Pearl Harbor Day

12-7-09 happy brain
It might seem weird to have a "happy" brain today, since Pearl Harbor Day is a time we remember with sadness, however for ME, it also represents a wonderful day.

December 7th 1990, was the day I first was introduced to Greg by a secretary at the VA Hospital, where I was working on and off, for my job of data collection for the State Cancer Registry.

Greg and I had first seen each other a few weeks prior at a coffee and cookie retirement party during break time, which the secretaries at the VA had insisted I attend with them. The story goes, that Greg saw me, then started working the secretary network to find out who I was. When I saw him that day, I thought he was cute, but I was too shy to go up and talk to him then.

That day of December 7th 1990 we had lunch together, which was followed by an invitation to a weekend matinee movie. This first movie was "Home Alone".... I was drawn to Greg by the fact he laughed out loud so easily at this movie. Greg's silly sense of humor made me laugh too. I'll never forget the " happy puppy" impersonation which followed in January.

The strange thing is that we dated for 3 months, then Greg's job moved him to Omaha, which is two hours west of Des Moines. Yes, our courtship was conducted long distant in two cities. (sounds familiar?) We spent every night on the phone, just like we do now and our work weeks could be focused on ourselves, with our weekends focused on each other. So our split life style really isn't new to us.

On December 7th 1991, we were engaged.... and 10 months later we were married and my life has never been dull *married to Greg.

For example: this weekend, in my wildest dreams, I would not think to ride in a Miata parade with 13 other cars, with tops down, though the beautifully lit Plaza area of Kansas City in December, with temperatures in the 20's. This Miata car club in KC is a group of wild baby-boomers! I guess we fit in just fine, thanks to me the boomer, and Greg the Miata owner.



*NOTE: Six months after we were married, Greg was able to return to Des Moines and we actually lived together in our current Des Moines home happily until this whole Kansas City opportunity arose.

PS: Christmas Music Score Card:
4 for Sleigh Ride, 1 for that "Shoe" song Molly and I love to hate!

Split in the middle of life

12-5-09 mid brain
My friend Steve sent me another interesting email this last week. He called my blog a “midlife assessment”….. so again I’m sort of split-in-two, being in the “MIDDLE of LIFE”…..

Steve told me that…. “The French say that a person has 3 sequential phases in their life -Learning, Working, and Living. Both of us are approaching the end of phase 2 and are accessing our lives so far and thinking and planning for the Living phase”

Gee, if I could only get to the “Living” phase…. But it will be a few more years before that happens for me! In the mean time, I’m actually still learning as well as working…...... or maybe I AM ready for the "Living" phase. All it would take is selling the Des Moines house, quitting my job and moving to Kansas City to live with my husband!

Anayway.... thanks Steve for a different perspective on life.

PS: Steve and I were in school together K-12, and we lived in the same neighborhood. His mom was a teacher, and my dad was a teacher. We had our tonsils taken out on the same day in 2nd grade and shared a room in the hospital. Coincidence? I think not.

Sticky Note to Self #22: It's joyous having friendships that span decades.

Full moon madness

12-4-09 lunar brain
The full moon this week has me feeling a bit like a lunatic.
So that is my excuse for THIS blog.

Over my Thanksgiving holiday I was not only away from computers for 3.5 days, but also not paying much attention to “the news”. Upon my return to Des Moines this week, there has been some wild happenings in the paper this week. (Could be the moon’s affects?)

The saddest local story was of a SUV that went speeding into Grays Lake (the small lake encircled with walking path in the middle of town)…. The vehicle sunk like a rock and no rescue could be made in time. The heartbreaking news was that it was a 34 year old woman…. No final word yet if this was an accident or an act of despair. The latest was that she had received a foreclose notice on her house in November. She was a mother of two.

My favorite part of the local paper is called “Your 2-Cents Worth” and people can call in an leave a short “editorial” statement anonymously. As you can imagine, these can be sometimes witty, poignant, entertaining, bizarre or silly.

My favorite one this week: “Republicans love Sarah Palin because she’s just like Bush and Reagan- good looking and not too bright.”

AND that simple statement clarified for me the conflict I was having with Sarah Palin.There are many things I enjoy about her. However, I don’t think she is smart enough to be President, let alone, vice-president candidate.

Then I turned the page and read the local “Letters to the Editor”…. Which clarified more for me, my uncomfortable feelings towards Palin. I’m quoting from the Des Moines Register on Tuesday, December 1st by a guy named Roland Zimany.

Consider the definition of “rogue”
Does Sarah Palin know the definition of “rogue”? According to Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, as an adjective it means “vicious and destructive”. As a noun it means “dishonest or worthless person, scoundrel”, “tramp,” “a harmful person”, “irresponsibly playful” “an individual exhibiting an unusual inferior biological variation”. If she doesn’t , now your readers do.

PS: Sticky Note to Self #57: Reading the newspaper and the dictionary can be educational!

Blogging by the numbers

12-3-09 contemplative brain
My friends Steve and Vanni, who live in Alaska, asked me this week, via email…”How much time does it take you per week to create your blog?” I took this as a simple, innocent question…. But now I’m wondering…. were they really, in their wisdom, asking me to re-examine my priorities and are they pushing me to evaluate if I am using my time wisely?

I agree, I do need to ponder this question further. I estimate, at the minimum, I take 15 to 30 minutes a day. Other times, to get the pictures loaded off my camera and adjusted perfectly, it might take me up to 60 minutes a day.

I do find enjoyment with blogging (usually), and there is an element of creativity…. However, would I best be served by putting this time into my actual ART projects?

Yet, I’ve grown to love the blogging community out there floating in the vast Internet space. I have connected with people I never would have known otherwise. Also, there is a whole spectrum of art blogging sites which I find very interesting, and I want to be a part of this.

Looking at this from a purely mathematical brain; 295 blog entries at an average time of 30 minutes equals 147.5 hours which is at the minimum 6.14 days out of my year so far at blogging… hummmmmm….. Interesting numbers to ponder!

PS: This is probably close to the amount of time I spend driving between Des Moines and Kansas City. Too bad I can't blog in the car.

Caution: Child at play

12-2-09 right brain
I've been working lately on more abstract, accidental type of Art. I'm currently obsessed with the theme of Peace and Love. I call this "accidental" Art since I have no idea how I created this, each one is a surprise to me and I go into the creation of a piece as a total experiment..... Pure "child's play"!

WHY? Split-in-Two

12-1-09 logical brain
Today I am responding to a blog challenge called “How I named my blog”… from Ruth at synch-ro-ni-zing.

Today marks my 294th blog entry since the beginning in mid January of this year. I started my blog then with the encouragement of Lori and Renee, two co-worker friends who had started blogs.

The reason I decided to start this electronic diary was to tract my upcoming year, which in January, looked like it was headed to be a memorable year, marked with change and a move to Kansas City. I know from past experience, journaling is a helpful way to deal with emotions and self examination can be healthy.

At that time, a move to Kansas City was a somber consideration for me, since I loved my life in Iowa, although there were also things to love about Kansas City. I definitely experienced a pull in two directions, thus “split-in-two” was my verbalization of these feelings.

As I began to create my blog, I also realized that all along, in many ways, I have always been “split-in-two”…. As you can see by my description of myself on my right side bar.

My life in many ways is divided between right brain activities of art and creativity while at the same time my focus in school was on math and science, and my research work is left brain activity. So I truly view myself as two parts of a whole. Each side of my brain demands attention and thus a struggle for balance is a constant. Thus the story of my daily life is examined and reflected upon in this blog.

Along the way, family and friends began to follow my postings so they can either stay updated with my life, can be entertained, or perhaps are inclined to think further about their own daily lives by peeking into my split life.

My blog has served its purpose for me in 2009; my split life is now my new normal and I have successfully dealt with my emotions concerning this all. (I think) So this month of December 2009, I am now pondering if my blog may need to evolve into something different in 2010….. or if am I ready to stop writing altogether?

November's end

11-30-09 grateful brain
Greg and I had a wonderful visit to my hometown over the Thanksgiving holiday. I managed to be totally away from a computer for 75 hours straight. Greg however, had his Blackberry with him, so I can't say that he was on any computer sabbatical.




Our meal was delicious, Bunny's pies never tasted so good! My favorite also was my mom's dressing with raisins and apples, and of course the sweet corn! Greg and I had fun playing with the kitten, "Trey Kit", which has doubled in size since we last saw him.

We did some shopping with mom, and also helped decorate their house for Christmas. A special treat was having lunch with my good friend Jean Ann and her son Kalen.

All in all, we had a nice, simple, restful 4 day weekend, which will be needed as December is shaping up to be HECTIC! However, I'm determined to focus on the "reason for the season"..... and on Sunday, I enjoyed a wonderful advent service at Westminister.