An unexpected melody

A simple song, a note strikes through my mind

I stare at you, lost in thought and time

If words were enough, a gentle chord to remember

Then you'd be here, every day in this measure

It's hard to think of life before you came

And I know that things will never be the same

I give to you every breath I can muster

Your sweet melody leaves me breathless and in wonder.

Turning Water Into Water

It's kind of hard to believe that it's fall consider that it's still in the 80's outside. Being from Seattle, it's still hard for me to adjust to the lack of seasons here in Southern California, and I'm sure the drought has made it worse. This is the kind of drought that is so serious that Orange County residents are actually giving up their lawns and a Central California town literally ran out of water. It's pretty crazy, and everyone is trying to do their part. I, for one, haven't washed my car in about a year.

Okay, okay. I know what you're thinking...

Julia, you never washed your car before the drought!

And...

Julia, you washed your car a year ago??

Don't take this away from me. Now I drive my dirty car with honor. The dent on the front though? There's nothing but shame associated with that one. (The garage door had it coming.)

Anyway, back to the drought. Millions of people in our world go daily without clean water, or running water, or reliable access to water. People are currently dying of water related diseases. (Some sources here and here.)

This isn't to say that the California drought isn't serious. It is serious, and we should take it seriously. I'm just saying that maybe giving up our green lawns isn't so big of a sacrifice in the grand scheme of things.

(And for those of you who were wondering, yes I did write this post to explain to my husband that I'll wash my car when I'm good and ready.)

(When the drought is over.)

(Maybe.)

For the love of pizza

I miss pizza.

I had to stop eating dairy for my son who has an allergy, and it has proven to be more of a challenge than I expected. It's not that I didn't expect it to be a challenge (because I did). It's just that I didn't expect to miss pizza this much.

Out of all of the things, why pizza?

Pizza is convenient. You don't have to plan in advance for it. Out of food in your kitchen? Order a pizza. 

Don't want to cook? Order a pizza.

Having friends over? Order a pizza.

Falling asleep while trying to cook because your baby woke up every hour the night before? Order a pizza... with a 2 liter of coke. 

Pizza is also so versatile. Is there anyone out there who doesn't like pizza? There's a type for everybody. Toppings galore.

But you know what topping is almost always included? Cheese.

And that's where we're at. 

I miss pizza.

Reflecting on today

Fourteen years ago today, I was waking up in my mom's house in Seattle when my dad called us to tell us to turn on the news. I didn't know anyone in New York. I'd never even been there outside of the airport. However, I knew I was watching history unfold, and I knew that this was a level of tragedy that I could not comprehend. I still struggle, and fail, to comprehend it. I know that the horror of what occurred still haunts many people.

Fast-forward to today. This morning I watched my 5 month old son roll around on his play mat happily and it struck me that to him, 9/11 will just be something that happened in a history book... like the Vietnam War to my generation... and World War II to my parents... and World War I to my grandparents. Every generation has their tragedy and their war. Is it so crazy for me to hope that this trend skips a generation with his?

So today, I reflect on 9/11, and on the devastating tragedies that are still occurring throughout our world, and I hope that someday, somehow, we stop having days like today that we need to remember.

I dream of memes with sources cited...

You know what I'm not looking forward to? The 2016 election. Politics used to be my thing. Back in 2004, I got to cover the election beat for my university's newspaper and it was fascinating. I was able to interview the candidates, attend rallies, and really go in depth on the issues in a way that I hadn't before. It was a lot of fun.

Then social media came. Don't get me wrong; I love me some Facebook. I could post pictures of my baby on there all day long. I get to stay in touch with my family that lives far away and I get to torment my in-laws when my sports teams beat theirs. It's pretty great. Until someone throws a pass when they should have run the ball and the apocalypse happens.

What I don't love is the propaganda. And half-truths. And sometimes downright lies. I don't like the memes that don't cite their sources so I have to go do googling to find out if it's accurate or not. This stuff is bad enough on a regular year, but during an election year? OUT OF CONTROL.

I get it. Emotions run high on this stuff. It doesn't help that our media likes to pander to the extremes so we get a "one side or the other" view on information. Moderate, well-researched information doesn't really cut it in the entertainment-over-news society we live in right now. As a result, we tend to get pretty fired up about topics that may not be so black and white as we were led to believe. It's a bad news bears situation and it makes bad politics. Because then stuff doesn't get done, and I hear that getting stuff done is part of our politician's jobs. (I think.)

So here's my request: research before you post/share. Take the few minutes to google it. And don't just go to that one news source you trust because sometimes they don't have all of the information. Many of my friends post really interesting well-researched articles I wouldn't normally come across otherwise. Social media can be great for that, if it's used correctly.

And if that happens, I'll be able to focus on the important things, like mourning that stupid pass. Seriously, WHY WOULD HE THROW THE BALL?

I'll get over this someday...

"Life Thoughts"... or "Why I May Be A Crazy Person"

Remember how in school, if you were getting good grades, then you needed to be spending more time on extra-curricular activities? And if you were spending lots of time on extra-curricular activities, you weren't spending enough time on your grades. And if you were managing to do both, you weren't having enough fun. And if you were doing neither, you weren't going to college.

It didn't end there, did it?

In college, you needed to figure out your career and choose your major accordingly. Of course, if you did that, you weren't pursuing what you love and really embracing the liberal arts. And if you were spending too much time on school, you weren't having enough fun. And if you weren't spending enough time on school, you weren't graduating.

Then there was work. Ah, work. The bane of everyone's existence. Except for those three people on Facebook who "love what they do" and want to share it with the world. You know them. You might even be pretending to be one of them. But we all know the truth. (I have been known to love my job and be very passionate about it, but I will ALWAYS pick hanging out on a beach with a margarita in my hand over it.)

And no matter what you do, your life decisions are never quite right. It was either: "You're too young to get married!" or it was: "You're too old to still be single!" You will pretty much hear some variant of this until you do get married.

Marriage then leads to the inevitable: the kids questions. OH DEAR GOD, the kids questions.

"Are you going to have a kid?"
"Why don't you wait a while?"
"Have one now."
"Why aren't you going to have kids???"

(Okay, that third one wasn't a question, but it had to be included.)

And if you do have a kid, it doesn't stop there. No, that's when the gloves come off.

What type of school are you going to send your kids to? Are you going to homeschool? How are you going to dress them? What type of toys are you going to buy them? Did you spend 4 hours researching that toy to make sure it's only made of pure butterflies and marshmallows? Are you going to sleep train your child? Because sleep training is evil, and highly beneficial. Do you have an organic mattress on your crib? Because that would be a waste of money. And super healthy. And please, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS, BREASTFEED YOUR CHILD. In public. Out there. For the world to see. Or you're not doing it right.

So the next time you're lying in bed, wondering if you're doing this whole life thing wrong, don't worry. You probably are.

Round 752

It's been a while since I've posted here.

Okay, okay. Three years doesn't count as a while. Three years counts as a freakin' long time. (I just had a child and am working on my language.) I wish I had an excuse for my lack of postings, but the truth is that life got in the way. I used to have many opinions on philosophical ideals, and now I mostly have opinions on diaper brands and onesies. You see, the truth is I've gotten very very boring. And for the most part, I'm okay with that.

So why do I pick up my blog again after all of this time? That's a complicated question. It mainly comes down to fact that I love to write, and that's not always easy to find time for. This blog was once an outlet for me that I could fill with all of my thoughts and opinions. Now I have Facebook and less opinions. I can aspire to share some observations on here, however. Grade A ones. Certified interesting. Or at least mildly entertaining.

But maybe I'll leave that for another day...

It's been 3 months that I've been without TV...

For those of you that may not know me as well, this is very bizarre accomplishment. I've had three great loves in my life, and I've never been one to give up any of them:

A) Writing
B) Taco Tuesday
C) Television

That was in no particular order.

(Perhaps I should have listed friends, family or my boyfriend? Details... Details...)

Anyway, I've given up television... Sort of... I'm still streaming one show at a time on Netflix, so I'm kind of cheating. At least that's good television though, or at least I like to tell myself that.

Onto my dilemma: Football has started, and as it turns out, I enjoy watching sports. ("Watching" is the key word there.) I can only see two ways of solving this issue: I could go to a sports bar every weekend, or I could reignite my television addiction. It's a difficult decision, because one involves drinking lots of beer, and the other involves lots of wasted time watching unnecessary television.

Decisions... Decisions...

I'll probably do both.

So, I've been convinced by my boyfriend to join a softball team. Actually, "convinced" isn't the proper word. "Coerced" might be a better one.

Now, I know what you are thinking, because I think these things too. The first thoughts to cross your mind were:

A) Julia, you've never played sports
B) Julia, you can't hit
C) Julia, you can't throw
D) Julia, you can't catch
E) Julia, you can't run
F) Julia, you walk into walls. What are you thinking???

I'd like to deny the above claims, but I can't. They are all absolutely correct. I'm probably doomed.

In other news, our team forfeited our first game because we were 15 runs behind.

I was playing catcher.

My bad?

Once upon a time I posted on this blog much more regularly. I was good at it, and even though most of my postings were bold faced lies, I think it was entertaining. Now though, my posts consist mostly of my lack of posting. A once a year "oops I forgot I had a blog" moment. I'm trying to move past that.

A year ago, I finished my second novel, The Quest for Caldaria. I published it on CreateSpace and have been working diligently on finishing the third ever since. I am about 2/3 of the through it. I wish I could say writing was easy, but it's not. I have random moments were my brain just stops creating, and I don't have any way to get it started again. I am having one of those moments right now. Writer's Block 101. I should teach a class.

The feeling of finishing a novel is like finishing high school or college. You have this accomplishment sitting in front of you, and then you realize that you have no idea what you should do with it. It's rather terrifying. With my 3rd book, it's even worse. It's the conclusion of the Caldaria Trilogy, and it's kind of like finally finishing grad school, and you still don't have a plan.

(I never went to grad school, so I'm having to assume here.)

I digress, however, because mostly right now, I am avoiding writing. I still am lost as to where to take the story, and my boyfriend's suggestion of all of the characters getting into a Final Four basketball match-up to figure out who wins doesn't quite fit the context of the book. I should probably think of something else.

Like a Mario Kart race...