Are YOU a Patriot or a Vampire?

In just a few minutes, it will officially be July. I am quite pleased because this year, Independence Day is on a Monday, which means I get TWO WHOLE DAYS OFF in a row! This year will be different, though. This will be the first 4th of July in my memory that will not be celebrated by a big, family and friends party.

In all my previous years, we prepared for the day by going up the Point (the piece of land we always use for the picnics) and getting ready a few days before. We would sweep away the layers of pine needles that covered the wooden tables and plastic chairs. We would hang plastic tarps to protect guests from sunshine and monsoons alike. We would put some plastic trash cans around that I would label "TRASH" or "CANS." We would get the grill ready and plan what to bring and what to cook. We would write directions and draw maps for newcomers and look forward to seeing the picnic regulars. We would always have a water-source on hand- for fire-prevention of course, but also for massive water-fights. My cousins would always bring their armory of plastic water guns, and would fill dozens and dozens of water balloons. For some of my earlier years, we would hang a volleyball net up between a few trees- before the encroaching cactus and resulting spines made the volleyballs flat and too painful to play with.

Most of the years were fun, and very much alike: my dad would man the BBQ, surrounded by a bunch of men laughing boisterously with beers in their hands. My grandma would flutter around excitedly all day, never sitting down and literally shoving food at people. My cousins would hide their coolers of water-weapons in various shrubs of oak brush, and would hide behind trees, waiting for targets to pass by; there was always a rule in place that "People carrying food are off limits." For the past several years, I repeatedly wore my "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" t-shirt that said "Are you a patriot or a vampire?" because that was literally my most "patriotic" shirt.

A few different years stand out to me, though- once, my dad was driving the gator around the hill, packed full with my sister and her friends, and my sister fell out! Her friends had to shout over the roar of the gator: "Stop! Stop! Emmy fell out!" She was okay, just a little scraped and bruised. I remember the first year after my Grandpa died- it was strange being there without him. He was such a true patriot, Independence Day always seemed like his holiday. But we still had a good 4th, and some of the picnic regulars brought a beautiful, hand-painted bench in his honor.  I remember the year I took my baby puppy Otis- she never left my side, sleeping in the shade of a picnic table, being slipped scraps of meat, wearing her too-big collar.

So yes, this year will be very different! I will probably get to sleep very late and goof off a good part of the day. But I will still hang out with my family, eat good food and watch awesome fireworks, so part of our tradition lives on.

Happy 4th of July guys! Have a great one.

Sarah

I Recommend This Exercise!

Not long ago on Facebook, I saw someone post a suggestion: every day, write down at least one thing that went well that day. Something that you enjoyed or made you laugh, something you accomplished. The idea is that when you're having a rough day or you're in a bad patch, just look at your list! It is good, solid proof that you have a good life.

So I started doing that! It's really simple, and doesn't take long at all. I keep the little notebook right beside my bed and it's the last thing I do before I turn off my light. I haven't been doing this long at all, but I already really like it. Not only is it a pleasant, relaxing thing to do at the end of the day, but it has the added effect that during the day when something good happens, I make a mental note then and there! It's just a lot of added positivity, and I think that's good for everyone!

So far, every single day, I have written down more than one thing.. mostly stupid little things, but to me, those are the best parts of life! For example, I wrote down: "Ate at the Wonderful House with Dad, Emmy, and Gram for Father's Day. Waiter gave me extra eggrolls!" and "Woman came into ACE with a parrot that imitated the loud, beeping backing-up noises large pieces of equipment make." And, perhaps most odd so far, "At dinner we laughed about nominal aphasia."

It is getting late, and it will soon be time to write today's entry! Well, I know what I will talk about:

Today was my day off of work and I had some appointments up in Pueblo, one with my psychiatrist. We get along really well! I have been going to see him for quite a while now, and every time I see him, we talk (at least a little) about writing. He knows I am an aspiring writer, and it turns out he is quite the writer himself! When I got to his office today, there were ads and notices around the room for a science fiction book he wrote! Where he was selling it, all about the book and so on. The book features people, especially veterans, who suffer from PTSD- turns out, he has spent a lot of time helping people with these problems. And there was a newspaper clipping on the wall!- all about him, his book, and his experience in psychiatry/therapy.

Well, I thought that was pretty damn awesome! As soon as I read the ads, I made a mental note to buy the book on Amazon. When my appointment time came, we went over the basics- OCD any worse? Schizoaffective disorder giving you crap? Nope and nope! Doing good. And then I asked about his book! And we just had a good conversation about it, and writing in general. When I got up to leave, he smiled and said, "Hey, wanna free copy? Writer to writer?"
And I was tickled pink! I told him I was planning on buying it, and he waved me away. He pulled a copy out of his desk and he signed it for me.

That made my day!

I thought it was cool that he wrote about people with mental health problems, since that's what he sees and deals with for a living. Especially since in the book I'm writing, I talk a lot about mental illness too- what it's like, what it's like to fight it, how to accept it.

I guess we write what we know!

Happy Wordsday Thursday guys!

Sarah

The Dad Dictionary

Fathers Day is this Sunday! And for this Wordsday Thursday I thought I'd write out a short list of words, phrases, and things that come from or remind me of my Pop!

__________________________________________

"BUNK"- A slightly more polite and dad-like way of saying "bullshit," as in, "Oh, bunk!" He likes to tell me that when I tell him a whopper of a lie, such as: "I went to bed at 10:30 last night."

CATS- I know to some people my dad might look big and tough, but he is, right down to his core, a kind, generous person. And he loves animals! Dogs too of course, but right now he has three cats: two greys, Betty and Bob (actually the store cat Lucky's children!) and one magnificent black and white creature named Bill. Betty is sweet and loves everybody, but the boys WORSHIP my dad. Bobby always sleeps with him, purring in his funny chirpy way. Bill "helps" my dad put his shoes on every morning, and my dad actually buys Bill a special kind of sliced turkey, just for him.

(Bonus! Bonus! Bonus!
Nicknames for Bob: Bobby, Bo-bo, Bob-oh, Bobbit, Bobbit the Hobbit, Robert, Roberto, Berto)

CONCERTS- Over the years, my dad has taken me, my sister, and several of my friends to many concerts, starting with the Backstreet Boys and, musical quality-wise, going nowhere but up! We saw (and met a couple) Children of Bodom, Lamb of God, Trivium, Megadeth, Bring Me the Horizon, Arch Enemy, Motley Crue! My sister and I got to go with him to see ZZ Top and BB King! And my dad is an avid people-watcher, and at several of these shows, he alone noticed band members walking through the crowds! We were just yards away from Jacoby Shaddix, and we MET DJ Ashba from Sixx:AM (in no small part due to my sister, because my friend and I were too chicken). Not to mention, we were thisclose to Chris Ammott, my friend and I leading his fan club! Craziness.

"CREEPS!"- Definitely one of his favorite expressions when something goes wrong or not according to plan, and I have picked up the habit. Movie theater doesn't have the movie we want to see? Creeps! The damn Stihl website isn't working? Creeps! They are out of Orange Creme yogurt?? CREEPS!!

DOGS- As I said before, he's an animal person, and ohhhhhhh does he love dogs. Just like me! He's got his Labrador, Mack, (We call her a Weimador due to her looking like a cross between a lab and a Weimeraner) and now he has my sister's dog, Pickles. Every single time I go up to his house, I take Otis up, too. And of course, he had Pedro all those years, and we still miss him. On Sundays, my dad goes down to where Petey (and Holly and Pebbles) are buried, and mows carefully.

GIBBS SLAP- When new episodes of NCIS air in the fall, winter, and spring, my Dad and I have a standing Tuesday night dinner to view the episodes together. Lately, my sister has taken to joining us too! If you are unfamiliar with the series, the GIBBS SLAP is, well, pretty self-explanatory. Gibbs, the guy in charge, has a habit of smacking his employees on the back of the head when they say or do something stupid. It's a practice my dad has adopted, along with a few other members of the Record family!

"IJJITS"- A version of "idiots." This is usually the term he uses to refer to a group of dogs!

LA DODGERS- Only his favorite baseball team in the world!!

STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN- I sometimes like to imagine what myself and my loved ones were in past lives. For example, I strongly suspect I was a criminal mastermind! It explains my paralyzing fear of police, and also my never-ceasing feelings of guilt. And I am CONVINCED that at some time, my dad was a musician- a rock and roll or blues guitar player. He absolutely loves music, and listens to it constantly. Some of my earliest memories are of us in the car, singing and jamming at the top of our lungs- my music, his music, any music!! I think it would be hard, if not impossible, for my dad to pick his favorite musician or band, but I know Stevie Ray would be right up at the top!

"TURD"- Yes, this can mean a specimen of fecal matter, but oddly, he often uses it as a term of endearment. He calls me "Turd" all the time! And I call him Turd, Senior.

"WELL..." This doesn't happen often, but every time it does, he gets me good! We will be hanging out together and I'll think of something important to say. I take a deep breath and start, "Well..." and before I can continue, he will look at me, dead serious, and say, "That's a deep subject." And then will slap his knee and cackle madly.

7 AND 7- His mixed drink of choice! Well, one of them anyway. He's not a huge drinker, but every time I see him pull out the Seagram's and a can of 7-Up, I get super excited and squawk, "SEVEN AND SEVEN!!" He has been gradually and patiently tutoring me on the art of mixing alcohol. He even gave me his bottle of Jose Cuervo Silver and his jug of Margarita mix, just out of the kindness of his heart! He's pretty cool like that.

I LOVE YOU POP!! Happy Father's Day!

Love, Sa

Things I Must Remember

If you are reading this, you probably know that I dream of becoming a writer. And not an advice columnist in a newspaper, or someone who types out instruction manuals (although there is nothing wrong with either). Quite honestly, I dream of becoming a successful, accomplished novelist- someone who can tell important stories, and make perfect strangers see the things I see, and know what I know, just using the right words. I realize it's... ambitious, to say the least. Maybe it's not practical. But it's what I want, what I dream about.

And lately, I've been making a lot of progress! I've gotten a good chunk written of what could well be my first book. It's incredible, and exciting.. a little daunting.

And in order to force myself into making more and more progress, I've come up with a short list of rules that I MUST follow... and I thought I'd share them with you! I think some of them transcend the rules of "writing" and might be applied to other projects as well. If that is the case, I hope they might help you!

YOU MUST WRITE (AT LEAST A LITTLE BIT) EVERY DAY

Progress of any sort is your friend! Even if you just write a page, that's a page more than you had written this morning. Even if you end up deleting it or changing it later! At the very least, you will have written something out that you know does not work for the book or the character in question- something to avoid, or build on. But it is more likely that once you start writing, you will keep going! You will pull yourself more and more deeply into the story, and more and more good ideas will come.


YOU ARE NEVER ALLOWED TO COMPLETELY DOUBT YOURSELF

This is a bit of a tricky balance, because some doubt is okay at times- it can make you want to change what you wrote, to make it better. But when you get into the "Oh, I SUCK at writing," or, "I'm NEVER going to get this published," you know what? Shut your yap. You certainly won't get published with that attitude! And if you truly doubt your writing ability, you might not write. And if you don't write at all, well you CERTAINLY won't become a success then, will you? More than a little tweaking, DON'T DOUBT YOURSELF! It's poison.


YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO COMPARE YOURSELF TO OTHER WRITERS

This one might be the hardest of all for me... I read constantly, and if I hadn't been an avid reader all my life, I probably wouldn't have wanted to become a writer in the first place. But you have to try and force yourself to enjoy other writer's stories, and admire their "voice," how they write and the different styles they use, but NOT COMPARE these styles to yours. You're not gonna write like them, are you? No! You're gonna write like you. And that is not a bad thing. Read other writers' work for enjoyment and for inspiration, not something to copy.


YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO GIVE UP

We all have off days! When you're writing and you get stuck, don't give up.. take a little break and try again! Or skip ahead. You've put this much work into the project so far- don't even think about giving it up!


Like I said, I hope these guidelines might apply to other things in life- or maybe even life itself! When it comes to life, move forward, make progress! Don't doubt yourself- you'll do okay! Don't expect to live someone else's life- yours is gonna be unique. And don't ever, ever give up!

Sorry if I got a little corny there!

:)

Happy Wordsday Thursday!

Sarah

Sarah's Crap Awards

Today is Thursday, the most magical day of the week! Since it is my day off, I used today to clean a little. Also, as we are all aware, it is Wordsday Thursday... and after coming up with not one single good blog idea, I figured I'd invite you into my home! I mean, we're all friends, right?

So I've compiled an "Awards" list of the crap lying around my house... there's plenty of it!
______________________________________________


Category: "Interesting" Art Work

2nd Runner Up: I actually purchased this huge dinosaur sticker at Target! For a while I was at a complete loss where to put it. In the end, he fit beautifully on the side of my refrigerator. Sometimes when I'm sitting on my couch in the living room, I catch a glimpse of him and imagine him darting around my little kitchen, or in my backyard where I haven't used the string trimmer yet- leaving a trail through the tall grass like the velociraptors do in Jurassic Park 2.

1st Runner Up: So! Obviously the two abstract pieces are my original work (stunning, I know) but the portrait of the man behind them actually came from my Grandmother's house. Before she moved, we as a family went through her house and basement and she had a ton of old, amazing, beautiful belongings. I really, really wanted this portrait though, and I was allowed to keep it. I like it because he is, allegedly, a distant relative, and I think he looks like an elf.

Winner: True, my house is full of interesting art and decorations, but those in the photo below are among my favorites! I've taken to collecting strange clocks of late, and of course the piece on the right is my trademark swirly artwork. But I am most proud of the piece on the left- "The Death of Marat"! When I was a senior in high school, in my art class we did a "Master Study" where we attempted to recreate classics from the past. I chose this stunning painting by Jacque-Louis David. If you look up the original version you will see my copy is nowhere near perfect, but I am still very fond of it.

Category: Most Dog-Eared Book

Winner: The Languages of Tolkien's Middle Earth by Ruth S. Noel. This was my BIBLE when I first got into Lord of the Rings and, more specifically, the Elvish language (Sindarin and Quenya!) I still am very fond of it. It has a useful English-to-Elvish dictionary, plus an invaluable dictionary in the back which translates Tolkien languages of all sorts- Elvish, yes, but also some Rohan dialect, Orkish, Dwarvish, Hobbit terms, and a little Black Speech from Mordor.

Elvish will always be my favorite fictional language, but lately I've also been looking into Dothraki, from Game of Thrones. The words always sound sort of angry and harsh! Sometimes people in the store will become annoyed and start muttering angrily in English or Spanish and I often have the urge to mutter "Yer shekh ma shieraki anni!" which sounds really pissed off, but actually means "You are my sun and stars" in Dothraki. It's just fun to say!


Category: Unusual Furniture

Runner Up: DOG STAIRS!! A few weeks ago, my sister, Dad, and I went up to Pueblo and went into a Bed, Bath and Beyond, and I found these: steps (or a ramp, if you turn them over) for your small or old pets who have trouble getting onto beds or into cars. You may recall, I have an old, stiff, grumpy-at-times dog who sleeps with me, and she cannot hop into bed herself. She always gets her front feet on the bed and I have to lift her behind up. Finding these was fate! The problem? She doesn't want to use them! Stubborn old dog. I am working with her though! And as a side note, but cats adore them! Before, they didn't much care about sleeping on my bed, even though they could easily jump. But now they're on my bed all the time because they get to use the stairs. Cat logic!

Winner: I've had my mummy for YEARS now, probably at least 10, and I love her. Over the years, she has worn various clothes and jewelry, and has been ALL OVER Raton. Right now she resides on my front porch and she has scared off people who wanted to steal an empty cardboard box on my front stairs. True story!

Category: Weirdest Thing on my DVR

Runner up: Episodes of "Kim of Queens." Yeah, that's right KIM of Queens, not KING. It might very well be discontinued, but for a while they had weekly episodes. It's about a beauty-pageant coach and the girls she's training. Odd, because I am certainly not a beauty-pageant kinda girl. In fact, I mostly find the idea of doing this to small girls strange and slightly horrific. I absolutely do love the movie "Little Miss Sunshine", though. Anyway, I didn't expect to like this show, but the people it follows are down-to-earth, charming, southern people with phrases like "She's got more drama than an squirrel has nuts", and you know what? I like it.

Winner: The Magic Bullet Infomercial! I think I may be the only person on earth who does, but I LOVE INFOMERCIALS!! I like to watch them! They're interesting and oddly calming. And the Magic Bullet Infomercial is my absolute favorite. It takes place in the kitchen of a trendy, charming couple who had thrown a total bender the night before- all their guests stayed over. In their kitchen, they are fixing quick, easy, and sometimes-nutritious meals for their hungover guests! They make quesadillas, smoothies, nachos, omelettes, fettuccine and pesto sauces for pasta, mixed (virgin) drinks, sorbets, mousses, you name it! They throw in a bit of humor and the result is charming. I don't watch it often, but I can't bring myself to delete it.

Category: Weirdest Things Just Lying Around

2nd Runner Up: I don't know if you are aware, but there is a secret battle going on in our country: The Mountain Dew BATTLE! I actually didn't know until my cousin told me, but the Mountain Dew people are making us decide if we want to keep Mountain Dew Pitch Black or Mountain Dew Baja Blast.. they will only continue one! A "Dewcision." Well, I am a Pitch Black girl, and just in case, I've been stock-piling them.

1st Runner Up: Just some Crayons, a bowl of Orcas and Dolphins, some dinosaurs, a rolled up Declaration of Independence... what do you have on your counter tops?

Winner: A bunch of cheap, stupid knickknacks from shows I love, series I adore, and weirddddddd stuff from my family, like a petrified gator head and snake skeleton that my mom sent me from West Virginia. I seriously treasure it all!

Oh, and one more category: the Handsomest Thing I Saw Around the House Today:

Winner:

Happy Wordsday Thursday guys!

Sarah