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?

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!

Runaway Keyboard

Posted by goodoldgirl

I’m an avid reader. Always have been. Always will be. Except …

I can’t seem to get this blogging thing out of my system. I was sure it would die after a few labored posts and then I could get back to the book I was reading. I only got into this on a whim and a push from my kid sister anyway.

So what gives? Why can’t I keep away from this keyboard?

I spend all day on a computer at work and now at home as well. It’s too much!

My fingertips have calluses!

AACK!!

[Deep breath.]

Okay, so I spend a lot of time on a PC at work and a MAC at home. Yep, I’m a MAC fan. (Not the point.) The point is that this blogging thing is interfering with my all-time favorite pastime — reading.

I have a stack of books, sitting over there on the shelf, watching me as I type. I can hear them calling to me. (Help me! Help me! They sound just like The Fly. The original Fly with Vincent Price, not the new Fly.)

I can feel Amazon trying to get my attention up there on the bookmarks bar.

I feel the need to read!

But, here I sit — blogging. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.) It’s fun. I enjoy blogging. I just didn’t realize when I started that it would take over my life and I’d turn into a “stats” hound — 495 hits and counting. Okay, so that’s not the highest number in the world and lots of other bloggers have much, much better stats than me. So what. Don’t care. I like my stats. They’re mine and I’m keeping them. So there!

[Deep breath.]

Where was I?

Oh, yeah, I have brand spanking new, shiny, glossy magazines to read. Haven’t touched them other than to bring them in from the mail box. Had to tear myself away from the blog to even check the mail box. Now, that’s just awful, though, not as bad as the snarly looks I’m getting from my two cats Emmie and Ollie. Bet they can’t even remember what my lap is like. It’s not that I completely ignore them. I do feed them and tidy their box. (Yucky chore. When they’ve gone to cat heaven, I will never have another cat. A dog, maybe, but no cats.)

And, let’s not talk about the housecleaning that’s gone by the wayside. If I don’t wash some dishes pretty soon, I’m going to be eating soup from the can. Is it that you can put cans in the microwave or that you can’t?

Oh, well. Details.

Now, that the frantic urge to create a post (pure dribble though it be) has passed, I can go back to reading my book. It’s a good one. Long. But good. Has dragons in it. Did I mention that it’s a five-volume series. I’m on the third book in the series. Well, I should go now.

Okay, gone now.

Bye.

Now, what did I do with that can opener?