Focus

When I first began taking care of mom, well make that mom and dad, I was reading a lot and writing was great. Then dad died and I had to spend more time with mother. Still, I was reading and maybe not writing as much, but writing. As things progressed with mom, I still read, but the writing began to fall to the wayside. I always thought “when this thing with mom is over, I’ll have all the time in the world to write”. Yeah. Mom passed and everything stopped; reading, writing, creativity, etc. Oh, there were moments of creativity – it wasn’t all gone, but it became a chore, not a love. Suddenly I had all of the time, but nothing was really there. I kind of expected that, I was grieving after all. But as time went on, it didn’t change. At first I thought it was my eyes, and part of it turned out to be – bifocals. Still, didn’t change much. Then the bipolar diagnosis and the medication; some things changed, but the flow of creativity, the focus for reading – still MIA. It reminds me a little of the classic Twilight Zone episode called Time Enough at Last. I’ll stop for a few minutes to let you follow the link and read the synopsis. Ready? Okay, that’s me, I have time enough at last, but my “glasses” are broken, or something is broken and I don’t know exactly what. I do know that I need to start reading – that reading feeds my creativity. I know that I need to start writing – even if it is just this blog, because any form of writing is an improvement right now. I also know that I have to find Bailey Stewart again. That’s what I meant about getting back to MySpace, diving into what made her work. Because Bailey Stewart is my key, my way back to the creativity. Everything is there, waiting. And I’ll find it again.

What was your name again?

Hi, maybe I should re-introduce myself. My name is Bailey Stewart, and I’m a writer. I write romantic comedies. At least, I think about romantic comedies. I haven’t quite gotten them transferred from the ol’ brain matter to paper. Just a little catch, but I’m sure I’ll get past that eventually. Anyway, I missed you guys! What have I been doing while I’ve been gone? Absolutely nothing. And I’ve gotten damn good at it. If doing nothing were an Olympic event, I’d take home a silver medal. Really. No, not a gold, I have been doing some things. The office is almost put together; there are only a couple of boxes in the bedroom. Miraculously and to Bebo’s amazement, I’ve actually been keeping the apartment half-way decent. I think I’ve used the vacuum more in the 5 months I’ve been here than I think I ever did in a year at the house. Yep, the vacuum cleaner has become my friend. Now, if only the iron would talk to me. I also joined a paranormal group and have been on a ghost hunt. That was fun and I’m looking forward to doing more of it. Plus, as a step towards getting the stories from the head to the page, I am on the brink of joining Yellow Rose, the Fort Worth branch of the RWA. See, I’ve been disqualified for the gold. Oh, and Aidan got married. Yes, you read it right, my oldest kitty is now a married man. And no, the men in white jackets are not waiting for me. I think. He married a nice kitty named Cissy in a beautiful MySpace ceremony at the Rock Bottom Bar and Grill. I cried. If you promise not to laugh too hard, I’ll even share pictures here. Right now the happy couple is honeymooning in Ireland. Dublin to be exact. Hey, if you have to dream, dream big.

So what about you? What have you been up to in the last couple of months? I hope everyone has been having a great summer. I know that Michele and Dru have joined Facebook. Marty got married. And …. Well hey, fill me in!!

Oh wait!! I have been doing something else. I've been making my own LOLCatz. Obviously, you don't have to use your own pictures, since this isn't one of my cats. They have their own picture files you can choose from. This is one of my favorites that I've made.




HEY!!! BLOGGER CUT OFF THE WORDS!!!!! AWWWWWWW.
You gotta go here to see it properly.
moar funny pictures

This and That

First, a message from Jason Evans:

Dear Blog Friends,

Thank you all for being an amazing part of my blog experience and The Clarity of Night!

I'm writing tonight to announce the grand opening of a companion blog. It’s a candlelit place called Night Conversations (http://nightconversations.blogspot.com/). Here's the concept.

In important parts of our lives, many of us struggle with feelings of isolation, of being misunderstood. Night Conversations is a place where anonymous participants spend a evening with me talking and delving into those feelings. No advice. No judgment. Just a person who wants nothing more than to listen and understand.

Stop over and share the first of the Night Conversations with me. If you like what you see, I'd be grateful for any mention, or even a review, that you would be willing to do on your own blogs. I'd love to see Night Conversations spread like a more personal version of Post Secret.

The comfy chair is open for anyone out there who like to participate. Thanks!

--Jason Evans

Not a whole lot going on with me. I seem to have become the MySpace page designer of choice. LOL First I did Bebo's, then the Jill Shalvis Fan Page, then my cat Bubba (yes, Bubba has a page, want to see it? Click here. Now remember, you don't have to be a member of MySpace to look at his page.) Then my two pages, yes two. One for me and one for Bailey. Now my cousin Joan wants me to design her page. Maybe I need to start charging. LOL

Here's a little video for your Monday. Please excuse the first scene, but the rest is great - especially the talking cats.

The Truck

Main Entry: truck
Function: noun
Etymology: probably back-formation from truckle small wheel
Date: 1611
3: a wheeled vehicle for moving heavy articles: as a: a strong horse-drawn or automotive vehicle (as a pickup) for hauling

That’s Webster’s definition of a truck. My definition is quite different. I hate them. No, let me be more specific. There is one certain pickup truck that I hate. Totally. I can see the headline now:

Aspiring Author Arrested for Truckocide.
Suspect allegedly smashed truck to smithereens with a tire iron, all the while yelling “die you effing truck, die!”

It’s not really the trucks fault. I’m sure it’s a fine upstanding truck. In fact, it may have little trucks to support. I don’t care. I hate it. Sitting out there so innocent looking. No one would believe how evil it is. And it is evil, don’t doubt about that one bit. It’s either parked on one side or the other of my bedroom window, sometimes right smack dab in front of it. And it hates me as much as I hate it. I’m positive about that one. Otherwise, why would its alarm go off at all hours of the night and early morning? Why else would it do it especially the night before I have to get up for work? And believe you me, it’s not just night when it lets itself be heard. It went off several times today, breaking the silence with its shrill siren and incessant horn hocking. Did I mention incessant? Aggravating? I’m going to end up flipping out one night and charging out my patio door, tire iron waving in the humid Texas night as I climb hysterically over the patio fence. Then it’ll be just the truck and I. And the tire arm. I’m betting on me.



BTW, I've been busy putting together a MySpace fan page for Jill. Head on over to see it. Let me know what you think. It's 99% done and I'm waiting for Jill to crawl out from the deadline cave (Monday I hope) to finish the little bit that's left. You don't have to be a member of MySpace to look at the page.

Aidan's Turn

Aidan here. Mother was going to have Seamas blog again, but I begged her not to subject you to any more of his “LOLz” cat speak, so to say. I hate that site; it’s such an insult to us superior felines. Anyway, we’re adjusting fine without Neely Shae, although I must admit that I do miss my favorite target. Bailey and Seamas aren’t as fun to attack. And I said Bailey. I don’t care if there’s some sort of mix-up with his and mother’s names. BooBear is ridiculous. How could any self-respecting feline hold up his head with a name like BooBear? I know, mother calls me Aidan Maiden, so who am I to speak, right? I.hate.Aidan Maiden. In case I’m not clear enough – Aidan Maiden sucks eggs. She even has a little poem for me: Aidan Maiden, pudding pie. Kissed the kits and made them cry. When Aidan Maiden came out to play, all the kits they ran away. Can you imagine going through life with that sticking to you? It’s either that or Secret Aidan Man. If I have to have one or the other, I’ll take Secret Aidan Man because at least it’s male.

Mother has been having a bit of a bad week. The sale of the house isn’t going through as soon as she, and obviously Uncle David, thought it would. So here’s mother packing to move into an apartment she can’t afford. It’s all Uncle David’s fault and if he were here I’d pee on his foot. He doesn’t like cats anyway, so what harm would it do? I could leave a little present in his shoe too, if you know what I mean. I don’t mind getting a little crass when it comes to protecting my mother.

I heard mother say the other day that she just doesn’t get to blog as much as she used to. What with all of this packing and cleaning, she doesn’t have the time. I know, you see her on MySpace a lot. She’s not always there. Mother has this habit of leaving the computer on and logged into the site. Whenever she gets a message or something, it “cachings” (that’s the closest to the sound I can get) rather loudly and she comes running to answer it. It’s pathetic if you ask me, sort of like Pavlov’s dogs. Anyway, once she’s settled into her new place, she’ll get back to a routine. Whatever that is. And she’ll be able to look for a job again. I’ve been told she needs one badly. I don’t know why, wouldn’t a purr, nuzzle and lick get her most things in life? It works for us.

Eeek, Monday

Well it’s after 9:00 on Sunday night and I just realized I haven’t written Monday’s blog post, sooooo here I am. I had a quiet Sunday, slept on and off, did some Myspace friending (If you haven’t “friended” me yet – why not?), re-did the bio for that site since what I had there was a bit sparse. Like two sentences? I really hate writing about myself so I’d left it for as long as I could. I’m not so dizzy tonight, but I am still quite tired. I had a really bad dizzy spell this morning – I thought I was going to fall over, which wouldn’t have been a pretty sight. Then I looked at the clock and realized it was after 10:30 a.m. and I hadn’t eaten yet. I’ve never had a sugar drop before, but that may have been what it was – I’m hoping it wasn’t the new meds. I don’t like all of this sleeping – it’s interfering with my writing and reading. When I wasn’t sleeping I was laying in bed catching up on episodes of Supernatural and Criminal Minds that I’d taped last week, tomorrow I catch up on my Dresden episodes.

Oh wow, this is such a titillating post I don’t know how you can stand it. I miss blogging. I miss all of you, and I hope I can get back to it. I won’t be hitting my entire list in one day though – I did that last week and it took almost 2 hours. I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but I’m not dropping any of you, so I’ll figure something out. Right now I’m yawning so much its insane. Or is that you yawning? I wouldn’t blame you. Give me another day and I hope to be back to my usual witty self, or somebody’s witty self, I don’t care.

Y’all take care, thank you for visiting (I do read the comments), and I’ll see you (as soon as my eyes open fully).