Geekstress Wonders

  Photo by Peter Conlan. Friends are a strange lot. The definition of friend changes over the course of our lives. It means different things to different people. We have different expectations for different friends. When I was a child, a friend was someone I got along with and played with. Best friend was someone I did this with frequently and who I could also trust. Sometimes they broke my trust, but I’m sure I did the same. Friendships evolved as the teen years arrived. I continued to have friends of both genders, but things became complicated by hormones. Inevitably, one side would develop a crush on the other. Ray, my best friend, and I thought we might be perfect as a couple since we were fantastic as best friends. We attempted a kiss while alone in his truck one Saturday night. Almost as soon as the kiss started it ended with both of us backing away immediately. We just gaped at one another. Slight disgust was apparent on both faces. We agreed it felt too familiar and to ...

My anxiety is through the roof. Surgery on my right elbow tomorrow. It is more than that. It is everything going on my life at the moment. Too much happening at once, yet so many things I need to do and can’t get done soon enough. Some timelines are beyond my control. Thankfully, I have a great therapist to talk this through with. She is actually the one who suggested I blog about my anxiety today. I am overwhelmed and want to avoid the world. Anyone else’s anxiety manifest in that manner? Avoidance? It’s a horrible habit. I wouldn’t recommend it. Your brain and your body scream for you to do anything but what you need to do. Sleep, knit, watch TV, but don’t do what you need to do. Even if it is something I might enjoy, I still avoid it. Avoidance habit is so debilitating. The more you do it, the worse it gets. The act of succumbing to it reinforces it and makes it worse. Don’t misunderstand me. I don’t always react to anxiety this way. Not even under the most extreme pressures. My min...

WRITERS!  Why aren't you using Instagram yet?  Use Instagram as a writing resource and to share your writing! 1 st Way - Hashtags to find the writing community on Instagram (1) #writersofinstagram (2) #writerscommunity (3) #writingprompts (4) #writinginspiration (5) #writerlife (6) #amwriting (7) #amediting (8) #bookstagram (9) #nanowrimo (10) #askagent (11) the name of your city or state + writers (12) your genre + writers, writing, or books (13) the name of an author 2 nd Way - Search ideas for visual research on Instagram (1) Where your story is such as City, State, or Country. (2) Search for people who look like your characters. (3) A Noun you are writing about. (4) Looking for inspiration? Search for the topic of your story. (5) More inspiration? Search the topic you blog about! (6) Discover quotes by people relevant/important to your topic.  (7) The look of your story. Is it Victorian times? Search for a Vi...

My dog is old. I hold my breath for the day she goes downhill. My best friend, Lilly, is comparable to an 80-year-old woman. Her hearing has worsened this past year. She no longer hears when I arrive home, nor when I rattle her leash to signal it's time for a walk. Her mobility is possible because of medications and a special diet. She will notice I have moved to another room and follow me. I thought this meant she didn't feel well. She didn't use to stick close by my side. I took her to the vet. Discovered following mamma is a good sign! Instead, I need to worry when she hides. She now makes weird noises, not only snoring. Vet assured me this was part of the cognitive changes with age. I try not to be a helicopter mom but know my beloved canine rarely complains, even when she is in pain. This knowledge keeps me vigilant to any changes with her. My heart will break when she passes. I've lost other dogs because of aging and sickness, and it hurts. Yet, Lilly is the...

“Hell no, I won’t go!” is all I could think of as she blew her top, sending the mushroom cloud of ash and gases over 15 miles high into the atmosphere and 40 miles wide. Harry R. Truman was on everyone’s mind on May 18 th , 1980, when Mount St. Helen erupted. Our local legend and folk hero refused to leave his home, Mount St. Helens Lodge. He chanted that phrase repeatedly to the media and anyone who would listen. Harry was beloved by not only his friends and family, but by the entire Pacific Northwest. Before his death, he was already a celebrity and caused a media flurry. He attracted the attention of National Geographic, United Press International, and The Today Show. He appeared on the front pages of The San Francisco Examiner and The New York Times. Many other major magazines did profiles on him such as Newsweek, Life, Time, Field & Stream and Reader’s Digest. They continued to pay tribute to him after his death. Oscar-winning actor, Art Carney, portrayed Harry Truman in t...

I feel like one of the hardest things in my life is to find female friends who lift me up. My family history may have made me jaded. Still, I doubt my struggle is unique. I appreciate honesty and directness saturated with sincerity, genuine kindness, and integrity. Male friends are not perfect, but they are much easier to connect with. I do not find as many enjoy the mind games that women enjoy. Not for friendships. I run a local craft (knitting and crochet) group in my area. Technically, we have about 85 members. Realistically, about only 20 show up for gatherings and usually the groups are no bigger than 8 at a time, depending on their schedules. It all works out. We chat mostly on Facebook and many enjoy the connections on Facebook enough without connecting in person. Jackie is a fellow knitter in our local yarn knit/crochet group. She and I immediately clicked. Same sense of humor, but more than that. Sounds cheesy to say same wavelength but I have no other words. We “...

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom. I miss you so much. It’s been over 11 years since your passing and there is still a hole in my heart from your departure. It was a torturous one. Watching you go through so much pain, so little they could do for you towards the end. None of it was how I expected our lives to play out. I kept envisioning you and I growing old together, in matching rocking chairs on the porch, having lengthy discussions about science, politics, and philosophy.  I fully expected you to live to at least eighty years old like your parents. We both felt cheated and were unprepared when they diagnosed you with cancer with the grim outlook and short timeframe. This is when I stopped believing everything happens for a reason. After watching you twist and writhe in pain, especially the last few weeks, me continuing to beg the doctors to keep increasing your pain medications at the hospice? I cannot believe in a universe where there is a reason for you to go through that, especially t...

National Hug Day! Be the Hug that changes someone’s day! Here are some Hug facts! The record for most hugs given in one hour? 1,749 hugs  🤗   A twenty-second hug releases the bonding hormone and neurotransmitter Oxytocin, which is nature's anti-depressant and anti-anxiety hormone.  Hugs reduce a person’s blood pressure. The New York Times reported that the hug has become the favorite social greeting of teenagers when meeting or parting in the United States. Several schools in the US have issued bans on hugs, which resulted in student-led protests against these bans in some cases. Go hugs! A hug can indicate support, comfort, and consolation, particularly where words are insufficient. Α full-body hug stimulates a person’s nervous system while decreasing feelings of loneliness, combating fear, increasing self-esteem, defusing tension, and showing appreciation. Hugs can alleviate our fears of our own mortality.  Hugs boost a ...

Play time! Spell your first name with your favorite movies. Put your answer in the comments. Or reply to my tweet on Twitter. Maybe you will have better luck than me.     I may have to change my name to something unpronounceable. I even tapped into fav TV shows and still have blanks. See my list of fav films even further below. Proves I do have taste, just the wrong name. CINDY   C     Clueless I     IT Crowd (British TV) N     NCIS (TV) D     Deadpool Y     ? My Ultimate Favorite Films 1.        To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) 2.        The Rocky Horror Picture Show 3.        Ferris Bueller’s Day Off 4.        Hackers 5.        War Games 6.        The Day th...

This is one of several reasons why I no longer trust or respect you if you are still a Trump supporter. I was patient when I saw that you had drank the koolaid. I normally try to not let politics get in the way of my connections to others.  But now I am just disgusted by you as I cannot ignore the fact that you see this and still support this openly horrible human that holds so much power over us.  True to form, as Trump was being impeached, he mocked the death of the late House Rep. John Dingell of Michigan, who served in World War II in the U.S. Army and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, by suggesting that he is now in hell, because his wife, Rep. Deborah Ann Dingell, voted to impeach him tonight. The audience at his rally laughed and cheered. Trump supporters, this is what you support. You own this. https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2019/12/18/trump-targets-dingell-late-husband-during-battle-creek-rally/2692307001/