Learning To Wait

/ Ally Bean / 12 Comments

[Sub-titled: Maybe My Middle School English Teacher Did Teach Me Something After All]

Thursday afternoon I was at home, waiting for a few things to happen.  I couldn’t go any farther on the projects at hand until I got some more info from other sources, so I was feeling a bit stuck.  And grumbly.  I wasn’t in the mood to watch TV or to read, so to keep myself from turning into a crabius maximus I decided to goof around with my camera.

First I took a photo of the gorgeous blue sky.  I like to photograph the autumn sky so that when the winter days get gray and gloomy I can look at my photos and remember that once upon a time we had sunshine and clarity.  You understand.

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Then I decided to try to take a photo of the sun.  At first, all I could manage was this impressionistic blur which was more Claude Monet than Ansel Adams.

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However, after a few more attempts I got this photo of the sun.  Granted, it’s not the most spectacular photo ever, but I did achieve my goal and entertain myself in the process so we’re going to call this a win.  Huzzah!

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But here’s the thing, as I was goofing around with my camera I got thinking about a few stanzas of a poem that I was forced inspired to learn along the way.  A poem, written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, that seemed to perfectly encapsulate my stuck-at-home-in-the-suburbs afternoon.  A poem that Miss Gillan, my 7th grade English teacher who was about a hundred years old when I had her, would be happy to know I still remember… more or less.

A Psalm Of Life 

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream ! —
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real !   Life is earnest !
And the grave is not its goal ;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way ;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.

[a bunch of stanzas that I don’t recall]

Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate ;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

Apparently A Bean Brain Is A Balanced One

/ Ally Bean / 19 Comments

balanced brain

I took The 30-Second Brain Test to determine which side of my brain I favored.  The results showed that I use both sides of my brain [what the results described as] equally.

I’m 59%:

  • strategy
  • rationality
  • logic
  • rules
  • language
  • details

I’m 41%:

  • creativity
  • intuition
  • chaos
  • curiosity
  • images
  • fantasy

What I liked the best about this test was that after I received my results there was an option to learn why the test evaluated my answer to each question the way that it did.  In other words, I learned something about how all people see the world in the process of understanding myself.  Neat-o, I say.

While I hesitate to draw any overarching conclusions about who I am from this test, I’m willing to say that it was fun to take.  And considering that my word of the year this year is BALANCE, I’m pleased with my results.

If any of you, my gentle readers, decide to take the test, I’d love to know your results.  I mean, exactly how whacked are you all?  My comment section awaits you.

So, How ‘Ya Been?

/ Ally Bean / 19 Comments

When I decided to take my blogging hiatus, I thought that I’d be back to The Spectacled Bean within a few weeks.  But things happened.  Obstacles presented themselves.  And in the course of it all, I lost my blogging mojo.  

So what happened, you wonder?  Well, I think that this is one of those blogging moments when only a list can explain things.  To wit, I give you…

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THE LAMENTATIONS OF ALLY

•  Our internet connection stopped connecting.  Without going into the details, suffice to say that we are no longer using the less-than-reliable phone company for our ISP and are now using the cable company for our ISP.  And getting this worked out?  Why, it only took 55 days, during which time I couldn’t get to my blog.

•  Our kitchen sink drain pipe developed a leak that we discovered after said leak had partially destroyed the sub-flooring and was dripping into the basement.  While in and of itself this is not a reason to stop writing, it bothered me.  And a bothered Ally Bean is a scattered Ally Bean– and a scattered Ally Bean can’t focus long enough to write a list, let alone a blog post.

•  We had new carpeting installed upstairs and on the stairs, which created the most cluttered home I’ve ever lived in.  All of the upstairs stuff had to come downstairs– and then, of course, go back upstairs.  The mess was everywhere and lasted for about a month because that’s how long it took us to have the time [and energy] to move the stuff all around.  During that time I couldn’t even get to the computer which was trapped inside our home office turned storage warehouse, so no writing for me.

•  Our property was invaded by stink bugs– whose sole mission was to get inside our house.  For about 3 weeks they were all over the screens, peering into the house, just waiting for the opportunity to wander in and die.  And here is what I learned from that experience: when creepy bugs are looking for their final resting place within my home, I become unnerved and cannot write a word.  

~ ~ • ~ ~

So that’s it from here.  It’s just the same old, same old in a whole new way.  Certainly something more interesting has been happening in your world, my gentle readers.  Spill the beans in the comment section below.  I need to know what’s up with you.

Something Different This Way Comes

/ Ally Bean / 19 Comments

“It looks like the repo man has been here.”

~ Zen-Den, looking at the mess in our home office

– • –

Over the weekend we decided to start the process of updating our home office.  It’s where I write this blog and I’ve never been happy with the furniture arrangement and accessories in here.  Too dark.  Too orange-y.  Too blah.

So we ordered a real desk.  Then in anticipation of its arrival we dismantled the computer system that sits on/around/near the horizontal surfaces that I’ve spent the last few years pretending are a desk.  And finally, we dragged all this old, orange-y, non-desk furniture into the basement.

Bottom line?  Cora, my trusty desktop computer that I use to write this blog, is now sitting on a little table that is scrunched into a dusty corner of the deconstructed home office.  Consequently, this means that for the next few weeks until the desk is here and the computer system is back in place, I’m going to be away from the my favorite keyboard.

Considering that Late Summer morphing into Autumn is a beautiful and mellow time of year, I’ve decided that while everything is in flux I’m taking a proper blogging hiatus during the month of September.  Might even extend it into October.  We’ll see.

So with that being said, I’m stepping away from the computer and taking a bit of time off to enjoy my life without the need to write about it.  Shocking idea, I know.

I’ll catch up with you later, kids.  Be safe. Be happy. Be.