The Thirteen Thursday Desk Job
1. It occurred to me recently that blogging is a desk job. When I told my husband, who is a counselor, that I had a desk job, he said, “I do too. We both have desk jobs.”
2. “But mine is more of a desk job,” I said, referring to the amount of time I spend on the computer. “But mine is more of a job,” he answered, referring to the fact that he gets paid.
3. At the spoken word event at the Blackwater Loft this past Saturday night, I sat next to Greg, a regular reader who was dealing with a bad back. “Yeah, we’ve had these bodies for so long now that we’ve lost all the paperwork on them,” I said when he told me about his back problems. “And the warrantees have run out,” he added.
4. I read a short poem at our writer’s workshop last week that Mara suggested was a haiku. “I don’t count syllables when I’m writing poetry like I don’t measure ingredients when I cook,” I told her. “I counted for you,” she said.
5. It’s funny how when we edit writing we cut out words that repeat too often, but when you write a villanelle you’re supposed to repeat them.
6. I eat like a bird and sleep like a cat, which means that I eat small frequent meals and am prone (pun intended) to lay around in between activities and to take at least one nap a day.
7. Can bloggers post summer re-runs? Do we get a hiatus? Should we try out a new test pilot plot?
8. Sometimes you just have to get out from behind the desk. A few weeks ago my husband and I went for a short hike on the Parkway. Before heading home, we stopped to visit blogger Leslie from At the Top of Squirrel Spur. When we arrived at her house (about 10 miles from where we live) her hands were stained from dying wool and one of her bunnies was about to have a baby and was in a bad mood. After she cleaned up, she took us over to her store, The Greenberry House, where she sells wool and books and more. As we were talking, we discovered that that she and I had babysat for the same two children back in the 80’s.
9. I also met blogger bluemountainmama for the first time. She was visiting Floyd, and we met at the Friday Night Jamboree, where she surprised me by greeting me as “Colly Wolly Wolf.” That’s the nickname that my father gave me, which is unknown to everyone but family members and close friends and blog readers who are paying really good attention.
10. Even stranger than being called by my childhood nickname was that was that it felt normal.
11. My friend Juniper might be my only Floyd friend who knows about the nickname. Whenever she calls me and leaves a message on my answering machine she howls and barks in tribute to it.
12. Another friend, Suzi Gablik, who is an author and blogger, recently referred to the Iraq war as “a chronic and soul-sapping illness in the body of our country.” She’s posted a commentary that was initially accepted for publication in the Roanoke Times but then didn’t get printed when the editorial staff changed. In it, she looks at the war from an angle that not many are seeing it from. Have a look HERE..
13. THIS is what my town of Floyd is famous for.
Thursday headquarters is here. My other 13’s are here. View more 13 Thursday’s here.
June 21st, 2007 9:10 am
I have my questions about the expression “eating like a bird” because birds will eat their own body weight daily as stated in this page…I eat several small meals a day 🙂 and my nickname at home is “marmot” because I can take a nap everywhere, anytime.
How nice to meet fellow bloggers! I have only met one.
Happy thirteening!
June 21st, 2007 9:23 am
when you figure out how to get paid for blogging, you let me know, m’kay?
I dont post summer reruns, though I am prone to summer fluff pieces.
Floyd doesnt look that bad
June 21st, 2007 9:31 am
I think the bird eating thing refers to the fact that they pick all day. I was told I eat like a bird when I was young. I like to stand around the stove and pick more than to sit down to a plate of food. If I do have a plate of food, I don’t put a whole portion on it so I can go back and pick later.
June 21st, 2007 9:36 am
#2 made me laugh out loud — something my husband would say 😉
June 21st, 2007 11:30 am
It is definitely a desk job, and blogging in addition to my real desk job makes for a sore bottom! Summer reruns is a good idea, would anyone notice I wonder?
June 21st, 2007 11:47 am
LOL! Your husband is too funny!
Going to read Suzi’s piece right now. She sounds like my kind of lady.
June 21st, 2007 1:47 pm
Colleen: I am the same way, can’t have a full plate of food in front of me. I’d rather have small portions so that I can go back for seconds…and thirds!
June 21st, 2007 1:56 pm
I like the summer rerun idea. Sometimes it is very hard to keep bottom in chair in order to get the “desk job” done.
I have only met one fellow blogger and I’m not even sure that encounter counts. But I know they’re out there.
June 21st, 2007 3:15 pm
You and your husband sound like a comedy routine. I am getting old enough to probably post re-runs without knowing it.
June 21st, 2007 4:43 pm
I never had a childhood nickname… but that sounds like a nice one. 🙂 The “I counted for you” comment made me laugh.
I played today. 🙂
~S
June 21st, 2007 5:44 pm
I’m wondering if Leslie is the one that spun that wool I bought when I was in Floyd last Oct? I ended up knitting some nice scarves with it and my daughter (in Boston) told me they were toasty warm.
I purchased the wool at that place along the river. W A Y down the road and they sold organic produce also. The Green something……..
June 21st, 2007 6:23 pm
No, that was Green’s Garage. I finally made it there myself. It was incredible, so well stocked and self serve! Leslie lives in the other direction, ten miles south of me on the Parkway.
June 21st, 2007 8:12 pm
Loved this TT and felt like saying so…….xox
June 21st, 2007 8:22 pm
Great TT! And I love writing poetry, too — ha, I’ve been writing it on my cat blogs! I ran across the villanelle form recently and was thinking of trying it. 🙂
Happy TT, and thanks for visiting my blog!
June 21st, 2007 9:06 pm
I haven’t been to the Floyd Country store jamborees in a long time. It would be nice to go again…Martin doesn’t enjoy that kind of thing as much as I do!
I think we should get to do a “best of” series for the blogs when we are on hiatus, like the radio DJs do!
June 21st, 2007 9:20 pm
Wow! I want to live in a town that has a weekly Jamboree. That sounds like a sweet town right out of a movie! Is the town as romantic as it sounds?
Happy TT!
June 21st, 2007 9:53 pm
Very cool video on the Jamboree. I have never been… Have u?
I’d definately skip the hour of gospel if I were making a visit.
My TT is up again this week too.
Luv ya
June 21st, 2007 10:02 pm
Some people have referred to Floyd as Northern Exposure Southern style.
I’ve been to the Jamboree a few times, mostly when people are visiting. Chris, I even took your Nana and Grampa. Tried hard to get Grampa to flatfoot but he only knew his jitterbug moves. I was there this past Friday meeting bluemountainmama.
How about a once a week “Summer Best Of?” Maybe we should pick a day, Deana, start a club.
June 21st, 2007 11:57 pm
Just stopped by to introduce myself and welcome you to the pride! I’m so glad you were able to adopt a lion. Floyd looks like a wonderful place to live.
June 22nd, 2007 7:40 am
Colleen, you have sooo many friends and they’re all interesting! I wish I knew bloggers from around here.
In summer, I think that blogging will be less, both reading and writing. I’ve already noticed the drop-off in my readers/commenters, as well as posts by others. It’s just too nice to spend that much time inside.
“Slim Pickins”!?! I eat like a bird too but the odd time I binge and it’s not good…wrecks my stomach inside and out! I graze also!
June 22nd, 2007 8:53 am
Hello! Michele sent me! I’ve been having a lot of docotr visits lately and I joked that my warranty had just expired. Glad to see I’m not the only one with that sort of humour! No one around me got it so I was starting to feel a bit oddball.
June 24th, 2007 1:21 pm
Colleen, I think I am going to try out the Blogging Re-Run idea. Perhaps once a week I’ll pick out the best entry from that same week a year ago!
June 24th, 2007 1:51 pm
I might do that too! I think it’s a good idea for summer when readers and bloggers are busy with other things.
June 24th, 2007 9:11 pm
ahhh…..so this is why i had so many visitors coming from your site on the 21st! it was so fun to meet ya, colli wollie wolf-wolf!! 🙂