Lists

I can tell you straight up...this post is going to offend people. (But since I only have 2 readers, I am willing to take the heat that is surely going to come.)

I have to say, I am getting a little tired and a lot bored of all the lists on blogs and emails these days. That's me! It may not be the next person. Don't get me wrong. I fully believe that every blogger has the perfect right to make his/her blog unique and personal, and if that means a daily list, then so be it. I don't get especially offended by lists; it's just that if you are going to waste your time like I do every day blogging, then shouldn't it really have some substance to it?

Apparently, some people only think in lists. I suppose it goes something like this in their brains in the morning:

1. I really should get out of this bed.

2. I need to use the facilities.

3. While I am in here, I really should shower.

4. I suppose the kids need feeding.

5. It is time to go grocery shopping.

a. I need eggs, bread, garbage bags, and detergent.
b. I should remember the coupons.

6. I will dress now.

7. I am going out the door.

8. Ouch! I tripped over the dog.......

9. I really need to go to the hospital now.

10. I cannot go to the hospital until I have thought of number 10.

And on goes their brain--continuing the list all day and all night.

Now,in contrast, let me give you a scene from my brain first thing in the morning:

"It is the best of times; it is the worst of times. The sun is peeking in through the small gaps in the Venetian blinds while the smell of aftershave wafts down the hallway and into the bedroom. Here, four children have deposited themselves in various positions in my queen-sized bed. I cannot feel my left arm; it is under one of the children. If I were a good wife, I would be up making a hot breakfast for my husband. I will get up in fifteen minutes. Maybe it will be more like thirty minutes. Life is good."

I am not a list person. I suppose I am a paragraph person. I think in complete sentences, and I prefer to write blocks of material instead of short, choppy thoughts. One has only to read my prolific posts to know what I mean. I guess some people get really bored with that. It is as though they cannot focus through an entire paragraph, much less a soliloquy the size of "War and Peace." I do think it takes training and practice and perhaps something in the genes to make someone an avid reader. Then, to write....well, that takes practice, and patience, and a dab of inspiration helps, too.

Probably some of the most talented writers you know are very manic at times. "Manic" makes for some wonderful, poignant posts. "Depressive" sucks the inspiration right out of the best of them.

I have several blogs I read on a regular basis. Some of the authors are just as punctual as can be in adding posts. Others are sporadic in their contributions to their blogs. I know that the manics in the group will have some good material in a day or two, as soon as the mood strikes them. I understand when the manic/depressives are gone for a while. I know they will be back when they have something they feel is worth saying. I love the deep thinkers, because they take me to places in the mind that are fascinating. At my age, it is a challenge to get the old cylinders in the brain to fire as they should all the time, and I want to keep what little acuity I was given for as long as I can. Since it is getting harder and harder to find my nouns anyway, I need all the help I can get exercising the old brain.

So, I guess I will resist list-making for as long as I can. I want to think deeper, feel more deeply, and maybe cause someone else to reach deeper into their own heart and soul and figure out a little more than what cartoon character or kitchen vegetable they most resemble this week.

O.k. I am done with this rant. Go ahead, you two, and stone me.