Optimal Optimism

            Are you an optimist?  Do you try to look at the positive side to everything?  If so, do you then kick it up a notch a strive for optimism at the highest level?   That's optimal optimism.  

           If you think about it logically it makes sense to be optimistic.  I like to think about the outcomes of our thoughts and actions.  Realism is right thinking, but we can be optimistic even in the most dire circumstances, and for our good and the good of those around us this optimistic thinking is what keeps us going.

          We have control over our own thoughts.  Even if we have had a lifetime of negative programming which inclines us toward negative (unproductive) thinking, we can eventually train ourselves to become productive positive thinkers.  I invite you to try to persuade me otherwise, but my real challenge to you is to become an optimal optimist.  You will be happier and more productive because of it, and you will influence those around you and help make the world a better place for us all.

           There are many books on positive and optimistic thinking.   I encourage you to investigate some of these and read them if you haven't done so already.   If you have any to recommend please tell us about them in the comment section.  One such book that you should read often is the Bible.  This may be controversial to some of you, but it's difficult to deny that there is a lot of advice in this book on how to think more positively.

            Much of the blogging community offers positivity and optimism.   Let me get to the business of recognizing some bloggers that I often find to be a positive inspiration to me.  I highly recommend that you check out these great ladies and try to absorb some of the sun rays of positive thinking that they usually radiate in their posts.

            Vanessa at Optimal Optimist is a young lady with a brilliant outlook on life.  The title of her blog is the inspiration for my blog post today.   She imparts some wonderfully uplifting messages that can help you see things in a better way.

             Yvonne at Welcome to My World of Poetry is someone with whom many of you are already familiar.  Yvonne knows a thing or two about sorrow and troubling times, but she has also made a decision to overcome these negative energies.   She even wrote a book of poetry about it called  Negative V. Positive: Poems of Life's Experiences .   Her poetry reflects her philosophy of life and offers a pleasant boost for your day.
          
            Ruby at  Blabbin' Grammy  is  perhaps older in years than many of us but younger at heart.  In the year that I've been following her she's gone through what some may have seen as a world of hurt and sorrow, but she has chosen to turn it into a new life of opportunity.   She's got stories and advice that will warm your heart and make you smile.   Here's a lady who seems like she'll never let anything get her down and many of us love her for just that.

            If you don't know these bloggers yet, then please go and say hello to them and start checking out their  blogs on a regular basis.   And I know there are many more positive and optimistic blogs that I have missed.  Please feel free to recommend any that you can think of in the comments below.

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       Now a final update on my neighborhood Borders closing.  As I reported in previous posts, the closing sale offered some pretty decent book deals for me.   This past Saturday (4/16/11) I noted that the signs were announcing the last day of the store being open with all books four for five dollars.  I could not pass up checking out to see what was left.  Here was what I took home Saturday:

Ellen Bryson's  The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno
Ace Collins'   Swope's Ridge
Pat Conroy's   My Reading Life
Jonathan Franzen's  Freedom
Susan Froderberg's  Old Border Road
William Gibson's  Zero History
Michael Koryta   So Cold the River
Philip Roth's  Nemesis

All of the books, except for the Collins and Koryta books, were brand new hardback editions--all eight of them for a grand total of ten dollars plus our 10.75% sales tax, part of which is intended to help fund a new state of the art library just a few blocks from my house.  I also picked up a pleasant Sting CD called If On a Winter's Night... for the paltry price of $1.70.  According to my receipt I saved $192.02 which is none too shabby in my opinion.

        Borders is now gone but now I look forward to what will come next.  Will it be a big discount bookstore?  A computer or electronics store?  Perhaps it will stay empty for a while, but in the end it's all good.   We still have Staples, Lowes, Walmart, and a bunch of other stores.

        Life is an adventure and we should do our best to enjoy it.



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Awards Jan 15

          Sorry for the hastily drafted post, but I wanted to acknowledge a couple of awards that came my way over the past month or so.  There is at least one more that I have not yet run across in my e-mails and I will be sure to recognize any others in an upcoming awards post.

First, from Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs I've received the Meat and Potatoes Award.  Almost looks as good as the dinner I had at Longhorn Steakhouse.  Thanks Stephen--I'm always up for a good steak.

Meat and Potatoes Award from Stephen Tremp

"You Inspire Me Award" from Yvonne Lewis

The ever-inspiring Yvonne from Welcome to My World of Poetry passed me this You Inspire Me Award.

Isn't it great how much we all inspire and support one another in our blog community.  Thank you Yvonne for another award.

           And that does it for this Saturday.   Thank you all for reading and be watching for some big news that will be coming soon.

Beginnings: NaNoWriMo Starts Today

          If you're doing NaNoWriMo I'm sure that I don't have to remind you that it starts today.  For those of you who have no idea what a NaNoWriMo is, it's a personal challenge to complete 50,000 words of a novel during the month of November.

         If you've ever thought about writing a novel this is a great way to start, or at least try.  Setting boundaries gives the impetus and pressure that some people need to get something like writing a novel done.  You may not write a masterpiece--you most likely won't--but if you manage to meet the challenge you've taken a step.  Even if you don't make the 50,000 words you will have something to gauge yourself.  So what if you end up with 50,000 words of crap--it's better than words that were never written and a challenge that was never attempted.

      You can find out more about National Novel Writing Month at their website.

      I'm basically jumping into NaNo nearly blind just like I did last year.  I've gotten a few ideas together, but no real story yet.  I got my opening scene decided, but haven't really formulated where it's going from there.  I have, or am getting ready to gather, my sources of inspiration that will guide the story I devise.  Like I did in 2009 my inspirations will mostly come from:

• Bible Verses
• Inspiration from the most recent sermon and Bible study at my church
• Random clippings from the October 31st edition of my local newspaper
• Any ideas from my dreams that might apply to my story
• Whatever else happens to flow from the previous idea generators

       Lest there be any misconception of what kind of novel I'll be writing, it will not be a religious or Christian novel specifically.  It could go in that direction, but my plan is to write a science fiction novel dealing with time travel.   I like to get inspired by Biblical themes because I believe the Bible offers so many themes that can influence other stories.  I am certainly not the first writer to be inspired by the Bible and I'm sure I will not be the last.

       A current newspaper likewise can offer many concepts and story ideas that can be woven into a story.  A current events story shaped by Biblical themes and colored with dream imagery can turn into a very interesting story.   This has frequently been my approach to writing fiction.

         I'm looking forward to this month's challenge.  Who knows--I might even finish up last year's NaNo novel while I'm working on this new one.   Watch for details of my progress in the days and weeks to come.

        If you're doing NaNo, how prepared are you?   What do like to use to help you generate ideas?   Anyone have a brief synopsis yet that they'd like to share?

        For those of you who follow Yvonne at Welcome to My World of Poetry, in case you haven't seen her post of Friday October 29, she's saying that it is her last post.  If this is the case, I'm sure many will miss her faithful comments and her wonderful poetry.  I was pleased to be part of Your World, Yvonne.
         

         


               

Give the Dog a Bone

Dog Days

                                    

          I guess some parts of the country are experiencing what are called the "dog days".   That's the time of summer when it gets hot and humid for a period of time and from what I've been hearing some of you have got it now.  We don't really get dog days here in Los Angeles, speaking weather-wise that is.  Oh, we get some occasional times of heat and humidity that might be classified as dog days, but not like you folks back east get.

             Then I've been hearing how summer is going so fast.  Gosh, ain't it truth!  Some schools are already back in session.  My wife's getting ready to start back to her teaching job.   Why, heck, life goes fast enough without our summer having to speed by.  Can someone just throw the old hot dog a bone so he can cool off and lazily slow down and chew on these last summer days?  

                                      

          
                                  What's Up, Dog?

           Things have been cool here in L.A. so I can't complain.  I'm still Tossing It Out on Tuesdays.  This upcoming Tuesday I'll be doing some recycling California style.   On Monday I'll tell you where I am on my email clean-up and address some of the points in Alex J. Cavanaugh's post about Blogging Idiosyncrasies.

            On Wednesday I'll talk about some dogs that influenced me (and I do mean the four legged kind).  On Thursdays it gets a little hot on this blog with my Debate Day topics, but that's cool.  This coming Thursday I'll be presenting another doggone topic for us to bark at.   Then coming Friday will be a mystery.

              Someone Threw Me a Bone

           Friday the 13th was my lucky day as I received a special recognition from Yvonne at Welcome to My World of Poetry.   She included me as one of the bloggers who help support her.  Well, the support has been mutual.  I have praised and given Yvonne credit in the past for always being there with her kind comments.  So, Yvonne, here's a right back atcha with this kindness.

            And to acknowledge some people who have been very special in their support and loyalty to me, you can play the award game if you like, but there is no obligation to pass it on or recognize it in any way.  I just want to let people know about a few of those who have been ongoing strong supporters of mine and whose work I highly respect.  Several were the ones Yvonne listed, but here are a few more:

Stephen T. McCarthy's Stuffs and Ferret-Faced Facist Friends  -- Sorry, Stephen, I'm not really giving you any award, this is just a way for me to plug your excellent blog.  If any readers have never yet checked out these blogs then you should do so ASAP because they are worthwhile. You might be entertained at times, but more importantly you might receive some important education.

LC at Disc-Connected and Back in the USSR --- Larry, I don't know if you like the awards or not either, but I appreciate your input on my blog and the work you do on your own site.  Take your choice folks--one site is for music and one is devoted to issues that are important to us all.  Check them out.

Sig at Beadedbear's Nonsense and Complete Waste of Time -- Sig is a talented beader and she does posts on that topic part of the time.  She also has some other important things to say.

Dezmond at Hollywood Spy has plenty to say about the entertainment industry on his blog, but he also leaves some very thoughtful and encouraging comments.   Thanks Dezmond.

          There are so many more of you that I could name-- I appreciate all of you who read and comment on my site.  I could go on with a much longer list but my dinner bowl's out and I need to go.  Arf, arf!

                                                

A Week Abounding in Blog Surprises

         Things have been changing believe or not.  My clutter is being culled about as quickly as my blog has been changing.  In other words progress is so slow that it's barely noticeable.  That's not really a bad thing in my case because it means a couple of things.  For one thing, I'm being careful about what I do when I make the changes on my blog so I do it right and don't screw anything up.  And the clutter that I am talking about in my house and in my life is not a situation that calls for any kind of intervention.  In other words I'm doing detail work.  Detail takes longer than just running your car through the automatic car wash.

          Also, things are going slow because I am trying to keep up my blog posting and some commenting on your blogs while having some busy summer events coming my way.  Forgive me if I've missed some of your posts of late, but I'm trying to do my best.

               Last Saturday I was reading a lovely post by Jules at Trying To Get Over The Rainbow and I was thinking about how much what she was saying related to what I had been thinking in recent days, then lo and behold here she gives me a shout out.  This was just one of those cool things I had to mention on my blog.  Check out her blog and give her a hello.  I always enjoy reading what she has to say.

           My Tossing It Out Tuesday feature began this past week with the topic of Junk Mail.  Ellie from Ella's Edge showed how one can turn junk into Recycled Treasures-- a far better solution than merely tossing it out.   I don't know if she'll come up with a way to recycle my next topic for this coming Tuesday when I'll be talking about junk e-mail.

            This past week had several surprises for me.  One was Yvonne Lewis's tribute to my Wednesday post, My Grandmother's Air Baths.  If you missed it, check out Yvonne's hilarious poem, Air Baths.  Yvonne always amazes us how quickly she can get a topical poem onto her blog.  Next Wednesday I am going to tell you about the first public performance of one of my musical works.

            As always, I'll be having seven days of eclectic blogism to share with all of you so I hope you'll join me right here at Tossing It Out.

           Alex J Cavanaugh is holding a contest to celebrate reaching 200 followers.  By the time you get there he might already be at 300--excitement about his upcoming book CassaStar is abuzz as the chatter is all over the blogosphere.  And if you haven't seen it yet, check out his CassaStar book trailer.

            On a sad note, Blabbin' Grammy Ruby's husband (Gramps) passed away this past week.  Many of us have been keeping track of Gramps and Grammy's life and know that Gramps has been dealing with a lot of suffering of late.  If you haven't done so already, please stop by to express your condolences to Blabbin' Grammy.   We love you, Ruby, and are praying for you.

            Have a nice weekend and enjoy your summer--it's going fast!

After a Meaty Week.....

             This has been one meat filled week on Tossing It Out.  This upcoming week I'll change the subject.
I hope more of you will join us on Monday for The Soundtrack of Your Life Blogfest.  You can read about it at the top of this page and sign up on the Linky List.  As of the moment I am writing this we have thirteen participants so we have space for you.  Tell us about you and the songs that would accompany a recap of your life.

           The rest of the week I've not planned yet, but I'm still trying for shorter posts.  I seem to have a problem keeping my word count down. I'm still working on this.  Do you ever feel that your posts are too long?

       I was so delighted to see an acknowledgment given to me by Mary at Giggles and Guns.   Mary featured a post around a comment I had made on a topic that I know is familiar to many of us--finding motivation and inspiration to keep writing.  I usually don't have that problem, but I guess that also kind of goes back to my long-winded blog posts.  It's such a pleasant surprise to visit a blog and find yourself featured in a post.  Thanks, Mary, for the ego boost.

       Then there's someone who's been getting his name in many other blogs this week after the trailer for his upcoming book was released.  Most of you probably already know Alex J. Cavanaugh's great blog and have probably already seen his book trailer, but in the event that someone out there has missed it then check it out:


       My good wishes to Alex and to his book CassaStar which will be released in October.

       Speaking of books and authors, Stephen Tremp's adventures in publishing are almost as exciting as his book Breakthrough which is soon to be rereleased.    Not a typo--- re-released!   If you missed Stephen's story check out his blog--it's an interesting story.

And now let the games begin:
          I was tagged by Jules at Trying to Get Over the Rainbow. It started a little iffy for me when I saw that she had disclosed the contents of her purse. To my relief she asked me to empty my pockets. Okay that's easy enough--not that much there.  I normally only deal with four pockets.

         Pockets have always been an important part of my clothing. I must have a pocket in my shirt and don't often wear the few pocketless shirts that I do own. My pants must have ample pocket space--never know what I might have to carry. Here's the rundown of what I usually have in my pockets when I leave the house:

        In my shirt pocket I have a rarely used cell phone just in case I need to make a phone call; a business card holder that currently holds cards with my blog address just in case someone is interested; and, of course, a pen just in case I need to write something down.  Eventually I hope I will require different business cards where the blog address is just a part of the whole, but currently that's all I'm advertising.

I use three pockets in my pants.  My back pocket contains a well worn wallet with ID's, credit cards, and other cards that I occasionally might need.  I've had this wallet for several years and will probably use it until it's about to fall apart.  In fifty years I think I've owned less than ten wallets.  I like to get maximum mileage out of them.  They're kind of like a pair of shoes that really get comfortable.  I hate to toss them out.

My left pocket contains keys for two cars, a front gate, and my house.  Car keys have gotten so much more complex than they used to be with alarms and keyless ignitions and all.  I used to carry a pocket knife in my key pocket.  Now the keys are about all my pocket will hold.

I rarely use cash, but I always like to have some just in case.  Now most places will accept credit cards no matter how much you're spending so I use them for nearly everything.  The cards I use give me points for each dollar spent and I can redeem those points for nifty gift cards, free hotel rooms, or cash rebates.  It actually seems like a better deal if you pay off the balance every month like I do.  The real problem is that in using cards the companies and the government can keep track of every dollar you spend, what you buy, and where you are when you buy it.  That seems pretty scary, but they can find out this stuff regardless.  It's all spooky, but is in line with things predicted in the Bible.  Guess that's getting off track and is a topic for a future blog post.

           And that's what's in my pockets most of the time.  Thank goodness Jules only tagged two people so I'm going to do the same.  And since they both seemed to think it was funny that I got tagged then I will tag:

Alex J. Cavanaugh  and Yvonne at Welcome to My World of Poetry. 

Have a great weekend!  Stay cool if you're where it's hot, and if you're where it's cold then I wish I had your weather.

Saturdays Are Fatter Days

        If I ate as much as I usually do on Saturday I'd be absolutely huge--A Blob with a Blog would be my new blog title.  Most Saturdays I get up and have a breakfast--well that's normal enough since I usually do that.  Typically I'll have a few biscuits and some coffee.  It's nothing extraordinary.

          At midday, my wife and I usually go for a sit down meal at a restaurant.  I almost always clean my plate since I've become so conscious of the starving people in China or wherever it is they are starving.  It's that guilt factor.  I cannot bear to see my leftover food carried from the table to be thrown in the trash.  I wish I could send the food that I waste to the starving children.  Since I can't, I just wish the restaurant would give me smaller portions and charge me less.

           My wife and I have tried the sharing route a few times.  That doesn't work that well though.  Our food tastes are very different.  So we end up with two complete meals which really have too much food for one person on each.  To be a good boy, I clean my plate as best as I can and then waddle out of the restaurant and head home, where I immediately take a nap since I am now so full and lethargic.

           Yes, Saturdays for me are the fatter days when it comes to food.  Maybe that's why I like to do my awards on Saturdays as well.  And this Saturday is a fatter awards day than usual.   Here are some of the awards I received this past week from some wonderful blogger friends:



Awards

I received another Versatile Blogger Award from Jemi at Just Jemi
Well, it was a choice between that one and the Who's Awesome Award, but I already have them both.  So what the heck!  Gee thanks, Jemi, you are so doggone awesome and versatile in you thoughtfulness.

Then there's the
Your Blog Rocks! Award

          From Yvonne at Welcome to My World of Poetry comes the "Your Blog Rocks!" award.  Well I think Yvonne's blog rocks so here's back at ya Yvonne.  I never like to miss an opportunity to say what a wonderful and thoughtful blogger Yvonne is.  I've been doing a lot of music list posts lately --in case you haven't noticed-- and Yvonne's not only been there for every one of them, but she also blows us away with the clever way she posts her fine lists in poetry.  If you are not a fan of Yvonne's poetry blog, you need to get yourself over there right now and check it out.

Wait! There's Another Award!

              This week I discovered Olivia at That Rebel With a Blog, who in turn bestowed upon me the One Lovely Blog Award.  Now ain't that just too cool!  You never know what you're going to find when you click on a link sometimes and that's how I found Olivia's blog and now you too can click on the link and see what I'm talking about.   Besides, she's in Northern Georgia which is just a pig squeal and a holler down the road from my old East Tennessee home.   Thanks, Olivia, for thinking about me.

          Now as most of you know there are rules that get attached to these awards and they are supposed to get passed on and all that.   And as many of you know I've been indicating that changes are coming to this blog.  Well me just keeping these awards and not passing them on for now is no big change--I've done it before--but that's what I'm going to do today.   Maybe later when I need some blog topic I'll get back to passing them on, but please don't be offended if this award stops here for now.  Love you all and hope you know that.

        Speaking of those changes some of you might be saying, "I didn't see any changes".  Well there were some, but so far they are fairly imperceptible.  I'm slowly making minor changes here and there and will be doing some future posts about these changes.  The biggest jolting change I need to make is in my work habits--that is what has been interfering with the changes I'm planning for this blog.  More changes are still coming.

          And more fun is coming as well.  It's not too late to come up with your 10 HOT LATIN FAVORITE ALBUMS that we'll be posting this Monday July 5.   See my post on this past Tuesday for more info or check the Linky list at the top of the page.    Also coming on Monday July 19th is THE SOUNDTRACK OF YOUR LIFE which I talked about on my Friday post. That Linky list will show up this week.  And that will probably be the end of the lists for a while.  

            A lot of you are probably saying "YaaaaY!   Well here's another thing you can say "Yay!" about--this is the end of this post.   Yaaaay!

             Have a Fantastic Fourth of July weekend!

Blog Boggled: Where This Blogger Gets a Bit Lazy

        Well, I was all ready to moan and complain about all these things that bug me about certain blogs, but then I got filled up with so much love that I forgot what I was going to say.  Maybe I'll remember some of my complaints later.   I guess if I want to complain about anything it should be about Daylight Savings Time and how I lost my precious hour of sleep.  Why do they have to mess with our schedule every year and get my sleep cycle all confused?

      But blogs about blogging have been all over the place lately and maybe I don't need to add to the mix right now.  Maybe if I wait long enough somebody else will address one of my gripes so I don't have to air it at all. 

      For me, blogging has been quite a learning experience.   The learning experience has included discovering some excellent blog posts about blogging which often have some excellent comments that have led me to more blog posts about blogging. Collectively, we have access to a real wealth of information in the realms of blogging. Here are some recent blog help posts that I have found:

      Most of you have probably already seen the excellent infomation provided in several posts by Jody Hedlund .  Check over the entire series if you haven't done so already.  She addresses many of the same issues that have bugged me.

        Theresa Milstein through a comment she made on Jody's blog linked me to an excellent blog post about improving one's blog:   Tips for a better blog and what makes readers stop reading was written by Jane Friedman at Writer Unboxed

         Jane offered a number of links which I found quite interesting including the ProBlogger site which will be keeping me busy with the tips it has to offer about blogging.

Now concerning this award I spoke of on Saturday:

       On my post for Saturday I mentioned that I had received--for the second time-- the prolific blogger award from Jamara Falconer.  Like many others of you have noted upon receiving these awards, at times it becomes somewhat time involving to find recipients who have not yet received an award to pass them on to.  So taking a cue from other bloggers I offered the award up to whomever felt they might like to receive this Prolific Blogger Award.  Well, I did get a request and it's like "Doh! Why didn't I think of her?" (slapping my forehead).

        Part of being a Prolific Blogger is being a good commenter.  Yvonne from Welcome To My World Of Poetry has been a faithful follower of mine and many others for some time.  And if I'm not mistaken I believe she has left a comment on every post I've put on the Tossing It Out site since she began following.  Her comments are always sweet, encouraging, and helpful--in other words I can tell by what she says that she actually reads the post and leaves a relevant comment. If you look at her blog posts you will see the same loyal followers commenting on her poems time after time.  She has followers from all over the world.

      Yvonne, I am honored to pass this award on to you for your consistent postings and your prolific comments.  Readers-- If you are not familiar with Yvonne's site, she delivers lovely little poems that offer witty looks at her life and thoughtful observations she makes about the world around her.  Her poems are to the point and easy to understand, which probably accounts for the universal appeal that she has.  She also includes wonderful photos that bring you further into her world.  I've never met Yvonne, but I feel like I've known her for a long time.  I encourage you to visit her site, become a follower, and let her know that I sent you.

So one Prolific Blogger Award  goes to Yvonne at Welcome To My World Of Poetry. 

         If any others of you would like me to recognize your work let me know and I will officially pass this on to you as well.  I know I'm taking the lazy way out but I think many of you know how it is.  Thanks for understanding and even if you don't understand, thanks most of all for reading.  Hope to see you tomorrow when I present some thoughts about Michael Jackson and his film THIS IS IT.

Bad Moods and Negativity

          This was how I looked this week.  Well, maybe that's an exaggeration, but sometimes ya cudda thunk so.   I've been kind of bothered by a nuisance backache (still) and I think it's been affecting my writing of late.  In fact, I know it has.  I can't sit and type as long as I've  been doing before and I hope to have that resolved really soon.

          I started last Monday with blog conspiracy theories but I guess it's good to be careful but maybe paranoia doesn't start the week off in the best way.  I did get quite a few good comments, but then again Mondays always seem to get more comments than most other days.  This coming Monday I was planning on a piece about writing in general.  I forget what it was at the moment but I'm sure it will come back to me this week-end.

         Then Tuesday I got totally carried away when I was going to write about one thing and then thought about something really negative and got off on a rant.  Well I promise to do better next Tuesday and you can look for my post  "And Now For the Sticky Topic I Meant to Talk about Last Week But Got Carried Away Complaining About Things I Probably Can't Do That Much About.....".  Hopefully readers will find this upcoming post to be fun and informative.

         Even the Wednesday topic about my hot pepper plants, a topic dear to my heart (or should I say dear to my heartburn), was a little more piquant than most.  At least I learned that my pepper plants are piquin peppers.   I knew my readers will come through for me.   This Wednesday is unplanned as of yet.

           My topic last Thursday was probably not something writers, or any creative person for that matter, wants to hear, but this seemed like the week to bring it up--you know, my bad mood and all.  Probably a debate topic about Valentine's Day would be appropriate this week since it will be on a lot of minds.

           My Dream Day topic of yesterday didn't get many comments, but maybe everybody was speechless. But I did get a few really nice comments on my song lyrics, but I was hoping for more critiques.  I can usually count on good ol' Stephen T McCarthy to be thoroughly analytical and he didn't fail me this time either.  And then a real poet, Yvonne, from welcome to my world of poetry , had such nice things to say and asked if I had any more verse hidden away.  Yes I do.  I will have to think about that one. 

        Just for fun you might want to start checking L. Diane Wolf's Spunk on a Stick blog before or after you check mine.  Seems like we've been having some synchronous lines of blog thought some days.  I'm sure there's just been coincidence involved but who knows?   They say that great minds think alike and it would be cool for me to be included in the category of great minds.

        This week I finished Stephen King's UNDER THE DOME.  This is probably the fastest read I've ever accomplished.  On Tuesday February 16 I will be offering up my review and thoughts on this book.  Hmm--maybe my reading this book partly contributed to my dark mood last week.  Hey--it's Stephen King!  What do you expect!

         Have you read UNDER THE DOME yet?  How's your week been going anyway?  Do you think I should offer up any more poetry, verse, or song lyrics?  If I do, will you read and comment?  And if you don't like it, it's okay to say so, but try to tell me what you don't like about it.  Hey, you blog friends are great!