Writes all the things. Most of the things never write back.
Sometimes I write a sentence like (speaking of a white leather sofa) “Did it have transparent vinyl covers on it, or was its pristine albinism sufficient ward against the incursion of the mundane?” and I think, TOO ABSTRUSE. NOBODY’S GOING TO UNDERSTAND THAT.
And then I think, no one’s gonna understand ‘abstruse.’
Randomness is part of the flavor of life, and it always reminds me that no matter how deep I am in my grief, there’s a whole world proceeding forth with or without me.
“It”s gonna be a nice fall-like afternoon today,” the guy on the radio says.
Yup. Nothing gets more fall-like than a day in October with typical temperatures. When it’s, you know, FALL.
Sometimes I’m in Oswego during the Rudy’s season, and I’m in a little bit of a hurry, and I think, do I want to go to Rudy’s? And more often than not, I do, because I realize, I CAN DO THIS FOR THE ONES WHO DON’T HAVE THE OPTION. It’s the sacrifice I make, willingly.
No need to thank me. The food is reward enough.
I question the accuracy of media reporting sometimes. Case in point: the recent news story about whether eating red meat is OK for you or not. Here’s an article I saw about it – the top story returned to me by Google News:
ScienceAlert.com – Here’s The Real Truth About That Confusing Red Meat Study
From the story:
“These findings have led to many guidelines recommending people eat a bit less red meat to improve their health.”
Let’s look at one of those “many guidelines” – this one from the U.S. government. Their recommendation for a healthy diet: twenty six ounces/ounce-equivalents PER WEEK, combined, of meat/poultry/eggs. That means: less than four ounces A DAY. Of meat, poultry, or eggs on a 2000 calorie a day diet. Not something as extravagant as four ounces of each. No. Four ounces a day, TOTAL, combined, breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Appendix 3. USDA Food Patterns: Healthy U.S.-Style Eating Pattern
Is THAT “a bit less” than what you eat now?
But wait. It goes on.
“A controversial new study has proven that actually there’s no evidence that eating red meat is bad for us, and that we can go ahead and gorge on steak and burgers once again.”
Um. No. I don’t think the new study gives the green light to “gorging on steak and burgers.”
But I’m supposed to take this story seriously? When it starts to break down the instant you take a hard look at its foundations?
By the way, the actual recommendation from the study itself was this:
“The panel suggests that adults continue current unprocessed red meat consumption (weak recommendation, low-certainty evidence). Similarly, the panel suggests adults continue current processed meat consumption (weak recommendation, low-certainty evidence).”
You’ll note the absence of the word “gorging” in the actual study.
(To this story’s credit, it DID provide links to the stories that ultimately undercut its own credibility.)
This may be more than you ever wanted to know about hyphens, en dashes, and em dashes. But if you’re a writer, these distinctions matter.
Chicago Manual of Style Online — Hyphens, En Dashes, Em Dashes
I’m going to start appending “Undisclosed sources reveal… ” in front of everything I say, in order to make them sound more authoritative.
“See?” October says. “I’m not so bad!”, and gives us an 80° day to start the month.
Don’t be fooled. From the looks of the forecast, this is the ONLY day this warm this month, which means, possibly for the rest of the year. No other day this month is forecast to exceed 65°. In fact, only twelve of the other thirty days are in the 60s.
Fourteen days are in the 50s.
Four are in the 40s.
Consider today a sweet farewell kiss from Summer 2019. See you in 2020…
“Writing practice brings us back to the uniqueness of our own minds and an acceptance of it. We all have wild dreams, fantasies, and ordinary thoughts. Let us to feel the texture of them and not be afraid of them.”
―Natalie Goldberg
I tried writing a nice, normal story once, but I fell asleep in the middle of writing it.