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Month: November 2020

Stuff Making Me Happy Right Now

Hush, this is a totally legitimate blog post. First up, The Mummy. I stumbled across an article about it this week, which of course made me want to go watch it. I arranged my schedule to do so (basically that meant deciding “sod off, writing, I’m gonna go enjoy” and went to grab it from the movie shelf and–no movie. No movieS, I should say, as I had the set. I checked the kid’s room (she wasn’t home, has been told before to stop stashing my movies in her room, and walks in my bedroom any time she pleases, so no, I don’t feel bad) then called her to demand where the hades my movie was. No idea. Of course. This is at least the third time. Last time it was Tremors I wanted to watch. And guess what? That was ALSO a boxed set, and I ALSO had to re-buy it in order to watch it. Kids. Sheesh. Don’t have kids. Oh, where was I? Right. The Mummy. I mean, what more do you need to know? There are so many little bits that just make me chortle. Beni hiding behind Evy as Imhotep summons his priests. Beni swearing in Hungarian. Rick striking a match on Ardeth Bey. Ardeth Bey’s delight in flying, and how much he clearly liked the gun from the plane… I’m sure you’ve seen it, but if you haven’t, go watch it. If you have–well, you should probably go watch it again. Next? I have…

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No Fluff, Just Stuff.

I’ve been struggling with finding a subject for today’s post, and I still don’t have one. I didn’t want to wait too long, because given the way my brain has been lately, I’d probably forget to post. And I did that recently, and I didn’t notice until the following month, and I felt like a Bad Writer for forgetting to post her monthly blog. So. I could talk about COVID-19. We’re in the second wave here in Michigan, and our governor/health department just scaled us back again. We’re not on full lockdown yet, but that is coming if things don’t improve. Our case numbers are higher than they were in March when we had our first lockdown. People aren’t masking up or following protocols and it’s hurting everyone. Today when we went to the vet to get our cat fluids, we saw an older man approach the vet doors without a mask on. I approached, keeping my distance (because that’s what you’re supposed to do), and he took off. I think he felt my dirty look through my mask, or maybe my fury was coming off me in waves. Or maybe he had to leave. I dunno. But I was relieved because I didn’t want to be anywhere near him. And that sucks. We’ve been reduced to running away from our fellow man because he or she might be infected and we do not want to get sick. Never dreamed I’d ever be doing that in my lifetime. It feels…

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What a Year This Week Has Been

As evidenced by the fact that it’s Thursday and I was supposed to post this on Tuesday. It’s been a week, hasn’t it? There was the never-ending U.S. presidential election that ended, but also kind of didn’t because certain people are being sore losers. At this point I’m so tired of the whole thing that I can’t even be bothered to be frustrated. There was the vaccine news that seemingly went nowhere. There were bizarre rumors about Putin resigning and Tumblr got taken over by Destiel going canon. And COVID-19 cases are reaching their highest levels and the schools are shutting back down, thus depriving me of the little free time I’d managed to scrounge up over the last month. (I already miss it.) God, I’m so tired. In March, when everything shut down, did any of us think we’d still be here now? I mean, logically, I think we knew, but emotionally, no. Are we ever going to get to see our extended families again? Our friends? Go to new places and try new things? It’s almost worst now. Back in March and April, when we were all home, we adapted. I had virtual coffee dates with friends and we did a virtual Easter lunch with our family. But now, it’s like people are trying to squeeze out what normalcy they can, and we’ve mostly gotten the responsibilities back instead of the good times. Man. I am depressing myself. This year has been so weird. Things that happened in…

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Comfort Everything

Apropos of nothing at all, I’m going to share some of the things that have gotten me through this year so far, the things I turn to when I really need a pick-me-up. Virtual concerts. Since touring isn’t an option for musicians right now, a lot of them are doing virtual concerts…which means I get to enjoy tons of live music that I’d never hear otherwise. It doesn’t make up for not having contra dance (which almost always has live music), but it helps. My favourite has been a weekly series of old-time/trad/folk music concerts (fiddle, mandolin, guitar, piano, sometimes banjo, sometimes singing) by dynamic duo Jay Ungar and Molly Mason on Facebook. The two of them have a calming presence and a rapport that’s a joy to watch. Here’s their Halloween special. Another new discovery is an a capella group called Windborne. Online chats. I generally prefer text chat over video chat, maybe because I’ve been doing it so long (since the 90s on Yahoo!). There’s been an ongoing chat with some of my dance friends, where we dip in and out to share our struggles (and boy have there been struggles) and our joys. I have an extrovert friend who (bless her) will periodically poke me on chat to see how I’m doing, and she keeps doing it even though I rarely initiate. And I’ve mentioned before how our regular Turtleduck Press chats are keeping me grounded. Comfort reading. One doesn’t become an author without madly loving books,…

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Three Love Poems

Hi, this is Erin. For this month’s Freebie, I am sharing three poems from my Bad Poetry Project. 🙂 Hope you enjoy. STARDUST AND SONG The scaffolding of my hope may never reachthe height of my prayersStill I climbStill I searchStill I listenfor the whisper, the echo, your voicelost in thundercloudsyour song,my foreveryour placea carving inside my heartetched with words I wrap around myselfwhen I cannot breatheYou breathe for me,sustenancewhen the loneliness punchesa hole in my heart,you hold me, rock me,bring me back to myself. You’re my center, my True North, my lightto guide me homeWe are stardust and song,we are eternal. IN THE EDGES OF DREAMS You stood on stage, an angelwrapped in hues of redWhen you sang, it forged a connection between usever brightpast to presentmemory to memoryaching soul to aching soul You touched my hand,a brush of fingers,but in that moment, I sawyou were the missing part of methe part that called to me in the edges of dreamsthe part that whispered to me in the nightthe part I lost in the shadow of time—Your voice soothed my tattered edges We weren’t alone anymorewrapped around each other in pure bliss,joined in this placemade of starlight and promises And then I awoke with the dawn— To think I’d never feel your lips on mineor taste the sweetness of your wordsto think I’d never seehow your eyes captured minehow our life together unfoldedyears falling into yearsTo think I’d never hear your voicewhisper perfect, loving wordsTo think I’d never hear…

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