Here‘s a definition of “modern” from the modern Merriam-Webster website:
1 a : of, relating to, or characteristic of the present or the immediate past : CONTEMPORARY the modern American family b : of, relating to, or characteristic of a period extending from a relevant remote past to the present time modern history 2 : involving recent techniques, methods, or ideas : UP-TO-DATE modern methods of communication 3 capitalized : of, relating to, or having the characteristics of the present or most recent period of development of a language Modern English 4 : of or relating to modernism : MODERNIST Modern art has abandoned the representation of recognizable objects.
Speaking of recognizable objects, do you see anything that represents “modern” in these modern images, as I try to stay sane during these modern times?
Because I am the model of a very modern group therapist, I used that magic wand in my Coping and Healing group yesterday, so we could make modern wishes for our modern times.
BFD, according to dictionary.com, means one thing AND its opposite, which I think is a BFD.
This reminds me of a BFD saying I came up with years ago — we are neither as important or as unimportant as we fear.
Are any of these recent photos a BFD?
Around here, it’s a BFD when my husband Michael lets me take a picture of him and share it in my blog. We both got haircuts yesterday, which is a BFD during the BF pandemic. Also, the macaroni and cheese Michael made yesterday was a BFD.
The upcoming U.S. Presidential election is a BFD, and if my candidates win, I’m also going to win cookies and somebody else’s macaroni and cheese. To me, macaroni and cheese is ALWAYS a BFD.
1: the seat of life or intelligence : SOUL “give up the ghost” 2: a disembodied soul especially : the soul of a dead person believed to be an inhabitant of the unseen world or to appear to the living in bodily likeness 3: SPIRIT, DEMON 4a: a faint shadowy trace a ghost of a smile b: the least bit “not a ghost of a chance” 5: a false image in a photographic negative or on a television screen caused especially by reflection 6: one who ghostwrites 7: a red blood cell that has lost its hemoglobin
These days, it’s looking like the current U.S. President does not have a ghost of a chance to get a second term. Those of us who almost gave up the ghost four years ago when he WAS elected — despite polls saying he had not a ghost of a chance back then — are barely showing ghosts of smiles about the possible outcome.
I know that some of his supporters might call me a snowflake, but I have felt haunted since November, 2016, inhabiting this world like a ghost of my former self. When I look at the posts I’ve written since then, I see faint shadowy traces of the spirit I had before. However, it’s never been so bad that I’ve considered getting a ghostwriter for this blog.
Also, many of us feel haunted by ghosts that others just do not see.
What ghosts do you see in my photos from yesterday?
Among others, I see the ghosts of Oscar the cat, the people who have been killed by gun violence, trust in our leaders, and the normalcy of our lives before the pandemic.
Also, that last photo shows the ghost of a blog post I considered writing for today — “Day 2881: Grains of salt.” There are many ghosts of posts never written in my draft folder and in my mind, but those don’t haunt me, perhaps because so many posts have seen the light of day.
1a(1): old iron, glass, paper, or other waste that may be used again in some form (2): secondhand, worn, or discarded articles (3): CLUTTER sense 1b b: something of poor quality : TRASH c: something of little meaning, worth, or significance 2: pieces of old cable or cordage used especially to make gaskets, mats, swabs, or oakum 3 slang : NARCOTICS especially : HEROIN 4: JUNK BOND 5: baseball pitches that break or are off-speed (such as curveballs or changeups) 6 slang : male genitalia
Do you see any junk in today’s news or in today’s photos?
Amid all the junk from yesterday, last night my son Aaron and I saw a fox jump on the seawall and glide along, like a little grey spaceship, on the sand below. In my attempt to capture it, I took that last junky photo, above.
Have you heard any good quotes about junk? How about this one?
“God don’t make no junk.”
Here‘s “Junk” by Sir Paul McCartney, presented by Carter and Josh Turner:
No matter what junk you’re dealing with, I think you’ll enjoy that performance of “Junk.”
Feel free to share any junk you like in the comments section, below.
I would never junk gratitude, so thanks to all who help me create these daily posts, including YOU!
(By the way, I snapped that when I was in the junk food section of our local supermarket.)
If I were to categorize my associations with categories, they would include
a kid’s game I used to play with my friends in which we sang “categories, names of, (some category)” while clapping our hands and naming things in the category back and forth until somebody couldn’t think of one, which I cannot find categorized on YouTube (which I categorize as disappointing) and
category[ kat-i-gawr-ee, -gohr-ee ]
noun, plural cat·e·go·ries.
any general or comprehensive division; a class.
a classificatory division in any field of knowledge, as a phylum or any of its subdivisions in biology.
Metaphysics.
(in Aristotelian philosophy) any of the fundamental modes of existence, such as substance, quality, and quantity, as determined by analysis of the different possible kinds of predication.
(in Kantian philosophy) any of the fundamental principles of the understanding, as the principle of causation.
any classification of terms that is ultimate and not susceptible to further analysis.
categories. Also called Guggenheim. (used with a singular verb) a game in which a key word and a list of categories, as dogs, automobiles, or rivers, are selected, and in which each player writes down a word in each category that begins with each of the letters of the key word, the player writing down the most words within a time limit being declared the winner.
Mathematics. a type of mathematical object, as a set, group, or metric space, together with a set of mappings from such an object to other objects of the same type.
Grammar. part of speech.
During these days, which I would categorize as staycation days for me, my son Aaron is trying to teach me about categories in mathematics (see above and see here).
Leon, who I would put in the categories of ex-husband, father of my son, friends, and people I love, showed up recently in this diagram of categories my son drew …
… and also showed up yesterday …
… with a framed photo of mine he put into the category of photos worthy of framing when he saw it in a recent blog post.
I would put Leon’s actions — printing out my picture, framing it, and giving it to us — into the categories of kind, creative, thoughtful, unexpected, and also very, very flattering.
Jeanette, who I would also put into the categories of friends and people I love sent me this beautiful card …
… which I would put into the category of condolence card for the loss of our cat Oscar, and so much more. The PictureThis app (categorized as “Botanist in Your Pocket”) couldn’t place it into the category of flowers or plants.
I’m looking forward to any comments of different categories, below.
Whatever categories I might put my blog into (which today includes “personal growth,” “photojournalism,” “friendship,” “definition,” and “life during the pandemic”), I should always include the category “gratitude.” Thanks to all who help me create these categorized posts every day, including YOU!
BLIND SPOT
1a: the small circular area at the back of the retina where the optic nerve enters the eyeball and which is devoid of rods and cones and is not sensitive to light
— called also optic disk
— see EYE ILLUSTRATION
b: a portion of a field that cannot be seen or inspected with available equipment
2: an area in which one fails to exercise judgment or discrimination
Examples of blind spot in a Sentence
When driving on the highway, you need to make sure no one is in your blind spot before changing lanes.
She has a blind spot concerning her son’s behavior.
.
Do you see any blind spots in that definition or in my images from yesterday?
.
Sometimes I wonder if the format for these blog posts creates blind spots and whether people miss some of the words I put in spots. I try to keep wonder from turning into worry, because worry creates blind spots for me.
Let’s see if there are any blind spots on YouTube.
.
Blind spots don’t get in the way of my finding gratitude, wherever I look.
I hope this doesn’t sound passive aggressive, but passive aggressive people drive me nuts. If you don’t know what passive aggressive means, why don’t you say so?
pas·sive-ag·gres·sive
adjective
of or denoting a type of behavior or personality characterized by indirect resistance to the demands of others and an avoidance of direct confrontation, as in procrastinating, pouting, or misplacing important materials.
Hmmmm. According to that passive aggressive definition, perhaps I am passive aggressive, since I’ve been known to
indirectly resist the demands of others,
avoid direct confrontation (especially with passive aggressive people),
procrastinate,
pout,
and misplace important materials to the extent that I spend much of time looking for them, while pouting. For example, this weekend I misplaced my laptop, my phone, my water bottle, my pen, my purse, my mug, a mask, and a letter I had resisted mailing for days.
Well, if I am passive aggressive, at least I know I’m not alone, as you can tell from these passive aggressive images which I found at this passive aggressive website.
That passive aggressive goodbye cake reminds me that this Friday is my husband Michael’s birthday and I need to find an ice cream cake for him. This is the first time my son Aaron and I will be around to celebrate that with him since every other year we’ve passive aggressively left him to aggressively and passively enjoy the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which passive aggressively is not taking place this year because of the aggressive coronavirus, which the United States President has been aggressively passive about.
Is it passive aggressive for me to share these photos I took yesterday, especially if I resist telling you to look for passive aggressiveness in them?
Some of those photos were taken at our local CVS pharmacy, which I sometimes passively aggressively call the “Coronavirus Store.” Also, for the first time ever, Harley made the passive or aggressive or passive aggressive move yesterday of quietly infiltrating our late cat Oscar’s territory.
If you don’t notice how much time and effort I am already putting into creating this “Passive Aggressive” post, I just might sulk, but who would care about that?
Here‘s a song about a passive aggressive person, which I heard when I was taking my passive aggressive walk yesterday.
Before I end this post, I’m going to check out the usually passively aggressive Daily Bitch Calendar and see what today’s Daily Bitch is.
I might argue with that Daily Bitch, but I don’t like confrontation.
At this point, I’m just going to mention that if you don’t comment, I hope you realize that might be construed by some people (whom I won’t name) as being sort of passive aggressive.
Is it possible to be passively aggressively grateful for everybody who helps me create these daily posts, including YOU?
Because of the kind of character I am, I’m going to start this blog post with a definition of “character.”
character
noun
char·ac·ter | \ ˈker-ik-tər , ˈka-rik- \
1a: one of the attributes or features that make up and distinguish an individual.
“This is a side of her character that few people have seen.”
b(1): a feature used to separate distinguishable things into categories.
advertising of a very primitive character
(2): the aggregate of distinctive qualities characteristic of a breed, strain, or type.
a wine of great character
(3): the detectable expression of the action of a gene or group of genes.
c: the complex of mental and ethical traits marking and often individualizing a person, group, or nation.
the character of the American people
d: main or essential nature especially as strongly marked and serving to distinguish.
excess sewage gradually changed the character of the lake
2a: one of the persons of a drama or novel.
b: the personality or part which an actor recreates.
an actress who can create a character convincingly
c: characterization especially in drama or fiction.
a novelist good in both character and setting.
d: PERSON, INDIVIDUAL
a suspicious character
e: a person marked by notable or conspicuous traits.
quite a character
3: moral excellence and firmness.
a man of sound character
4a: a graphic symbol (such as a hieroglyph or alphabet letter) used in writing or printing.
b: a symbol (such as a letter or number) that represents information.
mathematical characters
also : a representation of such a symbol that may be accepted by a computer.
c: a magical or astrological emblem.
d: ALPHABET
e(1): WRITING, PRINTING
(2): style of writing or printing.
You know the character to be your brother’s?
— Shakespeare
(3): CIPHER
f: a conventionalized graphic device placed on an object as an indication of ownership, origin, or relationship.
5: REPUTATION
the scandal has damaged his character and image
6: POSITION, CAPACITY
his character as a town official
7: REFERENCE sense 4b
8: a short literary sketch of the qualities of a social type
in character
: in accord with a person’s usual qualities or traits
behaving in character
out of character
: not in accord with a person’s usual qualities or traits
his rudeness was completely out of character
I tried to add and remove some characters to that long definition to make it clearer but, because I’m an impatient character, I gave up before the ending.
People we know of excellent character have sent us sweet condolence cards characterizing our late kitty Oscar as a character.
I so appreciate the loving character of Janet, Ray, Lydia, and Bob.
Harley, who has a more nervous character than Oscar did, is sitting next to me on the sofa as I’m typing the characters in this post.
What character(s) do you notice in my other photos, which I will characterize as “recent”?
Here‘s “The Top 10 Movie Character Musical Themes.”
Here‘s somebody with character playing “The Imperial March” (#3 in the Top 10 Movie Character Musical Themes) during day 55 of the Black Lives Matter protests in Portland:
I look forward to all the characters left by various characters in the comments section, below.
Many thanks to all the characters who help me create this daily blog, including YOU!
I’ve definitely heard mixed messages about the advisability of looking for information online, but here‘s an online definition of “mixed messages”:
NOUN
mixed message (plural mixed messages)
(idiomatic) Any communication that is contradictory, inconsistent, or unclear, especially in its motive or intent.
Don’t you think it’s sending a mixed message for the magazine to put “Lose Five Pounds in A Month” right next to “Ten Easy Desserts”?
See also
double standard
mixed signal
oxymoron
read between the lines
Yesterday, on a walk near my home, I encountered these mixed messages:
EXPLORE MORE (on the left page of that discarded magazine) and
… NO TRESPASSING. There were more mixed messages there, because several people and dogs seemed to be trespassing on that land (which is either an island or a peninsula, depending on the tide). As I read descriptions of Thompson Island, I’m getting more mixed messages about whether I should have explored more or turned back in response to that NO TRESPASSING message. The messages are so mixed for me right now, I’m doubting whether that actually IS Thompson Island, since there were no clear messages or identifying signs.
When I look around these days, I see mixed messages about
masks,
the pandemic,
travel,
work,
age,
food,
sleep,
etiquette,
language,
connecting with others,
fireworks,
protests,
danger,
safety,
politics,
polls,
money,
power,
human nature,
the climate,
the future,
the past, and
the rest of this mixed world.
Do you see any mixed messages in my many other mixed photos from yesterday?
If those messages are too mixed to see clearly, you can always click on a particular photographic message to make it larger.
1: a station set between principal stations on a line of travel (such as a railroad)
2: an intermediate stopping place
Synonyms
station, stop
Examples of way station in a Sentence
a way station for truck drivers
Recent Examples on the Web
The house became a gathering place for an indelible cultural moment, a way station for Andy Warhol, Terry Southern, Ike and Tina Turner, and Black Panthers.
— Mark Rozzo, The New Yorker, “Dennis Hopper’s Quiet Vision of Nineteen-Sixties Hollywood,” 22 Dec. 2019
In my way, I tried to make that definition of “way station” a way station (an intermediate stopping place) within today’s post.
I think it’s helpful, here and now, to think of every thing we experience — alone and together — as way stations on our way to where we are going.
Do you see any way stations in my photographs from yesterday?
As I’m moving among way stations, I often listen to The Way Up by the Pat Metheny Group. Here’s one performance of The Way Up from the way station YouTube:
On your way today to other way stations, I hope you spend some time listening to The Way Up and also in the way station of the comments sections, below.
No matter what the way station, I am grateful to be there and grateful for YOU.
