My Funny Spare Tire

Here is a funny story that says something about forgetfulness or playfulness or who knows what.

I love whimsical art and so I made a crocheted wheel cover for the spare tire that sits on the back of my SUV.  People laugh when they see it, so I figure my mission is accomplished.  One day, shortly after finishing the project, I decided that my car just had to get to the car wash.  So off I went to the unmanned car wash near the grocery store. There was no line, which delighted me, and I happily went through the 7 minute wash - I got the works - extra clear coat and all that stuff. 

As I was driving through the big blow dryer, I glanced in the rear view mirror and realized I had not taken the newly crocheted cover off the spare tire.  Knowing that it was probably sopping wet, I just drove on home, laughing all the way.  What did the folks driving behind me think when they saw this sagging mass of yarn dripping all over the road?  

When I got home and looked at it, it was hilarious - it reminded me of those days at the beach with young children when the bottom of their swim suits get filled with water and sand and just drag around.  I kept laughing as I removed the sopping mess and put it in the clothes dryer.  I was lucky - it came right back to shape after it dried.  

I had a good laugh at myself  that day .  Do you get to laugh at yourself on occasion.  It's good for the soul!

The Wall

I've done what happens to all writers.  I've run smack into a wall.  Can't think of thing I want to say,  even with so much going on in the world.  So here is a piece of my art to keep you tantalized until my writing urge returns.

Has My Time Passed? Or Is It My Lost Patience?

I like to learn new ways of doing things.  I seek out classes and videos and webinars to help me learn.  As a former teacher, I understand what good teaching is and I am disappointed more often than not with the classes and lectures I find. 

Here's an example.  I want to lean more about promoting my Etsy shop for my art.  I signed up for a class that was supposed to do this.  What I got was a very young social marketing fellow who has no idea how to teach or even where to start in the teaching process and it was just so much blah....blah....blah.  He jumped from topic to topic with no cohesion between subjects. I already get that I must "drive traffic" to my shop, but how to do that was a jumble of jargon and gobbledy-gook, not a well-thought out, step-by-step presentation.  

Just because there is a venue for getting the word out there does not mean every Tom, Dick and Harry is going to use it effectively. When I find the right presenter, I'll be in heaven. Or maybe I won't because the marketplace is geared to a youth population that already "gets" all the internet jargon.  Sigh...............has my time passed???

Who's in Charge?

Have you ever wondered why some people want someone else to make all the decisions for them and others want to do it all themselves?  There must be a difference in brain structure, I'd think. 

I'm one of those who likes to delve into the details of my projects and I usually don't want a standard, cookie cutter approach.  This brings extra aggravation, but it also brings a lot of satisfaction.  The problem is that the business world is set up to get things done the quickest way for the business, even though it's not always the best way for the buyer!  

But a little persistence usually gets the business to accommodate the customer.   I, for one, urge everyone to push a little harder on their goods and services providers and get exactly what they want!  It's much more fun that way. 

Which type are you?   Get it done the standard way, quickly?  Take more time, dig into the details, and get a more personalized product?  Either way works.  Maybe it's just a function of your brain wiring!!

Time Well Spent

At this age, every day is a new adventure, never knowing which bone will ache or what new symptom will occur. I've learned not to procrastinate.  If there is something I want to do, I do it NOW.  If there is a chore that needs to be done, it comes AFTER I do what I want to do.

 Life is way too short to spend it on chores and most of us have given too many hours to them over the years.  In my case, it's easy to decide what to do with my time because there is no one else living in my space whose need must be accommodated. There is a certain joy in knowing that every minute of time is my own to do with as I please.

The downside, of course, is that I don't always have someone to share the experiences with. And aging alone has its problematic side - but that is a whole other issue.  Your view on living alone may be very different if you never have. Do you consider it a good thing or would you dread the possibility?  

Talking Out of Both Sides of My Mouth

I have mixed feelings about the death penalty. I used to strongly favor it, but I'm not so sure anymore.  

My moral compass tells me that it is not right to take a life, even of a murderer. Wouldn't life in prison without possibility of parole be sound justice, so that the perpetrator has plenty of time to live with his/her crime? But  my sense of outrage over horrific crimes leads me to want "an eye for an eye" justice, not to mention it would save a lot of tax dollars used for housing criminals. 

It's a tough call, but I'm just not sure we have a right to take a life, even of a twisted monster.  Ah, but here's the rub.  Out of the other side of my mouth, I support first trimester abortion - and by some people's standards, this is "taking a life". I sure don't like  talking out of both sides of my mouth, but I haven't figured out how not to, as yet.  Are you conflicted, too?

Save the Children

What is going on in this world when children are abducted and held captive for the sexual pleasure of a deviant who rapes, beats, and starves them for becoming impregnated,  and then fools the world into thinking he's an all-around guy? It is sickening.

Life seems to have taken on a horrific tone and the media have contributed greatly to the problem.  Mental illness is escalating in serious proportions, or being noticed more, but there has to be a way to stop accidentally aggrandizing the actions of sick people while  keeping the main focus on how to keep our children safe.

John Walsh, whose own child was abducted and killed, is a real hero in my opinion. He works tirelessly at the grass roots level, finding ways to place the focus on the worth of the children while tracking down the deviants.  The media has it the other way round - they focus on the deviants - and the more disgusting the crime, the more attention they get.

I want society to take care of its children so things like this never happen again.  Am I just a dreamer?

Protecting Incompetence

Educator Rita Pierson, at a TED Talks Education event, said this:  "...where are our standards for educators?  Why do we allow incompetence to remain?  .........I am not aware of any corporate entity (other than schools) that passes incompetence around in a circle." 

To the contrary, Ms. Pierson, there is no lack of incompetence in corporations.  They feverishly pass failing executives around in a circle and incapable managers rise to their true level of inability, regularly.  Often, it's done to just get them out of the way.  Must you look any further than the recent finance industry mismanagement to see this happening all around you?

It's not a matter of seeking competence, rather a matter of covering mistakes.  Incompetents in any field are protected to avoid the embarrassing reality of poor hiring and unwarranted promotions.  It is easier to move personnel around or let staff become scapegoats than to correct a hiring error.

If you think that there is more incompetence in the field of education than in the corporate world, then you are not paying attention.  My sister always said the wheels of business are square. She's right.

Reality Check

 I read in a book recently that history is that which is agreed to by consent. It strikes me as both right and wrong, all at the same time, because the idea appears to negate that there is any reality other than perception.

I don't know if that is true but it sure makes me wonder what really happened in the past. Did events occur as I was taught?   Or were they simply a precarious conclusion based on the reporter's viewpoint? Until there is backward time travel, will we ever know?   Do we even know if our personal memories detail the real events or does our personal overlay cloud the truth, making it into something more tolerable?

My mother always told me I saw things that were not there, came to conclusions that were not real, remembered things that had not occurred.  Who's to say.

Round and Round We Go

My latest crochet wall hanging

We run around in circles trying to accomplish everyday things.  We make endless calls to companies trying to get our service needs met and we get empty apologies for poor service from robots reading scripts in far off Bangladesh; then nothing really changes.  One rep tells us one thing, another rep tells us the opposite. 

We are forced to cancel plans and wait around for hours for some tech to show up. Promises are made, little “preventive” service offered.  Except for occasionally, like today, when the service provider rewired my whole house “just because” he saw things that weren’t perfect. And he did a few things he wasn’t supposed to do, either.  Sh-h-h-h. I’ll never tell.

But really, what an exhausting cycle we are generally in.  Pay our bills, ask for the service we pay for, get much less than expected, fight to get the right thing done. Over and over in every area of our lives - communications or medical care or trade services. Everyone seems bent on cutting the corners – to the extent that the customer has no way of being satisfied.  What’s worse, we get so worn down that we are actually grateful for what little we do get, finally, except for that one worker, once in awhile, who makes us believers in the American work ethic again.

Round and round we go, in a spin, NOT lovin’ the spin we’re in.