If Life Weren’t So Crazy, We Would All Go Insane

“Weekly Challenge: Student, Teacher

We all have something to share, and we all have more to learn. This week, teach us something — or share something you’ve been taught with the class.”

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I am a life long learner. The more I learn the more I realize how little I know. There is a great big world and the people who teach me things that are memorable are my children and family. But, others want to school me to just to show that they can be the smartest person in the room.

So the cycle goes, throughout Life:

Student or teacher? Windshield or the bug?

Things happen that make me think. Or, I should say, think even more. Our brains are capable of processing so many meanings for multiple words or phrases. What I heard is what you claim I said but I know I never did. You hear me speaking and think it must be about you but you are not sure because it could all be your imagination. Each day I must learn what I can and all that I wish I did not on the journey that gives as much as it gets.

See? It isn’t all black and white. There is a lot of gray in our gray matter.

A man came to the office, held out his ticket, and asked if I could validate him. The other person there gave him a kiss. I looked at him sincerely and told him “You are a very nice person.” It is all in the interpretation.

G-d must have given you so many words so you could talk out of both sides of your mouth.

I don’t care how many people show me their back. I want to meet the few who will show me their heart.

Talking to some people, like family, coworkers or adolescents can be difficult. Each word has to be carefully measured so as not to cause offense, or the implication of offense, or anything that could be misunderstood as offensive in any way. So you tiptoe around a situation or a person and it causes me to think:

How can I talk while I am holding my breath?

I know that there is silliness in our daily lives, but it is not all fun and games. However, it sure would be nice to have more fun than game playing…

If the prize goes to the last man standing, who will he brag about it to?

Have you had any random musings that you realized were more brilliant or clever than merely random? What did you learn from it? Did it make you smile? Better yet, did it make someone else smile?

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Thank you for stopping by! It means more than you know.
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http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_writing_challenge/student-teacher/

All the World is a Stage ~ and I am Aging Upon It

Fifty is the age of rationalization
It is definitely not the new 30 unless you have lots of money and surgery or both!

Duck pin bowling is the sport of kings and birthday parties everywhere. As an elementary school child, it was a rainy day or boring Sunday outing. Well, I played this week for the first time in who knows how many years. Truly, it could be longer than my youngest child has been on this Earth.

I have discovered that my magical powers are in my mind; I notice everything and catch each subtext. I speak in multi-syllabic words like epinephrine, balloon angioplasty, Parkinsonian, thyroid stimulating hormone, and know the generic name of almost any drug that I and my relatives are taking. Words are my friends.

Maybe fifty is the age of the mind?

My ability is definitely not in my joints and limbs. There is nothing like trying to join in a sport and hit with power. As I approached the line on the overly slippery lanes, with arrows pointing straight ahead, I looked at those around and how easy they appeared to toss the ball and seeing their strong arms and tendons fly halfway down the lane. With great force, I attempted to fold my body and throw the ball down the lane. My leg went one way and my knee went the other. Ouch!

Then I fell. Charmingly graceful for an overweight 50 year old grandmother to land on her butt and be unable to get back on her feet. I laughed hard ~ the signs of nerves, embarrassment and humiliation. As any sensitive person knows, laugh first and loudly so you don’t have to hear others laugh at you. I am not a fan of slapstick, never have been; I feel too badly for the one falling over and cannot laugh at someone else’s misfortune. It is just an Empathy Queen’s mindset to feel pain and help first. I looked like a nut sitting on the floor laughing and trying to get myself back up. But in the land of 50, as long as you get up that counts as success!

Maybe fifty is the age of the nervous laugh?

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Keep me posted and I will keep you posted!
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What a Thrill! I am Freshly Pressed

Just adding a Thank You to all those reading the posts on WordPress as moderators and participants. I am very late to the game, but the DpChallenge was a fun way to participate in the WordPress community. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your positive comments ~ It means more than you know!

Letters Are Lovely for Poetry and Verse, but Email Will Prevail for Better or Worse

There are no love letters or birthday cards wrapped in ribbon since the advent of email. My days of pining over a pale blue aerogramme envelope, from a foreign county, and the passion of teenage lust and longing are a concept most cannot remember, let alone have ever experienced.

There was also an art to sending mail and adding stickers, confetti and doodles on the edges. You knew that if you applied the stamp upside down, it meant “I love you.” Yup, we tried to sneak a few tricks past the US Postal system.

I still remember shopping for cute stationary to write my letters with and today still prefer a handwritten thank you note. My favorite stationary in elementary school was strawberry scented (along with the roll-on lip gloss……..ahh what a simpler time).

I have collected cards for birthdays and anniversaries. It is still fun to get snail mail addressed to me and gift cards by post. Also, my mother taught me to throw metallic confetti into the birthday cards for a little extra fun. That is one memory and custom I would like to carry down to my own grandchildren someday.

Don’t get me wrong, emails and photos pass through my computer all day long. It is wonderful for so many things and extremely convenient. However, there are still some niceties that I would like to incorporate.

Brevity be damned; show me some personal attention and don’t delete my ideas or threaten me with a “Reply All.” Don’t respond with a smiley face simply because you want to end the conversation.

When I get a “hello” without my first name, I feel that I might be part of a batch email where someone cut and pasted the text, over and over again, but only changed the email address. It does not feel personal, warm, or necessarily for me, but I got lumped in with the other lucky recipients of the email.

I got an email offering me a free iPhone 4 signed by my husband. Immediately it was consigned to Spam. My husband offering to get me an iPhone? Inconceivable. Improbable. We have financial issues. Also, as a born and bred Canadian, he is not known for major spontaneous gift giving. Well, son of a gun, it really was from him. The phone company was offering it as an incentive. So, yeah, sure, I would love a new cell phone. Distrust and doubt have created filters (email humor) between those whom we love and share notes.

Casual emails, in place of a business letter, where words are abbreviated or spelled in shorthand for texting drive me crazy! This is a business communication so I believe that it should be written just as if I were sending a proper letter. “Luv” is supposed to be in pink on someone’s binder and fluffy pen; it is not part of a semi-serious work email.

The regulations of the grammar police are drilled into my head from years of proofreading and correcting papers. I got a perfect score on my SAT’s on the test of Standard Written English. I was proud of that distinction, but such skills are disappearing from the communication landscape. Today, thanks to email, I have seen handwriting from leaders and captains of industry that looks like they never made it past the sixth grade.

Email is meant as a convenience, but should not be at the expense of correct spelling and complete sentences. Emojis are not a replacement for condolences or congratulations. The nuances of Comic Sans versus Helvetica should not be an indication of your intentions.

Speak to me in full sentences. Use your words. Flattery by font will get you nowhere.

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