Time of the Month

So Sad So Lonely

This will be a bit of a short entry for a short month.

Highlights:

Survived another trip around the sun, I'm now a year wiser and a year more foolish.

My lab has so much to celebrate lately that we made a Google doc and added to each other's lists. We've been doing one celebration a week for every member of the lab. Everything from painting pottery together, to the arcade downtown, to laser tag. I couldn't ask for a more supportive group. Still two more celebrations to go!

The new position has been going well, so far, despite a few setbacks mostly out of my control. I think I just got past the biggest of them. Which means I may not have to analyze 3,000 images by hand after all. Whew.

Lowlights:

Back to the vet for my wild cat. She started wheezing again shortly after she finished her meds a few months ago. She's back on steroids now, and will probably need to be on a low dose steroid indefinitely. Either pills or an inhaler (very expensive). At least it's treatable, I suppose.

I won’t talk too much about Valentine's Day, partly because it was a while ago now, partly because I've already shared my thoughts

""Love Song" by Sara Bareilles" 

on it here. Seems like every holiday has become so commercialized it's basically lost all meaning and significance. But don't let that stop you from celebrating if you want to. You do you.

Besides that, I've been getting my own health in order this month, after more than 3 years of neglect. In accordance with my New Year’s resolution, which was to take better care of myself. That's right, New Year’s resolutions don't end in January, folks. They're for the whole year. And I'm not just all talk. Mostly talk, yes. But when I decide to do something, I usually follow through. Eventually.

To be perfectly honest, I take way better care of my cat than myself. Regular meals, access to fresh water (filtered, of course), exercise, regular check-ups. But I'll go an entire 8 hours in lab before realizing I haven't drank anything.

And now it's time for everybody's somebody's favorite, “Myth of the Month” (M.O.M.)!

This month’s misconception is in honor of wet February.

 

“Clouds are light and fluffy.”

As you're probably aware, clouds are made of water which is heavy. They may look weightless suspended in the air, but the average cumulus cloud weighs about 1 million pounds. A big storm cloud can exceed 2 billion pounds. Yes, with a "B". So how do clouds float in the air if they're so heavy? Turns out they're still lighter than the the surrounding dry air, which is almost 1,000 times heavier than the weight of all the water particles in the cloud.

Just think about that the next time you're walking underneath a perfectly formed, cotton-like, fluffy cloud.

More info here  .

 

I'd like to try something a little different. I want to incorporate a writing prompt with my song of the month.
Music always inspires me, and I hope this will inspire others too.

So here's the challenge. Write a poem or story, at least 100 words, and incorporate the prompted lyric somewhere in your work, word for word. Can be the opening line, dialogue, character description, whatever you want. No time limit, you can enter any time after the song is posted. Feel free to repurpose the lyric and take it in a completely different direction, your work doesn't have to be related to the song. Part of the challenge is to see how you can reinterpret and work the lyric into your own work.

If you're inspired by a different line in the song and want to use that instead, you can do that for partial credit. But only use one line from the lyrics.

Now, the important part: What's in it for you? If you tag me and link back to this blog in your entry, I will read and review your work. You'll get 5K GPs for entering (as long as you met the challenge requirements). If you use the prompted line, you'll also get a merit badge of my choosing.

With that said, here's what I've been listening to this month:

"So Sad So Lonely" by Matchbox Twenty



Lyrics: ▼

I found out
On a late night drive
In my winter coat
With my blood-shot eyes
My faith ain't been
No friend to me
And the way I sin
Is hanging off of me

And I'm sorry
You can't take me anywhere
Pretty soon we're almost there
Baby, one more night
It's been a long, long drive
And I'm way, way tired
I don't need no
Back-up plan

I don't want nobody
Nobody don't want me
I'm so sad so lonely
But I'm always landing on my feet

One more time
With a sad, sad smile
And your white bread friends
In the circus life
All the one-way rides
The sweet beginners
Passing on the left-hand side
With a sideways smile

And I'm always
One step from stalling
Bad trips can make great stories
Dance all night
With your ass on fire
And your hands up high
And feel me one more time

I don't want nobody
Nobody don't want me
I'm so sad so lonely
But I'm always landing on my feet

I learn to love myself
And I don't need no one else
And when a love moves on
'cause it gets cold
Then another moves in
And it can fill the hole

I'm one more
Hopeful lying on the bedroom floor
No sense trying
When the whole thing drops
You lose your nerve
I hope you get what you deserve

I don't want nobody
Nobody don't want me
I'm so sad so lonely
But I'm always landing on my feet

Prompt: "All the one-way rides"