Fridays (#AtoZChallenge) (#BOTB results)

          It's kind of handy when the letter "F" lands on a Friday and my April A to Z theme is Time. Friday's are definitely cool for most of us. Back when I was working it often didn't make that much of a difference to me because I often worked on weekends, so Friday was like just another day. I can understand why a lot of folks want to thank God or thank goodness it's Friday.

            As promised on my Battle of the Bands post last Saturday, here are the results in the battle between Jim Nabors and the Match singing versions of "The Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet"...

Battle of the Bands Results

         GomerPyle--er, I mean Jim Nabors's version of "A Time for Us" really grew on me as I kept listening to it.  Such sweet melodiousness to the music and singing.  However, my preference of  psychedelic leaning music makes me hone in on The Match.  I like those vocal harmony groups and the classical sounds of the instrumentation rounded the entire effect for me very nicely.  My vote goes to the version by The Match.

          This past battle was a wild one!  Great turn out voting, but it was also opening day of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge.   This round of Battle stayed close right up to near the end when The Match took a lead and kept it.

Final Vote Tally:

Jim Nabors       22 votes

The Match        29 votes



Next Battle of the Bands Post on Saturday April 15th

         Smack dab in the middle of the month, between the days of the ongoing A to Z Challenge, comes another music Battle.   This Battle might be just the cure some of you will need from blog post fatigue.  There's still a lot of A to Z post ahead!  By the way, this paragraph contains clues as to the next song hit from the eighties.  Do you see what song I'll be using?

          What is your favorite day of the week?   Do you like to celebrate Fridays?  Do you mind working on weekends?  

Eleventh Hour (#AtoZChallenge)

The Eleventh Hour Dilemma 

           I've always been a bit of a procrastinator.  There will be those times when I am industrious and forward thinking enough to get things done in advance, but typically those times have been more rare than not.  After all, why do something now if I can wait until later?

          Waiting can have its advantages.  Offhand I can't think of any advantages, but maybe I'll think of something later--if I don't get distracted and forget what I was supposed to think of.  Getting distracted has always been a problem for me.  In that respect I suppose I still have the mind of the child that I once was.  Once?  Maybe I'm still more of that child than some might think.  If I still had toys I might be sitting on the floor playing instead of sitting at my desk typing these words.

 insight of tin toy museum Freinsheim/Germany  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

          Now and then I'm tempted to buy some toys for myself.  And I don't mean shiny new gadgets to entertain the adult side of me, but I'm talking about toy cars and building sets and legions of tiny plastic people.  Real toys like children strew across floors.  Now that's what I call real world building and getting lost in ones imagination.

           But I restrain myself from buying those toys.  Besides, I need to watch my money and I certainly don't need more stuff cluttering my house.  Children's toys are not a practical option for me.  That's why I write, read, or watch movies.  Escape now is more passive than the activity of being a child.   My mind is my playground.

           Though I might frequently wait until the eleventh hour to do things that I've planned or things that necessity requires to be done, I try to do better when I can.  Or do better when I think about it, if I'm thinking about it at all.  Still, I tend to get distracted or just plain forget.  More often than I'd care to admit, I've waited until the eleventh hour.   Unfortunately as I near that unknown eleventh hour of my life, I hope that I'll improve those bad habits.  Maybe I'll wait to start improving next week. Or maybe next month.   Or maybe I'll buy some children's toys and sit on the floor and play.  I can think of worse things that could happen.

          Do you tend to procrastinate?   What are your favorite diversions when you just want to relax and escape from the real world?    How much more do you want to get done in your life before the clock strikes midnight?

Related articles

• Punk rock CDs, toy cars and teddy bears: how to take your treasured collections with you when you downsize
• 7 Ways To Tame The Toy Box
• A Busy Mom?s Guide to Less-Stressful Life
• 7 Things To Do When Toys Take Over Your Home

Devoting Time (#IWSG) (#AtoZChallenge)

       Success depends partly on the time we are willing to devote to an endeavor.  Talent is important but if no effort is expended and no time invested then that talent will likely lie fallow.

 Join us on the first Wednesday of each month in Alex J. Cavanaugh's Insecure Writer's Support Group--a forum of writers who gather to talk about writing and the writer's life. For a complete list of participants visit Alex's Blog. 


Days to Decades

        Each day was an adventure and the days seemed to last for weeks.  Childhood was like that.  I had the time and the world was mine if was willing to take advantage of it.  But those days turned into decades as first my college years passed, then living to work and working to live life to the fullest. I had time to write, and often did, but there was no particular aim to it all.  Writing was mostly relegated to something of the nature of a hobby.

          Eventually life was mostly work and family. I was fortunate to be working jobs that I enjoyed doing and that allowed me to still be very involved with my kids.  Sometimes there was writing involved, but mostly that was when some nagging idea insisted that I write it down.  So I did.  I wrote in spiral composition books at night after the kids were in bed or during a spare moment at work.  When the compulsion subsided, my writing books were tucked away for some later use.

          Writing has always been in the background of my life--rarely taking center stage.  I probably spent more time thinking about what I might write someday than actually writing.   But sometimes I did write.   And now I need to continue to write.  I need to consider devoting more time to writing.  Thankfully I have blogging as one outlet and writing blog posts has been a bit of writing salvation to me.

          Days fly by quickly as what I had planned on writing today has been postponed until tomorrow. Or someday.  Yes, the days are flying by faster than I would have ever imagined when I was that kid with all the time in the world on his hands.  Then I could wait.  Now I'm not sure waiting is what I should be doing.  After all, the days are turning into decades and one day those decades will amount to a lifetime.  When I was a kid a lifetime was forever.   Now I know the truth.

           Are you fulfilling your writing dreams?   What is your current favorite way to release your inner creative self?   Do you devote time to writing as much as you'd like to?