off and no games, that's what I will do.

Well, Well, What Have We Here?

Yesterday I looked over and edited a short story I wrote a few months ago. Did it need editing?  Oh yes it did. I had way too many grammatical mistakes. I started with one read/edit where I only looked for my typos only with a pen and a highlighter.

Originally, I presented this story to others in my writing seminar as was our assignment. We read each other's stories and gave feedback. For my part, I should have placed far more effort into this project to eliminate the typos. One or two typos would be a mistake.  Several typos and tense mixing looks completely haphazard and is the hallmark of the complete novice. In other words, a hot mess.  For the record I have graduate classes under my belt. There are high and reasonable expectations placed upon graduate students and their materials. I don't find my typos a simple mistake, but rather me not getting my writing up to par with my graduate studies skills.

Did I think I wrote a good story? Yes I did, but it went no further than me getting feedback about it. I thought I worked on a story that was a bit stronger than my usual writing, and more direct using the various exercises I learned in my writing seminar. What I should have done is put a little more effort into the final presented product. This would have made for a more polished presentation in regards to the story.  I think the idea,  the mood, and the energy that my short story conveyed, however I fumbled the delivery.

Initially I thought, while editing,  "I'm too close to the material to see it as something I could work towards improving." This was an odd statement, as I've written papers and edited them within the same week. What did was capitalize on my procrastinating skills, which is to say I didn't think it was important enough to do the revisions immediately. Yes a couple of months gives me fresh eyes to revise, but had I corrected the story, say a week from time of the feedback, the story could have been shelved, then tweaked once again. I wasted time.

I did work on other projects, but not at a frequency I think I'm capable of.  Other stories need writing and other stories need attention.  My blog needs postings.  I can say this is the topic of today, which means I'm writing once more. Needless to say, you can take someone out of graduate classes, but you can't take the graduate studies out of the person. It's time to honor those skills with a fresh revisions, and  continued writing. That would make me a lapsed hot mess.  This has been good writing today.

Where Is This Day Taking Me?

It's one of those days when I woke up and I can't get myself together. The plumbing is still being worked on the adjacent apartment, and the noise cannot be ignored by any stretch of the imagination.  It contributes to my disorientation.

Will eventually scour the internet for some new jobs and write some more.  Yesterday I tried coffee after months of not using it.  I had a sharp headache afterwards which made me rethink drinking coffee again.  It's back to drinking hot tea for me, which produces no headaches.

Need to get cracking on laying out ideas and stories, doing my writing exercises so that I can get back to being focused.  Will dig up some old essays to see where I'm going with a current idea.  I feel a bit aimless, but I did wake up sleepy and unfocused.  Best to start with today and see where it leads me to.

The Unnatural Alarm Clock

Today while being totally lazy and not wanting to get out of bed (and the room was cold to boot), I decided to get up and write.  It was the productive and wise thing to do.

When I rolled out of bed, the crudest, loudest sounds came from the next apartment.  They're fixing the plumbing. While fixing the plumbing makes life better for everyone involved, the sounds are so damn loud and intrusive that it makes the situation a bit unbearable as my floors rattle, and its loud as all get out.  It's a little too intense for the start of my day.

What can one do, but write? I work through the good and the bad and it ain't a pretty situation.  

Today

I'm up. Made my bed and loafing about. Will start writing soon. After getting stuff down on paper I'm gonna make some dinner.

Late Night Dinner is Better Than No Dinner

Last night I completed a pot of spaghetti that was more than good. It was delicious, and I am happy that I decided to cook.   For the sauce I used garlic, onions, mushrooms, salt, fresh cracked pepper, bay leaf, Italian seasonings, oregano, parsley, crushed rosemary, basil, ground  chuck, and Italian sausage (hot).  Yeah, I seasoned it well.  

I started more than late cooking, and my meal was done by 10:00 PM. I wanted to loaf and not be bothered with the activities of the day such as preparing a meal. In spite of my desire to loaf, I promised myself that I would make a meal as opposed to going to get fast food. Cooking was worth the time, in this instance. Now I had a meal that I can enjoy and relax. I don't have to cook today, and I don't have to buy fast food. I saved me some money.

Writing

I am most fortunate this morning as I managed to get my writing exercise completed.  I am more than tempted to try another to keep the juices flowing.  I need  to put a break in the middle of this cause I want to edite a short story I should have edited a while back, but was too lazy to get off my duff to do.  After than some edits for a friend. I'm looking to get myself writing every day and keeping up with at bare minimum two 20 minute exercises and edits.

I need to be a bit more stronger in the writing department and keep myself going so that things work and flow better for my writing. Also I need to make sure that I am keeping my mind active with something positive and constructive.

Learned that listing to instrumental music helps my brain out a whole lot when it comes to writing. Of late listing to my regular play lists has me singing and bobbing my head to the beats.  Not typing just me enjoying some music.  perhaps I need to set aside some music time to enjoy some of the songs.  

Dream Soup

Woke up with a mix of odd dreams I have yet to decipher. My mind is a playground of thoughts. I made my bed up in the morning for a change. Need to do some warm- up writing, and I'm plucking an idea from this jumbled dream soup I had. Food and sleep have been good to me.

Late Morning Sleep

I didn't want to get up. Found myself sleeping on the couch off and on as Law & Order: Criminal Intent marathon. At least I can say I am rested. It felt good to sleep. It felt good to wake up from sleep, thank God.

One of Those Days Part Two

I fell asleep as predicted. Woke up a few times yet I fell back asleep with no problems. Noticed it was 5:40, and some was very clear to me. It hadn't gotten dark yet. Typically by 5:30 it looks like night. It's 6:08 and there is still visible sunlight going on. My guess is that the seasons are ready to change.

Stepped outside and it is COLD! Most of winter consisted of very warm days. Thank God I had on a fleece. I saw someone outside with no sleeves and he was coughing with one of those congested sound coming from the chest. Maybe be should grab a sweater. Maybe he likes the cold.

I did go to the mailbox and noticed some parts of the walkway people failed to pick up behind their pets leaving the sidewalks nasty as all get out. Really people? Why make your mess other people's mess?

Surprise, surprise I have mail. Bills actually. Did I need to see those? Well at least I can address them now.

One of Those Days: Part One

NOTE:  As I attempted to get this post completed, I ran into complications as the color of the text and font size were out of order. All that can go wrong will go wrong.  


It's one of those days when I need to take the allergy meds and this is a new brand. Inevitably I get a little sleepy and them I lay on the couch and pass out for a short while. La-la land is in my future.

Today I was not productive but for the fact that I chatted with family and friends. Laying on the couch cements my time as a guy who loathes Saturdays for being lazy time. I make myself type this entry before dozing off. I will get some writing done today.

Speaking of writing, I failed to post my "Charleston Sessions" on my blog. I believe I talked myself out of it, which is pure blog fail on my part. That will have to change. Was worried about the mail today, like something will happen if I miss it, but it's not like that. Will endeavor to mellow out more. I feel like a fool.

Sleep is upon me. I feel my thoughts drift elsewhere. My left eye is heavier than the right eye. I don't want to do anything but right now but close them and relax until I drift off. Even my right arm rebels with this sensation of lifting bricks to type this. Madness.

Work It: Forget the Other Stuff

Today is the first of  four warm-ups.  This one will be simple, as I intend to get a lot of writing-related projects done.  I have a lot of editing/revising to do so I know I’m down for that.  Got my playlist ready based off of the song “Yo Mister” by Patti LaBelle.  It should prove to be fun an unpredictable as I’m using the iTunes Genius feature today.  If that fails I’m going to have to listen to gaming scores. 

One thing that I realize is that I’m going to have to work harder at my writing.  It won’t fall into my lap completed, you know.  I need to get my act together if I want o be part of the solution as opposed to mentally talking myself down from the projects.  I will not be ruled by fear and intimidation of what has not even taken place.  I’m more than capable of taking on the task. 

For the record I have been writing posts and been slacking off on posting them.  I need to get those done as well.  So here’s to me getting my work done.  It’s sorta like homework, but more fun, and with deeper persona satisfaction. 

Stay Blessed, peeps.  

P. S.  I may need to change to gaming scores cause I want to dance to the songs.  Patti and prince make a potent combination.  

My Hunger Game

Morning has finally decided to show up and let me know that I need a meal.  This means cooking something cause Ii don't have any bread in the house for toast.  Hell, I don't have a toaster.  I know that I need something to eat. I'm gonna have a meal, and that can't change.  Maybe an omelette?  Life is good.  Why not share it with others.

Jussoukno

It’s been a long day, and I should not feel like, life is meh.  I’m better off instead being grateful, I’m not bitter and hateful.  That I am loved and blessed, where others are stressed, and can’t pass the many tests life throws our way.  Sometimes, it just ain’t my day, and I cave into my despair.  Gotta get stop being down, my life is strong. I’m not leaving town.  Till I say so.  Just so you know.

Keep It Moving

It's been a while since my last post. Been working on some short stories this month. Very pleased with the progress. Latest story pushed me out of my comfort zone. It's amazing to make this progress.

Recover The Day, Peeps

Trying to get myself together but yesterday was feeling light-headed. Don't know what exactly happened, but I'm feeling better today. Here is to getting stuff done today that I missed while laying down.

12/30/11 - Small Victories

Today was a day to run some errands. Promised myself to look up air purifiers to take with me back home. I had one but it died on me and ever since then my allergies and congestion have beaten me in the face. On top of that I wanted to help Mom with a few supplies. It's not bad but a new purifier costs a lot of money so I hope it does what it says it can. Otherwise I think 2012 will be rough.

I need to make sure I do a blog post. I regret not typing something earlier (it's 11:52 PM). I do know that before bed I want a written commitment. Did write a few lines for the current short story down today. It is not a loss, but rather a small victory.