Watermark: 12 posts from September 2016

Some of you may have noticed that my blogging is bogged down, and has been for some time. Early in my illness, this blog is what got me up each day. It gave me purpose, and kept me writing. I miss it.

So I've enrolled in a course: Brave Blogging, with Andrea Scher: 30 days of breathing life into your blog + feeling inspired and supported all the way through. This is our first prompt:

25 Random Things About Me

I wear socks to bed. That’s it. Just socks.
I haven’t had television for several months, and I’ve not missed it. Now they’re tempting me with an offer of internet + cable for ½ what I pay for internet alone. I’m tempted.
I live with two cats and two tiny dogs. I speak to them in complete sentences.
For more than 20 years, I’ve struggled with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, now called Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease, also called Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. It’s no fun, but it’s possible to have fun while having it.
I am not an impulsive person. But, a few weeks ago, I passed a sign that said Haircuts $4.99, and went in & had them cut off nearly all my long hair. There was enough to send to Locks of Love. I’m adapting to my very short hair, but still a bit unnerved by the impulsiveness.
I read while I eat.
When I had television, I read while I watched.
When energy allows, I love taking classes. Online or In Real Life, I love learning new things, and watching other people learn new things.
I have worked as a theater usher, ticket-taker, nurse aide, waitress, clerk, file clerk, transcriptionist, secretary, executive secretary, secretary to executives, administrative assistant, college instructor, clinical social worker, program manager, program director, agency director, grant writer, grants reviewer, and slave to cats.
I know I forgot some of my jobs.
I could tidy the kitchen, take out the trash, or read. I think I’ll read.
I smoke 5-6 home-rolled cigarettes a day. But they’re organic!
Some days I have a choice of taking a bath or doing one other thing. Usually I choose the other thing.
Twenty-five is a lot of things.
I am consoled, when my knee goes out, that I have a hand-carved cane with a handle in the shape of a cat, purchased years ago as a home decor element, that works as a cane when required.
I am subject to many consolations, several of them edible.
Am I allowed to call myself a poet when I’m not writing?
Shame is a thing.
Shame = Undeserving
I didn’t expect to be an old woman. I bet few girls do. It came too soon for me.
This is the most writing I’ve done in ages.
Most of us have something we take on faith. My belief-without-evidence is that we are not the only intelligent race in the universe. As a small child, I looked into the vast Montana sky at night and knew there were people out there. People we may not be able to recognize, or communicate with, but – people.
I suspect there may be intelligent beings right here on our own planet that we do not, perhaps cannot, see or recognize. They are too small, or too large, or too different from us. But they are here. #22 is a belief; this is a mere suspicion.
Almost there!
Though suffering some cognitive impairment, I still have a working brain.