Psyché ranimée par le baiser de l'Amour @ Le Louvre, Paris

Psyché ranimée par le baiser de l'Amour @ Le Louvre, Paris
From my latest trip to France with Zach

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

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A Gift of Five to Bring 2010 Alive!

Yeah, it's that time of year.  Time to make "Resolutions," "Goals," "Living Targets" - call it what you will. I am choosing this year to call them "Gifts."  So here are FIVE GIFTS that I WILL GIVE MYSELF in 2010...


A GIFT of FIVE to BRING 2010 ALIVE! In the interest of shared accountability, here goes:

1.  STOP APOLOGIZING.  Especially for stuff that I have absolutely no control over!  I asked the deli worker the other day for pastrami.  He said he was out.  I immediately apologized.  He looked puzzled.  (What the hell??!)  Enough said.
2.  SIMPLIFY!  I have way more stuff than I need, and someone else in this world has way less than they need.  It is my responsibility to balance this equation.
3.  MAKE HEALTHIER CHOICES in FOOD and in REST.  I don't drink excessively; I don't smoke or do illicit drugs.  I eschew porn and other nasty habits.  For years, however, I have routinely sacrificed sleep in lieu of accomplishing tasks.  Getting too old for that.  I now give myself the gift of regular rest!
4.  READ and WRITE for PLEASURE.  I started a blog, which should help push me to take time to write more regularly.  Now I just need to make time for pleasure reading, and grading research papers does not count!
5.  LIVE to PLEASE MYSELF.  This sounds awkwardly selfish, but that's not necessarily what I mean; allow me to explain.  For more years than I can count, I have made personal decisions based on pleasing others and fulfilling their desires and ideals.  At the age of 46, I still find myself making decisions based on what I think would make my mother happiest, my sister proudest, my kids giddiest, etc.  Why continue this torture?  Am I not old enough to make some decisions for my approval?  Maybe I should label this one LIVE to DEFINE MYSELF.


WEll, those are my Gift of Five to Bring 2010 Alive.  What are yours??!  Please feel free to comment on mine and to share your own!

Economic Downturn + Military Stress = Duress

First of all, let me say I am not a military wife, nor am I in the military.  But with as stressful as the holidays can be financially and otherwise for civilians, I can only imagine how hard they might be for folks who have a spouse half-way around the globe.  For a couple of years I engineered lights for a country-western band that toured the tri-state area, and during that time, one of the guys asked me to do some song-writing for him.  Here is a sampling of some lyrics I wrote that seemed particularly timely with the economic woes people are facing.


Tireless Wireless
by Casey A. South
2.22.08 @ 10:55 pm


She sees him there…
A continent away.
In the glow of the blue screen,
Same time each day.


How unfair her lover is cold to her touch,
Warmed only by the memory that is fading too much.
“I’ve got this,” she said as he boarded the plane.
How could they foresee the depths of her pain?


CHORUS:
Her passion is wireless,
Goes ‘round the globe,
This love is tireless,
But, Lord, bring him home.


She hears the kids crying as she opens the mail.
Bills are a mounting… that never fails.
Too tired to cook and the place is a mess.
It weighs on her greatly, this military stress.


Another paycheck - it comes and it goes,
How they will make it, Lord only knows.
Payments are missing.  Creditors calling.
Into an abyss she knows she is falling.


But same time each day, she puts on a smile.
She wipes her mascara, hits the icon to dial.
He needs no distraction:  it could mean his life.
“For better, for worse,” she alone bears this strife.


“Everything’s great, hon. Couldn’t be better.”
He feels reassured… his girl’s a go-getter!
But ‘Let’s stay connected’ is really a lie.
She shuts down her Mac and has a good cry.


Creative Commons License
Tireless Wireless by Casey A. South is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at pinchingbubblewrap@gmail.com.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

An Alone Mood

Incessant chatter.  Endless questions.  


When I was a kid, there was a song on one side of a 45 record I used to play over and over.  Entitled "Yakkity, Yak, Blah, Blah, Blah," this little ditty was about a man who comes home from work feeling tired and his wife just peppers him with questions and demands.  Makes me chuckle today because even though I tried never to do that to my husband when I was still married, I realized that I share the same sentiments as the singer on the record because I feel constantly barraged with questions, complaints, demands, from people at work and the three teenagers in my home! 


I seek solitude.  Some every day.  This piece I wrote on a day when I was counting down the time until I could get away from everyone who was driving me crazy.


An Alone Mood 
by Casey A. South
4.14.00

Caught in a game of poker,
I only want Solitare.
Six pack, but only need a sip.
Seven seats seems silly.
Eight lunch today. 
“Want some company?”
Nine…
Just mine.
Creative Commons License
An Alone Mood by Casey A. South is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at pinchingbubblewrap@gmail.com.