Ambivert/Dog-Lover Achieves Rest and Relaxation. #Weekend Coffee Share.

Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Allison at Eclectic Ali. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas or happy holiday, whichever holiday it is that you celebrate.

I’m listening to The Driving Song by Widespread Panic. Their music just flows for me. I listen to one of their albums in my car a lot, and one song seems to flow into the other, yet each one telling its own individual story. Some of the songs are very visual, and I can just picture stories based on them. I find their music relaxing especially when I’m driving, because driving can be kind of stressful for me and traffic gives me anxiety. But their songs make me feel like I’m on the open road, on a clear, sunny day, traveling aimlessly. Right now is a good time for me to listen, since I won’t be able to travel anywhere for a few months.  Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XleAMV-W5C4

It being Winter Break for me, I have been getting a good amount of relaxation. I’ve caught up on my Netflix shows, even watched the choose- your-adventure Netflix episode / movie (Bandersnatch) yesterday. Wow, what a mind-bender. Quite intriguing. As a creator of fiction, it really appealed to me. I also finished season 3 of Travelers and have gotten some reading in. Heck, I even made it to yoga twice this week. Yeah, I’m a little sore due to that, but only because I am not used to it.  We’ll see how next week goes. 🙂

Since I’m saving money after the Christmas bills I just paid, today is sort of a hang- around-the- house day. I left for an hour for a church rehearsal of a skit we’ll be doing tomorrow, then I came back home.  My canine companion is glad to hang out with me me and loves having the company at home. We did give him a Merry Christmas present by taking him to the dog park on Christmas Day, and let me tell you, there were lots of interesting dogs and dog owners there on that day. I love the park we go to, and the people who go there are always so nice. I can’t say much for my dog’s behavior, though. Not as polite as I’d like. He’s only on week 2 of dog obedience class, so I guess we’ll give it time.

Doesn’t this face look innocent to you?  I love that little ruffian.

On the writing scene, I have re-edited my sci-fi book, Seeing Through Samson’s Eyes and have put it on a site to distribute to Barnes & Noble, apple, and Kobo. It is still available on Amazon as well. I actually enjoy going through to re-edit and polish it, because it is a story I enjoyed writing, and I like to revisiting those characters. Check it out at https://www.books2read.com/u/b5rd51  or you can get Amazon information on any of my books at https://www.amazon.com/Pamela-Schloesser-Canepa/e/B01E0KV716

I’ve come up with a few more ideas for Malachi, a character from my book Undercurrents in Time and I wrote a few of them down. I bought a little notebook to get organized as far as my chapter concepts. But I feel like I have not written very much for it. I have crossed the 20,000 word threshold though. I just plan to give myself time on this one and meanwhile ideas are coming to me for other books. Maybe that’s what right now is about, because my arm and shoulder have been sore lately, and I know sometimes I just need to take a break. I use ice now and then, but it’s hard to type at that point. So I will just plan and let the ideas speak to me. Maybe right now I’ll just give myself time to listen.

As far as writing, I don’t think I have been as attentive to my blog as of late. However, I did join in a blogger’s challenge that I discovered on Beaton’s blog, Becoming the Muse. It was called The Best of 2018. I wrote about some of my better experiences of this year. I would love it if you gave one of my posts a visit.  You can find one of them here:  Best of the Year 12/12-17 or here: Best of the Year, 12/18-12/24

 Rhode Island definitely featured a prominent place in my Best of the Year!

I have had a wonderful holiday with my family, and this has been a peaceful, prosperous year in which I have met a few of my goals.  I wish you all the happiest New Year possible.  Thank you for dropping by and sharing a cup of cheer with me!

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S is for San Junipero. #AtoZChallenge

Imagine yourself in a beautiful vacation beach town.  Photo taken in 2015.

I love to watch speculative and sci-fi fiction, things which also start with “S” and are quite fitting for this post.  San Junipero was an episode of Black Mirror, a show that covers possibilities in technology in the near future and is usually very dark and sardonic.  This particular episode covered what may transpire in a person’s end of life, and it had me crying at the end.  At the start of the episode, I didn’t even see what it had to do with modern or future technology.  The characters were at a vacation town in the 1980s, after all.  Boy, there was much more beneath the surface.

This episode reminded me of a senior woman from my church that I visit occasionally.  She is in assisted living.  Sometimes her mind doesn’t seem like it is in the present.  But I can say, she is well taken care of where she is, and always seems to find a smile at some point.  If I see her and her mind is in the past, there is always the possibility she is simply reliving a happier time.  How exactly that ties in with the episode I won’t explain in detail, but these visits also make me think a lot about the phases of one’s life.  After all, everything has a beginning and an end.  The end can be quick or can take a while.  Most important is the quality of life and having your mind in a grateful mindset.  I am in awe of her ability to conjure a smile even when she seems tired.

San Junipero is about two friends seeking happiness.  I should not spoil it for you, but yes, it made me bawl and it gave me happy goose bumps.

Which brings me to this quote of a song that borrows from a Bible passage:

“To everything there is a season,…

and a time to every purpose under heaven.”

What does the Bible have to do with speculative fiction?  I like to ponder things that some consider impossible, for example, the resurrection.  I believe there are so many possibilities of what the afterlife may be like; I also believe time is fluid.  I tend to stay very busy, but if it was time to rest, I hope I’d simply enjoy the passing hours the best I could.  I also hope,  when my body is no longer capable of keeping up, that my mind will delight me or at least take me to interesting places.

**The AtoZ Challenge theme for my blog is “Who I am.” Yes, it’s wide open.  In April, I will blog from A to Z to include little tidbits about me, poems I’ll share, and stories. Each day I will write something based on the next letter in the alphabet.  It’s been fun so far, yet it has really given me a chance to pause for reflection as well.

Want to know more about the A-Z blog challenge?  Visit http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

#weekendcoffeeshare Schemes, Dreams, and Fears

Bixby contemplates.

Good morning, and Happy Saturday!  Well, it’s sort of a gray one here.  Sorry, I can’t bring you the sunshine today.  If we were having coffee on this, the 4th day of February, I would tell you that….

There is violence and unrest all around me.  It’s rampant in my city (Jacksonville), and in the schools.  Students are much more riled up lately and more prone to arguments and fights.  A fellow teacher friend and I couldn’t put our finger on why.  I’m going to posit that the national climate is affecting everyone.  As I try to be non-partisan and not look at my fellow humans as Democrat or Republican, it’s hard to take the person who is always sharing something divisive or even outright supporting our president by deriding those who are standing up, speaking out, or peacefully protesting.

Sometimes I think I really need to think about where I stand.  I am a pacifist, but I feel like I am not standing for anything.  Is just loving my fellow man enough?  Perhaps.  We all have our place.  At any rate, it concerns me to see such things in our kids.  I was part of a wonderful event at the school called Challenge Day, where we listen to each other and focus on commonalities.  See challengeday.org for details.  The spirit of that day needs to follow us all year.  It takes work.

My spirit is at unrest, as I type while standing, due to an over-active sciatic nerve. (See, I never quit).  I have no time for friends right now, yet miss spending time with friends.  Work life and family life are taxing right now.  I escape it with my writing.  I’ve also started watching Black Mirror during downtime.  No one in the house likes it but me.  There is such terror, but sometimes it is so subtle, and I LOVE that!  There’s always a twist; yes, it is a modern day Twilight Zone.  I’ve been told some of my writing is very reminiscent of The Twilight Zone.  That makes me proud.  Yet, sometimes I’m realistic.  This week, I wrote a flash fiction called “Michael’s Fairies,” and despite the title, it is all too realistic.  Oh, just give it a read! https://pamelascanepa.wordpress.com/2017/02/01/flashfiction-fffaw-challenge-michaels-fairies/  Your comments are appreciated!

Somewhere between my hopes of exercising the demons and fantastic dreams in writing, and obtaining another source of income, I considered setting up a Patreon account.  Well, I started the process last night.  It could help to pay for future editing, book covers, and book promotion.  If any of you have done this, I would love to get your advice.  It seems to me I could appeal to my type of reader, rather than trying to get my friends and co-workers to read my writing, since I’m not sure how interested they might really be.  Well, I have one really enthusiastic friend, but she is a writer as well.  🙂  Now, if I set up and go live on Patreon, I’d like to do it right, so I may need to read up on it more.

Thank God for weekends.  I can plot my schemes, and I also get some downtime with my dog, my boyfriend,  my writing, and time with my church community.  Let’s not forget, Super Bowl Sunday!  While I am not concerned with who wins, I am glad to go and eat some really good chili at my boyfriend’s house, especially if it’s windy and cool like today. Since being online looking at WordPress this morning, an author friend already made me smile with a story of success.  Please do share.   I’ll do the same, one day.  To all of my friends, cohorts, or visitors, have a great week!

**The Weekend Coffee Share is hosted by Diana of  Part-Time Monster.

Join us and be part of this great online community of coffee lovers.  Tell us about your week!