The Mercurial Wordsmith

This year and all its unexpected events and occurrences has impacted every aspect of routine and daily life. It's really mind boggling to sit back and think of just how far reaching it has become. Sleep is no exception. This has undoubtedly been a year fraught with anxiety, worry and loss of sleep. For me, I think it actually started not long after the pandemic thrust me into immediate work from home mode. The inherent night owl in me was all too pleased to slightly modify what had been the 10 pm bedtime and the 6 am alarm. It's easy for me to justify and rationalize that I can sleep in a bit more when the new commute is right within my own house.  But that's just been one of several layers that's contributed to this issue. Over the ensuing months since March, I have felt that my mind has always been "On" and that while my body can be bone tired and crying out for sleep, the brain just won't comply. It's one of the reasons I decided to get back into wr...

Today is my work anniversary, and marks nine years since I began my continued and evolving journey.  Even just typing that is crazy to me! This has, by far, been my longest tenure with any organization or role I have ever held. I want to take a few moments to reflect on that here.  Nine years ago, I ventured into a new, and seemingly unexpected role, having joined an IT Department. This was a bit of a surprise, even to me, that I was heading into that path. Always on the more creative and quirky side, I wasn't really well known for being tech savvy or for even having a technical mindset. The opportunity brought with it the promise and plan for a more clearly defined career track. Having a decent writing background, and a gravitation towards it, the most promising of all was that of an eventual transition to Business Analyst.   Unfortunately, that never came to fruition. The roles and responsibilities I had already accumulated seemingly rested with me, and cemented my...

 It's been a weird couple of months, to say the least. On top of the world turning upside down, the mattress and home office chair both gave up the ghost at around the same time. I feel like I've been in ergonomic and comfort-seeking hell ever since. I'll save the mattress topic for another day. Right now, I'll share my office chair experience.  So I had a mesh chair that lasted a good while, but lately I was noticing tailbone and hip pain, which now may or may not be Sciatica. I found what I thought was a decent chair at Staples, but it was basically a floor model that likely had gone through a lot of abuse. I think the gas cylinder was damaged and it was sitting far too low, even adjusted at its highest point. And it was exacerbating the pain and discomfort. For $200, it wasn't worth it.  So I tried out more chairs there and at Office Depot. It's really hard to gauge what feels like it will work in just a few minutes at a time. They were all starting to feel t...

 I was born in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.  My hair is mostly curly, with odd areas of wavy and sometimes straight.  I went to Catholic school until the 5th grade. I hated it.   My parents were huge Fleetwood Mac fans and they middle named me Rhiannon.  I once had ambitions of being a doctor, teacher or journalist. I am none of those.   My favorite meal is Eggs Benedict. All the extra Hollandaise sauce, please.  I share a birthday with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.  My parents split when I was 2, and I never knew my father, He died when I was 9.   I identify more with my Jewish side as I grow older.  My job at Starbucks introduced me to and got me hooked on coffee.  I am a Leo, but identify more with possessing more Virgoan tendencies.  My first concert was for Johnny Cash at the Kennedy Center. I was 3 years old.  I lived with my grandparents until I was 15.  My favorite subjects in school were English and Histo...

A couple of weeks ago, we suddenly lost power around 2 a.m.  As per my usual routine these days, I had not yet attempted sleep; I have been in an odd state of becoming charged up at night. This night was no different. Brian had retired to bed some time before, so I was left to my own devices, and was deep in research mode, looking for a new office chair to purchase for my home office.  I was sitting in the mostly-dark living room when the power cut out. It took me a second to realize what had happened. There was a deafening silence, and total darkness. The whooshing of the noise/sleep machines from the bedroom and the gentle hum of the fridge nearby all suddenly ceased. The ambient light from the random night lights spread throughout the house were off. I sat there for a few moments, waiting to see if it would magically (hopefully!) kick back on.  Alas, it did not. My phone already in hand, I navigated to BGE to report the outage. The estimation was for restoration by 5 a...

Is it really any wonder that National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) coincides with the changing of the seasons AND the end of Daylight Savings? Something about the cold weather creeping in and (reluctantly, at least in my case) changing the clocks and ushering in the earlier darkness does invite the desire to hunker down and write. It's just after 5 p.m. now, and as I write this entry, the day's light is already waning.  So I had a bit of an inspired lightbulb moment surrounding this notion earlier today. The purpose of NaNoWriMo is to write a lot during the entire month of November, with each collective day eventually stringing along cohesive work and leading up to at least a rough/first draft of a novel. So we're talking a several-thousand words a day count minimum, and structured content for said novel. I'm not quite ready to commit to that level of writing just yet. (But definite goals for next year!) Still, I have my own project in mind that centers around thi...

It's now November 1st. We have been in the midst of a global pandemic for nearly eight months. Every aspect of our lives is now different. Words like quarantine and lock downs and social distancing have become part of our daily routine.  First, a bit about me to preface this topic. I consider myself to be an extroverted introvert. This label might mean different things to different people, but for me, it's pretty simple. I'm more extroverted and comfortable with others - and myself - once I actually get to know people. For the most part, I find meeting new people overrated and usually exhausting. I think it stems from years of actually being quite extroverted and outgoing and taking the initiative and making the effort. And through it all, maybe trying a little too hard in a lot of different situations, particularly in my youth and through college. Being burned takes its toll.  As an adult, I found this even more so as I made the personal decision not to have children. Pare...

I let a month go by and missed the 100 words or less contest. Boo. But! There will be other contests. For now, I give you the most random thoughts and ideas and facts about me. They're tossing around inside my brain and I just want to get out there for no reason at all. Something might inspire deeper writing, but at the very least, it's an exercise to get the neurons firing and the juices flowing.   Random Thoughts Tumbling Around... I have never met an olive or pickle that I didn't like. I equally love and hate that I try to analyze and figure out plot points of a book or movie. I dislike the early darkness that comes with Winter. I also very much dislike Winter. I am convinced that Richard Gere and Julia Roberts had a torrid love affair while filming Pretty Woman - they look at one another in such a way that transcends acting. For recipes that call for mayonnaise, there is always a fine line between just enough and far too much - always . I share a birthday with Jacquelin...

As a way to get back into the literary swing of things, I've decided to enter what I hope to be the first of many writing contests. I'm geeked!  This particular one is  seemingly pretty simple, in that it's limited to 100 words or less. But... This could prove to be a challenging exercise, too! I'm generally pretty wordy, and often I have to pare down my point to be more precise. I can spend a lot of time crafting an email or a post until it's just so. I'll write and revise and write and edit again. Which is totally fine, of course.  But this will be a different experience since the point is to tell a complete story in less than 100 words. I'll be curious to see how that process fleshes out for me! The deadline to submit is October 6th. Plenty of time, for sure. I'm still ruminating on a topic, so I'm not rushing it. I know the inspiration will come. I don't force myself to do any writing by staring at a blank screen. It's too much pressure...

I used to be a voracious writer. Twenty-five years ago, I had big plans. Creative writing. Journalism. Historical biographer. Poetry. In my high school and college years, I did all of that to a certain extent. But after graduating from college, I had no clear path to follow it through, and I eventually ended up losing my way from all of it. My first non-retail job outside of college was at a local newspaper, where I ended up mostly 'writing' obituaries. In the movie Closer, Jude Law's character refers to writing obituaries as the 'Siberia of Journalism.' That is so incredibly accurate. To say it was a depressing and off-putting experience is an understatement. Not surprisingly, I did not last long at that job, and by that time, I was newly engaged and looking for more financial stability as I entered the next phase of my life. Unfortunately, this meant that I would end up stifling and ultimately ignoring my creative voice. I deeply regret that decision, and my plan ...