Rainy Tuesday

I meditate 

On the sound of raindrops 

Striking the asphalt 

Of Sunrise Avenue. 

Rain at last! 

Cleaning the air, 

Sending chills of joy 

Through my mind. 

I intone a prayer of gratitude 

For this rainy Tuesday. 

A Good Tuesday

Fiḍál (Grace), 19 Sharaf (Honor), 173 BE - Tuesday, January 17, 2017 AD about 4:33 PM Pacific Standard Time 

Beautiful Tuesday 

A day to write poetry 

And learn a new form 

It's a good Tuesday. I did several surveys and I wrote a poem. Now I have to post this and then get some editing accomplished. I also have to finish a snack bar I started earlier today. I got hungry so I decided I needed a snack. I unwrapped a Balance bar and ate half of it before realizing that I wanted more than just a little snack. I warmed some leftover up in the microwave and now I have to finish the snack because I can't put it back in the package. 

Tuesday Rant from Las Vegas

It's a beautiful and chilly Tuesday in Las Vegas. This morning I went to my kidney doctor for a blood test because I have an appointment to see him next week. I'm not looking forward to the appointment because it's going to cost me a co-pay for the visit. The co-pay is only about  $10.00 so I don't suppose I have anything to bitch about. It wouldn't do any good to bitch anyway. I have to see the doctor so I have to pay the co-pay. 

I didn't have to worry about co-pays last year because Medcaid paid them last year, but they won't this year so I have to figure out where that money coming from plus every other medical expense that I can't afford to pay because I'm attempting to survive on Medicare and Social Security. January is an especially difficult month financially because I have to have my car tag renewed. I know I'll survive, but I don't know how right now. 

I think my biggest problem today is that I'm so tired of worrying and scratching to find the money to purchase what I need. The biggest thing I need is a vacation and that's not going to happen because in order to take a vacation I need money which I don't have and if I did have it would go to paying bills. Then this morning I received a letter about my Student Loan, which I can't afford to pay and still have a place to live, was delinquent. I'm not stupid, I know the damn thing's delinquent. If I could afford to pay it I would. I'm barely surviving on a fixed income. 

I don't know why I'm writing this because it's not going to do any good. In addition, I'll probably regret writing it, but today I don't care. If I thought tears would do any good then I'd cry, but crying won't change anything or do anything about my problems. Crying may help me emotionally. However, instead of crying I think I'll say some prayers. 

Trepidation Tuesday: My car needs a new alternator

Fiḍál (Grace), 16 Mashíyyat (Will), 173 BE - Tuesday, October 11, 2016 AD about 9:33 AM Pacific Daylight Time 

My car needs a new alternator which will cost about $101.00  plus tax if I purchase it at the discount alternator place. Then I need $40.00 to pay a neighbor, with experience working on cars, to put it in. Unfortunately, I don't have that amount of money in my account. October was a tight month, so I should have known I would have extra expenses. 

I attempting not to worry about paying for the alternator, the power bill, or the internet bill. My method of avoiding worry is to place everything in God's hands then write or do surveys. This has helped to an extent. If I can keep from worrying then I can figure out a way to get the money. Without a car I have to take the city bus, unfortunately I don't have the cash to take either the city bus or the paratransit because they both cost me $5.00 (I think) I'll have to check the paratransit website to make sure. 

Writing on Tuesday Afternoon

Fiḍál (Grace), 2 Mashíyyat (Will), 173 BE - Tuesday, September 27, 2016 AD about 4:15 PM Pacific Daylight Time 

It's Tuesday afternoon here in Las Vegas. I made an entry in my writing.com blog this morning. It was about the interesting neighborhood I live in. There were two other blog prompts that I ignored at the time. One of them concerned socioeconomic pressure on relationship. The other was about switching bodies with random people. I stared at each prompt for a few minutes and realized that there was no way I was going to write a logical or thought provoking prompt to either on. I posted the entry about my neighborhood to each of the three blog groups I belong to. 

Think back over those two blog prompts, I think one of them would make a good idea for a short story. I am in the  process of writing 44 short stories this year. I will use  the body switching prompt for one of the stories. I have finished 20 of the short stories and have 24 left to complete before December 31, 2016. I will finish story 21 either this evening or on Wednesday morning. 

Trepidation Tuesday: I used to enjoy doing surveys

Fiḍál (Grace), 19 Asmá’(Names), 173 BE - Tuesday, September 6, 2016 AD about 3:08 PM Pacific Daylight Time 

Trepidation Tuesday may be too strong a title for this entry, but the agitation part of trepidation isn't. I'm agitated because I used to enjoy doing survey and lately they've become a chore. I no longer enjoy doing survey. I don't know why I don't  enjoy them anymore. Perhaps it's because it takes so long with so little reward at the end. Another reason is that I belong to too many survey groups. Therefore, I've decided to unsubscribe to some of the groups. 

This afternoon, I unsubscribed to two groups without checking the amount of points I had in them. I thought I would be upset because of the points, but I'm not. I feel better. I feel relaxed. I even smiled during the last survey I took even thought I didn't qualify for any points. I think that means I did the right thing by unsubscribing to  the two survey groups. I'm going to unsubscribe to a couple more because those aren't paying off like I thought they would when I joined them.  

It doesn't matter how much I might need the money that the accumulated points will equal. If I'm not enjoying the surveys then I'm not doing them with the proper attitude. It's the attitude that counts because when I enjoy the surveys I'm more likely the read and understand the questions. I can then think about my answers instest of just getting through the survey. 

Brownout Tuesday: August 2, 2016

Fiḍál (Grace), 3 Kamál (Perfection), 173 BE - Tuesday, August 2, 2016 AD about 1:01 PM Pacific Daylight Time 

Don't you just love it  when you're in the heat of composing a story, poem, or blog entry and there's a brownout. That just happened to me, I was working in one of my writing.com journal composing today's entry and the electricity went off. Fortunately, I had just started the entry, so I don't think I lost too much. I entered the date, saved that (I think) and then begin writing the first  paragraph. 

The electricity went off without  warning, which is normal in a brownout, still it  was a bit of a shock.  I stared at the dark computer, I listened for the song of the air conditioner, and I glanced at the television. I don't know why I glanced at the television because I wasn't watching or listening to it. I think glancing at the T.V. was a reflex reaction.  

I hope we don't have to deal with temporary brownouts for the rest of the summer. When  the computer goes dark in the middle of writing, it throws me off form. My train of thought is derailed for a few minutes and I have to warm up or do something to get it back on track. As soon as I post this I'll go back to writing.com and finish today's entry in Welcome to My Weird Life. 

Tuesday Meditation: Meditation on Inspiration

Fiḍál (Grace), 15 Kalimát (Words), 173 BE - Tuesday, July 26, 2016 AD about 5:47 PM Pacific Daylight Time 

What  is inspiration? The dictionary give an uninspiring definition for inspiration. One of the online dictionaries say it has to do with mental stimulation which results in creating a painting or a poem. That is a beautiful scientific answer, but it doesn't satisfy the soul. It doesn't satisfy  the   poet in me. I could meditate all day on the subject and come up with an answer that only inspires me, but I don't  know if it  would be inspiring to someone else. Maybe each poet, artist, or novelist has to find his or her own inspiring definition of inspiration. 

God's word inspires 

The individual to take 

Personal responsibility 

I find inspiration in God's word  for many of my poems and stories. I suspect that's where most of my inspiration comes from because I can write easier when I pray, read the sacred scriptures, and meditate. Thinking about the scientific definition of inspiration you could say that reading the scriptures stimulates my mind to write poetry and stories. I think that inspiration goes deeper than my brain or mind. I think the scriptures stimulate my soul which inturn stimulates my mind. 

A Tuesday Afternoon in May

Fidal (Grace), 2 ‘Aẓamat (Grandeur), 173 BE - Tuesday, May 17, 2016 about 4:07 PM Pacific Daylight Time 

It's a beautiful day in Las Vegas. This afternoon the sun is shining. There is no wind blowing right now. There  was a wind this morning. When I went out to check the mailbox it  was chilly. I didn't put on a jacket or a sweater because I wasn't going very far. I suppose I could have used a sweater, but by the time I decided I needed one I was halfway to the mailbox. 

A windy morning 

A little bit chilly but 

Nice all the same. 

Yesterday I cleaned out one of my desk drawers. I threw some stuff away, but I kept the poem and story starts I found. I will begin working on some of them later today. The poem's shouldn't be too difficult to deal with. I'm not sure about the story starts because I'm not sure what I intended to do with them originally. Maybe I will use them as beginnings for some of the 44 short stories I'm writing this year. 

Tuesday Afternoon Thoughts

Fidal (Grace), 14 Jamál (Beauty), 173 BE - Tuesday, May 10, 2016 about 2:32 PM Pacific Daylight Time 

It's Tuesday afternoon of the second week in May 2016. The year seems to be flying past with one day barely ending before another begins. I'm sitting in front of my computer composing this blog entry while somewhere in my neighborhood a dog is barking. I'm not getting up to see why the dog is barking because by the time I got out the front door the dog would no longer be barking. 

The day seems to  pass slowly but the week is swift in its passing. It seems like just yesterday it was the beginning of the week, but now we are almost half over. As I pause to contemplate the passage of time while eating a grape  I wonder where the past four months have gone. I'm not sure that I've accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish by this time. I still have several months to go before celebrating another year, so I have a little time to accomplish the things I want. 

I know if I push myself I can get a few goals accomplished before the end of 2016. I have to push myself harder then I've been doing. I also have to look at my 2016 goals again. I think the last time I looked at them was in January. I remember one of them, which is the one I will accomplish by the end of May. I'll have to look at the rest to remind myself of what they are. 

Tuesday Afternoon in Las Vegas

Fidal (Grace), 17 Bahá (Splendour), 173 BE - Tuesday, April 5, 2016 about 6:18 PM Pacific Daylight Time

On Tuesday afternoon
in my neighborhood
the temperature rose
to 87 degrees.

It's getting warmer in the afternoon and early evening so I'm going to start taking my walks in the morning between 8:00 and 9:00 AM. If I set that time for my walk then I can walk about 30 minutes. Tomorrow I might try walking down to the end of the block and then around the corner up to the alley. I'm not sure how long that walk takes, but it seems to be a bit easier then going the other way.

Is my life boring?
My muse finds it exciting:
I like the people.

All though walking east instead of west is more interesting because I always encounter people which gives me a chance to stop and talk. If I walk west and then turn the corner to walk up to the alley I don't encounter many people. Friday is the exception because someone holds a yard sale in the parking lot of the corner apartment house that day.

Tuesday's Accomplishments and my new Motorola 4G Smartphone

Fidal (Grace), 3 Mulk (Dominion), 172 BE - Tuesday, February 9, 2016 about 4:40 AM Pacific Standard Time

I still have two things left to accomplish today. I have to check my To Do List to see what they are. The most important thing I accomplished was to active my new 4G Motorola smartphone. I also managed to make two telephone calls with it, three it you count setting up the voice mail, but I'm not sure that counts since I'm don't know whether I sit it up properly or not. I'll worry about that tomorrow because the phone history will show me if anyone called.

The next task on the phone is to make sure the voice mail is set up properly and put all my phone number in my contact list. I'm not going to do that today, instead I'll print the contact number off and figure out which ones I want to put back into the phone. There are a couple I'm not sure about because I haven't talked to the people in at least three years. I guess I could call the numbers to see if their still active, but I don't want to take the minutes to do that. As it is, I'm sure I'll have to purchase more minutes or more data time for this phone. I don't mind using the minutes of the time since I can now take and upload both photos and videos with this phone.

My old phone would access the internet, but I didn't use that feature because I couldn't take videos with that phone. In fact about the only thing I used the old phone for was text, phone calls, wake up alarm, and calculator. I stopped using the alarm on the old phone a couple of months ago and found out that I didn't need it. I don't really need to use a calculator, so I won't use the calculator on the new phone. What I have to do is download some apps.

I suppose the first app I need to down load is from my bank. This phone will allow me to take a photo of a check and deposit it. I'll have to think about that for a couple of months. The truth is I enjoy making the trip to the bank to deposit a check. I don't get out of the house a lot, so trips to the bank and medical appointments are something to look forward to. I might be getting out a lot more since I have easy access to the internet and a real keyboard to use when I'm typing.

Eventually I plan to use the phone to compose blog entries. I think I might need to download an app for that. I have to make a list of the apps I want to download, so that I don't forget which ones. I'm going to have fun learning to use my new phone. Getting a new piece of technology is fun. The two problem I foresee when it comes to posting to my blog from my smartphone is (1) my atrocious spelling and (2) my grammar issues.

Transformation Tuesday: New Year's Resolutions or New Year's Goals - A Poem

Fidal (Grace), 6 Sharaf (Honor), 172 BE - Tuesday, January 5, 2016 about 11:16 AM Pacific Standard Time

Everyone makes resolutions
without listing
the steps
necessary to accomplishment.

Some people make New Year's goals
and list the step
necessary to accomplish them.

It doesn't matter what you call them,
as long as you list the steps
to transform your hopes
into reality.

Catching up on Tuesday afternoon

Fidal (Grace), 7 ‘Qudrat (Power), 172 BE - Tuesday, November 10, 2015 about 4:08 PM Pacific Standard Time

I had to get offline early on Monday because I wasn't feeling well. I couldn't think of anything to write for my NaNo novel or anything else. I decided to take a break and get back to work today. I'm doing alright so far. I finished chapter ll in my novel and will start on chapter 12. Today I found it easier to write. It was easier to push through to the end of chapter 11.

I think I'll have to take more breaks during the day so that I don't get to the point where I can't think. Perhaps go outside for a little walk. I have to get a blood test early Thursday morning, but on Wednesday I think I'll stay home and continue to get caught up. Right now I'm going to post this and do some review before writing another chapter or anything like that.

Humid Tuesday

Fidal (Grace), 15 ‘Izzat (Might), 172 BE - Tuesday, September 22, 2015 about 4:14 pm Pacific Daylight Time

Here in Las Vegas, we are experiencing 21% humidity with a 97 degree temperature and a dew point at 51 degrees. The forecast for today is scatter shower, but right now we have scatter clouds. I suppose that goes along with scatter showers. This morning was overcast without rain. I think I would rather experience rain because the temperatures would be lower.

I'm not sure why the humidity is getting to me this afternoon. Maybe its my age or physical condition. I'm not in the best of health; my health could be worse so I don't think I'll complain. I'm going to fix myself a green salad later this afternoon. I won't have to cook it so that means I won't be eating anything hot. The salad is cool so it will help me cope with the high temperatures and humidity. In fact, I thin I will post this and then go fix my salad stuff. That way I won't have to interrupt my writing this evening.

The Fourth Week in August 2015: Be Kind to Humankind Week

Jamal (Beauty), 4 Asmá’ (Names), 172 BE - Sunday, August 23, 2015 about 2:19 pm Pacific Daylight Time

According to Holiday Insights the fourth week in August is Be Kind to Humankind Week. I Googled Be Kind to Humankind Week and found out that this is an annual celebration of kindness and reflection on ways we can be kind to others. Each of the seven days has a theme. The website Be Kind To Humankind list the themes for each day of the week.

Here are those themes with links to suggestions for celebrating each day of the week.

Day 1: Sacrifice Our Wants For Other’s Needs Sunday
Day 2: Motorist Consideration Monday
Day 3: Touch A Heart Tuesday
Day 4: Willing-To-Lend-A-Hand Wednesday
Day 5: Thoughtful Thursday
Day 6: Forgive Your Foe Friday
Day 7: Speak Kind Words Saturday

Tuesday Afternoon Free Write

Fidal (Grace), 4 Kamál (Perfection), 172 BE - Tuesday, August 4, 2015 about 6:12 pm Pacific Daylight Time

I haven't made an entry in this blog since July 31 because I can't think of an idea. So this afternoon I put on another carafe of coffee tow see if that would help me think. While the coffee was brewing I washed the dishes, which sometimes helps me think of of a theme. The dishes didn't work and I'm not sure if the coffee will work either.

I sit down at the computer to work. I open a document and I stare at the screen without writing anything. I'm even having problems with this free write because my mind has drawn a blank. I don't have any problems writing in the mornings, it's just afternoon writing that gives me problems. I think for the next week or so I'll use prompts for my afternoon writing sessions. I can respond to a prompt any time of the day or the night without difficulties.

This morning I begin an exercise class which scheduled for two days a week. The class cuts into writing time, but I need the exercise. The only exercise I get lately is taking the trash to the alley, which isn't enough exercise. I'm going to close this now because I can't seem to think of anything else to write.

Happy Tuesday

Fiḍal (Grace), 10 Qawl (Speech), 171 BE - Tuesday, December 2, 2014 about 11:38 am Pacific Standard Time

It is a happy Tuesday
waiting for the postman to come
looking forward to reading
the mail.

It is a happy Tuesday
reviewing on writing.com
and considering the next chapter
of Mark of the Blue Wolf.

It is a happy Tuesday
saying prayers,
intoning the revealed word,
meditating on the beauty
of a cloudy day.

It is a happy Tuesday
looking forward
to taking out the trash
and then checking
my mail box
to see if I received anything
besides bills I need to pay.

Tuesday Technical Difficulties: November 25, 2014

Fiḍal (Grace), 3 Qawl (Speech), 171 BE - Tuesday, November 25, 2014 about 9:23 am Pacific Standard Time

My printer will not work without a cartridge. I thought I had both a colored cartridge and a black and white cartridge, but I was wrong. I have cartridges I have for the printer is a color cartridge and a photo printing cartridge. Neither of these is going to solve my printer problem because I need to replace the black and white cartridge. I may have to replace the colored one as well.

Fortunately, I have enough money in the bank to purchase one, perhaps two cartridges, for the printer. I ope that solves the problem because I have to scan something in and e-mail it. I suppose if it does not solve my problem I will have to find someplace that will let me scan and e-mail the  item or call the 800 number to see if they have a fax number I can fax the information to. At least the technical difficulties I am confronting today are those that I can solve.  

A Chilly Tuesday Morning in Las Vegas

Fiḍal (Grace), 15 Qudrat (Power), 171 BE - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 about 10:07 am Pacific Standard Time

It is a chilly Tuesday morning in Las Vegas. The temperature at 9:56 am was 56 degrees Fahrenheit with scattered clouds and a wind chill factor of 56 degrees. The temperature is supposed to get up to 57 degrees by 11:00 am. It is autumn in Las Vegas. It is autumn in the desert.

I ate vegetable soup for breakfast this morning. I still have some of the vegetables left over so I can have them with some type of meat for lunch unless I decide to fix the T.V. dinner I have in the freezer. I need something warm to eat because that is the only way to keep warm.

The temperature has not descended below 50 degrees while I have been awake I have not turned on the warm air. I think the temperature got down to 46 degrees early this morning, but I was asleep so it did not matter. I do not like to sleep with the air on because it stuffs me up and causes me to wake up when I cough. I can always put more quilts on the bed if the cold wakes me up.