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Saturday, January 5, 2008
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I found a new blog
posted at 1:29 PM  
Damon Cline writes a blog called Scuttlebiz about area businesses and the economy and such for the Augusta Chronicle. He usually focuses on one story and then ends the post with a few nuggets. This cracked me up:
I'll bet my left index finger (you can't have the right; it's my trigger finger) that Loco's Grill and Pub, the casual dining chain that closed last week after two years in operation, will be converted into Augusta's 213th Mexican restaurant. Mexican is the new Chinese. Maybe you have to be a local to realize that this is hilarious because it's true? When Mom visited I took her to Acapulco's, the restaurant that replaced Fazoli's on Washington Road. They had a few microwaved Italian and "American" options, and were otherwise very much a Mexican restaurant, down to the free chips and salsa.
Damon's sharp and funny and seems to know his Augusta. Blogrolled!
(Edit: Apparently Acapulco's has closed, after about a two month run. Heh.)Labels: augusta, blogging, writing
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Sunday, August 12, 2007
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Words of wisdom from Sushicam
posted at 12:10 AM
I haven't read many of my Bloglines subscriptions in the past year or so. Working in news, I've either found the thought of reading online tiresome or overwhelming every time I've tried to catch up. Today I've got some free moments while I wait for DVDs to burn, so I've been working through some of my Japan blogs. I'm currently plowing through Sushicam, and this post of Jeff's seemed like it was written just for me:
Did you enjoy yourself today?
I mean really, REALLY enjoy yourself?
I shudder to think what the most common answer would be if we were all to honestly answer this most simple of questions each night before drifting off to sleep.
Barring any serious illness, unemployment issues, or family tragedies, probably the greatest reason that a person is not enjoying their life is because they are not taking the time to take care of themselves. And what better way to find happiness in life than to take the time to do something that really means something to you.
Slow down.
Get a hobby.
Have a purpose
Do something meaningful with your time.
And while everyone has a different interpretation of what has meaning, each and everyone of us should be doing something each day that is just for us. Something we enjoy, and not something you either feel obligated to do, or something that you get paid to do. Wow.
So maybe it's not my circumstances that are making me unhappy.
Maybe it's just that I'm not doing anything fun.
I've been thinking of that as a circumstance...but don't I have the power to do what I want, if I really try? Even if I have to work around Sean's schedule and my work schedule, isn't there a way to pursue my hobbies?
It feels like it's been so long since I've explored.
I need to get out and enjoy myself. I need to take care of me.
I'm sure this has been painfully obvious to all of you, and I thank you for your patience in dealing with my whiny posts for the past however long it's been. These emotional epiphanies never seem to come easily, even when they're this simple.Labels: blogging, quality of life
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Friday, July 13, 2007
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Wasting my 3000th post
posted at 9:01 AM
Last night, I dreamed that spiders were mutating into much larger creatures and taking over human spaces. They could move freakishly fast, but they also died quickly and their corpses were everywhere. There were two characters in the dream, a detective-ish guy and a beautiful female journalist who both seemed to have stepped out of a black and white movie, and they were trying to figure out how to reclaim the world. The woman was apparently in trouble for doing a story about the spiders. The man started discussing the economic impact of spiders forcing people out of their homes and workplaces.
"Migration was pretty stable," he said, "until the teapot went into mass production in the 1930's." And then I visualized a line of giant, colorful teapots that stretched across the horizon, kicking up dust as they advanced.
"The Dust Bowl," I said knowingly.
As the two tried to figure out what to do about the spiders and their own issues, they of course fell in love. At some point Brooke was there, and we were both trying to take photos of a girl posing for some reason, and I was complaining that I needed a camera with a faster shutter.
Meanwhile, I was so distraught over what in the world to do about the spider problem that I started a blog post about it, with the title you see above.
Obviously I haven't been blogging in a few days, and now you know why--it's number 3000, and I wanted it to be awesome.
This has happened before, where I haven't posted because I wanted to write something "important", and each time I wound up unhappy because I wasn't posting. You know what? I like spouting my drivel. I wish I didn't care that I will never have a huge audience, but despite my desire for fame and glory I'm unwilling to stop doing what I'm doing...which is chronicling my life in a way that is fun for me.
So here, internet: here's a 3000th post typical of Heather Aubrey Meadows, with a dream and some indulgent self-analysis.
3000 posts is a big milestone. This blog has been around for awhile. It's obviously not the oldest blog in existence, but I am proud that I've kept it up. So many other blogs die out, with their authors either disappearing or starting a brand new blog, essentially denying everything they've previously written. I'm happy to have left my 3000 posts right where they are, on the same server, my faults and foibles and naive opinions of the past (and present!) archived forever for all to see, for so many years. And I intend to keep it up. I'm the main character of my life, after all. This is character development!
So, sorry to everyone who I told about this post and how I wanted it to be awesome. It is what it is: an affirmation of what has come before, and not a digression.Labels: blogging, dream, life
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Saturday, June 30, 2007
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Rockin' Girl Bloggers
posted at 11:17 AM
Brooke has, for some unknown reason, named me a Rockin' Girl Blogger.
As I draw close to my 3000th post and wonder what exactly it is I'm doing here, it makes me feel good that someone out there has a use for it all.
The thing to do here, as I understand it, is to pay it forward and name five Rocking Girl Bloggers of my own. Brooke also didn't do any repeats, meaning I shouldn't use her or anyone on her list.
So, with those guidelines in place, here are five girl bloggers I think are awesome.
V, of Violent Acres: I am consistently impressed and intrigued by this woman. She has no problem telling it exactly how it is, and her essays are often a much-needed jolt of common sense in this crazy "how can I be a victim today?" world. There are things she's said that I disagree with, and there are times that I wonder if she's really okay or not, but ultimately I find her posts refreshing and enlightening, sometimes touching and sometimes funny. She's brutally honest about some things that you need to be anonymous to be brutally honest about, and I can respect that. And she's smart, and she's taking care of herself instead of expecting someone else to do it. That last is one of the hardest things in life; despite my own independent spirit, I struggle with it daily.
Merujo, of Church of the Big Sky: One of the funniest people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting online, and certainly one of the best writers, Merujo inspires me with her fierce refusal to let life trample all over her. It knocks her down, repeatedly, especially lately, but what does she do? She gets right back up, usually with a snarky comment or two. But I was her fan before her current predicament--I like her style, I like her outlook on life, I like that she is so nonchalant about all the amazing things she does. Confident but never proud, Merujo is a model that any woman would be wise to aspire to.
Marie Mutsuki Mockett: Marie is a professional writer who blogs at her own space and on Japundit, which is where we met. I love her because she thinks like me, like an anthropologist. She's aware that there are often numerous reasons for why things are the way they are, and she's interested in exploring them all. Her specific interest in Japan, due to being part Japanese and growing up visiting Japan frequently, makes her writing extremely relevant to me, but anyone can write about Japan. Writing about it thoughtfully and objectively while adding personal perceptions and emotions is why I keep going back to Marie's blog. She takes in as many resources as she can, she evaluates the facts fairly, but she also explores what it all means, both to who she is and to society. It's that sort of critical analysis paired with emotional insight that draws me to a writer.
Sunshine, of Days of My Life: A teenager living in Mosul, Iraq, Sunshine has to fight to enjoy the things most of us in the US take for granted. She can't go into her bedroom now because it has large windows that face the street. When school starts again, she will be in danger of terrorist attacks--or friendly fire from coalition soldiers!--en route to her classroom building. She can't go anywhere or do anything and is essentially a prisoner in her own home, studying as best she can, reading ravenously, making handicrafts, and taking care of her younger siblings. But this is a girl who knows that if she gives in to her fear and depression, then she has already lost. This is a girl who steps out into her war-torn world with a smile on her face. Read this post for an example of what Sunshine lives through and how she has decided to live through it. If Sunshine is Iraq's future, then despite the helplessness and despair I feel with every news story about the war, I can still have hope. She's not just the pillar of support for her family...she's supporting her entire country, her entire world.
Mama, of Emotions: Where Sunshine tries to keep positive on her blog, her mother offers full-on, visceral reactions--which is probably why she doesn't post very often. There are no punches pulled at Emotions. This is a young mother who is hurting. Her country is a mess, her children can't go to school without being in danger of being shot or blown up, she sometimes can't get to her place of work as a dentist, and when she can she doesn't have the proper equipment. She has so little control over her situation. This is a true victim; this is a person who can't simply pull herself up by the bootstraps. And she tells us so. Look at what's happening, she says. Feel my pain. Something needs to be done. Her message is the message that people need to hear--without spin, without remorse. Because despite it all, she is determined to live. And she deserves to live free of fear.
This Rockin' Girl Blogger thing is everywhere. Just tracing back through my nomination at Brooke's blog to her nomination and the nomination of the person who nominated her, I've found fifty gazillion girl blogs. I'm having trouble determining where it all started, but regardless, it seems like a really good way to expand your reading material, if you should have a need for that. *eyes her ever-expanding sidebar*Labels: blogging, iraq, japan, rockin girl blogger, writing
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