Category: Slice of Life

MJ’s Musings: Early Bird or Night Owl?

I am what is known as an early bird. I get up early. It’s my best time to think because the distractions of the day haven’t yet attacked.

But I often wonder if I am naturally an early bird or was my circadian rhythm warped by my upbringing. When I was a child, even a teenager who often babysat until the wee hours of the morning, my mother made sure I was out of bed by 9AM every morning. People who lingered in bed were lazy and slothful.

Part of this could be my dad having to get up at 4AM to work in a factory every day. So naturally bedtimes at our house were early.  I get that.

But since being an adult and with my children adults, too, when I’m not bound by the alarm for the day job, I do tend to stay up later at night–and to write and write well.  So perhaps my natural cycle is that of a night owl.

Maybe when I retire I’ll find out.

MJ’s Musings: Tour of My Office

A friend asked me to do a tour of my office. She thought I’d have a lot of colorful, Boho-type décor. Sorry. The walls are dingy gray and in need of a paint job. And we’re also in the process of  rearranging some things upstairs, so I’m hoping to make some changes.

In the meantime, here is most of the space as it stands today:

My dry erase calendar (the monthly version) fell off the wall. My hats came down and need to be rehung. That’s my Erin Condren planner, which I love. The shelves below this contain music CDs.

 

 

 

I have an L-shaped el-cheapo desk. The chimney in my  house runs up the center. It creates some interesting nooks. I was able to find a “corner” shelving unit where I keep reference books.

Yes, those are glow-in-the-dark stars on my desk. I am obsessed with the sky.

My actual work space, with my laptop, more reference books, etc. Another bookcase next to the desk.  Wall space is at a premium.

 

 

 

Above my desk, I have some of my book covers framed and hung. I also have Boho-type décor hanging over me: a dream catcher, a wishing well wind chime (for refilling the well), a sea glass mobile a friend made for me when she saw me posting pictures of them on Facebook, and a chakra crystal charm.

I also have a salt lamp and to the left, several wine bottles: two different styles labels of Werewolf wine, The Novelist wine, and a Ravage wine bottle light.

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The bureau top contains my RWA Chapter mementos (Book in a Week, our annual Rose Ceremony, etc.). The bureau drawers contain office supplies. Below the bookcase, I have several pretty storage boxes of stationary, Tarot/Divination decks, candles, and other things. I hope to move these once we get one of my husband’s book cases out of my office.

There are three book cases behind me. Two are my husbands. Mine is the one in the middle. I have a dry-erase 12-month planning calendar hung over the book case. Except I can’t reach it.  Hopefully, the book case on the right (with the baseballs) will be moving to another room.

And that’s it. Almost. There are windows opposite the door. I have crystals hanging in them. My clothes closet is at the far end, and opposite that is the door to the attic.

Nothing fancy, as you can see. But it’s mostly functional.

MJ’s Musing: Road Rage

A few weeks ago I had a terrifying experience. I was driving to a critique partner’s house. Rush hour was over, but there was still significant traffic. I was in the single lane for a right hand turn, and when the green arrow came up, I made my right turn.

All of a sudden, there was a car on my left with an irate driver. He was beeping, flipping me the bird, and yelling at me. I have no idea where he came from. There was one lane for a right turn. I was in it, making my turn on the green arrow. All legal. He shot past, and went to the right of, still beeping, yelling, making obscene gestures.  I gestured to ask him if he wanted to get in front of me. He thought I was offering to fight him. “Come on!” he yelled. “I’ll take you on!” Then he reached over to his passenger seat, and I was terrified he was reaching for a gun. Instead he picked up a piece of…something and threw it at my car. It hit my car. He opened his car door, but then the light turned green and off we went.

This happened for several blocks. Finally, he vanished. Then I noticed a sheriff’s cruiser in the left lane, which may explain the disappearance.

While it was going on, I was trying to think of places I could go that would be “safe” should he decide to follow me. I knew people at several businesses. I did not want to lead this crazy young man to my friend’s house.

I later learned there is a sheriff substation just off the road I was on, but I didn’t know it at the time.

My guess is that the young man was on drugs.

MJ’s Musings: My Obsession with the Sky

I have been obsessed with sky nearly all my life. I blame my dad. When I was very young, he woke me up in the middle of the night, carried me outside and pointed to a light in the sky and told me it was Sputnik, a satellite. When I didn’t understand that, he explained it was like a big basketball in the sky.

Whenever a jet contrail appeared in the sky over the house, he would point it out to me and my sibs. It was years before I realized the contrails were a miracle to him, because they didn’t exist in his childhood. My own children looked at me oddly and said, “so what?” whenever I point out contrails to them.

Then there was a solar eclipse for which he made a “viewer” out of a cardboard box one wore over one’s head. There was a pin hole in the back that let in the light from the sun. One watched the eclipse projected on the front of the inside. He let all of the neighborhood kids take turns wearing the box so they could “see” the eclipse.

I once bought a child’s book on the constellations, allegedly for my children. I still use it for me.

One Labor Day weekend, there was a gorgeous full moon. I took my son’s toy telescope outside for a better look. A few hours later, a derecho blew through town, becoming one of those weather events that are legends in your area. I remember waking up in the middle of the night with lightning strobing like a rock concert of my youth. Foolishly,  I went out on my upstairs back porch to watch, not realizing it was a derecho and what that meant. People died that night.

Then the Internet came along, and I found a site that would tell me which star I was seeing every morning before my family and life descended on me. I used my link to that site for years.These days,  I can’t even remember the name.

Now I have an app on my phone: Sky View Lite. It’s an amazing app. The first time I used it on a writing retreat, while we were sitting around a fire pit, my fellow authors were blown away by the way we could “see” the constellations and stars, even through the cloud cover.  Several of them downloaded it then and there.

My obsession with the sky continues.