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clarentineEver want a personal demonstration of inertia? Try drafting a blog post after not posting for six weeks. (ETA: eight weeks!)
My absence has been compensation for an overwhelming personal calendar – not compensation I intended to make, and my inability to blog was not the only thing that got set aside. In short, too many effing things to get done, not enough hours in which to do them (or, as it turned out, even to remember to do them).
I’m still experiencing a lot of preoccupation; the to-do list whose existence is making this blog post possible has not really gotten a lot shorter. Nevertheless, I am making progress. Some of the chaos is getting resolved. Structures are being built...literally, in some cases. *g*
(Chicken house, photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8556491@N07/)
***
I am a little less than a third of the way through the thematic rewrite pass on the Bells novel. I got that far on the back of a synopsis which was specifically written to highlight theme and thematic elements; without that synopsis, I’d never have been able to hold the entire story in my head, not in the reduced headspace I’m working with. Bill Johnson’s how-to for synopses is awesome (and publicly available; if you can’t find it, please let me know and I’ll send you a copy).
***
On NPR this morning they said that the discretionary spending portion of the budget that the US Congress is faffing around with equals no more than 12 per cent of the entire budget. That means that 88 per cent is considered untouchable (at least currently, and that depends on who you ask). What’s in that 88 per cent? Military spending. Medicare.
Remember, the next time you hear some overpaid, ego-inflated Congressional talking head insisting on how essential it is that he holds the line on spending etc., that he’s thrashing around about twelve per cent of our nation’s enormous budgetary outlay. Want to get under his skin? Ask him when the other 88 per cent will be considered for cutting.
(No, I’m not in favor of slashing military spending, or of slashing any particular program. I’m in favor of honest compromise. You know, where we know we’ve done a good job when both sides hate the result?)
I made my annual contribution to my local public radio station today. It’s reporting like this – honest, insightful, giving the listener the real big picture behind the public media portrayal of issues – that I value, and I hope every one of you who want truth, not more padded lies, contributes what mite you may have to supporting public media like NPR. You know, the public media that Congress insists the government should no longer be funding.
My absence has been compensation for an overwhelming personal calendar – not compensation I intended to make, and my inability to blog was not the only thing that got set aside. In short, too many effing things to get done, not enough hours in which to do them (or, as it turned out, even to remember to do them).
I’m still experiencing a lot of preoccupation; the to-do list whose existence is making this blog post possible has not really gotten a lot shorter. Nevertheless, I am making progress. Some of the chaos is getting resolved. Structures are being built...literally, in some cases. *g*
(Chicken house, photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8556491@N07/)
***
I am a little less than a third of the way through the thematic rewrite pass on the Bells novel. I got that far on the back of a synopsis which was specifically written to highlight theme and thematic elements; without that synopsis, I’d never have been able to hold the entire story in my head, not in the reduced headspace I’m working with. Bill Johnson’s how-to for synopses is awesome (and publicly available; if you can’t find it, please let me know and I’ll send you a copy).
***
On NPR this morning they said that the discretionary spending portion of the budget that the US Congress is faffing around with equals no more than 12 per cent of the entire budget. That means that 88 per cent is considered untouchable (at least currently, and that depends on who you ask). What’s in that 88 per cent? Military spending. Medicare.
Remember, the next time you hear some overpaid, ego-inflated Congressional talking head insisting on how essential it is that he holds the line on spending etc., that he’s thrashing around about twelve per cent of our nation’s enormous budgetary outlay. Want to get under his skin? Ask him when the other 88 per cent will be considered for cutting.
(No, I’m not in favor of slashing military spending, or of slashing any particular program. I’m in favor of honest compromise. You know, where we know we’ve done a good job when both sides hate the result?)
I made my annual contribution to my local public radio station today. It’s reporting like this – honest, insightful, giving the listener the real big picture behind the public media portrayal of issues – that I value, and I hope every one of you who want truth, not more padded lies, contributes what mite you may have to supporting public media like NPR. You know, the public media that Congress insists the government should no longer be funding.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-07 02:08 pm (UTC)And I have only just noticed the museum stuff. It's neat.