The 13 Thursday Scoop
1. I think of blogging as rapid fire target practice. Doing it daily, I can’t help but improve my writer’s aim, but sometimes my arm gets tired!
2. I’m one step further in my goal of having my blog at least generate enough income to keep me in printer ink ($85 a pop for all 4 colors). I recently sold THIS entry to our local newspaper. It’s either a small step in the right direction or a big foot in the door.
3. Blogging has been a good excuse to indulge my curiosity. Because of it, I snap pictures and ask questions that in the past I might have been to shy to.
4. People who know they need therapy are some of the healthiest people I know. It’s the people who insist they don’t need any that scare me.
5. I wonder why a psychiatrist is sometime referred to as a shrink. Is it because we hope they can shrink our problems?
6. Brad Garrett, the former “Everybody Loves Raymond” cast member has a new TV show in the works about marriage. When an interviewer recently asked him what was the key to a happy marriage, Garrett, who is about to be divorced from his real life wife, said, “an attorney.” He also said this: “I should give marriage advice the day Bush reads the Constitution.”
7. I had just finished re-writing “A Box of Kleenex,” which ended with the words “just be.” My sister had, coincidently, ended a blog post the days before with “be.” Sitting on a lounge chair in the yard, I was leafing through a book by Eknath Eswaran. I was looking for a new meditation passage for memorization that would encourage me to slow down and be more present, when I happened to notice something small in the grass that didn’t belong there. It was a magnetic poetry word that said BE!
8. I read the book “Lovely Bones” last year because the fact that it was told from a dead girl’s perspective intrigued me. When I finished, I realized that I had made a discovery: While I can handle a gruesome murder plot for the 2 hours it takes to watch a movie, to live with one for the 2 weeks it takes me to read a book proved to be too much for me to handle. (I think the resurgence of the Jonbenet Ramsey case made me remember this.)
9. Some of you know how distracted I’ve been by butterflies lately, running around my yard with my camera taking shots of them. Look at the photo to the right. Do you think in the butterfly world there is some back-scratching or back-stabbing in the works?
10. I was recently at a friend’s house, drifting off while getting a massage, when a car passed by on the dirt road in front of the house, and startled me back to reality, like pulling a band aid off a cut.
11. When I finally arrive at the pool, it’s as if I had been running bases all week and finally made it to home plate. I’ve only made it to the pool about 6 times this summer, but each time I did, when I finally immersed myself in the cool blue it was like scoring a home run.
12. Did you know you could buy a shrunken head on EBAY?
13. I first heard about Shrunken Heads as a kid when you could sometimes win replicated ones playing games at Paragon Park, the amusement park in the peninsula beach town I grew up in. I continue to get comments on last year’s Loose Leaf post about Paragon Park, which was torn down in the mid 80s. I got one this week from a man who has started a Paragon Park webpage HERE.
Thursday headquarters is here. My other 13’s are here. The newpaper generator was found via Generator Blog (on my sidebar links).
August 24th, 2006 8:43 am
6. Brad Garrett, the former “Everybody Loves Raymond” cast member has a new TV show in the works about marriage. When an interviewer recently asked him what was the key to a happy marriage, Garrett, who is about to be divorced from his real life wife, said, “an attorney.” He also said this: I should give marriage advice the day Bush reads the Constitution.
LMAO…I love that guy! (Brad NOT Bush)
August 24th, 2006 8:50 am
Thanks for the mention in # 7 (and what a post that was – “A Box of Kleenex,” ) but no one will be able to look. I’ve somehow deleted my whole blog. I’m going to be sick!
August 24th, 2006 8:56 am
yes to #4. that’s what I’ve always thought. my therapy is my dog and my garden (what’s left of it anyway). blogging is slowly working its way in there as well.
“Lovely Bones” is a good book. It is one of the few books I have only read once, however.
your butterfly photos have been lovely! I’ve seen a few monarchs in the yard, but not too many.
have a great weekend, Colleen!!
August 24th, 2006 9:17 am
Your list was great and had me laughing several times!! Loved it!
August 24th, 2006 9:23 am
I think there’s just a butterfly line waiting for the good flowers in your yard. 🙂 I love monarchs, I’m starting to see them more and more now that they’re on their way to Mexico.
August 24th, 2006 9:23 am
as always, so many things to comment on in this entry!
#2: Congrats!!!
#s3 & 8: me, too 🙂
#6: my first reaction was to laugh, my second, which immediately followed was to be sad that this is so.
#7: Stuff like that happens to me ALL the time! It’s really weird!
#13: Long live Paragon Pahk … in our memories!
August 24th, 2006 9:33 am
Blogging makes me keep my eyes and ears open all the time…it had really changed the way I walk through life. My husband thinks it’s the worst addiction but then he points out possible good pictures for a post, he he. Nr6 is both funny and sad…and unfortunately very true!! happy TT! no own list this week, a “borrowed” one 🙂
August 24th, 2006 9:51 am
Brad Garret… seriously, who loved Raymond? Brad appears to be as politically knowledgeable as he is maritally adept.
August 24th, 2006 10:01 am
Many congratulations on your foot in the door with the newspaper! That’s wonderful!
I feel the same way about blogging. It is a source of constant learning for me, because I can hear other people’s true thoughts and they are often very different from my own. I too have found motivation here to do things (photos, writings) that I would otherwise not have done.
It is a source of enrichment for my life. I’m glad to have found your site…by the way, is it okay that I added you to my blogroll?
August 24th, 2006 10:02 am
I love the “randomness” (is that a word?) of this one. Sometimes life is random.
I read “Lovely Bones” as well. It was a good book in some ways but not really my cup of tea. I like to have a sense of satisfaction when the last word is finished.
August 24th, 2006 10:09 am
Great 13 as always! Brad Garrett is a funny guy, I loved him on “Raymond”.
The “Lovely Bones” is what I think set me off to all my “pondering”….It stayed with me, that’s for sure.
August 24th, 2006 11:25 am
Good morning. I’ve been to busy living to ponder the effects of living thus I have been very remiss in posting lately. Glad to see you are much better disapplined as I always enjoy reading bout your life.
August 24th, 2006 11:40 am
It’s worse when a car startles you during a head shrinking.~,:^)
August 24th, 2006 1:30 pm
I whole heartedly agree with what you said about therapy. I have been seeing a therapist for about a year and it’s been the single most valuable thing I’ve ever done for myself (and also probably for my relationship(s)). I have gained insight and wisdom and a deeper understanding of myself.
I did not know that you could be shrunken heads on ebay and I’m a bit alarmed by it.
August 24th, 2006 1:45 pm
Poor Kathy….deleting her whole blog!
I love the butterfly pictures..guess you knew that the Virginia state “insect” is the swallowtail butterfly.
I’m really tired of poor Jon Benet…let the poor child rest, hope this doesn’t turn out to be like the O.J. trial.
Love your comment on “to Be” your insights amuse me but also takes me a little deeper inside my own feelings.
Hope you get another dip in the pool before Labor Day.
August 24th, 2006 2:00 pm
Here is some more serendipity for you…. last week at work I had to send a letter to someone who lives in Hull, MA. I thought of you!
Brad Garrett rocks!
And hey, soon I will be a few hours closer to you (but further south.) Let me know the next time you are going to be in Asheville and I will come up from SC to see you. 🙂
August 24th, 2006 2:02 pm
“People who know they need therapy are some of the healthiest people I know. It’s the people who insist they don’t need any that scare me.” ABSOLUTELY!!! 🙂
I love the picture of the butterflies! Nice job!
Happy T13! My list is up!
August 24th, 2006 2:57 pm
Ah, a lot of goodies here as usual 🙂
#9: Maybe they stand in a line to get drunk. on nectar.
#12. I already have a shrunken head – mine – and bald too 😉
Thanks for stopping by spreading your wise words 🙂
August 24th, 2006 4:26 pm
What’s sad to me is that I don’t see as many butterflies as I did when I was growing up. Your photo is gorgeous. Have a happy Thursday.
August 24th, 2006 5:04 pm
YOU JUST SOLD TWO MORE BOOKS. ONE OF EACH AND PLEASE AUTOGRAPH THEM.XOXO
August 24th, 2006 5:04 pm
Ha, rapid fire target practice…especially Thursdays! lol
My T13 is up at Bloggin’ Outloud – http://blogginoutloud.blogspot.com
lgp
August 24th, 2006 7:18 pm
“People who know they need therapy are some of the healthiest people I know. It’s the people who insist they don’t need any that scare me.”
Colleen, I’m going to save that comment. It’s dead on!
August 24th, 2006 7:51 pm
Thanks for stopping by my joint today. I’m a Technical Writer by profession. The new job I mentioned is something of a “step up the ladder” for me. Most of all, it’s in a much more stable environment. I’ve been tech writing since 1993. It’s a good gig. I enjoy it alot. I’ve written over 30 books, from 16 pages to several hundred pages. Not one of them has my name on it. That’s the down side of it.
I’ve been to the T-13 site a couple of times. I haven’t seen any men’s names. Have I missed some, or are men not that involved?
August 24th, 2006 9:53 pm
Congratulations on selling your post. It was a really well written post, definitely worthy of a 2nd audience.
August 24th, 2006 11:42 pm
Congratulations!
Great TT
My TT is up
Have a wonderful Thursday!
August 24th, 2006 11:59 pm
Congrats on the sale! You definitely deserve a wide audience.
August 25th, 2006 4:51 pm
Great 13! Especially loved #5, the shrink one…lol Never thought of that reason, but it sure makes sense.
Uh oh….Generator Blog? “I” have found a new toy, I think…thanks, Colleen.
August 25th, 2006 6:31 pm
That’s great the “local” newspaper bought the article – has it already published?
Also – I checked out the Paragon Park Site. So cool…. seeing the pic’s brings back so much. I worked there for 3 years while staying at Jimmy’s for the summers.
August 25th, 2006 8:48 pm
Yes, the story was published today in the paper. Can you pick one up?