Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Willingly Suspended

link to original here
This morning I sat across a coffee table from a man with a badge. His smile was warm. Charming. Endearing. He reminded me of my late grandpa, and I thought vaguely as we chatted that I hoped he had the pleasure of bouncing his own grandkids on his knees, unrestrained children's laughter pealing, like my papa does with Alpha and Betta.

Our conversation turned briefly dark when he alluded to his shadowy past. I nodded as if I understood completely and we moved on, but honestly it was really hard to overlap a malicious image onto the person he presented himself to be now. 

In that moment I had to suspend my disbelief about one understanding of him I'd created in my head over the other. 

I think we do this all the time. I mean, take his badge for example: it was just a piece of paper, but I had to suspend my disbelief in that to accord him the respect his position made due. Same with cash: it's just paper, but try ripping a $100 dollar bill in front of someone desperate for a meal. Rude.

The genre of the book I'm working on is fantasy, so I think about said suspension a lot. Not in so many words, of course, but as I'm formulating a story in my head I'm constantly thinking, "Okay, Deb, why are my readers going to believe X, Y, and Z?" and "How do I get this angel to fly?"

As for this blog: would you, could you, believe that I once very nearly killed a man?

Would you, could you, believe that I was very nearly hung by the neck from a basket ball rim?

Could you, would you, believe it on a train, with a goat, in the rain?

How do I get you to suspend your disbelief about things I chose to write about here…

All depends on the details I give you, right? The circumstances, the lead up, the come down. Who was involved, and what was our relationship? What's the history? 

We all have history. 

I love the French language.

“Oui?” you say.

“Oh mais oui, mon ami. C’est vrai.”

I’ve got a tincture of Norman blood in me, so when Gustave Flaubert says, “Sauter,” I say “How high?” When he says, “Faire et se taire,” I say nothing at all.

The silent-bit is not so hard for me. It’s the do-part I have a little more trouble with. You see, I’m a simple house-wife, a home-maker, a mama, and I’m not even sure I’m very good at the first two. What right have I to dream of being a well-known writer? And if I have no right, then why do? Why try?

link to original here
A smelly sink full of dishes. Toys and books and planes all over the floor. Clutter covering the counters. Very little elbow room. I can’t seem to find my watch? This is my reality.

Some evenings when I sit down to write, nothing comes. Nothing, and it’s completely disheartening. Or I read what I’ve already done and it seems like drivel. Sometimes I ignore the pressure to write and lose myself into a movie instead, because I don’t want to fight the negative snithering inside my head. Blah. Honestly, it’s really hard to overlap a successful image of myself onto the person I feel like I am now.

In those moments where things work and flow, it’s because I’ve willingly suspended my disbelief about one reality over the other.

Do you do this too? Please say, “Mais oui, mon ami,” and then tell me how you get yourself to believe X, Y, and Z. How do you convince your angel to fly?



Moment of Magic today:

In case you haven't been introduced yet? It's my pleasure to present: Lisa Hannigan.




Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Summer Solstice 2012

link to original here


Oh my, and then it’s the Summer Solstice, and I’m giddy. 

Dancing heart, skipping feet. Bonfire, anyone? 

I hope your longest day has been magical so far, and I’m wishing the same for your Midsummer Night. Sweet dreams, lovelies.





Moment of Magic today:

What did you do to celebrate the Summer Solstice this year? Did the fairies take you away?



Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Pieces of Peace

Alpha and Mutter sat at the kitchen table, necks bent to the task of putting a puzzle together.

"Does this one go there?"

"Nope."

"What about this one? It looks like the Rock Man."

"Nope."

 "Let's try this one."

"Nope."

All too soon it was Alpha's bedtime. They'd made a little progress. Rock Man was looking less and less like a pile of disjointed rocks, more like the superhero he was meant to be. 

More importantly, a woman and her estranged grandson were cuddling and content with each other again, any unease from distance and time away from each other gone.

"Alpha," I interrupted. "It's time to go to bed."

But he learns quickly, especially when it comes to new words. I'm sure you can guess his response.


Here are some of my own puzzle pieces from the last two weeks:

Nothing helps a sick belly like Pellegrino. And then when Hubs found a blood orange variety -- I think maybe I actually died and went to heaven?

link to original here

 Reliving childhood memories. Not mine, but Hubs. He laughed all the way through -- "So that explains why I had to have a Mustang. And a leather jacket. And a..."




A long meandering walk into the other side of town revealed a playground we've never been to (not the one in the pic) that is so, so awesome -- hurray for new-to-us parks!

link to original here

More family sickness. *Sigh*

link to original here

Day away from stress to relax, walk, people-watch. I wish for streams and natural-scapes to run through every city -- this was beautiful. Just what I needed.

link to original here

Moment of Magic today:

It's been a long couple of weeks. I'm reminded of this song we learned in choir many many moons ago..."Dona Nobis Pacem" -- or "Give Us Peace." And now that I'm back to the blog, I'm hoping things have been well with you, and wishing you pieces of peace too.



Friday, June 1, 2012

Things I love

Two blogs I love are The Mommy Rant and Shouldn’t Life Be More Than This?

I also love tag. They have both tagged me, though in a less traditional manner...

link to original here

These are Joanne’s questions:

1. Why did you start a blog? Easiest way to answer this is simply refer you here

2. What have you learned about yourself from blogging? I’m really good at starting things, but have a hard time buckling down for the follow-through. Generally I need a reason to remind me of why I should buckle down otherwise my self-doubt, my fear, or my to-do list will win over.

3. How do you blog and still get things done around your house? Things actually fall apart a little bit when I over-do the blogging thing. That’s something else I’ve learned about myself from this.

4. Why is blogging better than Facebook? Because there are fairies hiding in the background of my blog. Do you see them? They tend to shy away from Facebook.

5. What is the last book you read? Deadlocked, the newest Sookie book out by Charlaine Harris.

6. What is the last live performance you saw? Hubs struggling to fix his scooter in the garage. Oh. Well it was both live and entertaining, so.

7. What is your favorite children's book? Sam and the Firefly by P.D. Eastman.

link to original here
8. What is your favorite typeface? I am sans favorite with this question.

9. Would you ever put your cat on a leash? I am also currently sans cat, though I did try putting my previous cat on a leash and it wasn’t her favorite thing. I didn’t try it twice.

10. Who would play you in the movie version of your life?
Zooey Deschanel, but mostly because of her role in Eulogy.

11. Love the tourists or can't wait for them to leave? Love watching them watching me. Mostly love them, until the streets get clogged and it’s faster to walk than drive. I hate that.

link to original here

Now for a.eye’s questions:

1. Soy milk or regular milk? Almond.

2. Favorite sport to watch? Why? Honestly I’m not a big sport enthusiast unless I know someone who’s playing. Then I’m one of those somewhat embarrassing die-hards that you don’t really want to sit by.

3. Sitcoms or reality television? I don’t have a T.V. I sort-of keep up with a couple of shows on Hulu, namely Whitney and America’s Got Talent, but I’m not sure if this counts.

4. Laptop or tablet? Why? I’m old-school, I guess. I’ve got the gargantuan desk-top-thing that takes up a couple of tables to accommodate. If I had my druthers, though, I suppose I’d go laptop? Because it has the word “lap” in it, which reminds me of comfortable times and happy moments.

5. Which person has influenced your life the most? Hubs. Hands down. 

Yes, that's a cardboard gauntlet. Wuh-bam!

6. Which would you most hate to be without, television, computer, or cell phone? Computer. You can do the T.V. and phone thing on computers. Is that cheating?

7. Which would you hate to be without, your hair or a body shape you liked? My hair. I’ve gone through multiple body shapes, some I liked more than others. I’m mostly over the body shape thing, but I very much like my hair.

8. Where would you rather live, high-rise or suburbs? Why? This is tricky because I would prefer the city, the bustle and noise, the color, the uniqueness of individuals pushing through their days. But with and for my children, I would rather live in the burbs. At least until they grow up a little. In my head the idea of suburbs just seems safer for two small busy boys.

 ***

Right. That was only eight questions instead of eleven, but that's all a.eye gave me (thanks *winks*) Are you still with me? I love it. Do we need an intermission?




Next. Eleven things you maybe don’t know about me that I love:

1. I love mugs. I prefer this mode of delivering food/drink to my mouth over any other.

2. I love being vegetarian. Quorn products are my favorite substitute. Yum.

3. I have an extraordinarily bad sense of smell, so I love strong spicy foods/drinks because I can taste them better.

4. I love grocery shopping. It’s a little bit ridiculous.

5. I love mini things. They always make me do a double-take and my heart goes into my throat, making me giggle. That gets a little bit ridiculous too, depending on who I’m with. 

6. I love lanterns. Someday I’d like to have a room full of them – all sorts of sizes, styles, and colors.

link to original here
7. I love red appliances, though red isn’t my favorite color.

8. Somewhere between a dark green and blue is my favorite color. I love the depth of that visual.

9. I love to travel, but I get motion-sick really easily so I usually have a piece of candy or some gum on me to help settle my stomach.

10. I love making faces at my little boys so they will make even better faces back. They always win the face-game. They got it from Hubs, obviously.

11. I love my hands. The texture of the skin, the bumps from scars, the knobby knuckles, the calluses. I love how other hands interlink with mine, and it makes everything seem that much lighter.

 
Okay, okay, enough of me. Are we done with Deb yet? Good.

Last. Instead of tagging 11 other blogs I love, I'll say if you're reading this and you want to play along? Tag. You're it. 

Here are the rules:

*** You just have to tell 11 things about yourself, answer "my" questions, and then tag 11 other bloggers to do the same.  Then post a link to your post in the comments here so we can all see your answers. ***

But instead of making this post longer than it already is, just choose 11 from any of the questions posed to me by Joanne or a.eye. Simple. And thanks for playing along.


Moment of Magic today:

Your fairy tale this weekend is this (of course) --

Go see it and tell me what you think. Thumbs up or down? How many tomatoes? Is it five stars? Give me your best review. That will be my magic moment.



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