Today is National Ampersand Day & the second day of Rosh Hashana & the day I go back to see the Ear Nose & Throat people at the hospital about my nosebleed caused by my anticoagulant medications & our new & adorable cat Joan trying to wake me up by scratching my nose & so much more.
Yesterday I started working again after my 2-week vacation & people were very glad to reconnect in an online therapy group & had a lot to say.
Today, as always, I want to welcome all thoughts & feelings including happiness & sadness & fear & anger & despair & hope & so on.
Here are photos & screen captures for today’s post.
How are you going to celebrate & otherwise mark this precious & unique day?
Last night, when we were eating this delicious & nutritious vegetarian chili …
… my husband & cook Michael & my son Aaron & I were talking about the many ways you can get chili in Cincinnati, including with cheese & beans & spaghetti.
Here’s “Ampersand” by They Might Be Giants (a band that Aaron & Michael & I saw in person years & years ago).
Thanks & more thanks to all who visit this blog, including you & you & you & YOU!
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?
I’m working on a new original song, called “Spoiler Alert!”
Spoiler alert! If you don’t want to know any of the lyrics before I finish writing “Spoiler Alert!” please leave this post immediately or scroll down rapidly past this following section:
Spoiler Alert!
by Ann Koplow
I hear a lot of people avoiding spoilers,
They want to be surprised, their future disguised, they’ve said.
Those who reveal what’s coming for real are annoyers.
They don’t want to know, so please do not show what’s ahead.
I’m going to say I’ll be giving away future happenings.
If that’s your pet peeve, you have the option to leave any time.
Spoiler alert!
You’ll encounter things that definitely will hurt.
You’ll be afraid of losing your shirt.
Some foolish words you’re going to blurt.
Spoiler alert!
Nice people will sometimes be curt.
Someone you love will treat you like dirt.
You’ll eat too much of a fattening dessert.
You may have encountered some of these spoilers already.
Since that’s probably the case, I’ll continue my pace to reveal
Future things to occur, I’m reasonably sure and steady,
More spoiler alerts — not all of them hurts — now coming your way.
Spoiler alert! I want to finish that song before the first Friday in September, when I’ll be singing at my usual Open Mic in Arlington, Massachusetts. If I don’t make it, here’s another spoiler: I’ll be alert enough to sing another one of my original songs.
Spoiler alert! One of my photos from yesterday inspired one of those lines in “Spoiler Alert.” Are you alert enough to find it?
People are messy; therefore, relationships will be messy. Don’t be surprised by messiness. — Timothy Keller
Surely it’s better to love others, however messy and imperfect the involvement, than to allow one’s capacity for love to harden. –Karen Armstrong
A problem is only a problem when viewed as a problem. All change is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end. — Robin S. Sharma
Life itself is a haphazard, untidy, messy affair. — Dorothy Day
Messy is a word we use to explain a conflict with an expectation we had. Eliminate the expectation, and you eliminate the messy. — Steve Maraboli
It’s good to leave your room super-messy when you’re away. Whoever tries to break into your room will think it has already been ransacked. — Douglas Adams
The truth is messy. It’s raw and uncomfortable. You can’t blame people for preferring lies. — Holly Black
A messy kitchen is a sign of happiness. — Anonymous
Do you see any messes in my other photos from yesterday?
Here’s I Have Made a Mess by They Might Be Giants:
says, to me, that group therapy is a very effective way to deal with trauma and loss.
Spoiler Alert! I am not doing my usual thing of linking to the Wikipedia entry about Avengers: Endgame, because that has countless alert spoilers in it.
Spoiler Alert! I wonder if I’m reducing my readership for this blog post by repeating the words “Spoiler Alert”?
Spoiler Alert! Last night I couldn’t sleep and started writing a song called “Spoiler Alert.”
Spoiler Alert! Here are the lyrics I’ve written so far:
I am going to start with a definition of “eye roll” because that’s how I roll.
The action of rolling one’s eyes, typically as an expression of exasperation, disbelief, or disapproval.
Yesterday, when somebody at work treated me like I was his secretary, I did an eye roll in the privacy of my office. While my eyes were rolling, I composed an email in my head that said
I am not your secretary! I am not even your assigned social worker! I don’t like this!
but I didn’t send it. Instead, I sent him an email in which I responded to his request and instructed him how to interact with social work more effectively in the future.
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The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally 