THANK YOU, JADE KERRION & FRIENDS! ON TO #ROW80 4TH QTR 2013 - THE DREADED GOALS

I want to thank Jade Kerrion for allowing me to participate in her book launch for the 4th book of her Award-Winning Series, "Double Helix -- Perfection Unleashed!" 

It's easy to do stuff for Jade, because she does all the heavy lifting and besides, she's gorgeous, funny, brilliant and oh, so original. So, she's always welcome here on Nebraska Ave, 33605, 33602, 33604.

Seriously, I just fumble around, do a little HTML code stuff (badly, if you haven't noticed or been blinded by the appearance of my blog) and punch some buttons, and voilà! I'm done. Not that I'm lazy. Much. 

Last year, Jade told me about this little shindig called NaNoWriMo, a festival of finger cramping, where you type 50,000 words during the month of November. I guess you're supposed to have a plot and characters and things. Naturally, I was immediately taken with this concept and got very excited and signed up. I wrote exactly 1737 words in 2012's NaNoWriMo. I hope to best last year's total THIS YEAR; that's all I'm going to say. Life keeps happening. On November 3rd of 2012, my E. T. (Essential Tremor) powered up, or leveled up, for you gamers, or in normal people's jargon, got worse and it was a mess. This not having medical insurance and all back then, was just one disaster after another.

Besides being a first-rate ranter, and an imaginative cuss-word artiste, Andi-roo is one of my first blogging buddies. Truly inspirational as well as ferociously honest and loving, she is my hero! xoxoxo (Andispeak for love and shit)

Andi-roo says calamity now makes for great stories later. She's absolutely right and I have some humdingers. A quick glimpse; I celebrated "Mental Awareness Month" by being committed for most of it, and this wasn't what I had scheduled for March of 2011. Ironically, that St. Patrick's Day in 2011 is one of the few I remember, because throughout my adult life, like all good Scots, I was usually blotto. Let's not even talk about St. Andrew's day (patron saint of Scotland, November 30.) By the way, I quit drinking years and years ago and smoking, too and have the lungs of a coal miner. 

Amazingly, I look pretty good for nigh on 60 and all the self-inflicted damage. There's probably a picture in an attic by now, that is so rotted, it's just a frame. Thanks, Oscar Wilde. 

GINA VALLEY - GLAMEROUS LIFE OF A SOCCER MOM

Gina writes about funny things, or rather, ordinary and sometimes not happy things and makes them. . . hysterical. Posts about trying to find alone time in the bathroom, yet dealing with questions from the "pack;" running the gamut from trivial to existential. Road trips that go on for years, replete with more endless questions from the "pack." Sheer lunacy meets happy impromptu and pointed remarks. I still can't figure out how many 2-legs and 4-legs are in that domicile. But I loved her comment on Facebook, something about it being a long day, as the dog just ran through the door with a couch cushion and jumped into a mud puddle with it. All written with grace, humor and love. Gina is a keeper. I want to thank her for her inspiration and just her presence in my life. I never have a bad day; I just go read something about one of her trips to the E. R. and feel instantly better!

Lynnette Conroy writes with an elegance and a ferocity I haven't read in many a year. And that says a fuck-ton. I am deadly serious.

If you haven't read Lynnette's post, "Open Rant to Congress," please do so immediately. I re-posted in several places, but what I really, really wanted to do was go and throw tea in some harbor, man the ramparts, or fire the "shot heard 'round the world." We need some damn inspiration around here! Where the hell is it? The 60s would have had sit-ins, lie-ins, love-ins, eat-ins, and every other kind of -in you can imagine. Where in the hell is the outrage? We should be outraged. Supposedly, Lenin said that "every society is 3 meals away from anarchy," although it has many attributions. I say, balls. But really, I say, thanks, Lynnette, for getting me fired up again. I just wish it was 1983, so I could go march around the Union in Ann Arbor for Solidarity and give my dad in Los Gatos, California an excuse to call me up and chew me out over the phone, hollering about lists and McCarthy. My mom was the Anarchist in the family.

My own goals for #ROW80 are nebulous. Tenuous, as is the state of my existence in the sense of, I never know what's going on. I can say, "Hey, I think I'm going to write a book. The Title? Fifty Shades of My Little Pony." 

Actually, I have and have had enough material to polish and publish a book about my experiences in music and in the computer industry, as well as the interesting and very broadening experience of losing a house, becoming homeless and sick and ending up here in this chair. Or, I could just end with this:

 Source: Huffington Post                                 

A Silver Lining, of a Very Dark Cloud

Maybe I'm just a one-liner, lookin' for a stage.

After further reflection, I have started a "goals page" as a way of keeping track of what I hope to accomplish during Round 4. I feel good and I am ready to take on some new things and re-establish some great old habits! 

Based on Raising Happiness, a New Theory of Elite Performance, it's actually part of a very old practice that I inculcated during my days in music school and repeated when I took 4 years of college Calculus, Trig and Computer Science in 2. I am gifted in music. I am not gifted in Maths by any means, but I had a 4.0. Unreal. I still wonder who was driving. Anyway, this is where you can read about my goals: DELIBERATE GOALS OF VIOLA FURY

Good luck everyone! It's going to be great and we shall sing the song of our peoples togethers, (sic) as they once did in old country!   

                        ♯ ♫ ♪ ♭ ♩ ♬                   

HOMELESS CHRONICLES IN TAMPA - THE LIEBSTER AWARD 2013

The Liebster Award is a legitimate award, and until last year, had never heard of it. I was first nominated in 2012 by Aaron Brinker who runs @dadblunders and as I read of the history of the award, I realized this is a serious thing and an honor. It’s an award given by bloggers to other up and coming bloggers as a way to recognize and promote their blog. Liebster is a German word meaning dearest, sweetest and beloved. How wonderful to be nominated, once again! Thank you so very much to Maggie at expat.brazil. I am honored.



The Rules: seem slightly different on various blogs but in general are

1. List 11 facts about yourself.

2. Answer the 11 questions given to you.

3. Ask 11 new questions for the bloggers you nominate for the award.

4. Choose up to 11 up-and-coming blogs to nominate.

5. Go to each blogger’s page and let them know about the award.

6. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog.

So step 1. 11 facts about me

1. I was a professional violist for close to 30 years. I switched from violin at the age of 16-ish. I occasionally played the violin on gigs for money. Only when all the other violinists within the tri-state area had left or died was I called upon to do so. I hate the violin, but then, I hate Mozart. I love Beethoven. I love all good music, in any genre.

2. I was a computer software support engineer at IBM for 3 years and Verizon for 7. I also worked for the Gastonia, NC police department in the same capacity and continued to play at the same time. It's called multi-tasking, or “insanity.” I got into this line of work, when my 2^nd husband a violist, discovered that I didn't magically become a _______ player and got jealous when I got hired to play for the Moody Blues and he didn't.

3. I am legally blind and have been for about 10 years now. I also have Parkinson's Disease, or non-Parkinson's Disease, THAT is the question. It's hard to diagnose.

4. I own a viola that was made 10 years after Beethoven died, in 1837. The viola was made in Bologne, Italy and is of the Bolognese school of fiddle-making. Like all fine instruments, “his” appraiser named him. His name is “Wolf.” He has a hell of a sound and is by my bed.

5. I was homeless for about 11 months and spent that time living in a homeless shelter and was very annoying to my fellow homeless shelter mates. That is how this blog came to be. After I received my Disability, I moved across the street. I still see some of the people I lived with and new homeless people.

6. I've been committed for mental illness. I am bipolar and have Asperger (we used to say, “doesn't play well with others.”) I also cry over stupid stuff and laugh at stuff I probably shouldn't. I have a mordant sense of humor. They have a label and pill for that. I call it questionable taste. Sheesh. There's a pill for everything now.

7. I love cats. Cats and computers just seem natural. We've a wonderful little cat who adopted us. We had her fixed, and I came up with the name of “Butterscotch,” which is not very original. JC fed her so much she got fat, so I started calling her “Butterball” and “Butterfat,” and JC said I hurt her feelings. So, she's Mama.

8. I played in Opera Tampa here for 12 seasons with Maestro Anton Coppola, Nic Cage's, Great Grand-uncle and Francis Ford's Great Uncle. It's a small world, because in Detroit, Carmine Coppola, played flute in the orchestra I played in. Maestro Anton wrote operas and conducted Italian opera with no score. He recently retired at 98. His most memorable quote to us? “Anyone can play German opera, it's just 1, 2, 3, 4, but Italian opera? Rubato, rubato, rubato, it's all goddamned rubato!” He was great to work for. I left the Opera in 2009, due to the fact I couldn't fake it anymore. He retired last year. Apparently, he couldn't fake it anymore, either.

9. I'm an only child and never had kids. But I taught generations of them on the violin (even while not enjoying playing it, I am very enthusiastic about music; a teacher's role is to inspire. We're all self-taught, according to one of my viola professors.)

10. I was married 3 times and lived with a man who was one of the most irresponsible people I have ever met. Shame on me. I met the man I know I will be with for the rest of my life in the homeless shelter. Think on this if you will. I was homeless, had had a drinking problem, but stopped. The man I met in the shelter had been in prison. What are the odds of something durable working out?

11. JC, the love of my life, has seen me through my committal for mental illness, several hospitalizations for my PD and congestive heart failure and has steadfastly been there for me. He's patient and loving. My 3^rd husband was out looking for a new girlfriend the minute I was hospitalized with congestive heart failure. I had actually sworn off men, but the time I was in the homeless shelter. God had other plans.

So, the 11 random questions I would like to know.

1. Favourite Writer and why? This is like asking me who my favourite composer is. I love so many different writers and genres. Let me compare it as to music; Beethoven is so monumentally joyous and full of life, even as his life was tragic. Mahler was the opposite. Even his so-called happy music had tragic undertones. James Thurber, whom I read at the age of 11 is just flat-out funny. Harlan Ellison is funny, but there is a seething rage beneath his humor that is black indeed. I am currently back on Stephen King, after having read excerpts from his book 11/22/63, I purchased “Under the Dome.” He is still one of the finest technically perfect writers I've ever read and his imagination is without peer. But gee whiz, it is hard to choose. Harlan Ellison is probably the finest short story writer ever, and that has got to be the hardest form to master. Great question, Maggie!

2. Who is your best friend and why? Without a doubt, JC, the best, most honorable and most decent man I've ever known. Ex-con, or not. Which is laughable. The United States justice system has much to answer for. JC lost everything. Had a horrible childhood, loveless marriages and tried and worked so hard to care for his family. He had to quit school to help a shiftless, no-good step-daddy run a pig farm. Shades of John Steinbeck and Tennessee Williams. JC says he's dumb and practically illiterate next to me. So what? Book-learning was an advantage and a gift. I was a prodigy, but I couldn't see into people's hearts. He can and he's taught me much. He's beyond price and I love him unreasonably. He's never known true happiness, until now. I told him my mission in life was to make him happy, or make him miserable trying.

3. The genie has granted you three wishes, what are they? Genie grants everyone the ability to reason, empathize and show compassion.

4. Which historical figures would you love to have dinner with ? Ludwig van Beethoven

5. What couldn’t you live without? My viola, Wolf

6. What do you do for fun? Play Runescape and annoy people in chat rooms.

7. Favourite Quote? “Animals grace us with their presence.”

8. If money was no object where would you live and why? I would roam. I found out recently, that we may not be where we thought we were from. “Wallace” of Sir William Braveheart blah blah fame we can claim, but “Wallace” means “foreign” or “alien” in old Welsh. There is some argument (I don't believe there is much evidence) for our origins prior to Glasgow being from around the Caucausus or the Black Sea. Maybe we were Scythians or Cossacks; maybe even Neptunians. Scythians were known for red hair, fair skin and blue eyes. At any rate, before I lost my site, I rambled all over the place, and it wasn't always work related. Our whole family was like that. You said “car,” and family members were known to get up off of their death beds for a road trip. I miss it.

9. What’s your secret pleasure? *looks around* I have been known to have apoplexy and hysteria over TSG (The Smoking Gun's) “The World's Dumbest ________ “ When the recipe includes grade Z celebs like Tonya Harding, Todd Bridges, Leif Garrett, Danny Bonaduce, Chuck Nice (which really is an appropriate last name for him) et al., and show the bottom of the gene pool video clips doing the stupidest things they can think of, and then comment and re-enact with cheesy cut-outs and even cheesier comments and the cheesiest CGI ever, I'm down with that. You see, I have the Siren-song-of-crap gene! And damned proud of it, too! And if they're not on, I'll laugh at my own stupidness. Like the time I followed myself on my own blog!

10. Who do you admire and why? I thought about this for a long time and I keep coming back to someone who has been on the public stage for most of the time I've spent on this planet. Muhammad Ali. The courage he showed when he stood up to the establishment and stated that he would not fight a war that he had no stake in really shook people up. I believe that for the first time, people really started to question what our government's goals were in Viet Nam. At this point, I was already hearing my father every morning bitch about what an asshole Robert MacNamara was; I was about 9 years old at the time. When the news came out that Ali had his license stripped, my very prescient father, who was a naturalized citizen, out of Glasgow and had fought in WWII and flown B-29s in Korea watching, said, “people are going to start rebelling against this war; it's a bad war.” He was right. As Ali has aged, and he is now dealing with PD himself, his foundations and charities have taken up causes he espoused. Brotherhood for all mankind.

11. What superpower would you like to have? Not invisibility; it didn't work so well for that guy in the X-files episode. I'll settle for that one where you wrinkle your nose and the house cleans itself and your food cooks itself. I know that was a witch power, but all I can come up with are those lame Saturn Lad powers, like the bouncing thing, or stop time, like Clock Boy. Lame

My 11 Random Questions

1. Describe which musical instrument your personality most closely resembles and why.

2. The last time you did anything idiotic in public (assuming you did; not everyone is me) were you embarrassed, or did you just shrug it off? Feel free to provide details. Or not.

3. Name one thing about yourself that would surprise people.

4. Favorite genre of music?

5. Cinnamon or peppermint?

6. What are you reading right now?

7. What was your favorite stuffed toy as a kid? What was his/her name?

8. Who is your favorite author?

9. Who is your muse?

10. If you were to come back to life as an animal, which animal would you be?

   11.  Who is your best friend and why?

Just for fun, I listed my fellow Liebster Nominees; please feel free to visit their blogs and see their responses to the questions I answered. They are probably MUCH more entertaining than I am; remember, I am the Straight Man to the World.

Michael at nouveauscarecrow

DL Shackleford at dlshackleford.com 

Kelly Hartog at kelliforniadreaming

Jen at jeneralinsanity  

Tracy Kuhn at volvodiaries

Bigger on the inside

Liz Blackmore at littleboxofbooks 

lachodrom1

chuckallen

Sonia Rao at soniaraowrites 

sohelpmecats

Vikki at the-view-outside 

Carolyn at carolynpaulbranch

myriteofpassage

Mary A to Z

spudsdailyphoto

Lucy at lucysreality

rsativus

Jo at henderson-jo.blogspot

playwrightchick

haleyscomic

gigglingtruckerswife.blogspot.com

wanderboomer

And now, for my 11 choices. These are all based on blogs that have changed me in some way, given me new insight into ways we relate with one another, ideals to strive for, inspiration for when I was just so damned low and just plain funny blogs. These are also in no particular order, either. Again, Maggie, thank you so much. You rock!

1. Tim Peacock @ http://www.peacock-panache.com/

2. Andi-Roo @ http://www.theworld4realz.com/

3. Gina Valley @ http://ginavalley.com/

4. Kristen Dyrr @ http://kristenhead.blogspot.com/

5. Aaron Brinker @ http://www.dadblunders.com/

6. Amberr Meadows @ http://www.amberrisme.com/

7. MBOK @ http://mybrainonkids.net/

8. Lynnette Conroy @ http://rantravewrite.com/author/rantravewrite/

9. Lottie Nevin @ http://lottienevin.com/

10. Intricate Knot @ http://intricateknot.wordpress.com/

11. Alberta Ross @ http://www.albertaross.co.uk/

12. YumaBev @ http://parkinsonshumor.blogspot.com/ * Yes, I picked a 12th. I know it's a rule-breaker, but Bev is special to us all. She's a winner at life and after having DBS (deep brain stimulation) for her PD this year, she is TODAY having surgery for breast cancer. Please pray to Zeus or Allah or God or whomever you pray to for her!

I probably chose some people who have more established blogs, and more followers and I didn't get to list as many blogs as I would so much love to be able to do. I don't want to make this post any longer than I already have, but a funny thing happened on my way to disaster and my subsequent U-turn. I learned how to live again, with meaning this time. You all helped and I thank you.

BLOGGING CHALLENGE FROM A TO Z APRIL 2013 – LETTER F

FUNNY

As in, I am not... I am the Straight Man Of The World. As the least funny person on the planet however, I do have a wicked sense of humor and can come up with a good observation or two, and an occasional one-liner. My parents were screamingly funny. I alas, do not have that gene. But I am woefully addicted to hilarious hijinks, stupidities, randomness and amusing and sarcastic, but cutting reviews of ineptly made blockbuster or artsy-fartsy movies that come from other people. Extra points if the movie is a horribly made science-fiction movie that looks like it was made in someone's garage and everyone chipped in 5 bucks.

I'm sure this was great, even without MST3K. Music by Autoharp and Snare Drum. Plot by Atari. Script by Commodore 64 and Sanyo-Bot.

I love Cracked.com and HuffPo's "Eat the Press" on Sunday mornings, hosted by the inimitable Jason Linkins because, Blargle, and lately have been hanging out at the A.V. Club. Not for all of the sparkling wit of the articles necessarily, or because I am a movie and TV show maven. It's for the reviews and of late, the comments from the readers. For instance, the A.V. Club is currently embroiled in reviewing “The Following,” with Kevin Bacon, on Fox, which originally drew me in, but other than the Baconator, the show reeks out loud. I have ended up staying for the reviews by an intrepid soul, Mr. David Sims, and the readers comments, which are hysterical. Absolutely hysterical. To the point of apoplexy. If I were ever to have a crappy Death Metal Band, I would name it “Hysteria and Apoplexy,” except now, I'll have to name it “Silly for Killing” which has become a sort of rallying cry amongst the readers' comments in this show, which also has set a sort of record of gaining 2 Fs in a row.

We are breathlessly awaiting a 3^rd this week. We all have no lives apparently. But, back to funny stuff. Gina Valley, who is participating, in this A to Z Challenge is hilarious! Consistently funny. She also has the added ability of being able to confuse me more than I am already and I love enriched confusion in my life. It just adds to the hysteria, in a good way of course! Andi-Roo over at The World 4 Realz is also no slouch in the laffs department. She can write funny dialog in a way no one else can. She has a post regarding her adventures in the ER last 4^th of July that I read about once a month. I want to be buried with that post. It's about a cotton Q-tip she got stuck in her ear. It's great.

Gina's post that cracked me up was about the Alphabet Song-dependency she's developed. (In DSM-V there's probably a pill for this, but no thanks, I already have several diagnoses for an alarmingly long list of things deemed unfit by society.) She has to do the whole Q, R, S, X, U, T thing. This got me laughing for several reasons. Firstly, Gina's a cracker jack edumacator and has a pack of kids and a professor hubby, and is extremely well-read and writes well, but I can relate. Even though I tested at reading, writing and comprehending at a post-doctoral level at the age of 15, I still run through A, B, C, E, F, I. See? That's messed up and I ain't fixin' it.

Secondly, I remembered the TV show “The Smoking Gun Presents the World's Dumbest” hosted by several Grade Z comedians, writers, athletes, ex-cons, etc, who demonstrate the world's idiocies with videos and their commentary. It's my guilty pleasure and I laugh like a hyena through every stupid episode, as Danny Bonaduce talks about what a dumbass he was and Gary Busey says something sort of sane. Tonya Harding is the voice of reason. This show is like "Jack Ass," only classier.

You're singing in public; you're being made fun of by these guys. You stink out loud, or have forgotten the lyrics, or your pants fell off. THAT's funny and yes, I would do that!

Guy Who's 90, Drunk and Gets Pulled Over For DUI, Sings ABC Song to Cop: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and so forth... Drunk Girl At Karaoke Chooses to Sing ABC Song, Because She Knows No Other Song?... A, A, A, (ad infinitum, even with help from a drunker friend.) The show kept returning to this; it went on for a while, but no one seemed to mind. All of this is hilarious to me and then I remembered when I first started learning to read music and I had to laugh at my own non-clue, artless behavior. Understand that this was back in the Pleistocene Era of 1966 and I was eager to learn, we'd done the whole A, B, C, D, E, F, G thing. I don't even remember my first music teacher, and in my usual way I was in a rush and was not looking at books. I was looking at my very 1^st violin. I just couldn't wait to learn about the H note. I'm still waiting.