Thursday Thirteen

This picture shows not quite 13 deer but trust me, there were 13 deer there when I ran for the camera.

Today,  a completely random Thursday Thirteen.

1. Adjectives and adverbs are considered "bad" in the realms of good writing, but I rather like them (and am more partial to adjectives). Of course, saying "She raced to the phone" reads better but sometimes people really do just "go quickly." And colors are important.

2. For anyone who might not remember, an adjective modifies a noun; an adverb modifies a verb. In this sentence, "The clouds moved slowly across the pale, blue sky," slowly is an adverb, pale and blue are adjectives. English 101. Actually, I don't use a lot of either modifier in my writing, but when I do, they're there for a reason.

3. Harriet Martineau, born in 1802, is considered the mother of sociology. She was also a feminist and radical thinker for the times. Though she was from England, she studied American society and wrote a text called Society in America. According to my textbook, "she believes that Americans will eventually renounce their consuming pursuit of wealth and that equalization of property will occur. But she insists it will not happen by revolution: it will happen, rather, "[w]hen the people become tired of their universal servitude to worldly anxiety, -when they have fully meditated and discussed the fact" that this pursuit of wealth is a source of pain rather than joy." I wonder if 150 years is too long to give her for her prophesy to come true? Because it obviously hasn't. We're consumed by our fetish for the dollar.

4. Often I see things online and wish to comment, but I don't, even if I might be able to comment anonymously. I know that what I might say will bring down lots of comments from snarling, vindictive "Christians" or righteous others who would just as soon eat me for breakfast and leave me prostrate on the floor or huddled in a quivering lump, so I simply keep my mouth shut. I find these to be very scary times, and people who do not acknowledge that the atmosphere is cruel and evil are simply not paying attention, or are part of that misogynistic segment and not its victims.

5. I like chocolate. Is there a diet that allows chocolate? Because that is the one I need.

6. Warm weather in February is like a gift of chocolate covered cherries. I've spied my first robin, always a sure sign of spring, and daffodils are rising from the ground to reach for the sky. Surely the forsythia will soon bloom and the grass will turn green, and all will be fair and frolicking.

7. I bought a primrose at the grocery store yesterday. It was marked down to next to nothing, but it was green and had dirt around it and so I brought it home and stored it in the garage. I have no idea what I will do with it, but for a while, anyway, I will consider it a good $1 spent.

8. Going back to college has been an eye-opening experience. For one thing, I can't focus like I used to and am not retaining what I read as well as I once did. For another, I find I am old when compared to these young women who are in class with me. They are just babies with no idea of how the world really works, and how mean and vicious it can be. These girls, of course, think they are old and mature and know everything. I used to be like that, once. Now I know better.

9. Yesterday I discovered I am missed in the nearby town where I once prowled the streets searching stories and news. I stopped into an office yesterday and was greeted cheerily and with fondness. It was nice, if a bit sad. Will I ever stop missing my work as a newspaper reporter?

10. My husband's hands are calloused and ingrained with permanent stains from dirt and grease. He has a working man's hands. His small finger is as long as my middle finger; one of his hands can hold both of mine. His touch is gentle when he is with me, though he could crush me in an instant.

11. I don't care what the glittery and rich idiots are doing, but the media must think it important that I know that Lindsy Lohan is not appearing on David Letterman and Paris Hilton turns 30 today and received a $375,000 car from her boyfriend. These people do not matter, except for use as symbols of much that is wrong with this country. So I point to them here and say, "See? These people are shallow and self-centered. They are wealthy but they are miserable. Do you not understand that money does not buy happiness, that as a country we are going backwards? Do we really want to be breeding this kind of thing?" Read #3.

12. The economy is supposedly improving but I haven't seen it yet. Our area was slow to be hit with the recession, so perhaps we'll be slow to come out of it. Some times I wonder if we should come out of it, though, especially since things remain unregulated. If the economy improves now, it'll just happen again in a few years until someone in charge finally realizes that deregulation is the problem, not the solution. Might as well get used to being poor; unless you're charmed and privileged (and apparently most people believe that they are even if they aren't), that's your permanent status.

13. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up and I am firmly middle-aged. I bet I still won't know when I'm 90, if I live that long. Maybe I need to meditate on it. How about you? Do you know what you want out of life?


Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here.  I've been playing for a while and this is my 178th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.