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

Saturday, January 18, 2014

How long is a piece of string?

Kabu's question: How long should a story be? Short Answer: as long as it takes to tell it. You need a beginning - the status quo setup, a middle - the confrontation or problem - and the end, when the situation is resolved. If you keep going after the story's told just to satisfy some page number... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 5:48 AM | add or view comments (5) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Friday, January 17, 2014

Apologies if you've heard this one before...

When I was still on the job I designed a certificate for presentation to retirees - an invitation of sorts to join the Senior Image Team (SIT). Here's how it works. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - As a SIT member, your goal is to accumulate 500... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 5:33 AM | add or view comments (8) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Pet Peeves...

These days it doesn't take much to tick me off. I'm looking at myself wondering what's got me so touchy and irritable. I'm out of patience and forbearance, and lately it seems I'm surrounded by irritating, petty little whiners. "Behind every cloud there's a silver lining." (reminder to myself)... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 5:46 AM | add or view comments (9) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

On the Phone

In early days the phone was for emergency and we were on a party line surveilled by the neighbor down the road. Long Distance was only for notifications about impending loss or the end of a soldier's weary war. Tomorrow we may have a device implanted to send to or receive random thoughts from anyone... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 3:50 AM | add or view comments (7) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Funny thing happened on the way to

That line used to be a standard opener for stand-up comics. So many oft-repeated lines seemed to comfort us like the nursery rhymes of childhood, rather than bore by repetition. One gold standard: Henny Youngman's "Take my wife: please." I used to love the old Vaudeville routines that were on TV in... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 4:10 AM | add or view comments (10) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Monday, January 13, 2014

Someone else's breakup can be a royal pain.

For the last three years Fannie and my son Joe have been a couple. He did fixups around her house. She did prep work and cooking for his family get-togethers. She shopped with his teen-aged daughter, he tossed a ball and did guy things with her ten year old son Josh. She wanted marriage, he was once... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 5:45 AM | add or view comments (6) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Memoir: the first two letters are Me (yawn)

I wanted to dream last night. If I did, I don't remember. I thought if I slept on it I'd come up with just the right way to organize the memoir. The first impulse, the logical way would be chronologically, by decade: the little kid decade, obnoxious teen decade, first job/first marriage, the rock N... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 3:54 AM | add or view comments (7) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Thaw

Last Saturday I went to the store for stock-up items. We were due for a blizzard and sub-zero temps the next day or two, and I did not want to be stuck in the house with a short supply of Charmin. It was overcast but "balmy" at about 40 degrees F. As predicted, we had 14.5" of snow and the... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 5:02 AM | add or view comments (7) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Friday, January 10, 2014

A newly stolen anecdote.

Saw this one on Facebook, thought of Wiley and others, and decided to fwd fwd this story to you all, freely admitting I did not write the original. A farmer picked up a bucket late one summer afternoon and headed for the berry bushes that grew around the pond at the back of his farm. As he... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 5:01 AM | add or view comments (8) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Lemonade from Lemons

Mother nature can seem like a vindictive witch at times, like when she descends on half the continent wielding the Polar Vortex. This winter so far sucks like a lemon. I keep reminding myself it's not personal. She's not really out to get us. What she is, is indifferent. It makes no difference... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 6:21 AM | add or view comments (6) | 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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