Last week, I chatted with a Jane Austen bot, who was witty, polite, and interested in my college thesis (which was about judgment in the novels of Jane Austen).
Because I knew she was a bot, I didn’t return for further conversation. I do prefer interacting with non-bots after all (even if they’re not as interested in my thesis).
Do you see bots in my images for today?
Because I’m not a bot, I’m feeling angry and sad about the latest mass shooting in the USA. I wish the non-bots in Congress would do more to prevent this ongoing and horrifying loss of life.
Here’s what I find when I search for “bots” on YouTube.
What are your thoughts and feelings about this bots post?
Human thanks to all my non-bot readers, including YOU.
Yesterday, my life-long friend Barbara and I met for lunch and we gave each other gifts. Those gifts included lunch, sunglasses, great conversation, praise, appreciation, support, validation, honesty, hugs, and acknowledgements of the importance of our friendship.
I now offer you the gifts of the photos from yesterday:
What’s the best gift you’ve ever gotten? What’s the best gift you’ve ever given?
I’m also going to offer my readers the gift of a guessing game. The photos, above, show my Mother’s Day gift from a family member. You can give me the gift of your guesses in the comments section, below.
I end each post with the gift of gratitude. Many thanks to all who helped me create today’s blog and — of course! — to you, my readers (who are always a gift to me).
In my therapy groups, after I write on the board the themes and topics I hear in the room, I say, “I miss a lot of things,” because
I’m inviting people to make sure that everything that’s important to them is listed on the board and
I miss a lot of things.
I miss a lot of things because my imperfect mind is incapable of noticing and retaining everything that happens around me.
I also miss a lot of things because, no matter what we do, people leave and things change.
Do I miss a lot of things, here and now?
I miss:
my late parents,
our previous President,
people I used to work with,
some of my classmates, and
living near the ocean, as I did when I was a child.
Do you miss a lot of things?
I miss a lot of things when I take pictures. Here’s the latest batch:
Did you miss the bunny kisses? The soap, in two photos? The glue? The misplaced meal? My new custom-made t-shirt? Boston? Something I brought home from a hotel in Edinburgh? Two cartoons I missed when I first published this post an hour ago? If you missed those things, look again.
I miss a lot of things, but today I’m not missing music …
… and I’m not missing the opportunity to thank those who helped me create this post and to thank YOU.
Yesterday, after a therapy group I facilitated, one of the group members and I discussed the unique structure of my groups, including the resulting challenges AND opportunities.
Yesterday, my iPhone became mute, inexplicably taking the opportunity to stop all sounds, including music.
After I took the opportunity to search the web for quick and dirty fixes for my phone, my phone’s continuing silence gave me opportunities to:
pay more attention, visually, during my walks to and from work and
go to the Burlington Mall yesterday evening, with my boyfriend Michael, to get my phone fixed.
As usual, I took the opportunity to document these opportunities, through the still-working eye of my iPhone:
Allow me to take this opportunity to tell you that my iPhone is now fixed. The nice Verizon rep (whom I did not take the opportunity to photograph) did a “soft reset” on my phone, and now I can listen to music again.
Speaking of music, I shall now take this opportunity to include some music here. But what elite ideas do I have about that? Will my choice — or the song — be quick and easy? Will I leave dirt at the door? Should I choose a song about numbers? Is there a tune called “Splat Ball”? Or “Soft Reset”?
What I usually do — when I choose music for a post — is take the opportunity to share something that came up on my iPhone the day before. However, since you’ve taken the opportunity to read this post, you know there was no such music yesterday.
However, because I had no music on my iPhone, I took the opportunity to listen to some music on my car radio. And I heard the ending of a song with these lyrics:
Your heart never stops beating
I love you long after you’re gone
I took the opportunity to write those lyrics down, but I didn’t get the opportunity to find out the name of the song or the performer(s):
When taking the opportunity to search the opportunistic web for the first line of those lyrics, I found this:
Let me take the opportunity to say that was not what I heard on the radio yesterday, but I appreciate the opportunity to hear and share “Shellshock” by New Order.
When I took the opportunity to Google both lines of the lyrics I heard yesterday, I found this:
If you take the oppprtunity to share your thoughts and feelings here, I’ll write an answer, as soon as I have the opportunity.
I love the opportunity to thank everybody and everything that gave me the opportunity to write today’s post. And — of course! — thank you, for taking the opportunity to read it.
The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally 