Are You A “Real” Writer? {Yes, you are…} | Blogs & Writing

Posted on October 13, 2013 by Moonbeam

I borrowed this from a Blog I am following called Burburry Pond, I hope I spelled that right. You’ll see when you click on the link. She has so many encouraging words, thoughts and pictures… I think you’ll enjoy it as much as I do.

This one is particularly inspirational tonight. As are many others there as well. Check it out!

Are You A “Real” Writer? {Yes, you are…} | Blogs & Writing.

My Weigh Out Journey

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Moonbeam

Check out my New Blog entitled “Weigh Out Journey” that will chronicle (blab, ramble, etc.) my journey to, through, and beyond my upcoming Bariatric Weight Loss Surgery.

Its a HUGE decision for me, and I would be less than truthful if I was to say that I wasn’t more than a bit nervous. Come help me through it, and maybe learn something together with me.

Hope you’ll join me there too 🙂

R.I.P. Ms. Vaio and Ms. Samsung

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Moonbeam

It’s a sad, sad day in the Heck Household.

It is with a heavy heart that I must pass along the news of the passing of two very dear friends. Like the plague, sickness spread unabated throughout the household. No time for quarantine, no time for professional help to arrive. I did what I could, but it just wasn’t enough.

It started out as a simple bug, didn’t seem to be serious at all. I now wish I’d been more diligent. Ms. Vaio was the first to show symptoms. She wouldn’t charge, then she just wouldn’t start, but it seemed she had nothing more than a common software issue. I tried intervening with home remedies and undoubtedly, though I had good intentions, made things even worse. It started small and I was certain that a change of battery would do the trick… fix her right up…and it did, for a little while. I very carefully changed her battery along with her charger and she seemed to perk up right away. But it didn’t last. Even so, I still thought she could be treated here at home. I’d had successes with home remedies in the past and so decided to do what I could. Confidently, I proceeded in more or less this order: cleaning and updating her data system..running her antivirus and spam programs, software updates, drivers, safe mode diagnostics, Vaio Care, system restore, and ultimately resorted to reformatting her C Drive and reloading her entire operating system. Start fresh I told myself…she’ll be good as new! And it worked! She thrived for a day…nearly two. Eventually though, she just couldn’t turn on at all. No lights. No beeps. No screen. Nothing. Poor thing.

Of course, as you may have guessed, her warranty had just expired, and without insurance, professional care is so expensive. Lacking the services of a professional technician and thinking that I couldn’t possibly do any more harm than good, I got out my teeny tiny Phillips head screwdriver and prepared for surgery. I laid out all the tools, prepared a clean space to line up all her screws and covers in the proper order, and actually (talk about naive) believed I could reestablish some sort of healthy and rewarding quality of life for her. Alas, my efforts resulted in the ultimate failure. Her mother board just couldn’t take the stress of the operation. The familiar pretty pink hue just faded from her and there was no reprieve. R.I.P. Ms. Sony Vaio. You will be sorely missed.

Grief stricken as I was, I turned to my trusty smartphone in an attempt at some sort of Internet comfort…even Facebook would be a blessing at this point. And she came through for me, trooper that she is. Even though she’d always freely offered her internet capability, I must admit that I always turned to my friend Vaio before Ms. Samsung. Now I feel a bit guilty as I admit I overworked her immediately after having ignored her for so long. I overworked her…exhausted her..and very quickly and selfishly took from her everything she had. Sadly, very shortly after losing Vaio, we lost Ms. Samsung as well. It was her charging port. It just gave out. I really should have seen it coming. She tried to tell me, but in my grief over Vaio, I have to admit I expected a great deal from her. In the end I buried her in the basket right next to Vaio. I hope they get along better in death than they did in life. God rest their little silicon souls.

I don’t think I’m ready to move on to new technology just yet. I don’t think I’ve fully processed the enormity of the loss quite yet. When I’ll be ready to move on I can’t say. In the meantime friends have lent their own trusted solid state appliances to me. Everyone has been so kind. I’m speaking to you now through a borrowed iPad….she’s very nice … don’t take this the wrong way, and while I do appreciate her, she’s just no laptop, you know? I hope that doesn’t sound too awfully ungrateful because I appreciate her, I really do.

As far as phone calls, I’m not even thinking about going back to another smart phone right now. It seems disrespectful to just take a new one when Ms. Samsung is so recently gone. I’ll just use a regular cell phone when I really need to. I think she’d be OK with that.

Day 7 – The 30 Day Challenge

Posted on August 22, 2013 by Moonbeam

Today’s question is:

Do you read? What are your favorite books?

Well, of course I read. I love to read. And I NEVER thought I’d say such a thing, but … thank goodness for the Kindle!

Although I’d prefer to hold a book in my hand, feel the heft, smell the paper, dogear every fifth page or so, finish, notate and pass it along to the next eager reader, my tired old eyes fight me tooth and nail. They (my eyes) seem to think it a rather cool trick to blur, double and otherwise skew the characters that make up the words on the page. Because of this, I hadn’t had the pleasure of being transported to other worlds of adventure and suspense for quite some time. Oh, how I had missed it. But my kids, as thoughtful as they are, gave me the gift of this wonderful electronic reader a couple of years ago at Christmas. I have to admit that at first I was a little wary and not at all sure I’d like using it. After a few “lessons” however, I was downloading titles, resizing fonts and zipping through the menus like a pro! I love it! It allows me to read and enjoy just about anything without even so much as a mild headache. I’m back in my alternate universe again! Thanks kids 🙂 Love you!

What kind of books? Well, generally I prefer a certain kind of mystery. A thriller of sorts, but not gory. Edge of your seat, intelligent, mind-bending, can’t put it down tale of high wire emotional terror and that ever special twist that you never saw coming. Those are the best. I also enjoy a supernatural thriller such as those by Dean Koontz, but it has to be monster-less. Monsters just ruin the plausibility of the whole thing, and if the story is improbable, I lose interest. The scariest reads, and I guess that’s what I’m looking for, have to be just on the edge of believability. A bit far over the edge is great, but jump head long in to the world of the two- headed cyclops with razor-tipped teeth that lives in the body of a kitty cat, and you’ve lost me. On the other hand, if you go just far enough, let’s say, the ghost of what “simply appears to be” a sweet young girl who scratches letters into a wall made of stone, or a kindly old hermit woman who lives down an old dirt road in a tar paper shack, or, even, or maybe especially, the super stealthy killer who calls the babysitter time and time again but you have no idea that he’s not only actually inside the house, but, as you eventually come to realize, upstairs with those precious sleeping babies! OMG! That One… .has stuck with me for my entire life! Terrifying.

Then there’s always the very reliably tantalizing James Patterson, “some” Stephen King reads (discarding super monster tales, of course), and appealing to my medical background, Robin Cook, who writes the most hair-raising medical mysteries you’ll ever come across.

Once in a great while I’ll get the urge for a good classic: To Kill a Mockingbird, Jane Eyre, Little Women and Gone With the Wind stick with me the most. Unfortunately, having been “too cool” to participate in the requisite high school literature class like I should have but wouldn’t have appreciated the way I do now, I don’t possess the background in classical literature that I’d like. I’m working on it.

Thanks for stopping by.

Come back tomorrow when we’ll discuss the three things I’d like to say to different people. Rather, I’ll discuss it, and you’ll decide if you really want to put yourself through all this again another day 😉

Peace,

30 Day Challenge

Posted on August 16, 2013 by Moonbeam

Getting Started

I saw this on SFoxWriting‘s blog and I thought, hey, this looks interesting. Let’s give it a try. So here goes. 🙂

(answers below)

Day 1

Write some basic things about yourself.

OK well, I guess the most important thing about me are that I LOVE being a Mom and a Grandma. It’s the best, very best, job in the world!
I consider myself an artist….at least I try. I work with hemp macrame, crystals and stones, and I love to paint, although I don’t do enough of that. In the winter, I crochet a lot…seems like a winter art doesn’t it?
I love music. Music is What Feelings Sound Like. My favorite bands over the years were and still are, The Grateful Dead and Pearl Jam.
My favorite vacation always revolves around a Pearl Jam Tour. And if it were “perfect” it might also involve a cabin on a mountain lake and lots of special friends whom I only get to meet up with during tour time.
Oh, and I love food, especially Birthday Cake! (it’s true)

but enough about me….

Now You Go 🙂

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