I'm not a fan of Britney Spears but it's the only thing I could think of to "title" my absence from this blog. In my defense, I did state that I'd attempt to keep up with posting as much as I could. Sometimes I wonder if anyone is even reading this or actually looking at my words to offer some sort of wisdom or maybe a tiny bit of relief from their mundane day or a little bit of light in their dark world--ok I know THAT was a bit of a stretch considering that I don't even keep up with this blog all that much(that doesn't mean I don't want too though). Could you imagine if what I posted here actually meant that someone's day was brightened and that they looked forward to reading my thoughts so much that it actually kept them from committing some awful act of senselessness? If that were the case, then believe, from the bottom of my heart, I'd post every single day. But since that's not the case, I suppose I'll aim for weekly, for now, maybe if I'm inspired in the New Year, then 2x a week or so. For now, my apologies.
And now for an update: I did turn 40. I feel great, I hear that I look great, it's great. I love it. I could not be happier than to have been given what I'm calling, "Poetic License", to make quick decisions that might have been difficult for me in the past and to live my life, finally, just for me. You can't possibly know how good that feels, when the universe just say's, "Go for it girl! You're 40 now, you don't need an excuse, a reason, or a justification, it's all good, this is the next chapter of your life, welcome aboard!" Well, you might know, if you're in the same boat as me. And for the record, I like this boat. I never want to get off.
Here's what I think; Enjoy the moment that you're in RIGHT NOW. And, stick with me here, I'm totally going to get better at this. ;)
Monday, December 7, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Chapter 2
If you know me then you'll know that I have a BIG Birthday coming up this weekend, and if you don't, I'll still take your well wishes, I can use all that I can get! As the day approaches I suppose it's only natural to think about your life and what you've accomplished, or failed at, what you have seen, and have yet to see, friends you've made, and those you've yet to. I've noticed that the days pass by fast sometimes but suddenly at the age that I'm about to turn (I'll let you guess what that is) the moments seem slower, life seems more valuable to me, and I'm finally feeling like I'm living, and I'm happier than I've ever been. So, I say bring on Chapter 2, I'm ready, I'm able, and I'm willing to really cherish the new memories that I'm about to make as I carry with me the best of the older ones.
I'll leave you with my favorite poem about life from John Keats. I'll be back next week. Have a wonderful weekend!
Happy life, love and days. :)
The Human Seasons
by John Keats
Four Seasons fill the measure of the year;
There are four seasons in the mind of man:
He has his lusty Spring, when fancy clear
Takes in all beauty with an easy span:
He has his Summer, when luxuriously
Spring's honeyed cud of youthful thought he loves
To ruminate, and by such dreaming high
Is nearest unto Heaven: quiet coves
His soul has in its Autumn, when his wings
He furleth close; contented so to look
On mists in idleness—to let fair things
Pass by unheeded as a threshold brook:—
He has his Winter too of pale misfeature,
Or else he would forego his mortal nature.
I'll leave you with my favorite poem about life from John Keats. I'll be back next week. Have a wonderful weekend!
Happy life, love and days. :)
The Human Seasons
by John Keats
Four Seasons fill the measure of the year;
There are four seasons in the mind of man:
He has his lusty Spring, when fancy clear
Takes in all beauty with an easy span:
He has his Summer, when luxuriously
Spring's honeyed cud of youthful thought he loves
To ruminate, and by such dreaming high
Is nearest unto Heaven: quiet coves
His soul has in its Autumn, when his wings
He furleth close; contented so to look
On mists in idleness—to let fair things
Pass by unheeded as a threshold brook:—
He has his Winter too of pale misfeature,
Or else he would forego his mortal nature.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
How many train wrecks do we need to see before we lose touch?
Jack Johnson finishes that lyric with "Where did all the good people go?"
A couple of weeks ago there was a huge wind storm on Madison Ave, no, I'm not lying, really, it was like being back in Texas in the middle of a Tornado, for real I was coming back from my power walk at lunch around the reservoir (I know who you are that are laughing at me calling myself a power walker just know that lol) and I turned the corner onto Madison to be literally almost knocked down by this huge gush of wind! It was so strong in fact that the street signs were whirling like in the Wizard of Oz movie, the trees were swaying in the medians and papers were flying every where. I looked down the ways a bit and I saw a poor lady with a toddler, a huge stroller and some bags--before I knew it the stroller was going one way with the toddler still holding on to it, his backpack had been literally blown off his little back, the bags were going the other way.. so I ran as fast as I possibly could against this ferocious wind and grabbed the toddler with one hand and the stroller with the other while the woman ran after her bags--she looked over at me and literally almost began to cry--when she finally got herself together she said to me "Oh my goodness, thank God for you! I would have never been able to make it if you wouldn't have helped me out!" The toddler was still crying so I was trying to help calm him down, I helped her put her bags into the stroller (mind you she was probably 5ft tall and 100 lbs soaking wet) and when I stood up she immediately jumped to hug me. I accepted the hug, and then I said "No worries, I'm glad I could help." Now, I'm in NO way a Saint, I don't profess to be one, claim to be one or attempt to be one, but I DO consider myself one of "the good people" that Jack's asking about.
The sad part of that story is that at least 5 people walked right around her before I even got to her.
So here's what I think; Don't be one of those 5 people. I think that most of us are actually good people, we're just busy and sometimes we lose focus on what's important in life. Being kind and humane shouldn't be things that have to be taught, they should be things that are innate in us...how much better would this world be if they were? Can we re-learn how to be? I think so.
Night good people ;)
A couple of weeks ago there was a huge wind storm on Madison Ave, no, I'm not lying, really, it was like being back in Texas in the middle of a Tornado, for real I was coming back from my power walk at lunch around the reservoir (I know who you are that are laughing at me calling myself a power walker just know that lol) and I turned the corner onto Madison to be literally almost knocked down by this huge gush of wind! It was so strong in fact that the street signs were whirling like in the Wizard of Oz movie, the trees were swaying in the medians and papers were flying every where. I looked down the ways a bit and I saw a poor lady with a toddler, a huge stroller and some bags--before I knew it the stroller was going one way with the toddler still holding on to it, his backpack had been literally blown off his little back, the bags were going the other way.. so I ran as fast as I possibly could against this ferocious wind and grabbed the toddler with one hand and the stroller with the other while the woman ran after her bags--she looked over at me and literally almost began to cry--when she finally got herself together she said to me "Oh my goodness, thank God for you! I would have never been able to make it if you wouldn't have helped me out!" The toddler was still crying so I was trying to help calm him down, I helped her put her bags into the stroller (mind you she was probably 5ft tall and 100 lbs soaking wet) and when I stood up she immediately jumped to hug me. I accepted the hug, and then I said "No worries, I'm glad I could help." Now, I'm in NO way a Saint, I don't profess to be one, claim to be one or attempt to be one, but I DO consider myself one of "the good people" that Jack's asking about.
The sad part of that story is that at least 5 people walked right around her before I even got to her.
So here's what I think; Don't be one of those 5 people. I think that most of us are actually good people, we're just busy and sometimes we lose focus on what's important in life. Being kind and humane shouldn't be things that have to be taught, they should be things that are innate in us...how much better would this world be if they were? Can we re-learn how to be? I think so.
Night good people ;)
Saturday, October 31, 2009
The way you make me feel! You knock me off my feet now baby....my lonely day's are gone!
I read somewhere yesterday that people might forget what you say to them, or something that you do for them, but they will never forget the way that you made them feel. I let that quote marinate for a little while and then I realized, I think this person, (who ever it was that said it) might actually be onto something.
I remember once when I was a little girl (ok I know I'm 6ft tall now so imagining me as a little girl is sorta difficult, but just envision me now, but a smaller me) my father told me that he would come to one of my softball games and I was really hoping that he would, he was in the Army and was always super busy so I strived to try to keep his interest in me because he had so many other things going on, but sports I knew had interest in, so I sorta thought he'd show...he didn't, ever, to as many as I invited him to. Yeah, he might have been held up at work, or forgotten, but nonetheless, the point of this story is, that what he said to me didn't stick with me, the way he made me feel by NOT showing however, did. Obviously, because I still think of it to this day. (Yes, I've moved on from it, parents do many things to dis-please us in our lives, and vice versa, it's just part of life-but thanks for caring about me! ;)
Think about how many times you've told someone that you'd go to the movies with them or out to get a drink but then couldn't make it, for various reasons, let that happen one too many times and think about what happens to that friendship. Do you think it's because of what you SAID to them that made them ultimately stop inviting you to go out with them? No, it's how you made them FEEL when you canceled or didn't show. You can't really blame them for not asking anymore though, can you? Sooo...
Here's what I think;
I think I'm going to make sure from now on that I do what I say, and say what I do. Mean what I say, and say what I mean. And I'm going to really think about how I'm going to make the other person "feel" by my actions. Because ultimately, actions speaker louder than words. But that's a topic for a whole other day. ;)
Enjoy the rest of your weekend my peeps, thanks for reading and Happy Halloween!
I remember once when I was a little girl (ok I know I'm 6ft tall now so imagining me as a little girl is sorta difficult, but just envision me now, but a smaller me) my father told me that he would come to one of my softball games and I was really hoping that he would, he was in the Army and was always super busy so I strived to try to keep his interest in me because he had so many other things going on, but sports I knew had interest in, so I sorta thought he'd show...he didn't, ever, to as many as I invited him to. Yeah, he might have been held up at work, or forgotten, but nonetheless, the point of this story is, that what he said to me didn't stick with me, the way he made me feel by NOT showing however, did. Obviously, because I still think of it to this day. (Yes, I've moved on from it, parents do many things to dis-please us in our lives, and vice versa, it's just part of life-but thanks for caring about me! ;)
Think about how many times you've told someone that you'd go to the movies with them or out to get a drink but then couldn't make it, for various reasons, let that happen one too many times and think about what happens to that friendship. Do you think it's because of what you SAID to them that made them ultimately stop inviting you to go out with them? No, it's how you made them FEEL when you canceled or didn't show. You can't really blame them for not asking anymore though, can you? Sooo...
Here's what I think;
I think I'm going to make sure from now on that I do what I say, and say what I do. Mean what I say, and say what I mean. And I'm going to really think about how I'm going to make the other person "feel" by my actions. Because ultimately, actions speaker louder than words. But that's a topic for a whole other day. ;)
Enjoy the rest of your weekend my peeps, thanks for reading and Happy Halloween!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
A sheep in wolves clothing
According to Wikipedia "perception" is defined as the process of attaining awareness or understanding of sensory information. It also states that; What one perceives is a result of interplays between past experiences, including one’s culture, and the interpretation of the perceived. Why you ask is Tonya going all Psych 101 on her blog today? It was triggered by a conversation that I had with a friend about peoples, IE, womens, perceptions of men. We were talking about the "ah ha" moment that you have when you discover, after either much abuse on your part, or struggles, or time, or distance, that the person you are "dating" or are in "love" with, is an entirely different person than you thought that they were, or that you "perceived" them to be.
Take for instance, Jane, and yes I know you don't need a lesson to teach you what perception means, I get that, I get that you understand what I'm talking about, but just stay with me for a minute, I want to weigh in on how I think WOMEN perceive MEN. Ok, so back to Jane. Jane starts out dating Jack and she "perceives" him to be this really super nice guy, he's always opening doors for her, he's doing all the wonderfully romantic things that we women want men to do, so she "perceives" that he will stay this way as a person down the road, she "perceives" that she has met a man that will treat her nicely, never get mad at her, or cause her to cry. What Jane does in actuality by "perceiving" all of these things about Jack is a)ultimately setting herself up to be hurt and b)setting Jack up for failure, and she's doing it without even knowing it.
I recently started dating someone, and I can admit, I did the exact same thing Jane did. I"perceived" him to be something that he really just isn't. YES, he's a nice guy, YES, he's nice to me, YES, he shows up when he says he's going to, and YES he calls when he's late, but during our initial getting to know each other phase I didn't anticipate that he would have bad days, be late occasionally when we got together because he was held up at work, or make me angry when we tried to work through a little issue that we had, I didn't "anticipate" my sheep to sometimes wear wolves clothing. And who's fault is that but my own.
Now, having said all of that, here's my take on how men perceive women. They see a cute girl, they ask her out, they take her out on a date, they think they might want to kiss her so they do, they ask her out again, they go out again, in the meantime he plays basketball with his friends on Friday, and visits his mother on Saturday, all the while his perception of the "girl" he's been dating is insular, very one dimensional, because men think tangibly, when he's with her, he likes her, he doesn't "perceive" that she won't eventually make him mad, or cause him undue stress over where to park the car or what movie to choose at the movie theater, no, a man's "perception" of a woman is never built up in their heads like it is for us, they're just way more simple than that. They just are.
In fact, here's proof of what I speak of muahahaha! Here's an excerpt from an article on the internet comprised by Victor W. Harris, MS entitled "The Top 11 ways Men and Women differ".
In it he states: Because women are generally more perceptive and aware in their relationships, they tend to expect men to be more aware and perceptive, as well. Unfortunately, this is generally not the case. For this reason, unless women become skilled at congruent communication (i.e., to say what you mean and mean what you say), they will begin to feel that their needs are not being met. It is not that men do not want to help them meet their needs, but the fact of the matter is that men are generally socialized to congruently communicate what they need and not to expect others to read their minds.
So, here's what I think:
I think we should all just stick to what feels right to us about the other person based upon concrete fact and evidence, otherwise, what we "perceive" may up end "DEceiving" us instead.
Thanks for reading!
Take for instance, Jane, and yes I know you don't need a lesson to teach you what perception means, I get that, I get that you understand what I'm talking about, but just stay with me for a minute, I want to weigh in on how I think WOMEN perceive MEN. Ok, so back to Jane. Jane starts out dating Jack and she "perceives" him to be this really super nice guy, he's always opening doors for her, he's doing all the wonderfully romantic things that we women want men to do, so she "perceives" that he will stay this way as a person down the road, she "perceives" that she has met a man that will treat her nicely, never get mad at her, or cause her to cry. What Jane does in actuality by "perceiving" all of these things about Jack is a)ultimately setting herself up to be hurt and b)setting Jack up for failure, and she's doing it without even knowing it.
I recently started dating someone, and I can admit, I did the exact same thing Jane did. I"perceived" him to be something that he really just isn't. YES, he's a nice guy, YES, he's nice to me, YES, he shows up when he says he's going to, and YES he calls when he's late, but during our initial getting to know each other phase I didn't anticipate that he would have bad days, be late occasionally when we got together because he was held up at work, or make me angry when we tried to work through a little issue that we had, I didn't "anticipate" my sheep to sometimes wear wolves clothing. And who's fault is that but my own.
Now, having said all of that, here's my take on how men perceive women. They see a cute girl, they ask her out, they take her out on a date, they think they might want to kiss her so they do, they ask her out again, they go out again, in the meantime he plays basketball with his friends on Friday, and visits his mother on Saturday, all the while his perception of the "girl" he's been dating is insular, very one dimensional, because men think tangibly, when he's with her, he likes her, he doesn't "perceive" that she won't eventually make him mad, or cause him undue stress over where to park the car or what movie to choose at the movie theater, no, a man's "perception" of a woman is never built up in their heads like it is for us, they're just way more simple than that. They just are.
In fact, here's proof of what I speak of muahahaha! Here's an excerpt from an article on the internet comprised by Victor W. Harris, MS entitled "The Top 11 ways Men and Women differ".
In it he states: Because women are generally more perceptive and aware in their relationships, they tend to expect men to be more aware and perceptive, as well. Unfortunately, this is generally not the case. For this reason, unless women become skilled at congruent communication (i.e., to say what you mean and mean what you say), they will begin to feel that their needs are not being met. It is not that men do not want to help them meet their needs, but the fact of the matter is that men are generally socialized to congruently communicate what they need and not to expect others to read their minds.
So, here's what I think:
I think we should all just stick to what feels right to us about the other person based upon concrete fact and evidence, otherwise, what we "perceive" may up end "DEceiving" us instead.
Thanks for reading!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Time flies when you're having fun
How funny is it when you come across a long lost blog that you started but never kept up with you ask? Pretty darn funny!
I'm sure you're asking, how did you let that happen Tonya? I mean, I read your blog, lived by your blog, entertained myself with your blog, kept time to your blog, and then, one day, you just stopped writing, what happened?
What happened was, I suck at updating blogs. I think I've started 3 or 4 of them over time and then something happens (obviously something grandiose enough to drag me away from writing a blog) and I just stop.
Trust me my fans, it was never my intention to let you down. I swear. I'm sure all the excuses in the world are never going to convince you, my fan, my dear worthy, trusty reader, that it wasn't. So I am here to make it up to you, somehow, someway. Maybe I'll just start by making a few promises:
I promise;
1)to post something interesting, funny, clever, witty, profound or poignant at least once a week
2)to try to post something interesting, funny, clever, witty, profound or poignant...
3)to post
I hope you accept my deepest apologies and know that I will attempt to not have to apologize for my prolonged absence, again.
Ok, you can all rest easier now I'm sure. I'm back...... For now!
KIDDING! :)
I'm sure you're asking, how did you let that happen Tonya? I mean, I read your blog, lived by your blog, entertained myself with your blog, kept time to your blog, and then, one day, you just stopped writing, what happened?
What happened was, I suck at updating blogs. I think I've started 3 or 4 of them over time and then something happens (obviously something grandiose enough to drag me away from writing a blog) and I just stop.
Trust me my fans, it was never my intention to let you down. I swear. I'm sure all the excuses in the world are never going to convince you, my fan, my dear worthy, trusty reader, that it wasn't. So I am here to make it up to you, somehow, someway. Maybe I'll just start by making a few promises:
I promise;
1)to post something interesting, funny, clever, witty, profound or poignant at least once a week
2)to try to post something interesting, funny, clever, witty, profound or poignant...
3)to post
I hope you accept my deepest apologies and know that I will attempt to not have to apologize for my prolonged absence, again.
Ok, you can all rest easier now I'm sure. I'm back...... For now!
KIDDING! :)
Friday, January 2, 2009
Because everyday should be Christmas
Apparently, according to Newsoftheweird.com, this chap likes to have Christmas everyday! Now, there's a way to live people. lol Enjoy!
When News of the Weird last mentioned Andy Park, of Melksham, England, in 2002, he was in his eighth straight year of celebrating Christmas every single day of his life, with not only seasonal decorations and cards mailed to himself but a full holiday meal including turkey and champagne. However, as he told the Daily Mail in November, "The credit crunch is getting to me big time," and he has been forced to cut back a bit on the presents he gives himself. Nonetheless, every morning since July 14, 1994, Park continues to arise and open his presents before starting on his full meal and mince pie. He also watches the queen's Christmas speech on video. Yes, he admits, "People do think I'm (nuts)." [Daily Mail (London), 11-24-08]
When News of the Weird last mentioned Andy Park, of Melksham, England, in 2002, he was in his eighth straight year of celebrating Christmas every single day of his life, with not only seasonal decorations and cards mailed to himself but a full holiday meal including turkey and champagne. However, as he told the Daily Mail in November, "The credit crunch is getting to me big time," and he has been forced to cut back a bit on the presents he gives himself. Nonetheless, every morning since July 14, 1994, Park continues to arise and open his presents before starting on his full meal and mince pie. He also watches the queen's Christmas speech on video. Yes, he admits, "People do think I'm (nuts)." [Daily Mail (London), 11-24-08]
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