Reading, or should I say... Consuming...

I have said that my most favorite authors are the ones who capture my attention whether or not the "subject matter" is of interest to me.

They are the writers that I just keep reading, can't help but keep reading. Their words flow and create emotion in my mind and body no matter the subject, the premise, the plot.

I have said that I felt guilty at times, to have picked up a book and begun to read only to find myself struggling. 'Why am I reading this?' 'When is this chapter going to end?' 'WHAT is he/she trying to say?' I'm not unintelligent, 'Why then, am I having a hard time here?'

And I've finished books like this out of this feeling of guilt. Surely this author will reward me in the end, if I just stick it out.

Every once in a while, they do and I'm happy I persevered. But you know... those books are in the minority.

But the authors that Grab me... ah, those are the ones I keep coming back to. Once hooked, I must read everything they've written. And if they've only written one or two books? Well, thanks to the world we are now living in (read here... thanks to the internet and easy contact) I have been known to email them begging for more.

Some of the writers whose work I devour are:


Elizabeth Gilbert

Kevin Brockmeier (a new addition and I'm working on chewing up every piece of his work now)

T M Camp, another recent addition (the past few years - met him on twitter.com and facebook).

Christopher Moore (also on twitter and facebook)

Gregory Maguire


And of course:

Arthur C. Clarke
Isaac Asimov
David Brin

There ARE of course some GREATS I must also read... but then again, 'Great' to me isn't always the mainstream's idea of Great.

Oh, and there is the wonderful man I'm 'seeing' now... he's an author, working on his first novel. And Yes, his writing is intriguing and fun and I'm constantly asking him for the next chapter.

I suppose if I dedicate myself to reading everything these talented people have produced (and will produce) I'll be occupied for a very long time. But then there are the up-and-coming authors who will surely fall into my "must consume" category... it's a damned good thing I plan to live forever!

So now, to "guilt-reading" I say "No More"! No more time in my precious life for wasted effort. If you don't capture my fascination early on, if you don't treat me well, if you don't entertain... you lose!

And now it seems that this is paralleling my life in general.

I have no more time for people who make no real effort to be IN my life. No time for the angst-filled, self-deprecating, emotional basket cases.

But THAT is another subject for another day!

Adrenaline rush...

We had an earthquake!!!!

5.9 Mag. located in Mineral, VA

Wow, it was an amazing experience.
I was tweeting and FBing before it stopped shaking.

Ever evolving meaning of FRIEND...

Some people talk about how many "friends" some of us have on Facebook. They talk about how no one could have that many friends. How we just 'collect' them so that our numbers will be really high. And some people talk about 'spring cleaning' and 'clearing house' etc of their FB friends to lower that number... make it more manageable.

Some people like to make fun of those of us who enjoy social media networks. As if it was a total waste of time. REALLY, it is NOT a total waste of time! It CAN be, but it doesn't Have to be. It can be lucrative for your business, it can be beneficial to your craft, it can be a balm to your very soul. Who knows... it Could be healing for the world, lord knows FB is a INTERNATIONAL phenomenon.

I believe we are honestly becoming a world without borders... if only governments would recognize that. BUT that's a subject for a whole other discussion.

Everytime I think about purging some of my friends list I look through it and think, "I really need to whittle this down a bit" but I can't bring myself to delete anyone. Someone once said to me, "but Peg, you've never met a stranger, have you?" And I guess he was right.

So what about that LONG list of Facebook friends? Are they really friends? In my case, I have a long list of people with whom I attended highschool. Now, it's been my recent, exciting and Wonderful experience that so many of these people have definitely become friends even if we really weren't close when we went to school.
Then there are the folks I've met through motorcycling, teaching motorcycling, massage school, massaging, teaching massage, past jobs.

There are some FB "friends" that I've never met in person. But I still consider them friends or in some cases, colleagues.

But through it all there are those... the real Tried and True Friends, the ones you KNOW will be there. Some of them you talk to (actually talk to... on the phone or in person) every single day. Some of them you only get to 'talk' to via a computer, a text message, skype perhaps. Some of them you communicate with on a sporadic basis. Some of these aren't even ON Facebook (and to those few I will cut and paste this). But you KNOW they are there and they always will be. To those friends I offer a song.

If I was with you at this moment I'd actually sing it for you

(whether you want me to or not... hah).

Thank you for being a friend
Traveled down the road and back again
your heart is true you're a pal and a confidant
I'm not ashamed to say
I hope it always will stay this way
My hat is off,
won't you stand up and take a bow

And if you threw a party
Invited everyone you knew
You would see, the biggest gift would be from me
and the card attached would say, Thank you for being a friend

Thank you for being a friend
Thank you for being a friend
Thank you for being a friend

If it's a car you lack
I'd surely buy you a cadillac
Whatever you need, anytime of the day or night
I'm not ashamed to say
I hope it always will stay this way
My hat is off, won't you stand up and take a bow

And when we both get older
With walking canes and hair of gray
Have no fear, even though it's hard to hear
I will stand real close and say,
Thank you for being a friend (I want to thank you)
Thank you for being a friend (I want to thank you)
Thank you for being a friend (I want to thank you)
Thank you for being a friend (I want to thank you)
Let me tell you bout a friend (I want to thank you)
Thank you for being a friend (I want to thank you)
Thank you for being a friend (I want to thank you)
Thank you for being a friend

And when we die and float away
Into the night, the Milky Way
You'll hear me call, as we ascend
I'll see you there, then once again
Thank you for being a friend
Thank you for being a friend (I want to thank you)
Thank you for being a friend (I want to thank you)
Thank you for being a friend (I want to thank you)
Thank you for being a friend
Whoa, tell you about a friend (Thank you right now, for being a friend)
Thank you for being a friend (I wanna tell you right now, and tell you again)
Thank you for being a friend (I wanna thank you, thank you, for being a friend)
Thank you for being a friend

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOqyygAQSX0

Eeeeasy 105.9 in Myrtle Beach

Met radio personality Bob Natale in Myrtle Beach, SC at Taste of the Town

Great Food, Good Wine, New Friends!

What could be better?

LEGO Batman Happy Birthday Song

My Buddy, T. M. Camp sent this to me today:

In other news: I've met the most awesome people thru Social networking these past few years.

If Facebook Existed Years Ago

My Manga

(hah, love the hooters)

Create your's at Face Your Manga

My WeeMee

Visit me in my WeeWorld

Create your WeeMee at WeeWorld

I got your Tweet... Right here!

OH MY GOD! Like I needed another thing to eat up my time!
Granted, I'm pretty much a captive audience while at the day job (I ain't goin' nowhere)... but really!

I discovered Twitter.com a couple of months ago and I was hooked. I belong to almost every social networking (more like social playing) site there is... like myspace, facebook, irovr, fubar, even Karaoke Junkies... anyway, I found twitter and it really appealed to me. Maybe the fact that I write poetry with such tight restrictions as to word count... maybe that's why I love this "social updating" where you can only use 140 characters per message. I've always seen my haiku as tiny snapshots of my mood at any given moment. Twitter.com is tiny snapshots of your life that you share with the world, or with just the people you choose.

At Twitter... you "Tweet"... that's the verb. When you post an update you are "tweeting". Each post is a "tweet" and each member is a "tweeter".
So you tweet to your peeps! If it's someone you really like... then they're "tweeties"!
Got it?

And on top of that... there's twittervision! A phenomenal waste of time... but such FUN!

G Dewald writes about it here on his blog: unionstreetmedia.com

You know, I'm running out of time in the day for reading all my feeds, tweeting on twitter, blogging, and buying friends on myspace... I need more hours in the day!

your life, all wrapped up
hundred forty characters
ah, succinctness rules!
~