Monthly Archives: December 2011

Obligatory End of the Year Post

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It’s New Year’s Eve. I have a blog.  It seems I’m contractually (or otherwise) obligated to write about the year in review. 

But honestly, this year I actually want to write about it.  2011 was a rollercoaster; there were highs and lows.  And there are some months that will go down in Meg history as epic.

I look back on it all and just marvel at how many things have changed.  It seems something largely significant has happened almost on a monthly basis, and I don’t know that I’ve had a year quite like this one, ever. 

In January I changed religions and figured out where I needed to be, literally after years of searching for the right place to worship. 

In February, the divorce finalized and I was legally free – because let’s be honest, the marriage was over months before that, but with the second month of this year, I could finally do as I wished and I could finally move on.

March brought my baby girl’s 6th birthday and I joined the music ministry at my new church.  I made an epic number of new friends, each of them precious to me. 

Back in April, I was proposing my Master’s thesis topic: Terror in the Insurgency: British and American Use of Terrorism and Guerilla Warfare in the American Revolution.  Talk about a wordy project.

I spent most of May writing said thesis from scratch.

June was a crazy month – finishing the first draft of The Thesis – by this point, that’s what I began to call it, because it had a horrifying life of its own.  Like The Thing.  E’s father was on leave before a deployment, so I shuffled her back and forth for two weeks, and I started tutoring one of my favorite psychology students in June.

In July, I finished the last semester of my Master’s degree, submitted The Thesis and learned that I was cleared for graduation.

August sent kiddo back to school, brought a new relationship, and my graduation.  A childhood friend passed away in August, and another dear friend moved away for a job.

The month of September brought a sense of normalcy to my life.  I began tutoring for the college I work for.  I started work on Transmissions from Dating Land.  I went to my first rugby match.  I interviewed for a couple of jobs that weren’t what they appeared to be.  E settled into first grade with ease.

October was Halloween (obviously), and the end of a relationship – which seemed like a bad thing at the time, but turns out that it was one of the best things to happen to me during the year.

November was the epic month for me.  I tried NaNoWriMo again – and didn’t “win,” but came up with a great premise for what will probably be a good little novella I’ll pump out sometime in 2012.  I went on a couple of girls’ nights out.  I met an insane amount of new people, and met the most important person to me as well.  I read part of Transmissions at a little donut shop off of the downtown square of a little college town, and made even more friends.

And then December brought a surprise birthday party for my best friend, learning what true love is all about, Christmas, bypass surgery for my dad, and a phone call from a friend I thought I’d lost.

I’m looking forward to 2012, but I’m also not looking back at 2011 with any regrets.  It’s been a year to remember, that’s for sure.  Here’s to 2012 being even better!

Happy New Year everyone!

The Photographic Adventures of MW Squared

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You’ve heard great minds think alike, right?  Well, what happens when you combine two slightly warped, infinitely silly minds?  MW Squared is what happens.  And in today’s edition of The Adventures of MW Squared, I give you the following photos: 

Oh, but wait! First, the back story:

MW2 (the bf) has had a trip for this weekend planned for ages.  He’s in the Keys with a friend of his (I feel so sorry him – gorgeous weather, the beach, scooters on said beach, largest complaint other than his GF not being there [awww!!!!!!] is that his feet hurt.  Meanwhile I’m stuck where I still have to wear a coat at least in the morning, but that’s SO not the point).  The point actually is that we’re like a couple of teenagers, so before he left, we decided that he would send pictures to me of all the strange and wacky things he encounters, but pointedly without captions.  I was to write the captions.  Then, I had the idea of writing Haiku captions for said pictures, the funnier the better.  We laughed at the thought.  Yes, this is what happens when the two of us share a phone call.  Don’t put us in the same room together.

So anyway, here are pictures from Day One of our massive conspiracy to take over the world fun little photo project.  Did you hear something about taking over the world…?

Gah! Okay, I just spit my Diet Dr. Pepper at the screen. :::wipes screen with sleeve:::

Alright, where was I?  So, I’ve only seen this in miniature on the phone before now.  Sorry, the verbage is, um, interesting in that sign. 

Okay.  Lemme see…double entendre, it’s for the kids, southernmost…Ah ha!!  Got it:

Hockey. Way down south.

Oh euphemisms galore!

We have tonsils there?

 

Oh dear…that one was quite silly and could be taken horribly crudely.  Okay, so now might be a good time to inform you that this post is a little on the…er…PG-13 side of things.  Sorry for the confusion and surprise, if any.  And if you weren’t surprised, well then you know me really well. 

Okay, now for number two:

Copyright 2011 The Brainy Babe

 Wow. Just. Wow.

My 65 degrees in the afternoon with cloudless blue sky here in Texas doesn’t seem quite so awesome compared to this picture.  It makes me a bit more poetic, and I may wax a little transcendental…

Huge expanse; timeless.

The street sleeps, but I do not.

Seagulls above…DUCK!!!

 

Glad I’m not standing under those seagulls.  And speaking of random fowl, here’s picture number 3:

Copyright 2011 The Brainy Babe

Rooster, yellow curb.

Phantom hand will choke it; die.

Rooster stew; so good.

What?! You don’t see the phantom hand threatening to choke that hapless wild rooster?  It’s on the left side of the picture, and if you squint a little you can see it.  Here, lemme help:

Copyright 2011 The Brainy Babe

Heh.

And finally, Day One’s photo #4:

Copyright 2011 The Brainy Babe

 

O_o

“…………..”

???

Hmm…oh-kay! I can just see MW2 laughing as he took this picture.  Let’s see if I can take a stab at this one…

Monkeys, like men. Cut

Men, like monkeys: play the game.

Punctuation…good!!

 

And that’s all for today, folks.  Tune in tomorrow for Day Two of our awkward picture/haphazard haiku silliness. 

 

 

 

 

 

One of Life’s (and Love’s) Lessons

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Beyonce is responsible for some of the best girl power lyrics out there in my opinion.  ”Survivor” by Destiny’s Child has always been one of my favorite songs – not because it’s about surviving a break up, but because no matter what, that girl is gonna survive and thrive and be better on the other side.

God (and everyone else) knows that I have reasons for this song to appeal to me after a break up, but I love the chorus because it works for any part of one’s life:

I’m a survivor/I’m not gonna give up/I’m not gonna stop/I’m gonna work harder/I’m a survivor/I’m gonna make it/I will survive/Keep on survivin’.

I love this stream of lyrics.  Yeah.  You’re shocked I’m sure. 

I’ve never been the kinda girl who needs to be taken care of.  I’ll figure out a way through things.  And sure, I’ve had my ups and downs, but I like to be independent, I’m strong, and through a bunch of life’s B.S., I’ve survived (and at times even thrived).  I was chatting with my amazing boyfriend – the other half of MW Squared (yes, he has the same initials – and same last name, incidentally – as me [no, we're not related...we checked]) the other day and we were talking about enduring and overcoming things in life.  The convo had nothing to do with the event that I’ll tell you about in a minute, but it sure as hell was timely. 

I said that I was sure there was some type of crisis that I couldn’t handle, but I haven’t come across it yet.  He looked at me seriously and said, “You will, and when you do, I’ll be there to help you through it.”

It’s barely an exaggeration to say that my heart melted, but that’s beside the point.  This week, I came across the thing that I can’t handle.  Give me a financial crisis - I’ll figure something out.  Give me a relationship crisis – hell I’m writing a freakin’ book about that one.  Give me a tax crisis – I’ll figure out where that loophole is.  You get the point.  While I’m not opposed to being taken care of, in a relationship, I’m used to being the nurturing one and the one who gives everything.  I’m fairly low-maintenance, and I don’t require a man to hover around me and maintain me.

Two days after Christmas, my father went in for quadruple bypass surgery.  I didn’t see him that day because little E had been at the hospital hanging out in the waiting room all day and needed to get out of there.  I finally saw Dad the second day, after lunch.  It goes like this: I walk in and realize that this – seeing my father hooked up to tubes and recovering for having his chest split open and his heart operated on – was too much for me.  My sister-in-law was shocked when I told her how I reacted.  Her eyes got wide and said, “You’ve been the calm one!  I had no idea you’d react that way.”  My answer was, “Tell me about it.”  I’ve been the designated communication person for this whole thing; taking care of logistics, the home front, all that.  I was happy to be driving to the hospital to see my dad and kiss him on the cheek.

But OH MY GOD! I walked into that room and suddenly I’m this chick who just can’t deal with it.  I spent my 45 minute visit talking myself out of a panic attack.  I couldn’t breathe; I became nauseous; I stood there praying that I wouldn’t get sick, pass out, and/or start crying.  I couldn’t get out of there fast enough – I practically ran out of the hospital.  On the way out the door, I shot MW2 a text, asking if I could call him at work.  Being the wonderful boyfriend he is, his answer was “Anytime. Ever.”  I rang him up and said distract me, calm me down, tell me something funny.  I figured out what I can’t deal with.

He went into a mini crisis mode and became very calm on the other end.  He got the details, let me spill my fears, and got me breathing again.  No I didn’t cry (yes, I’m proud of that fact), and then he said to head south towards his office.  He took me to lunch, he held my hand, he made me laugh, and he kissed me. He took care of me. 

I didn’t need to be taken care of; if no one had been there to do so, I would have been fine.  I would have boomed music all the way home and probably driven way too fast.  I would have distracted myself with some new Christmas toy I got, or I would have called a girlfriend to chat about the weather.  But, I got to be taken care of for once and I was smiling again.  I left him at his office and drove away, feeling like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.  I could breathe, I could face whatever else came my way, because he had my back.

Sometimes no matter how strong a ship may be, it’s still got to drop anchor and wait the storm out in a safe harbor because it’s simply better for it to do so.  Sure that ship of the line can take that storm, but coming in for a breather is sometimes the best thing to do.

Through this whole experience, each one of my family members has gained some bit of invaluable knowledge.  For me, it’s been several small little tidbits, but maybe the most valuable of all these lessons is that no matter how much I can survive, it’s okay to look to others for support, and a real, meaningful relationship is about both people supporting and loving each other regardless of how blue or gray the skies above are. 

Oh, and that in a medical crisis, you should probably call somebody else.

Transmissions goes Public

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A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to share some of Transmissions with the public.  It was kind of a dry run to see how it would be received.  And it was also a bit of a local publicity stunt, I’ll admit. 

It’s been a while since I’ve spoken or read anything in public, so it’s fair to say that I was pretty nervous.  I won’t deny it.  But more than that, I was totally excited.  I mean, I felt a little like Carrie Bradshaw, sharing part of my book with the world.  The location was hipster-cool, a little dark.  There was wine, there were donuts and coffee.  Well, here’s a shot of the room (that’s yours truly at the microphone):

Photo by Ellie G

We all took turns sharing our bits of writing, and I’m very pleased to report that Transmissions was very well-received.  That night it transcended age, gender, and all other demarcations of difference between audience members.  There was laughter, and several comments afterwards about how I had practically described parts of people’s lives in the segment I read.  I was humbled. 
 
The amount of creativity flowing through that room was overwhelming too.  One guy read poems that were more like long run-on sentences.  Another recited performance poetry inspired from Psalms 1.  Still another writer shared her short story about an abandoned grocery store, and there was even a guitar present in another segment.  It was an absolutely fun night.
 
Here’s another great photo by the fabulous Ellie.  You can find her page here and here.
 

Photo by Ellie G.

 
Yep, that’s me up there.  The night was also pretty significant for me because it was the night (ironically) when I realized that the dear friend who came to cheer me on (and laugh at my writing antics) was more than a friend…he realized it about an hour after I did.  I am proof that when you’re looking in one direction for something, it sort of just finds you where you least expect it from a completely different direction.  Well, let’s be honest, I’m proof of a lot of things, but we won’t talk about that here.
 
At any rate, I’m busting through the last bit of my edits this week and I hope to get Transmissions published for Kindle, Nook, and in other digital formats soon.