A bookie’s life calendar.

When I was a kid, my life calendar was all about the next holiday and not having to go to school.

It wasn’t so much that I didn’t want to go to school but that I didn’t want to have to get up so dang early. (They could have made school start at ten instead of eight and I’d’ve been a happy camper.) The getting up early, though, wouldn’t have been such a problem except that it interfered with staying up late the night before. So why does a kid need to stay up so late — it’s all about the books.

Yep, this girl’s a reader. My life calendar these days is measured in books instead of days and weeks.

And holidays? They’re just one more opportunity for a family squabble, so who needs ’em!

I can’t remember a time in my life when I wasn’t holed up somewhere reading a book. It drove my grandmother bonkers. She hated to see me inside reading when my brother and sisters and cousins were out playing. She used to make me watch afternoon soap operas with her to keep me from reading but I’d have an open book across my lap, sneaking peeks and distracting her when I needed to turn the page. (I’m pretty sure she knew I was doing it but, as long as I kept up with the soaps’ story lines, she let me get a way with it.) Granny loved her soaps. Wonder what she’d have thought about blogging.

Back to topic …

I read while waiting in the drive-up line and I read while waiting at red lights, too. (I get a lot of beeps from the cars behind me.)

I read while I should be watching what I’m cooking on the stove. (I’ve developed a real affinity for charred food.)

I read while I’m watching TV and, yes, I’ve even been known to read while I’m blogging.

It’s a sickness, this book thing, and there is no cure.

Yikes!

What is your passion? What keeps you going day after day, year in and year out? What’s the big thing on your life calendar?

What in the world are we thinking?

Posted by goodoldgirl

Do you ever wonder what it would be like to know everything that’s going to happened throughout the rest of your life? Would you want to know if you could?

What about knowing just the high points? Would that be enough to satisfy your curiosity? I’m not sure it would be for me. But, then again, I think I’d rather know nothing about the future than a few tidbits.

What if your palm had been read when you were young and the palm reader told you that you would die young, would you want to know that? Would you make plans for that? Buy more life insurance so your children would be more financially secure? What if the palm reader told you that you would live to a very ripe old age? What would you differently?

What would you change about your life if you knew what the future would bring your way? I suspect that most of us wouldn’t change anything. We’d just keep going down the same path we were on and let whatever happens rush right at us.

Is that just human nature? Or, is it fear? Do we not know how to make ourselves ready? Are we looking ahead or are we watching our feet as we stumble through each step? Planners look ahead and make changes in course as needed. Watchers look around them and see only their next step or, at most, the next hill in front of them, ignoring the mountain off in the distance.

The Earth seen from Apollo 17. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Can’t help but wonder if that’s the reason that, even though we know that we’re killing our own planet, we just keep going right down that same path — step by step. No change in course. No plans for stopping, much less reversing, the damage to planet earth. No thought of tomorrow and the planet our children and their children will inherit.

Why is that? Is it collective stupidity? Or, do we just not care?

Why aren’t we insuring our planet’s future? After all, it’s our children’s future as well.

All bets are off when it comes to bloggortunity!

Posted by goodoldgirl

I’ve only been at this blogging game a couple of months but I can recognize that friends and relatives might become a bit cautious about what they say or do when I’m around — or else they unwittingly, or maybe it’s unwillingly, become a bloggortunity.

So what is a bloggortunity? (If you really want to know, skip on over to Kate’s page for the birth of the word!)

Tim Berners-Lee: The World Wide Web - Opportun...

Tim Berners-Lee: The World Wide Web (Photo credit: Fräulein Schiller)

For me, a bloggortunity is whatever anyone says or does, that I see or hear about, that piques my interest enough for me to make an observation about it in my blog. And, no, it is not limited to family and friends. It encompasses the whole wide world — particularly the World Wide Web. (What a ripe for the plucking tree that is!)

So, all you folks out there, be aware, be forewarned, and be on your toes — we bloggortunists are watching and we’re carrying notepads — or smart phones with electronic notepads.

Some of us just rely on memory, though, but you can’t be sure that we’ll correctly remember every word you say. And if we don’t we’re sorry in advance for misrepresenting your chatter. We’ll try to keep the misquotes to a minimum, though we can’t really guarantee that. You know what I mean? We’re not perfect, in fact we’re far from perfect. If we were perfect we wouldn’t be reaping blog fodder from our friends and relatives.

I suppose we should only reap words and deeds from strangers to feed our blogs. Or celebrities, but don’t get me started on them. They do ask for it, after all. I mean if they didn’t want everyone talking and/or writing about the silly things they say or do then they shouldn’t put themselves out there, should they?

We aren’t really invading anyone’s space, we’re just rattling along trying to create a post that makes sense and, on a good day, amuses the reader(s).

We can always hope for readers in the plural, can’t we?

Sure we can.

But why, you might ask, do we keep our eyes and ears peeled for a bloggortunity?

Well, it comes down to this — writer’s block. A blank page or screen just waiting to be filled can be such a bear!

If you don’t believe me, take a peek at The Uninspired Chronicles and you’ll see what I mean.

Enjoy!