Happy Monday Morning to you...

Today is the officail observance of Martin Luther King's birthday.

Happy MLK Day!



I can't say that I'm doing much to celebrate the day. I love how people do their MLK day activities - attending a parade, attending memorials, etc. I don't. And I suppose that it's because I came up seeing it as a day off. I do make it a point to go watch an old speech, or do some reading, and learn one new thing about King that I didn't know.

A character in the manuscript I'm currently working on is an Asian-American, and he's so proud of the fact that his mother gave him the middle name "Martin". Of course this is thought to be funny, but he is proud of it, and when he is down, he speaks that whole "I have a Dream" speech to himself.

Of course this is hilarious. But it comes from my college days, when I worked with this older indian guy who absolutely LOVED black history, and enjoyed buying books and reading up on black history. "You're such an important people," he would always tell me. "You should learn to appreciate your history. It is very rich."

So I was thinking of that when I wrote that part of the character's personality. People snickered at his middle name, but he was proud to be named after such a "great man".

These days, thanks to Cheap Seats Terry, I have a greater appreciation of history in general these days. Anytime anything happens, like for instance, the earthquake in Haiti, I'd spend a few hours reading up on the history of that country. It adds so much to my knowledge base, and I also think I can learn lessons from our world history. And that's a good thing.

So today, i'll find something new about the great Dr. King, something I didn't know.... And if I do that today, it will make help me appreciate the man, and the holiday all the more better.

My Weekend. It has been slow. Not much going on. I mean, after such a FABULOUS snowcation, well, the weekend... I don't remember much of it.

I know one thing: I went to work on Friday for half a day which was STUPID STUPID STUPID. Why was it stupid? Because the roads were still ICY. It took me 5 trys to get out of my driveway. I slid on a hill at work, sliding into the sidewalk. JUST STUPID.

So remind me the next time this happens. Keep my tail at home. Enough said.

I didn't do anything this weekend. Just stayed around the house, getting chores done and writing.

Now the writing, that was exciting. I clocked about 7800 words over the snow holiday, and you just don't know how great that makes me feel. I know I was looking forward to taking a 4 week vacation next month, and it would be centered on writing (and cruising and vacation getaways), but it was a pleasant surprise to have an opportunity to really do some intense writing.

I am almost finished with this particular manuscript... One more chapter to go! I think I will just go back to my 500 word minimum word count for the week. That should put me close to fininshing up by next weekend.

Quotes of the Day. These are some great quotes from "twitter prophet" consciousskillz, concerning gossip, something I absolutely HATE.

Gossip is a social communicable disease.

Gossip infects both the listener and carrier of the germs.

Gossip is like a microscopic bacteria that only blooms within the darkest recesses of minds and hearts.

Man, I really HATE gossip. And I am having a lot of trouble with gossipy folks, which I must admit, troubles me to some extent. And when I say that, I don't really mean us gossiping about some star and what they are going through. For some reason that's the norm. And in that case too, I am always thinking to myself "Dang, that's tough what they are going through, all in the public eye. I'm thankful my life isshas aren't on display."

No, I'm talking about gossiping about people around you. It is TERRIBLE at work. Just terrible. And what's interesting, things ALWAYS get back to you. ALWAYS. I'm at a point where I watch what I say, and I just don't deal with certain folks because they fish so hard for information to spread, and I've heard things about people that I REALLY didn't need to know. The older I get, the more it bothers me. Like the quotes state above, it's infectious, it is. I am extremely vigilant about not spreading other peoples' business. This over the years has made me a "go-to" person for people who want to discuss private matters. I am thankful that people can trust me. You can't trust people who are gossipers. You just can't.

And on a deeper spiritual level, and speaking only for myself, me gossiping means that I don't like my life. It means I don't want to deal with or focus on my own problems, so I take delight and joy in digging into other people's business, searching and prodding for juicy juicy bits and details... just so I can feel better about myself and my lot in life.

And that bothers me.

I have to admit I think that of other people. It is my first thought, you see. I have to work on that. It may just be your sport, your joy in life... to gossip.

Hey... enjoy yourself. Just keep all that over there... waaaaay over that.

Whelp... An impromptu food for thought moment. That's been on my mind for a minute.

What does the day entail for me? A little reading. A little writing. Chores.

Grandma is one day older than MLK. So I plan to go by her house, spend a couple of hours with her. I bought her some sweats for her birthday (she likes to relax these days in sweats). I'll be doing a little crocheting and just kicking back with her.

So you enjoy your MLK day, however you choose to celebrate it.

I will enjoy it... and as I always say when I first open my eyes every day...

I am thankful to see a brand new day, a day that has never been lived or seen before...

Something great will happen today.

I will rejoice and be glad in and on this day.

On purpose.