All a Twitter

Several days ago I dived, maybe more appropriately, belly-flopped, into Twitter!

I was feeling a bit ancient.

But no longer!

I’m a-twittering now.  Sort of.  Maybe more accurately, I’m a-tweaking.

But I’m a quick learner.

It’s not that I just heard about Twitter.  You would have to be in a coma or archiving your 33 1/3 rpms for the past few years not to know about Twitter.  I got all a-Twitter with the elections in 2008 and began following George Stephanopoulos.  For me, he was the George Clooney of political journalists.

And then the election was over and I broke up with Twitter and George.   Occasionally, I would get a notice that someone had started following me.  Why?  I had no idea. 

And then one of my RSS feeds had a review of TweetDeck.  Always lurking around for some new app for my Android, it sounded interesting, so I downloaded it and took it for a drive.

Va va va voom!  Was I surprised.  During my test drive, I discovered that TweetDeck lets you arrange your Twitter streams in a row of columns for specific people, searches, hashtags, or lists.

You say what?  Hashtags?  Me too.  I had no idea what “hashtags” were but soon discovered they were sort of like web tags, allowing me to follow specific topics of interest. 

See, I told you I was feeling ancient.

Those hashtags grabbed my attention just like George did during the election!  I quickly discovered other Tweeters who were writing or blogging or struggling with their own fiction like me.

The real power of Twitter, as I’m learning, is that it serves as a new form of search to build myself a community of writers and bloggers that I can share, learn, and continue to grow with.

And the good news!

You can listen, or NOT, to anyone you want on Twitter.

And you can talk.  And others will decide to listen to YOU, or NOT.

Sort of like marriage.

Did I just say that?

Let’s not tell The Professor.  I sort of want to keep him around.

Anyway, check out TweetDeck.  Take it for a drive.  Cruise around, kick the tires, honk your horn. 

Honk loud!  Cause I'll come running and hop in to cruise along with you!


Happy Monday,
missing the mom gene

When I Dreamed of Being a Horse

"Do not die before becoming the person you are meant to be. "

I found this in my notes and can’t attribute it to any one source.  But it made me pause.


When I was young, I wanted to be a horse. 

I played horses with my cousins probably from the age of 4 until I was around 8.

I know.

Pathetic.

But it was Iowa, before Star Wars, Darth Vader, Spiderman, and Ninja Turtles.

Summer evenings, my cousins and I would pretend to be horses, trotting, galloping and whinnying around the yard.  A herd of wild stallions. (But I was a GIRL stallion.)  One unlucky cousin would have to play the rancher, trying to catch us and lead us into an imaginary pen.

During cold Iowa winters, I would gallop through the house on my hands and knees with some little cousin running after to hop on my back and ride ‘em cowboy.

I would buck them off, too wild to be tamed and tackled.

I guess a little bit of that wild horse still lives within me.

Just a little.

Refusing to be tamed and tackled

into other’s ideas of who I should be or could be.

Instead ...

I will continue to grow into the woman I am meant to be.

Whoever that person is ...

because I have not met her yet.

Have you?

Curing my Disorder

It SNOWED sometime in the night so this is what I woke up to this morning ...

But I would have PREFERRED this ...

I keep telling The Professor that I have SAD (seasonal affective disorder) and that I'm sure that a CURE for my malaise would be waking up to this view every morning.

In that hammock...

with my coffee (and laptop, of course).

He's ignoring me. 

Well, not totally. 

He did glance my way and roll his eyes.

yours truly,
missing the mom gene

Uninvited guests...

There’s nothing like putting your life out there on a blog to stir up long absent cousins ... Doubt and Insecurity.  Those distant relatives of mine seem to have decided to come for a visit and I’m unsure just how long they plan on staying.

ME:  Hello Doubt.  I wasn’t expecting your visit.  Do you have an idea how long you may be staying?

DOUBT: I’m not sure ... you were the one that rang ME up.

ME:  Ha!  I don’t think it was me.  We haven’t seen each other for so long I thought you had passed on.

DOUBT: Nope, you rang me.  I also had to drag Insecurity along with me and you KNOW how I hate traveling with HER.  How ‘bout it, Insecurity?  Speak up, quit hulking around behind me.

INSECURITY:  Uh, uh, uh .... I..I...I.... think you did call me, also.  I...I....I really didn’t want to...to...to...to intrude but Doubt insisted.

ME:  I really don’t know that I have room for you.  I mean, I have a very busy schedule and really won’t have time to visit.

DOUBT:  No problem!  We’ll just hang out.  It’s been a while since we’ve seen you anyway.  I think the last time we visited you were sailing ...

ME:  STOP! STOP! That’s okay. I don’t need to be reminded.  I’m over it.  I got through it.  Just don’t bring it up again.  Arrrggghhhhh!

INSECURITY:  But...but..but The Professor k..k..k..k....keeps asking you when you’ll g...g...g..go sailing again and ....

ME:  I know, I know!  And maybe we will someday and I’m sure you two will tag along.  But for now, I really, really need you to return home and let me get about my business.  I’ve got a blog to write and no time for a visit with you two.  So if you please, run along and we’ll visit some other time.  I promise!


And there you have it.  As you can see, I REALLY don’t like it when those two visit.  They sap so much of my energy that all I want to do is watch Housewives of Beverly Hills.  They make MY life look so much better!

When you started blogging, did you know exactly what you wanted to say? 

Did you ponder days or weeks or maybe months, like me, on just what it was you wanted to achieve with a blog?  What would be its purpose, its theme?  Who would want to read it or even why?

And who gives a flying leap what I have to say anyway?  Thank you Doubt and Insecurity.

As I continue to figure out what my blog will be all about, besides improving my writing, I am faced with oodles of decisions on what to write.  It’s not that I don’t HAVE enough to say.  Oy, do have I stuff to say!  

But, exactly what is it that OTHERS want to hear?  How do I create content that will amuse, entertain, inspire and connect with you, dear reader?  And at the same time, move me further along in my writing.

How do I set myself apart from all the other wonderful content residing out there in the ethernet? 

Some days I feel like a character in Cirque du Soleil, all twisted and contorted in my thoughts that if I place a sentence or paragraph in just the wrong spot, it will all come tumbling down.

By the way, I think Doubt and Insecurity have set up camp in my backyard.

yours truly
missing the mom gene

Wednesday Whimsy

Hope you join in every Wednesday for my Wednesday Whimsy  ...  a collage of thoughts, expressions and wanderings that's on this ole' girl's mind.

Today, I dug out an old poem I wrote to The Professor early in our courtship 12 years ago TODAY as we cautiously yet eagerly began to fall in love.



  I Dream of You

In the darkness of the night
                              I dream of you
And you comfort me.

I turn to you

                 Wanting

                             But what .....

Do I know?

Do I recognize you?

Will you be there when I wake
                    To the fate of our day
                            To the desire of our past

Do not turn away
                  I will catch
                           Your breath
upon mine
                 and I will know you.


--missing the mom gene