Couch 166: The Un-hex-hexed Couch

I love peaches. After they retired, my grandparents traveled in their motor home and picked fruit for extra cash and something to do. When my grandparents came to visit in the fall, they'd bring boxes of peaches and my mother and grandmother would can peaches all day together while my sister and I ran in and out, grabbing peaches. They were juicy and fuzzy, and the whole house smelled like peaches.

Sometimes it was apples and they'd make applesauce, or pears.

I have more maternal wordplay to share. In a report on the national pun championship they have in the UK, here are the winners:

“A love triangle is usually a wrecktangle."
"To err is human, to purr feline."
"A study was done on the effects of alcohol. The results were staggering."

She adds, “Science has not yet found a cure for the pun.” (Robert Byrne)

Hey @@, have you heard about How to Write A Lot by Paul Silvia? It doesn't tell you anything you don't already know (yes, make a schedule and stick to it), but I thought it was incredibly helpful when I working on my dissertation. I wrote most of that dumb thing in an hour a day (except for the last chapter, although that's not my fault because you can't write about data that you don't have until the eleventh hour, not that I'm still bitter about it or anything).

Thanks—will look into it. Right now I am looking through this:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0..._control_us-20

I have it — it’s a fun read.

Okay, I sat myself down and told myself to write for twenty minutes on a half-done story.

Produced 325 words. Quite possibly not very good words, but I guess that shouldn’t matter. Not very good words are still better than non-existent words.

Having a difficult time off and on the last week or two. T almost hospitalized me for safety.
T let’s me call her anytime. PrevT says she is out for a week but I’m allowed to email even when I get her automated ‘away’ message. She said she will read emails once in a while during the week she is gone.

I’m very appreciative! But how many people does it take just to keep me going? It’s embarrassing.

Was depressed yesterday and my mind ran through all the people thru my life who have treated me as if I have no value. No wonder I hate myself. But I stopped and made myself think of people who DO value me, my daughter, grandson, PrevT and T.

Also, we found out my daughter has the same heart condition I have. She’s having surgery June 8th to implant a pacemaker/defibrillator. My grandson is autistic. I need to take care of them. I will do it. I might not do it perfectly, but I will do it.

(Pre)

What did Marx say? Something like “from each according to their ability, to each according to their need”?

Same deal here. And it is not like you don’t give others support.

Best wishes for you, your grandson and your daughter, and fingers crossed for her heart surgery.

I had a professor in college (my first openly lesbian prof who helped me with being openly out and I respected her opinion) who said she wrote by giving herself permission to write just two bad paragraphs a day.

How does the prof being a lesbian — open or not — matter?

I’m just trying to understand.

It matters because of how much she helped me come out. I listened to her and she was a role model for me. So her writing advice was something I listened to and use myself. I clarified in my first post. (note her age does not matter so I did not put it in - nor did the fact she had not followed a traditional path- if there even is one- way of getting her phd)
The other reason it matters to me is that this was in the late 70s/early 80s and she was writing positive lesbian fiction while going up for tenure at a southern university - so for me, her ways of letting herself write without constant fear/self doubt of various factors -is something I admire and have tried to incorporate for myself.

Just two, as in only two bad paragraphs, or just two as in she wrote only two paragraphs a day, and they were bad?

English is not nuanced enough as a language.

She only had to write two paragraphs (rather than expecting herself to do more - athough she could - just that two was all she expected of herself each day) and they did not need to be perfect.
I heard her say it many times and she is quoted in another book on writing by a different one of college profs and I was trying to remember the exact wording but probably did not and at the moment I am not near my bookshelf to look it up. The advice has helped me write.

I don’t understand how being a good writer / giving good writing advice has anything to do with coming out but to each their own, I guess.

It might not in a vacuum - I was trying to explain why it mattered to me and why I personally would ever consider her advice. I do not usually look to others for advice. She actively helped me come out and write and therefore I am explaining why i would pass this info on to be used or ignored as one wishes.
Also partially nostalgia for me. I had not thought about her specifically for awhile and I think fondly and gratefully of/ for her and how brave it was to be that open at that time at that place. Her advice to herself and to me was tied to writing lesbian fiction in a good many ways although it can be/has been generalized. I did not put it in gratuitously nor as a pejorative assumption.

My adviser in college taught be how to be a cynic.

Oddly, her name was Joy.

AY: i am not sure why you don’t understand SD’s point of view? Generally people who see someone as a mentor is going to take their words and advice a little more seriously than someone they don’t look up to it respect, however you want to define mentor.

Not necessarily — I could admire or look up to someone because there are specific qualities about them that I find appealing but that doesn’t translate (in my mind) to looking to them for other stuff.

Even if the two different things that are admired about the person aren't directly connected, surely it's natural that one thing might bring to mind the other, and give a wider context to the relationship that doesn't seem out of place in a reminiscence?

Thanks for sharing that. I just read about it on Amazon sounds like it might be helpful for me in a couple of ways.... i may just purchase the Kindle version....

I’m sitting here reading facebook and cracking up laughing at 2 people arguing with each other over a status update. I mean 2 adults, going at it-with one of them saying how the other stole their status from yesterday. Seriously. These aren't kids, but 2 grown people. The other thing I’m laughing about is the fact that I know both these people only have “keyboard muscles” meaning they would not actually say half the crap they are saying to each others face. This is one of the reasons why I often disable my facebook account. The drama people create on there is crazy.

I'm going to have to find a ring sizer thing... My rings just fell off in the restroom, glad they didn't go in the toilet!!

I am kinda lost. I’ve tried many many medications many SSRIS and now I am on SSNRI and I’m not noticing any changes either ( I’ve been on it for about 6 weeks) I’ve even tried a test to see what medications work or do not work or work and that didn’t help much either. I get that every medication can make my anxiety go away but I just kinda wish there was one medication that worked totally. I am sorry for venting but I just been kinda frustrated lately

And, my question was specific and not a broader commentary on reminiscing.

I hear ya, bobcat. I'm not sure that meds can always make it all go away. Personally, I'm curious about ECT. If I had the means, I'd try it. Have you ever been on something in addition to SSRIs or SSNRIs to help them out? I've heard good things about Wellbutrin.