Living on a dream

There is a great Tom Petty song of the same name as my title of today's blog post. Living on a dream is what is in my mind. I want a simpler life far from the busy life I lead today. There are too many phone calls and a to-do list that stretches on interminably. Every Monday it hits me! I'm not living my dream.

Over the weekend I slow down and let myself relax. That's when I let my mind gravitate toward my dream. My dream is to one day to own a small piece of land with a view of the ocean from my front porch and a view of the mountains out my back patio. The one place that I have seen where that would be a reality is on the west coast. Once when I was in San Francisco for business I decided to stay over for the weekend and took an all-day bus tour down the Pacific Coast Highway and I fell in love. I took a pen and paper and my camera and captured every thought and moment of the day. One of the recurring themes of that trip was one day that will be my home! Except for the fact that I am married to a staunch conservative who wouldn't be caught dead living in CA, I would be there today! He wants to move to Alaska and my retort is not over my dead body. And so we are at odds as to where to move without dead bodies left behind... I've started telling him that I might just go to LA for a couple of years to work on my MFA at Otis and he can go live in Alaska for those years. We laugh. But it just might work out that way.

And so in my spare time, I surf web sites that feature land in California. It's my way of relaxing and looking to the future. My dream is to retire there, build a house high on a hill with a sweeping view of the ocean and soaring mountains behind me. Yes, it's a dream and it lives secretly tucked away when I'm on the phone helping someone with his computer issues or developing a web site for a team member. But on the weekend, my dream comes alive. I've even got something called a dream board where I stick up pictures of what I think it should look like. I will have a huge picture window where I can look out to the sea, where I can write undisturbed for as long as I want without my blackberry jarring my stillness. I'll turn it off forever!

But for now it's back to the phones, back to the busy-ness that makes up my life. Back to supporting my teammates who need help with their Sharepoint sites. Back to the emails and the reports. Tuck the dream away for now and get back to work! I have to work; I can't be living on a dream. But it sure makes life more interesting :)

Taking a red pen to my essay

I crossed out whole paragraphs of my second essay. I slashed and rearranged and moved parts from here to there. The thing about editing is, I enjoy it! Taking it apart and reordering whole sections and cutting out all the things that distract from the focus is fun. The editing process is at times more fun than the first draft. Having everyone's input into what should be changed is very helpful and I am so grateful for that. I fear my critiques have been painfully limited. My mind has been disturbed and my focus has been warped. My usually bright and lively spirit has been dampened with a work-related issue. I will blog about that in another post. For now, my red pen is getting its work-out. Be gone, paragraph! Cut! Paste! Bwwwaaaa, oh the power of the pen!!

Oh the joy of school

I ask myself why I didn't finish college when I was 19. I could have gone on two years and gotten my BA but instead got married and traveled a lot and had kids and a divorce and remarried. It wasn't til I turned 50 that I seriously committed to going back to school. Now I'm slogging through a couple of classes every semester. I just got back from talking to my advisor and I still have seven semesters to go. But it's ok. I love learning. I learn something every day at work, at school, at home, everywhere I go my mind is open to picking up new things. I not only love to learn, but I love teaching others what I know. I come from a long line of teachers so maybe that's why I have this love of learning inside me. I used to be a trainer and there is nothing more exciting than helping someone learn something new. So I will be at Queens another couple of years slogging through my studies, balancing work and school, having no social life to speak of. But I'm determined not only to get my BA but my MFA too so you'll see me around campus for awhile yet. Those of you who are graduating, be happy!! You did it when you were young!

Passion for Trivia

Trivia is my thing, dare I say my passion. I collect tidbits of information that most people would find relatively boring or useless. But for some reason, my brain easily stores oddball things and I love it. For instance, graham crackers were invented by a presbyterian minister named (what else!) Sylvester Graham. He and another puritan, Harvey Kellog figured people wouldn't abuse themselves if they ate bland foods. ("Self abuse" is puritan code for masturbate.) Harvey created corn flakes, which is pretty bland indeed. And totally useless information to be sure. That reminds me, I had a pig once named Sylvester and I know for a fact that pigs are smarter than dogs. Months that begin with a Sunday will always have a Friday the 13th. So why don't we fear Sunday the 1st? The space in FedEx's logo between the 'e' and the 'x'create an arrow. You'll never be able to look at their logo again without seeing it! I love trivia but drive my family crazy with my odd collection of knowledge. I'll pipe up and say strange things in conversation and get even stranger looks. Oh well. One day all these little tidbits of information stored in my brain cells will come in handy. But in the meantime, I'll just keep collecting. Did you know eating pie was banned in England for many years? Yup, thanks to Oliver Cromwell who banned it as a pagan pleasure. Oh ok, I'll stop now....

Growing old and feeling it!

In my adult life, I have moved 22 times and have moved all my furniture and belongings each time using the old U-haul. I suppose my total set of belongings never exceeded the size of a truck and I've gotten very good at purging and packing through the years. For some reason, my mom can't seem to part with stuff. I counted 78 boxes after I had already unpacked several boxes! My body had to move most of the boxes and had to get my brother to come help move a few that I just couldn't pick up. My body is sore and I'm feeling my age. I'm still trying to recover from the weekend - I not only moved my mother, I then came home and rearranged my house from having her here for seven months and painted one room too! My garage is beautiful now and my hubby is happily able to work out again.

Moving Day!

It's here at last! My mom is moving into her own apartment so I am taking a couple of days off from work (what a way to spend spring break huh!) and helping her to unpack her hundreds of boxes and get her settled. My brother is coming over this morning to take a few things over. My car is packed with stuff. The movers arrive at 9 and after they leave here, they are going over to her storage unit to load up all her belongings and take them to the new place. What a day ahead!

Charlotte's future

Driving around town this weekend, I happened to notice the uptown skyline is changing! There's a whole lotta building going on.

When I got home, I googled what the skyline might look like when all these skyscrapers are done. Fascinating stuff here with lots of links into other sites to give us a sneak peek of what our city will look like soon. One of the coolest links is a site that provides a 3D view of the city - baseball stadium and all!
http://www.charlottencus.com/charlottes-skyline-a-glimpse-into-the-future/

And there's talk of a Trump Tower in Charlotte too! Now are we getting into the big time real estate market with "The Donald" coming to town or what! http://www.trumpcharlotte.com/

Lovely spring!

I love the weather when it's like this! My brother Freddie used to have a little ditty that made all of us laugh. Of course we were just little kids but it was always fun. I remember the poem every spring. Enjoy!!

Spring has sprung
The grass has riz
I wonder where the boidies is
The boidies on the wing!
How absoid!
Da wings is on the boid!

Things going round and round in my head

I'm writing about my mother but haven't even gotten started yet. That's on tap for tonight. I'm going to outline it while I watch Idol. Ok so you got me! I'm in the minority in this class because I enjoy that show. :)

But about my essay. My mom is really funny. I told her today she should be a stand-up comic. But what's amazing about her is how much pain she's suffered and still has that hilarious spirit within. That is the essence of what I want to capture in my essay. I hope it will be something lighter and more enjoyable to read. But I'm struggling with how to describe her life which has been filled with emotional upheaval and yet find a way to keep her story "hers" - well, time to go catch up on everyone's blogging and write.