Thanksgiving has come and gone. It was a big dinner for a small group this year, but delicious none the less. I had many things to be thankful for, and I am. It is easy to take for granted what we have in our lives. I have two things that make my existence remarkable: first is my family, who are funny, bright and supportive in all things: The second is… I am not in the best shape of my life, but nor am I ill or infirm and that is a great blessing.
Today begins the count down to Christmas, so here I list the items I want, but can’t afford for Christmas. It’s a silly list of things that I think I want, but not enough to save the money to buy.
The Over-budget and dollar-short list.
1. I want, but don’t really need an E-book reader. Not the inexpensive one I can afford. No, the one I want is possibly not made yet. It’s kindle sized, back lit, but takes any format, so I can find the book from any bookstore site and download.
I tell myself that I really have no choice in this item. I am out of books space now. I have become the book-lender to my friends and part of the reason is to keep a number of books circulating so there is space on my shelf for the TBR pile. The dust is collecting and an E-reader could solve those problems for me. It wouldn’t stop me buying those must reads, but the throw away stack would be more reasonable.
2. I want, but don’t need, a new laptop. I want a small portable one, like a MAC or just one that is portable. I have a labtop, it’s several years old, but I bought a 17 inch screen and it is not portable. Even finding a travel bag for it is difficult. I love the large screen, but I don’t utilize it the way I thought I would. (See, aren’t I good at coming up with reasonable excuses on why I should have this item.) I would need a better wireless system in my home. The one I have is not working, so I am tied to the cord and it makes mobility difficult. I can lug the thing to a café, but I don’t because it is more work than I want to deal with.
3. I need a new DVD/VCR recorder. Mine is acting up and I was not able to record True Blood the way I wanted too. But, what I really want is a blue ray DVD player recorder system. The DVR is cool, but I can’t turn my friends and family on to a new show when they don’t get a sample of it
4. I need a comfortable chair. Yes, yes, I have complained about this time and again. I have bought two new chairs. You know what…you don’t know if it’s going to be comfortable unless you sit your ass in it for a few days straight. I thought I bought a comfortable chair. I was delusional at the time. It is the most miserable POS I have every had the misfortune to sit my fanny upon. I want the lazy boy, the medium sized, not the over large one. Or one of those deluxe massager things. I don’t care as long as it’s comfortable.
I want, I want, I want….there is a theme here.
5. I want, but don’t need, a eighty gig IPOD. That would be fun, though my issue is that I am deaf in one ear, so I don’t like not being able to hear anything but the music. Once something is in my only hearing side, I don’t hear anything else. So, I’ve always debated on this one. I mostly listen to music in my car and it would be fun to plug in there.
6. Of course that would require a much better car than I have….Hehehe!
7. I need a two week long vacation somewhere quiet and beautiful, where I will not worry about anything but writing.
8. The CD player in my car went out just today. It won’t take my disc. This is a great loss for me, especially now, because I love to play Christmas music. And if I need to replace the system, it might as well be one I can’t really afford, something deluxe with an IPOD plug in port. More likely I will be listening to a lot of radio.
9. As long as I’m listing things I don’t need, but want. A Wii system and exercise program would be fun and perhaps beneficial.
10. This last one I’m saving for you to choose what you’d love to have for Christmas, but really need.
Rhianna Samuels
Friday, November 28, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
A small joy
I’m going to try to explain to you how I feel this week. I know it’s transitory and the bubble will pop in another day or two, but I’m speaking of this week, this little vacuum of time in which I opened a box containing my authors copies of Shaking Off the Dust. My first book.
I know it came out in E-format at the beginning of the year, but there is nothing quite like holding a book in your hand, caressing the cover, inhaling the new book smell or reading your dedication for the first time in a format that you have always known a book to be. It is a small joy, but a joy none the less.
I have never been one of those lucky people in life, who can fall into a poop hole and come out smelling like lilacs. I always came out smelling really bad. I still feel that I have worked very hard for the things that have come to me. But, I will admit that this small joy is a gift.
I call it a small joy because there is no comparison to those moments that flower from relationships. Consider your first love, the birth of child, the day of your marriage; those are big on the list of larger joys. Small joys, are transitory, like a breath taking view or rain during a drought or even a epiphany that suddenly changes the way we view the world for the better. It is moment we pause to mark in our memories, to savor because it is rare.
I am a published author. If you don’t believe me, I can show you the physical evidence of my claim. Isn’t that totally cool!! Woop Woop!! *Joyful Dance*
What have you tucked into your memory, which you savored for the small joy it brought to your heart?
Rhianna
I know it came out in E-format at the beginning of the year, but there is nothing quite like holding a book in your hand, caressing the cover, inhaling the new book smell or reading your dedication for the first time in a format that you have always known a book to be. It is a small joy, but a joy none the less.
I have never been one of those lucky people in life, who can fall into a poop hole and come out smelling like lilacs. I always came out smelling really bad. I still feel that I have worked very hard for the things that have come to me. But, I will admit that this small joy is a gift.
I call it a small joy because there is no comparison to those moments that flower from relationships. Consider your first love, the birth of child, the day of your marriage; those are big on the list of larger joys. Small joys, are transitory, like a breath taking view or rain during a drought or even a epiphany that suddenly changes the way we view the world for the better. It is moment we pause to mark in our memories, to savor because it is rare.
I am a published author. If you don’t believe me, I can show you the physical evidence of my claim. Isn’t that totally cool!! Woop Woop!! *Joyful Dance*
What have you tucked into your memory, which you savored for the small joy it brought to your heart?
Rhianna
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Turn, Turn, Turn…
Can you believe that it’s only a couple of months until 2009? It seems like it was only yesterday that there were half a dozen disaster movies about how computers, banks and planes would crash because of the turn over at midnight in 1999/2000. Obviously we were on the wrong calendar for all that…because it took eight years for the banks to crash. (Tehe…have to laugh or cry.)
Isn’t there some Mayan calendar that predicts the destruction of all in 2012? Or do they mean the destruction of the world as we know it now? I look over the last several decades and I am shocked by the differences. Technology has turned our society upside down. I haven’t watched Life on Mars yet, though I saw a couple of episodes of the BBC series. We are a technology dependent, instant identification of finger prints and DNA tests, crimes scene sucking police force. Every time I watch a Bourne movie, I worry about prying eyes. (Not that my life is all that interesting.) We are a new world, completely alien to the world of thirty years ago.
Why we seem to be wearing the same clothes from the seventies, I don’t understand. Who looked at those hideous patterns and polyester clothes and thought that was a good idea to bring into fashion. Scuse me, I threw up a little in my throat. I personally hate the current fashion. (Did you guess?) I digress, it’s a personal soap box for me.
The wireless world of communications has broken through barriers that not so long ago kept billions of people isolated from the rest of the world. Once those lines of communication are open, it is nearly impossible to stop conversation and knowledge exchange. One the great pleasures of getting older is seeing the world change.
I’m looking forward to turning the reins of politics and technology over to this newest generation. They have been talking to each other since early childhood. They have learned to collaborate instead of horde, and they are being raised to believe there are no boundaries, only new horizons. My heavens, the stars and beyond are at their fingertips. I so want to hitch a ride with one of them.
Which is your favorite generation? I had a good time in my twenties, did amazing things. Was it the time, or was it my age and perspective. I think it was my age that made that time incredible. I was open to experiencing life and was young, unafraid and sassy. If it were 2008 for my twenties, I would still be the person in the sway of youth and freedom. I think it was the age…though it was a great time back then.
What do you think?
Rhianna Samuels
Isn’t there some Mayan calendar that predicts the destruction of all in 2012? Or do they mean the destruction of the world as we know it now? I look over the last several decades and I am shocked by the differences. Technology has turned our society upside down. I haven’t watched Life on Mars yet, though I saw a couple of episodes of the BBC series. We are a technology dependent, instant identification of finger prints and DNA tests, crimes scene sucking police force. Every time I watch a Bourne movie, I worry about prying eyes. (Not that my life is all that interesting.) We are a new world, completely alien to the world of thirty years ago.
Why we seem to be wearing the same clothes from the seventies, I don’t understand. Who looked at those hideous patterns and polyester clothes and thought that was a good idea to bring into fashion. Scuse me, I threw up a little in my throat. I personally hate the current fashion. (Did you guess?) I digress, it’s a personal soap box for me.
The wireless world of communications has broken through barriers that not so long ago kept billions of people isolated from the rest of the world. Once those lines of communication are open, it is nearly impossible to stop conversation and knowledge exchange. One the great pleasures of getting older is seeing the world change.
I’m looking forward to turning the reins of politics and technology over to this newest generation. They have been talking to each other since early childhood. They have learned to collaborate instead of horde, and they are being raised to believe there are no boundaries, only new horizons. My heavens, the stars and beyond are at their fingertips. I so want to hitch a ride with one of them.
Which is your favorite generation? I had a good time in my twenties, did amazing things. Was it the time, or was it my age and perspective. I think it was my age that made that time incredible. I was open to experiencing life and was young, unafraid and sassy. If it were 2008 for my twenties, I would still be the person in the sway of youth and freedom. I think it was the age…though it was a great time back then.
What do you think?
Rhianna Samuels
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