writing

5 a.m.

/ wvfurandroot / 3 Comments
Morning coffee.

Morning coffee.

I’m learning to love 5 a.m.

For most of my life, I was a night owl. Mornings were hellacious daymares of fumbling fingers and disoriented thoughts. It seems my circadian cycle is shifting. I go to bed early and wake early.

I resisted this at first thinking it was some sort of problem. To some extent it is a problem. By 8 p.m., I’m crawling into bed with a novel when most folk I know are settling into the evening’s entertainment. I don’t answer the phone once I’m in bed. Lord knows, a lot of folks are mystified by my refusal to answer the phone. They’re also mystified that I don’t spend my evenings comatose in front of a television screen. (I prefer comatose in front of a computer screen.)

5 amBut I’m beginning to like my early mornings.

I wake, usually, before the alarm goes off. I still kind of fumble around at first, but nothing like the days of old. It only takes a few minutes before I have command of my body and brain. I still can’t bear noise at this hour. I live alone and consequently don’t have to endure the chatter of another human being. (Honest, I still don’t understand folks who wake up talking. Shifting circadian cycles or not, idle chatter in the a.m. is repulsive and enraging. Just don’t talk to me. Please.)

For years, I’ve set up coffee the night before, hit the delay brew button, and thus the coffee is ready as soon as I arrive in the kitchen. I still do this even if now I am capable of making coffee in the a.m. I like that it’s ready when I’m ready for it.

Cuddly Willy.

Cuddly Willy.

I trundle downstairs, hit the laptop power button on my way to letting the dogs out, pour coffee and settle into the corner of the chaise where it right angles with the rest of the sofa. Normally, Babette and Trudy have a little nosh and head back to the crate for more z’s. Willy and I nest here.

He cuddles and I surf. Sometimes, we both stare out the atrium door at the garden. We (at least I think he does) think Great Thoughts ™. I plan my day. Often I blog. On particularly alert days, I take photos in the garden – the morning light is exquisite.

Needy Willy

Needy Willy

After a couple hours of this, I head for the shower and dress for the day.

It’s a nice leisurely start to a day. It’s worth losing the evening hours over.  I find that I’m more grounded and centered.  By the time I leave the house, I’m raring to go and can cheerfully endure the chatter of my co-workers.  It’s all good.

I’m learning to love 5 a.m.

And the Bella Award Goes To. . .

/ wvfurandroot / 11 Comments
The Bella Award

The Bella Award

 Buzzardbilly gave me the Bella blog award the other day and I was so stunned I completely forget to pass the award on.

The rules say that I must choose 15 new blogs that I read that are deserving of the award. I’m new to the blogosphere and many of the ones I read have already been awarded the Bella.

So, taking a cue from Spike Nesmith, I’m going to award 8 and ask y’all to nominate the remainder.  In no particular order:

Life’s a Feast: Confessions of a Gourmande

I know Jamie from another cyber-world and was delighted to find she had a blog. She’s an ex-pat living in France.  For those of us who love to eat and/or love to cook, Jamie’s blog is a feast for the eyes. I can’t summon up the motivation to cook for one, so I don’t make any of her recipes. I go to the blog for the story-telling and the food photo erotica.

Clicks and Pops

I know Alex from the same cyber-world I know Jamie from. Alex’s musical blog is a wealth of information and trivia. As Alex says, “I grew up in a college town with too many great used record stores. This explains a lot…”

Wabi-Sabi

I know Jim  from real life and his was first the blog I read regularly. He’s a little too busy with Twitter and Facebook these days, but I love his passion for being a dad and a husband. The world definitely needs more dads like him.  When he’s not talking about his family, he’s likely to be doing some pretty fine political analysis.

Frames of Mind

Hogpath’s Frames of Mind is a place of poetry and story-telling. It’s hypnotic and addictive. There aren’t frequent posts, but my spirit feels cleaner after a visit.

 Life in the Country

I also know Snoskred from another cyber-world. She’s an Australian and engaged in blog hosting, scam baiting, and kayaking. Her posts run the gamut and they’re always enjoyable and/or useful.  For those of us new to blogging, her site is a wealth of information.

Hundred Mountain

I know Doug in real life and he and his wife are responsible for my being a spectacle at the Obama Pajama Party and the subsequent formation of Drama Queens for Obama. His site is a visual delight and be sure to take a look at the Italy section – there’s some fabulous storytelling, slideshows and video.

Vera’s Weblog 

Vera’s Weblog the site of another friend I met online. She’s a ex-pat German living four feet from the Canadian border in Minnesota. Her take on life, her lifestyle, and her photography are breathtaking.

Esse Diem

And, finally, there’s Esse Diem. Like me, she’s new to this, but her posts rock. I suspect we’re kindred spirits.

O>w/hole>1

Aw, man, I forgot this guy so I’m editing this post.  He’s another Mudpuppy.  His site is a veritable cacophony of information and links.  Truly, one of my favorites.

So that’s 8 9 Tell me who the 7 6 are that I’m not reading (see blog roll) who are deserving of a Bella.

Safe, Faddish, Healthy, and Environmentally Friendly

/ wvfurandroot / 5 Comments
I love, love, love nicotine.
I love, love, love nicotine.

I’m a smoker. I love the stuff. I know the dangers, but I really, really enjoy nicotine. I don’t think I can write without the stuff. I’m serious.

I really hate being addicted. I hate that Big Tobacco is dictating my behavior and the government is taxing the hell out of me. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it.

But we smokers know that quitting ain’t easy. (All you ex-smokers can just shut up right now.) It’s pretty much been determined that getting off heroin is easier than nicotine. I have quit before – for years at a time. My body goes haywire, I gain a gazillion pounds, and everyone says to me, “But don’t you feel so much better now?” And I snap, “No!” I miss them every day of every week of every year that I’m not smoking.

Even so, I’m an atypical smoker.

I love cigarettes, yet I hate the damn things too. I really hate the tobacco companies. And I’m extremely pissed that we’re subsidizing tobacco and taxing the hell out of it rather than just making it illegal. (See? I hate it so much I’ve got to rant on the subject twice in one post.) Since, I’m generally against criminalizing drugs, I realize my thoughts on this are not logical. Sue me.

Still, hope springs eternal that I can quit and feel good during the process and more importantly, afterwards.

I read about the e-cigarette in the news not too long ago. It seems the FDA is not terrifically happy about it and proprietors are forbidden to sell it as a stop smoking aid. It’s an “alternative to tobacco.” There are tons of customer testimonials, however, that witness to its ability to end the evil habit. I scoffed.

silly ember

Silly Ember.

The e-cigarette is supposedly a marvel of technology that looks pretty much like a regular cigarette. I wish the filter felt more papery. The whole thing has a ceramic feel to it and it’s heavier than a regular cigarette. There’s an LED light on the end that glows red when one inhales on the filter. The feel in the hand is a bit off, but not irritatingly so. The LED “ember” struck me as ludicrous until I realized it signals when you need to charge the thing up.

The filter – now here’s where it gets interesting – contains a cartridge of nicotine and glycol. When you inhale, the atomizer produces a fine mist that feels (I swear) like smoke and tastes like a cigarette.

How do I know all this? I test drove a friend’s – the same friend I teased unmercifully about the too-ridiculous-to-be-true stupidly named “e-cigarette.” Then I went web surfing. I immediately quit scoffing and began scrounging up the money to get my own. Said friend is down from 2 packs to 5 real cigarettes a day.)

The perfect cigarette for one who composes at the keyboard? We'll see.

Is this the perfect cigarette for one who mostly composes at the keyboard? We'll see.

The cartridges come in regular, menthol, and a variety of flavors. They also come in several different levels of nicotine – from “high” to “none.” If I did the math correctly, once you get the starter gear, it works out to about $5 a carton. So whether you’re trying to quit (which the FDA forbids you try to do with this thing) or just trying to save money, this could be your ticket. After quitting, one can buy non-nicotine cartridges for those events where succumbing to temptation to bum a cigarette might occur. (Or to use when writing or like, um, after sex.)

So my deluxe starter kit arrived today and my batteries just got done charging.

E-cigarette in the nifty case.

E-cigarette in the nifty case.

Look Ma! No dirty ash trays! No lighters. No tar. No carbon monoxide. Even if I can’t quit, theoretically, this is “healthier.” I think. But I’m tickled pink with the damn things. I can lay it down anywhere. There’s no mess, no debris, and it all packages nicely into the tiny cigarette case that came with my kit. There’s a car charger, a wall charger and a USB charger (no kidding, I can charge the silly thing while I’m writing).

It’s going to take some getting used too, but my initial reaction is positive except for the user’s manual which is a hoot and a holler. It was clearly written by someone with a bad command of the English language. It took me forever to figure out how to put the cartridge in. What directions there are, are obtuse and, many, are missing altogether. The cover of the manual is, itself, great humor. I’m informed right off the bat that the thing is “Safe, Faddish, Healthy, and Environmentally Friendly.” Yup, I’ll be glowing with pride to be “faddish.”

I'm fadish, baby, I am, I am.

I'm fadish, baby, I am, I am.

Since I’ve only been using the thing about an hour, I’m NOT recommending it at this point. Email me at wvfurandroot at gmail dot com if you want more info. (Or just email me, I love email.)  I’m not posting company names or nuttin’ until I have a better handle on whether this is a Good Thing ™ or not.