Warning...words of an adult nature

Have you ever wondered why a word is deemed bad? What is a bad word? One that is inappropriate from the mouths of babes? Also known as "four letter words"...though love has four letters too. I have often wondered how certain words get deemed inappropriate. The following are familiar words as defined by dictionary.com:

damn

   [dam]  Show IPA

verb (used with object)

1.

to declare (something) to be bad, unfit, invalid, or illegal.

2.

to condemn as a failure: to damn a play.

3.

to bring condemnation upon; ruin.

4.

to doom to eternal punishment or condemn to hell.

5.

to swear at or curse, using the word “damn”: Damn thetorpedoes! Full speed ahead!

shit

   [shit]  Show IPA noun, verb, shit or shat,shit·ting, interjection Vulgar .

noun

1.

excrement; feces.

2.

an act of defecating; evacuation.

bitch

   [bich]  Show IPA

noun

1.

a female dog: The bitch won first place in the sporting dogscategory.

2.

a female of canines generally.

3.

Slang .

a.

a malicious, unpleasant, selfish person, especially awoman.

b.

a lewd woman.

c.

Disparaging and Offensive . any woman.

4.

Slang . a person who performs demeaning tasks for another;servant: Tom is so her bitch; she just ordered him to gofetch her some pizza—and he went without a word.

5.

Slang . a convict who is in a homosexual relationship and/ordominant relationship willingly or unwillingly in the prisonsetting: The new inmate was immediately forced to be thebitch of the prison's top dog.

fuck

   [fuhk]  Show IPA Vulgar .

verb (used with object)

to have sexual intercourse with.

If you read the definitions there isn't anything offensive. So who decided? It's like the swastika. A symbol that was used around the world for 3000 years, usually a symbol of life or good luck. That is, until Hitler adopted the symbol for the Nazi party. Now the symbol represents hate and death to most people. 


So what makes something bad?




 Perception.

Life's highlight reel

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Those moments in time that just seem to replay over and over. Not just memories...but life's highlights.

I have memories, like everyone, good and bad. I have regrets for things done...and not done. Some memories fade away to resurface later. I am always surprised to realize I have forgotten some event...until something triggers the memory.

But that's not what I'm thinking on.

How to explain?

These are the bits and pieces of life that I hold near and dear. The frequently visited. The often examined...and relived. But not in full light. Somethings should never be looked upon directly in broad daylight. Overexposure ruins the film.

I think if someone asked me to be specific about one of these moments, I might have difficulty. They come unbidden, resurfacing and floating through memory. I think most often when my mind in uncluttered with other trivialities. Maybe they are turning points or guideposts along the road. Maybe because good emotions are attached...but then, not always. Maybe it's unfinished business. I am sure they have some purpose, or they wouldn't recur so frequently on the Ferris wheel of my memory.

Have I explained the Ferris wheel? Maybe another time.

Wow...I realize I am behind

I never know what cause my lapses in writing. It isn't happiness or sadness. It's not that I'm too busy or lack material. I just...don't. Then one day, I do. So here I am.

I missed telling my tale of the fireman a few Fridays ago. I was driving home from work on an absolutely gorgeous Friday afternoon. A wreck on the highway had traffic a mess. I stop at the light beside the firetruck and police cars. Sitting there watching the guys in uniform talk...I guess they were waiting on the tow trucks. I watch as one of the firemen steps behind the open door of the firetruck and beneath the door I notice his pants slide down his legs. OMG...fireman strip tease! My imagination just went through the open moon roof of my car. Now, I know he had shorts on under those heavy, rubbery, fireman pants...but I couldn't see them and I wasn't imaging them either. Whew.

There is something about a man in uniform...or slightly out of it. Oh Baby!

Marking time

5 years tomorrow. It seems no more possible than it's been 10 years since 9-11. Where does the time go? And how do we survive?

The road I've traveled

In my lifetime...

Music has traveled from 8 tracks to cassettes to CD's to MP3's.

Movies from the theater, to home, via VHS to DVD and now Blu-Ray.

Cameras from film that had to be developed to Polaroids that appeared magically to digital cameras.

Microwaves were new. So were computers and the internet. Cable TV. Cell phones...for that matter, cordless phones. Video games have matured from Pong to Wii and X-Box. 

I'm sure there have been many other new and improved I haven't thought of at this moment. Technology has taken giant leaps and bounds.

Oh, I almost forgot...a man walked on the moon.

wishes and wannabes

I just finished the book, A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. On the dust cover, it mentions that she writes an award winning blog on wine. I wish I knew enough about something that I could regularly write about it. Or, I suppose, hold a fascination and the means to pursue knowledge about something I love. My husband has said, that I know a little about everything and not a lot about anything. It is true. I hold certain things dear to my heart but none that I would claim to know so well as to advise others. Of late, I could write about the books I read, as I seem to have an abundance. But why would anyone care about my opinion? Books, like music, movies and food, are all very individualized. I can love a book, as I have, to have a friend not enjoy it at all...and vice versa. Oh well, I will continue writing about the only thing I know...me.

Ahhhhh Autumn

The cool weather has arrived...temporary and a little early. I love cool Autumn days. I love the sounds and smells...mmmm wood smoke. I look forward to the trees turning colors and long walks in the woods. I like pulling out my hoodies. Hot tea. Hot baths. Flannel. I love Halloween.

The only downside...winter will be close behind.










So beautiful and joys all it's own...but soooo cold.

Cleaning out the clutter

My brain is aflutter with ideas and thoughts that need to be put to rest. Let's see if they'll land here...and stay put.

Some things are better left alone. No matter how much you want it, it isn't good for you. Leave it be. It is how it is for a reason. Remind yourself what the reason is. Rinse, repeat.

There is no big secret to losing weight. Less calories in, more calories out. Eat less, exercise more. I did not say it was easy, just not a secret. But people pay billions of dollars a year for fast and easy. They don't want to hear truth.

I was thinking about something from long ago and far away, in another life. It's funny how some perfect moments stay with you...even after the people are gone.

Curiosity can be the greatest gift or the worst bane. Killed the kitty? Hardly. I hear a purr of contentment. I do not know how a person could not be curious. I want to know. High, low, around the next corner. It's the answer to the question. Wrap it up in a mystery and reel me in. Purrfect.

I never stop learning...even about me. I realized this week, I am never so
happy as when I have a ball to chase or a bone to worry. I need an occasional challenge. I am intrigued by the puzzle. I want to untangle and find a solution. The trick being that it not be impossible to solve...and occasional!!!

To Dad...

I didn't forget yesterday. It was just a little too painful. Not much better today...but nobody is looking.

Happy Birthday

Small victories

I don't know what made me think of this today. When we moved into our house many years ago, there was a street sign dead center of my front yard. When I looked out my front door, there stood the sign. When we had company, you couldn't pull a car off the road, because of the sign. Besides being an eyesore, the sign erroneously marked the designation of the streets simply by it's location. I live on a curve, more an L, with the vertical and horizontal segments each having a different name. Since my house is 4 houses from the meeting point, it didn't make sense to me how the sign had ended up in my yard. It annoyed me...but what are you going to do? Though I do recall asking a friend with a wrecker to tie a chain around it and drive off. But there could have been all those pesky legal issues and surely the sign would just be replaced. So, I lived with it. The husband wouldn't even agree to me planting a flowering vine to grow up it.

Then one a day, a construction crew showed up. They were going to work on a drainage project which involved realigning all the ditches in the neighborhood to improve flow of water. They made a huge mess and disrupted everything in the neighborhood. Then one day, I noticed the street sign was down while they were working in my yard. I watched and I wondered. I walked out on the sidewalk and struck up a conversation. After offering cold water to drink and some idle chit-chat, I suggested maybe the sign could get lost. Nope, they said, everything they took down had to be put back. I queried, in the exact same place? I explained how the sign was really in the wrong place and pointed to where the street actually changed names.

I was smiling from ear to ear, when my husband came home from work that afternoon and I pointed out my handy work...he just shook his head. I wonder how long it took the guy across the street to notice the street sign in his yard? I wonder if he'd ever paid attention to where it was before? It is more accurately located now, not that anybody really cared. And it is in his side yard, blocked from his view by a large evergreen.

Dear creator of Angry Birds...

First and foremost...congratulations on creating virtual crack. I know a lot of addicts. I bought my Nook Color and it was the first app downloaded. I managed to wait a week. I am not yet addicted...playing to the exclusion of all else, but it could be a tricky tightrope.

Now I know my chances of the creators of Angry Birds, Finland-based Rovio Mobile, actually ever seeing my blog are about, um....I don't think I know what a number with that many zeros is called to about 1, but...

I have to ask...why am I launching birds, that can fly, from a slingshot? Wouldn't it have made more sense to fling pigs? Just sayin'. And, of course, there is that whole thing about, when pigs fly.

If you have never played this, I don't know whether to advise you to go or run. The picture on the right is a screen shot. The yellow bird is going to hit the wall in attempt for the wood to collapse and bring down the pigs.

From that description maybe a wolf would have been an excellent flying object. Except is isn't always wood...there is ice and rocks and stuff I haven't see yet. It's a puzzle with you launching a limited number of birds at each fortress trying to eliminate the pigs. A lighthearted fun game that can steal hours from your day before you even know it.

Congratulations again...and when you write Pigs Revenge, remember me...okay?

Tea anybody?

The brain has been in overdrive with odd, random, thoughts. Not odd, as in my usual, off-the-wall, random thoughts...but then, maybe so. They streak past at the speed of sound, sometimes barely giving me a glimpse. If I can't immediately stop and focus on it, it's gone. None of it seems particularly important...and I have no idea why the brain is on speed.

And I hear the heckler in the balcony yell, "Can you say bi-polar?" I am not manic. Am too. Am not. Nor do I argue with myself...usually. I do talk to myself...out loud. But only until I tell myself to shut up. If I listen to me. See what I have to put up with? I am a pain in my own ass. 

Better to deal with my own demons than someone else's...mine are house trained. I can't be truly crazy because I am aware. I know people will look at me funny if I talk to myself. So, I must just be broken. My story and I'm sticking to it. I'm okay with it. I've been this way a while. I'll take hyper-drive over depression anytime.





Oh...look...a shiny.

Sitting in the dark

I stayed up late last night/this morning as I am terribly close to the end of an 800+ page book. It has been a good story but not an easy read as there are many characters.  I will admit that I also stopped in the middle of the book to read another book. As I found myself nearing the end, I wanted to push forward to finish it. I gave up and went to bed with about 40 pages remaining...a couple of the main characters potentially dead. I should not have bothered, as Mother Nature decided to put on a show and I feel like I've been awake most of the few hours I was in bed. I'm sitting here in the dark, because I haven't turned on the lights, and I can hear sirens on the highway...so something ugly has happened. I checked my tress when I first got up. I have a long standing fear of losing my trees...concern for both the large trees and the damage they would undoubtedly do. Living in a subdivision there isn't much room for them to go down without hitting something.

I have plans today...we'll see if I make my way through those last 40 pages.

Nook Color page 2

I have not done my usual. I usually buy something and I am all about it. I was reading a book, so I had mostly put the Nook aside. I've played with it a little and explored. I downloaded the Hunger Games trilogy, more because I felt the need to...and I've heard lots of positive comments and I got a good price. I have many books ahead of them...of the paper variety. So far I have been very pleased with what I have found. Reading the instructions, yes I do read them, I found it very easy on the eyes...and hands free. I just prop a pillow under the Nook and get comfortable. I can even pet the dog.