A Week in Review

Hi everybody! I am sorry. It’s been two weeks of nothing interesting on this blog. How ironic that this should happen after I admonished others for not writing. Karma. Honestly, my life has been very hum drum lately, and I haven’t had anything to tell you. Well, I have had some things on my mind, kind of stressful things, but nothing worth talking about here. This is supposed to be a happy place, but when I’m stressed it is hard to feel inspired. It looks, though, like the stress is going to come to an end soon, and I’m going out of town soon, and that should give us some good stories again. In the mean time, lets to A Week in Review.

Tell me what you think of this
My good friend Tiffany used to host a writer’s group at her house. We’d meet once a month, and bring something that we’d written, usually from an assigned topic given the month before, and then we’d do some timed writing during the meeting. And we’d eat snacks, and laugh really hard at each other’s outrageous stories, and cry at each other’s sad stories. It was great. I regret that I waited so long to join the group. They’d been meeting for years before I finally got myself there. But I really enjoyed what time I spent with them.

Yesterday Tiffany wrote a post about the group and some pointers for a person to start her own. At first I thought that she was going to launch an online group. That wasn’t the case, but it got me thinking that maybe I would try to host an online group…? I could post some ideas for writing prompts, or you could suggest some, and then you could email me what you write and I’d post it for sharing. Of course it wouldn’t be the same as sitting in a group and talking, but still the writing is a great outlet. It could be creative or therapeutic or whatever you want it to be. What do you think? It’s just a thought right now, and would need some developing, but if you’re interested please let me know. I realize that you’ve all got a lot going on, and are already keeping blogs, and maybe that’s all of the writing you want to do? If so, it’s ok to tell me. Like I said, right now this is just a thought.

Clinique
Free gift with purchase at the Clinique counter at Nordstrom right now, just so you know.

The Writer’s Almanac
If you’re not reading the Writer’s Almanac, then you should start right now. The link is to the right. I am fascinated by something every time I go there. Today I was reading through this week’s posts, and found stuff that brought back memories. The first was this:

“It was on this day exactly 400 years ago — May 20, 1609 — that the publisher Thomas Thorpe made an entry in the Stationer's Register that said: Entred for his copie under the handes of master Wilson and master Lownes Wardenes a booke called Shakespeares sonnettes, and soon after Shakespeare's sonnets were published. Many people think that Thorpe published them without Shakespeare's consent.

"Shakespeare's sonnets are considered some of the greatest love poems ever written, with such lines as, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?/ Thou art more lovely and more temperate," and, "Let me not to the marriage of true minds/Admit impediments; love is not love/Which alters when it alteration finds,/Or bends with the remover to remove," and, "For thy sweet love rememb'red such wealth brings/That then I scorn to change my state with kings."

It’s the “let me not to the marriage of true minds/Admit impediments;” lines that made my mind wander. The movie “Sense and Sensibility” was released in 1995. Melody and I went to see it, and I loved it so much. In fact, I went back to the theater with different people four more times. It’s still my favorite movie ever. There are two scenes that use this particular sonnet – one when Marianne meets Willowby, who she thinks is her true love, but who is actually a scoundrel who breaks her heart (of course he’s a scoundrel, it’s a Jane Austen story). They read the poem when they meet. And then later, after he’s left her, she stands in the rain, looking at his house from the top of a hill, and repeats those lines. I’m making it sound dumb, but really it’s a beautiful scene. Kate Winslet plays Marianne, and she does a gorgeous job.

That movie got me interested in the sonnets. About that same time, I took a trip to Minnesota to visit the parents (and took my mom to see “Sense and Sensibility”). Mom and I were at the mall one day, and went into B. Dalton Bookstore, and there I found a very nice copy of Shakespeare’s sonnets. I bought it, and read it, and still have it on my bookshelf today.

When I was in London last year, we went to the National Portrait Gallery, and there saw an original portrait of Shakespeare. We also went to the Globe Theater - so fascinating. London still blows my mind. Up until going there, all of these people were just characters in stories, but there they’re right in front of you, and in all parts of the city, and so real. It’s a remarkable place.

Well, that got kind of long. I’ll keep the second story from the Writer’s Almanac short:
"It was on this day in 1980 that Mount St. Helens erupted. There had been earthquakes and smaller steam eruptions in the volcano for two months, but on the morning of May 18, 1980, an earthquake caused the entire north side of the mountain to collapse. This caused the largest landslide in recorded history and a volcanic eruption that was as powerful as 500 atomic bombs. No one expected the eruption to be so large, but they did know it was coming, so the Forest Service had worked to keep visitors away, although 57 people still died. The blast destroyed 230 square miles of old-growth forest, and the ash was deposited in 11 states.”

I was in fifth grade when this happened and remember it being all over the news. Someone in my class took a trip to Washington and came back with a jar full of ash for all of us to see. It was very light gray, and so soft. It felt silky, like baby powder.

Well, I think that’s all for today. I’ll end with a quote from a man named Bertrand Russell, "The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time."

Thanks, as always, for wasting your time with me.
You are loved.