Ducks in the City

I was driving north on Beach Blvd. by Knott's Berry Farm when we spotted a mother duck and 7 or 8 ducklings crossing in the crosswalk. They finally crossed all 6 lanes and an island in the center and people in cars everywhere were yelling out and beeping so no one would hit the ducks. Just when we thought they were going to make it, the mother duck jumped the curb to safety but the ducklings were too short. They kept jumping and jumping but they couldn't make it to the sidewalk. Then the light changed and we had to drive on, but 2 cars had stopped to help them. Darn, I hate not knowing how that turned out.

Card Memory System

By taking a deck of cards, and telling a story about each card in order, it is possible to memorize a random deck of cards in just a few minutes.  Here is a sample of the first story I made up on the spot.

Ten men with spades came marching down the road. On the path they passed a rich woman. She had with her two of her sons, both named Jack. The first Jack was a loving man and the 2nd carried a sword.  While they were walking, a Queen came down the path with her son. She hailed the men with spades and gave 7 of them gems. There were 3 men with spades left so she gave them each four diamonds. If the men were to bet them at the gaming tables, they'd each win 8 diamonds.

After they went on their way a sadder group of people came down the path. It was a rich lady with a big heart. But she was being held prisoner by the King of Swords and the King of Clubs. On each of the king's shoulders was a raven. They were closely followed by 2 cardinals. Then there was a woman executioner in black. She carried 2 daggers. The rich woman was being accused of stealing a crown with 10 diamonds.


This story system can be used with a whole deck of cards. In this story the order of the cards was
10 of spades, Ace of diamonds, Jack of hearts and Jack of spades. Then the Queen of hearts, Jack of hearts, 7 of spades and 3 of spades. Followed by 4 of diamonds and 8 of diamonds.

Then the story changes. Ace of hearts. King of Spades, King of clubs. 2 of spades, 2 of diamonds. A of spades, 2 of spades, and finally 10 of diamonds.

I think if I make my story more fanciful next time it will be easier to remember. I'm primarily using tarot equivalents, where as the red cards are feminine and the black cards masculine. Also, spades are edged weapons like swords and knives.  Clubs (wands, also fire in most tarot decks) come into play in my stories. Diamonds are rich women, hearts are loving women. In one case I used black as ravens or crows. Red birds can be cardinals, or robins. But use whatever imagery suits you.

Here are some examples:

Ace of hearts:  A loving woman alone (Ace=one)
Two of hearts: A pair of lovebirds. (Hearts=love)
Three of hearts: A threesome of female lovers
Four of hearts: A red building or a  wedding chapel (Fours are buildings, a symbol of four walls equals stabilty. A wedding chapel because wedding=love=hearts=red
Five of hearts:  Hearts are also cups and emotions in a tarot deck so you could see this as 5 red cups/glasses/goblets.
So if in the story there was a woman in black drinking five glasses of red wine, I'd know that was the 5 of hearts.
Six of hearts: A red hexagon (hexagons have 6 sides). On the hexagon is a heart.
Seven of hearts: Since seven is the number of spirituality I might see that as an angel in a red gown.

Hopefully you get the idea. You don't have to use tarot meanings. Whatever is relevant to you will work. Like if you are an artist, then hearts can be artists, diamonds can be patrons of the arts, spades can be debtors, clubs can be agents.  As long as the story line makes sense to you that's what matters.

The Wild Train

I found one of the keys to managing my anxiety is to live in the present. The minute I start worrying about the future my mind is like a runaway train. Tomorrow I have a doctor's appointment. When I get there at 10 AM then I will deal with it. Today and right now I have other things to do. Like update my blogs. And take photos of the watercolors I did last night while I still have good light outdoors.

This morning we got my truck running again. Is it possible that all it needed was a new battery? I sure hope so because even that cost me almost $100. (Battery, terminals, etc.). We also replaced the fuel filter. But at least the truck is out of the driveway. So it was the action (not the worrying) about the truck that got rid of that particular anxiety. I think that is part of the curse of poverty. Instead of fixing things in a timely manner, it's too easy to just sit and worry about them as you wait another month for another payment of some sort to arrive. I truly believe that action dispels fear. Doing something is almost always better than sitting in a funk and worrying.

Rainy Day in December

I've been trying to figure out my mood today. I woke up to the sound of rain in my backyard. Which doesn't sound all that amazing until I point out we haven't had rain of any quantity in maybe six months. Even with the rain the birds were still singing in the tree outside my window. I hadn't expected rain so my boyfriend had to make a quick dash out to the patio to put the flintknapping tool bucket out of harms way. Everything in there will have to be dried out later. But for now he just pushed it under the patio table out of the rain.

My plans to go to the post office and library flew out the window as my old truck doesn't have windshield wipers so I don't drive it in the rain. My boyfriend had an appointment at the beach with a photographer so I find myself home all alone. Too sick to go out, too bored to stay in, you know the drill.

So I read my library book, the Trouble With Magic, for a while, but I found I was dozing off. So I signed on to upload 4 days of daily self portraits. I do take them every day, but I don't necessarily get around to uploading them to the Flickr group every day. When I am sick and bored, it's not much fun doing self portraits, but it's real. It's tempting to skip those days. But the whole point of 'a daily self portrait' is to see the depth of who you are, not just what you look like when you are dressed up and presentable and going out to a party. And sometimes I hate the way I look at the moment of taking it, but months later when I look back on it, it's not so bad as I thought, because our eyes are clouded by our moods at the time.  It's hard to watch my face and body aging. So the daily self portrait becomes painful at times. It would be more fun to take them in reverse, starting at 100 and aging backwards. Seeing all the jowls, wrinkles, crows feet, excess weight and sagging gradually going away, like in the movie Benjamin Button.

Yay I'm a Nanowrimo Winner

Yay, I just finished validating my entry for Nanowrimo 2009 and got this lovely badge to show that I came, I saw and I conquered. And just for the record, finishing was way more fun than not finishing.

Last Day of Nanowrimo

Last Day of Nanowrimo 2009 and I still have over 5,000 words to go. Ever wonder how fast you can type? Check this out:
76 words
Speed test

Still Nano-ing along.

I am floundering with Nanowrimo. Even though I wrote over 3,000 words today, the halfway mark is Monday more or less, and 25,000 words are needed to be on the mark.  I just passed 17,000. And I didn't really like working this hard so much that I'd want to write 3,000 words a day from now until Nov. 30.
One of the writers I follow has already passed 50,000 words. I think she's at 95,000. My guess is that she is trying to do 100,000, or a double Nano. I'm just not competitive enough.  I actually feel so guilty putting other things on the back burner so I can do this challenge. I'm not ready to throw in the pen yet though. I am learning a lot about novel writing. Like timelines for example. Trying to get things in the right sequence with so many characters running around. Or writing the ending for some scene before I've written the beginning or the middle.

The other challenge is losing characters as I go along. Forgetting to write about some of the groups and carry them forward in the plot.

I've also had to change genres from chick lit to mystery. That's because I've killed off someone and now we need to figure out who did it and why. And now I have a kidnapping. But I don't know yet who ordered the kidnapping or what that has to do with the rest of the storyline. I have a new found appreciation for fiction writers.
I also at some point want to donate some cash to Nanowrimo. It must cost a fortune to keep this all running.