THE AMUSED LIFE BLOG

It's a routine I've known for at least 30 years. I know it like I know the feel of each bump on my skin as I rub my arms. A familiar 8 count of part self-flagellation, part-curiosity it's a dance I do in the wee hours of the morning when my mind is still running around like a kid on pixie sticks at a birthday party rental at the dance studio. I point my toes and leap, deep diving into the familiar dance routine and steps...search google, look up "XYZ" and just tap dance through posts to see how life is treating them.  It's when you stumble trying to remember dance steps that you did when you were in your twenties that you realize you're getting too old. The bones hit the floor harder these days and when you come across a post dated 2015 where you are referenced as a "much-needed and much-desired divorce", you realize that the old wounds from your early years still throb a bit every now and then. Mind you, I wasn't completely floored by that ...

WOULD IT EVER BE THE SAME She wondered if it would ever be the same. The deep breaths that yielded oxygenated lungs, but no sweet scent of the things she longed for. The comfort of the kitchen, the nisus of her handmade dough,  her home-grown vegetables, the milkiness of the fresh mozzarella and the garlic and oregano which she always used abundantly. Which no longer smelled the same. No longer sparked her excitement. The loss of a culinary expectation. Because we had an communal expectation, we listened to the spark of excitement from news reporters who  believed we would care for one another and would do what was right so that the illness would no longer be an issue. As one of those who's symptoms abundantly lingered on the milky fog of her brain, dealing with symptoms no one could see. The illness that was not home-grown  but who's nisus ravaged the world we live in, leaving no one the comfort of connection, that robbed so many people of the sweetness of living and end...

It's the second week of my Best Picture A-Z Challenge whereby I watch an Academy Award Best Picture Winner for each letter of the alphabet plus a numerical entry. However with one additional rule...it has to be a film that I have NOT yet seen. So I build my list and then if there's more than one choice I offer up a vote to suggest which one to watch.  This challenge is the letter B and so here were my choices: R  1995 ‧ War/Drama ‧ 3h 2m [1]  https://www.google.com/search?q=braveheart&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS930US930&oq=brave&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j46i433j69i57j69i59j46i433i457j0i433j0i131i433j69i60.3407j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 AND after the votes were in, my "B" challenge became to watch: William Wallace is the medieval Scottish patriot who is spurred into revolt against the English when the love of his life is slaughtered. Leading his army into battles that become a war, his advance into England threatens King Edward I's throne before he is captured...

Today, the change of power took place in our great country of the United States of America. Listen, our country has been through a LOT over the past year, the past four years and honestly since we decided to declare our independence let alone step foot on this land we now claim as our own. So this post isn't about just the inauguration of Biden and Harris, it's actually about the shock and awe (in non-military terminology), that I have for this country I live in and love. I've always been proud to be an American and I still am. Does that mean that I'm blind to the atrocities that our forefathers have committed. No. From the pillaging of indigenous people's lands, to slavery, to our history of human and equal rights violations, interment camps for Japanese citizens and now those who crossed our border to the South and that's just a quick smattering of the blights on our conscience. I hold no illusions that we have made many mistakes. We are a country founded by h...

Before you say anything. I read tarot, but when I want clarity at times I like to go to another reader to get my mind out of the reading/interpreting work and just let it flow through someone who's not me. It's like counselors seeing other counselors...it's something you SHOULD do. I have to share that I just had what will be my annual reading/guidance session with Ash Mac and I'm going to be going for my check up in 6 months; and I'm honestly honored to spend this time with her. Last year, she met with me right after my car accident and pretty much laid out the landscape ahead with a lot of clarity and I told her that everything fell into place, not like I expected but it was the right thing and what I needed to have happen. [1] If you haven't had a reading from Ash, please consider it. Honestly it's like meeting with someone who genuinely wants the best for you but lays down those cards and gives it to you straight. She's a very cued in and atuned spir...

Today I started one of my few artistic/pop-culture challenges for myself of the new year. I'm calling it the Best Picture A-Z Challenge: watch an Academy Award Best Picture Winner for each letter of the alphabet plus a numerical entry. Oh and add in one catch...it has to be a film that I have NOT yet seen. So I build my list and then if there's more than one choice I offer up a vote to suggest which one to watch.  This first challenge is the letter A and so here were my choices: AND after the votes were in, my "A" challenge became to watch: 1960 ‧ Romance/Comedy ‧ 2h 5m Insurance worker C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) lends his Upper West Side apartment to company bosses to use for extramarital affairs. When his manager Mr. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray) begins using Baxter's apartment in exchange for promoting him, Baxter is disappointed to learn that Sheldrake's mistress i s Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine), the elevator girl at work whom Baxter is interested in himsel...