Life in the fast lane--where's the on ramp?

By Pat_B - About Me - E-mail this page - Add to My Favorites - Add to Blog List - See other blogs in Journal

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Book 'em, Dano.

Spent an extra shift at The Center yesterday - the first mild gorgeous day we've had in some time. I woulda-shoulda-coulda been doing yard work, but the disarray of the book room was making me twitch. Large print books, hard cover mysteries, romance novels, histories, biographies, memoirs - all... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 5:14 AM | add or view comments (5) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Counting Lucky Stars

Worked my usual 9-1 shift at The Center yesterday, found the msg light flashing on my phone, a call from Russ - (a.k.a. "Guy") - my son the real estate appraiser who oughtta be teaching creative writing at the college. He said he'd just gotten a call from Florida, his sister Robin's been taken to... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 7:15 AM | add or view comments (4) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Enjoying the Support of The Universe

Sometimes it's very tempting to think everything's connected and The Universe is interested in what one little speck of humanity is up to. Me, for instance. One of the little things I've been involved with is the Write Your Own Story group at The Center - a step-by-step process of writing a memoir.... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 5:30 AM | add or view comments (4) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Monday, August 17, 2015

Voice from Beyond...

In the spring of '56 I lived in a little brown house on Logan Street, a square, shingled little place with old-fashioned hydrangea bushes on either side of the front porch and a flagstone path leading in from the street. Little more than a cabin, really. As you came in the front door you'd find... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 5:42 AM | add or view comments (5) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Ghosts???

Little Donnie A. lived four houses up the street from me when my own boys were growing up. Many a rowdy prank was played by those rascals and a few others, who thought my back yard was the place to be on a summer's day. Donnie, because he was one of those "downright upright" kids who was a splasher... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 5:36 AM | add or view comments (4) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Saturday, August 15, 2015

The Goddess of Small Things

I used to work with a woman who focused on the minutiae. Picayune details caught her eye, so much so that she often missed the "big picture." Let's call her Minnie, although that's not her real name. Now, I've been known to insist on professional standards myself - documents and reports your... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 5:14 AM | add or view comments (6) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Friday, August 14, 2015

Writing a verbal “Snapshot”

At yesterday’s Write Your Own Story session at The Center, we worked on how to describe a character so the readers could visualize her/him – and how to create a scene. The topic for the day covered a great friend or childhood hero. I explained how Lloyd Kropp, the writer in residence at SIUe in 1978... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 4:40 AM | add or view comments (6) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

It's All About Living Off The Grid - or not

Terry the piano player has stopped coming to The Center. I didn't connect the dots until a day or so ago when I was talking to another volunteer, John. John and Terry were buddies, talking sports, politics, old time songwriters, composers, etc... John and I both wondered why Terry stopped coming. We... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 2:20 PM | add or view comments (6) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Walk a mile in my heels... (part 1)

The committee meeting had run long, and A. Holson, Esq., the senior senator from Missouri’s bootheel, was not happy about it. He was several minutes behind schedule. At least his security was on top of the operation, texting the driver he was exactly three minutes away from the transport queue,... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 6:17 AM | add or view comments (6) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Monday, August 10, 2015

Something's "cooking" in the idea kitchen

If you've happened to catch ANY of the good ol' conservative candidates when they talk about female problems, women's fertility/health care, legal abortions, birth control, etc., you may - especially if you're a female - be amazed and dismayed by their total lack of knowledge on the basics. Their... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 7:09 AM | add or view comments (11) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

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Sometimes you have to write it down in order to learn what you really think about life, what it means, how to do what's best. Sometimes you need feedback from someone else to put things in perspective.

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