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New Mantra

Made it back for a few minutes before I take off again for more fun stuff. Just got back from a trek to NaNoWriMo land. Spent the better part of the afternoon increasing the word count globally. And locally.

This year is so different from last. Maybe because it's not the first year. To the point, I'm enjoying this year more. Part of it has to be the little talk I had with myself. "Self," I said, "this is for fun." There was lots more, but that's enough to get the gist of the conversation. So before I start I chant the mantra and then go at it. Haven't broken into the five digit count yet but that's OK. Fun.

Not sure about this time change. Dark at five o'clock doesn't seem right somehow. Here's a useless fact I garnered today. The sun's arc where I live has shifted significantly. It used to cruise over my roof but now it just makes it above the tree line which is a lot lower on the horizon. Didn't realize I lived that far north. Wonder what it does in a Alaska? Skim the horizon?

Voted today. Turn out was decent I suppose. The workers at my polling place said they'd seen about maybe half of the number from the general elections. Although all the campaigning that I whined back then is long gone, I could've used some of it for this one. Most of the names on the ballot I had never seen before. Informed voter?

How did I choose then? I have to admit I chose by gender and party if I didn't recognize a name from the list. Time will tell if that method works any better than listening to months of rhetoric. One other method I forgot to mention...the size signs the candidate had splattered all over the countryside. If I saw bunches of large signs and billboards, particularly the new animated ones, I voted for someone else. Scientific reasoning there is that someone financed the advertising and will then expect something in return. Jaded? Not for politics. Not in my life time anyway.

Got my first Christmas catalogue in the mail today. Been seeing decorations going up in the stores, but that starts as soon as back to school is over. Ignore that. Anybody remember getting the "wish book" form Sears? My siser and I would spend hours pouring over that book. The list had to be just right. We'd coordinate the wishes as best we could figuring if one of us messed up, maybe the other would get it and share. A different time then. We're grown now living on opposite coasts. And in different worlds.

Don't remember my kids doing anything like that. No wish book came to the house for them. No department store windows, no trip to the power company offices to see the big train layout. Guess they missed out on a special moment of time. Maybe being the age I am isn't so bad after all.





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