13 Thursday: Take My Word For It
1. We didn’t wear tie dye in the 60’s. Paisley, Nehru jackets, Mexican ponchos, bell bottoms, beads, big floppy hats, and batik prints, yes; but not tie dye.
2. Although no one I knew ever said “groovy,” we did say “Wow” a lot. We said bummed out, ripped off, screwed up, and wiped out. We said hairy, heavy, crash, drag, cool, have a ball or a blast, and blow your mind; most of which we still say today.
3. My husband was home from work sick one day last week. Concerned I would catch what he had when we woke up he asked me how I felt. “I never feel good when I wake up. I could be sick and not even know it,” I answered.
4. Recently Shepherd posted a “hassle me” generator meant for those who want to be reminded of their New Year’s resolutions. I thought we should give equal time to a “compliment me” generator, so I sent him THIS, which when I first clicked on it, it said to me: “You have lovely timing.”
5. Another one HERE, called the surrealist complimenter said: I love your eyes, but only with ketchup.
6. After seeing a post about The Bodies Exhibit on somebody’s blog, I recalled a few years back when a group of us from Floyd saw photographer’s Frank Cordelle’s impressive Century Project exhibit in Blacksburg. It’s a “chronological series of nude photographic portraits of more than one hundred women and girls from the moment of birth to nearly a hundred years of age. A diverse group of photographs comprising women of many ages, shapes, sizes, and life experiences is presented in this exquisitely disarming project. Most of the images are accompanied by moving statements written by the women themselves.”
7. I’m not good at telling jokes or lies, which may be why I don’t write fiction.
8. Although I think truth is stranger and more interesting than fiction, I don’t enjoy many biographical movies because I’d rather see the documentary.
9. Most people don’t realize that it takes energy to be able to fall asleep and that people who are exhausted rarely sleep well. The lowest point I have occasionally reached in my issues with fatigue is when I’m too tired to get a massage. It takes energy to receive one.
10. My favorite word carved in cement is on Draper St. in Blacksburg and is the word “Word.”
11. Said to my friend Mara during a recent phone conversation where I was complaining about not writing much poetry these days: Writing poetry is like knitting and writing prose is like using a sewing machine.
12. The drug pushers are at it again: Mara recently received a notice in the mail that she had an opportunity to win a free IPOD if she and her daughter got a flu shots (which still contain mercury, second only to uranium in toxicity). The deal also came with a guilt trip that said, “Others are counting on you. Take care of yourselves and your loved ones.”
13. Going out to hunt last night, after coming home empty handed the last time he did, Joe says, “I’m going to give it another shot.”
Thursday headquarters is here. My other 13’s are here. View more 13 Thursday’s here. This is my 116th TT.
January 16th, 2008 11:33 pm
Hi Colleen,
Love all your little snippets of life! Wanted to tell you I mentioned you in one of my blogs (New Year, New Ideas) as the “other” Colleen (not to be confused with my Manilow loving friend Colleen!).
Hope all is going well — and as we said in the 60’s: Peace, Man.
lol!
January 16th, 2008 11:50 pm
Enjoyed your random TT…I did not know that about Tie Dye..When exactly did that become popular?
January 17th, 2008 12:27 am
This was very entertaining! I’m with you on the flu shot thing…
~Maria
January 17th, 2008 12:55 am
I like your comparison of poetry to knitting, versus prose and sewing. That seems so apt.
January 17th, 2008 2:51 am
re #1 You’re thinking of those groovy seventies!
January 17th, 2008 8:38 am
1. I wore tie-dye t-shirts in the late sixties, why not you I wonder?
6. A friend wanted me to go to see “Bodies” with her. I declined…too much like an autopsy and for $30+ I figured once is enough. (I had to witness an autopsy as part of my job)I think the exhibit you described would be much more to my liking.
8. Biographical movies take a lot of liberties in guessing what people were thinking/feeling and while I enjoy them, I always wonder if what I’m getting is accurate.
9. I always have energy to get a massage!!
12. While I don’t dispute your facts about flu shots, I get one each year. Sure wish they had sent that offer to me! 🙂 All kidding aside though, the tactic is a bit distressing. On the one hand, it’s simply a public health initiative…but it does get you to wondering where it could lead.
13.Pun intended, I’m sure.
Great 13 as usual…
January 17th, 2008 9:06 am
Paisley, Nehru jackets, ponchos, bell bottoms… ahh those were the days! We said groovy, actually at the pep rallies in high school we would chant, “Aren’t we groovy, aren’t we cool, we’re the class of 72!” I know, 1972 is not exactly the sixties, but we lived out in the boonies, and things take longer to catch on there…
January 17th, 2008 9:26 am
Great 13!
January 17th, 2008 9:28 am
I like the idea of a compliment feed…it would feed my ego on the off days. 13 was cute. I am completely mortified by the Body Exhibit. I wish I had never seen pictures. I keep thinking that those people were alive once, they had families, they were loved and it isn’t fair to just take them and pose them like that. I would bring hell and damnation back as a ghost, if I could, to anyone who skinned me and put me up shooting hoops or something. It is unholy.
January 17th, 2008 9:39 am
By 60’s for us it was 68-69 and then the early 70’s. I don’t remember tie dye. None of my friends wore it and if it was around it was minimal. We didn’t say far-out either. That was a west coast thing.
That’s why I don’t like biographical movies. I don’t like putting words in people’s mouths. Just watched an excellent PBS special on Jewish Americans last night that was fascinating to me. I think it’s on again tonight.
I don’t get the flu so I don’t fear it. If I did get it in the past it I don’t remember it being anywhere near life threatening and because I am already compromised with CFS I would not trust the ingredients in them. The companies that sell immunizations do make money but they not as profitable as other drugs so they don’t like making them.
The Body Show photos creeped me out too. Maybe scientists might like it. Maybe one would be interesting but so many remind me of something out of a horror movie.
January 17th, 2008 9:50 am
What No Tie Dye!! May it never be!! How bout bleeding Madris? Why would anyone want something guaranteed to bleed? Fashions and slang…what a transition. Love your randomness…always refreshing and entertaining.
January 17th, 2008 10:01 am
I remember madras well, that was before the 60’s. In our town you were either Collegiate (madras and khakis etc) or Rat (black clothes, fish net stockings, and teased hair etc). I was more of a Rat … before I was a flower child.
January 17th, 2008 10:23 am
I was a meeting last night where a very hyper speaker kept using the word “groovy.” At first it was cute but after a while I started wishing for a new word!
January 17th, 2008 11:19 am
People really didn’t wear tie die? Well, who did?? Why is it so popular? hmmmmm….. fun list. Did you ever get sick?
Happy TT!
January 17th, 2008 1:12 pm
The only one I never said was hairy…unless I was describing someone’s back 😉
January 17th, 2008 5:51 pm
I enjoyed that The Century project is intriguing. I tried the compliment generator and I kept hitting “reload” lab-rat style until I came to “You are a very organized person” that’s when compliments fall into the b.s. category. May as well go with the surrealistic one, at least you know for sure it’s totally random and not to be taken seriously (could you imagine if someone did take it seriously? oy).
January 17th, 2008 7:00 pm
love your 13 ‘s I want to do it
January 17th, 2008 7:35 pm
Thanks so much Colleen for the link to The Century Project…! What a truly amazing exhibit this must be..In Person! What a brilliant idea and I LOVE the short things written by the subjects….Maybe someone will make it into a book!
I’m not sure I agree with you about prose being like a Sewing Machine…..it almost sounds like the person writing prose isn’t using the same creative muscles…And I honestly don’t think that is true. Prose is coming from the heart of someone just as poetry is….Anyway, this would certainly make for a lively discussion, wouldn’t it? As always, you have the most fascinating and diverse TT’s around! (That almost sounds risque….lol)
January 17th, 2008 8:02 pm
I suspect lovely timing is a prerequisite for being a poet. 🙂
I love that surreal complimenter.
~S
(I played)
January 17th, 2008 8:38 pm
My idea about the knitting vs sewing machine refers to poetry involving a lot of picking and poking around (at least it does for me) With a sewing machine you can plow right through the task. I think the finally product of both can be beautiful and both take creativity. The difference for me is something in the method of creative production.
January 17th, 2008 10:46 pm
I thought tie dye was around in the sixties, but now that you mention it I can’t remember it either. On the other hand, my daughters did tie dyed T-shirts at summer camps, and that was in the eighties. It had been around a while by then, I’m sure.
Michele sent me over to read your interesting list.
January 17th, 2008 11:03 pm
Sorry for the lag in posting – had to visit all of the links, and then they had links, and then…..lol. I had a lag of not writing poetry for a while this fall – it was horrible. I started up again right before the holidays and am just allowing myself to get it out on paper without worrying about editing at this point. As someone who knits and sews, I like the analogy but for me, I think I would compare machine sewing with handsewing embellishments on a quilt. That would capture the thoughtfulness and decision that goes into writing a poem. Loved this list, hello from Michele’s.
January 18th, 2008 12:23 am
I always enjoy your TT and glimpse the items give into your life and your creative processes. Have a great weekend, Christine
January 18th, 2008 8:35 am
I love this list–especially the compliment generator. Wasn’t tie-die popular in the 70’s? I remember making them when I was a kid.
January 18th, 2008 11:32 am
You live such a full, intelligent life. Thanks for giving me hope for our species.
January 18th, 2008 11:54 am
I know what you mean about 3. Hubby tends to rise 2 hours before me and at first sign of my waking pounces to ask how I am and if I’m hungry yet. Every day of huhhh? is no deterrent.
January 18th, 2008 10:27 pm
All good things to know about a stranger when first reading their blog. 🙂 thanks.
Michele sent me.