Where I’d Rather Be…

It’s Wednesday, and though it’s the middle of the week and I have plenty of work to do, I can’t help wanting to be someplace where the mountains are tall enough to block the city view, or the beach is loud enough to drown out the sound of traffic…you feel me? Where would you go, if you could leave work in the middle of a Wednesday??

Whether you can sneak away to your happy place or not, have a great Wednesday, and don’t forget that the weekend is right around the corner! If you’re new to blog, pick up some new reads for your holiday weekend, totally free!

For YA readers: Dying to Forget and for Adult Dystopian: I Hope You Find Me

What Have We Done?

It’s Monday, which means I try and pack in as much new stuff for school that I can to start the week off right, and today we chose to watch a new documentary on Netflix called Terra.

It’s amazing and I wish everyone would watch it. Seriously.

After billions of years of evolution and growth, this planet is suffering, and we are to blame. There’s no sugar-coating the human involvement with the condition of our home, which is what Earth is: home. Please, take some time out of your week and watch this amazing documentary about what life was, and what it is now. It helps us all remember how important our choices are for the future of this place we can’t survive without.

Dress for the slide

Last night I left the house around 6:30pm to meet a friend for dinner, and as soon as I got on the freeway, traffic came to a full stop. We all inched along the freeway for about a block till I finally saw on the right the reason for the jam. There were motorcycle pieces splayed all over the shoulder and into the narrow embankment, which had a merging lane on the other side. There were already half a dozen bystanders and several cars, but no emergency personnel. The accident had happened mere minutes before. No one appeared to actually be doing much, other than propping up one of the riders, so I pulled over to see if they needed help, since I have CPR and First Aid training. To be honest, most people in Southern California don’t stop for accidents, so I’ve no doubt that those who did were some of the unfortunate that happened to see this one happen. Kudos to each who pulled over to help, even if just for moral support.

 

So, what happened? Two riders hit each other; the young woman was the one down, sitting upright, but unable to move. The other was a man in a less than happy mood, wandering around and picking up pieces of his bike, ignoring the blood that dripped slowly off his right hand. I asked him twice to sit and get checked out, but he refused with a nonchalant shrug, saying, “I’ve been down before.” Apparently he’s a badass or has his own personal motorcycle angel. The woman, though she had a decent helmet and good jacket, was wearing skinny jeans and a thin pair of small tennis-like shoes and ankle socks. From the waist up, she looked okay, from the waist down, there wasn’t much skin left on her feet and legs. My cousin, also a rider, recently posted a picture online with a badly injured rider who fell into a slide and the caption said, “Dress for the slide, not the ride.” Now I really know what that means. Ouch.

 

Not long after I started talking to the woman, and checking to make sure she was coherent, which she amazingly seemed to be, the CHP arrived, and I quickly made my exit, letting the professionals come in and do their thing. As I walked away, I noticed a random guy holding a news camera with no news truck in sight, and thought what a bizarre and often times sad job that must be. Then I walked by the other biker, quickly going from upset to pissed that he no longer had a bike, and told him he was one lucky dude. His reply was a silent ‘no’ shake of the head and a look that could have said, ‘For real, are you shitting me? I just got hit by another biker chic and you’re calling me lucky? F* you.’

 

I got in my car and mulled over the whole thing: two riders smashed tanks, and both kissed freeway asphalt, coming to a rather ungracious stop on the side of the highway…breathing and conscious. How is this not lucky? Will they both have hospital bills, insurance increases and bikes to replace? Yes. But will they live another day to be with their friends and family? Yes, it looked as if they would. At the end of this rather crappy day of theirs, the only things they truly lost were material in nature. Again, how is this not lucky?

 

Which brings me to my slightly philosophical point…life has more value than stuff. One minute we can be flying through life’s ride, with things to do and people to see and bills to pay, and then we could be sliding off the shoulder, with no control over what happens next.

 

It’s all about perspective. Every one of us should choose our paths wisely, because luck won’t always be on our side. 

10 Reasons Why I Must Adult Today

Adulting. The struggle is real with me this week. So instead of fantasizing about why I’d rather stay in bed all day, I decided to make a little list of the things that require my grown up attention before lunch hits in order to motivate my myself a bit. (go ahead and laugh, I did while writing that last sentence)

#1 I had to pee.

#2 Even though it’s cold in the house, staying under the covers was making me sweat. I don’t usually like sweating in bed. Keep your mind out of the gutter, that’s not what I’m referring to.

#3 The cat would not stop yeowing at the hallway door. Seriously, it was like he was in the throes of death and a human had to open the door to let him cross the threshold into the next room or he would continue to sing the song of his people till the entire household went deaf.

#4 The boy was too quiet. The kind of quiet that makes you wonder if he snuck into the kitchen to eat the cocoa powder directly from the tin, or that he was possibly trying to plug his finger into an electric outlet to see if his hand would glow.

#5 Someone had to properly measure the homemade dog food and feed the animals before they began to eat things like shoes and dirty socks.

#6 The house was so cold that someone had to get up and turn on the heater. It wasn’t me, the husband did it, but at least I had the thought.

#7 I forgot to get yesterday’s sheets out of the washer and hang them to dry. Damn.

#8 My mouth began to salivate the longer I thought about coffee.

#9 Yesterday’s Cardio Burn Yoga made every muscle feel as if it had been punched into submission, therefor, a mellow round of yoga stretching was required today just in order to warm my body up enough to walk properly.

#10 The next book will not write itself. So I’ll check my email, FB and Pinterest pages about 100 times. Writing will happen. I promise. Otherwise I won’t be able to pop online and use the hashtag: #amwriting with a straight face.

Motivational Monday