Hmmm, I have a lot to think about now in regards to that Camus quote. Definitely relateable, as I frequently feel like I am trapped in Groundhog day.
I definitely giggled at the bead story. I know the feeling of a necklace breaking, or just coming undone, in a crowded room and trying to be subtle as you quest into your shirt. I can hear the pitter patter of the beads hitting. If I were sitting near you, I would certainly have covertly laughed with you, and picked up the beads I could reach and handed them back. Having a laugh under the nose of the man always lends an extra air of hilarity.
Thanks, Laura. I think so many of us feel that cycle of repetition and sameness. I appreciate that you would have helped with the beads. Lol. In a room of five, two people squirming and fishing would have been hard not to see!
Beads were a plot point recently on an episode of Matlock, the new series starring Kathy Bates as a lawyer who is looking into the causes of her daughter’s overdose death. In this episode, she is wearing an elastic bracelet that her daughter made her. It says Mama on it. At one point, the elastic snaps, and all the beads fall on the floor, and there is a heartbreaking shot of a man’s dress shoe stepping on the beads and crunching them.
She will never get that bracelet back, and her daughter is dead, and you just feel for her.
I also had a laugh thinking of the “Little Pony scat”. What a great phrase for your colorful beads tumbling down your shirt. I also would have giggled and bent to help you collect them. I used to wear a few necklaces at a time but they would forever tangle and catch as I changed clothes. I broke so many silver chains that I finally gave up wearing them.
There is a sadness of not having someone to share the laugh with! recently I had to think long and hard to share something funny with anyone.
I am doing the 100 days of art. Some days I create several things. What we have in common is watching tv at the same time. My passion is British films and tv. Also Aussie and Nordic noir but then I have to watch the subtitles so not as much drawing happens.
Lately I have watched youtube videos that people share on walking the El Camino trail. Wishing I could have done it but knowing I never will.
I feel slightly guilty watching so many almost like when I would eat when I ate too much candy or chocolate.
As for attending meetings I always hated them. I could never focus for long. I volunteered at a historic society after I retired and I had to quit that as I could not handle the boring meetings. I am also guilty of not wanting to attend our once a year strata AGMs at our building. I quit being on strata council as I hated the monthly meetings!
I remind myself often that people are more concerned about themselves and really hardly notice us.
Also knowing now my grandkids and eldest daughter all have been diagnosed with ADHD makes me think I probably have it as well.
My mood varies lately…often worried about the future but pull myself back to enjoy the small moments of joy like spring flowers, my cat, art and my grandkids and the beautiful scenery around me.
I think focusing on the small moments that bring you happiness is the best you can do on some days, Gail. I know it can be hard, but I hope you keep finding those things. Your art is wonderful, and I am always glad your family is close. And Suki! Thank you for laughing at the My Little Pony scat of it all. Such a silly moment. As for TV (or videos). I don’t know that we need to feel guilty about the time we spend at night, especially since we are creating art at the same time!
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Before I jump to the poignant parts of this post, please know that I snorted when you described finding the pile of beads in your chair, and later, 50+ beads in your bra. Snorted! And for that reason, had this happened to me, I would have not been able to keep it a secret. My face would have flushed when I let out a cackle and then I'd have had to fess up. You have so much self-control, Amy, and it's just wondrous for someone like me who has paid a lifelong price for blurting before my brain fully engages. Maybe another of your superpowers is leaving a secret trail of unicorn scat everywhere you go. That this fits so perfectly with your 100 day project is just incredible!
I am so sorry that no one in your immediate surrounds was able to giggle with you about it, but I'm glad you were able find joy in it.
And I think that's my take on the Camus-Sisyphus quote. Yes, there is real danger of it being perverted into a justification for evil, but I don't think it's meant to said by someone about someone else. I think it's about us and our ability to imagine happiness being possible even when it might appear that we have nothing to be happy about. I hear Nightbirdie's / Jane Marczewski's words in my mind with some frequency. “You can't wait until life isn't hard anymore, before you decide to be happy.”
I really love your "Room for Individual Moments" this week and need to take each one to heart. Thank you.
Thank you for the snorts, Elizabeth! In the moment I think the pile under my butt was a shock, but the pile in my bra definitely got that reaction from me. Hah! I’m going to hold on to unicorn scat as a philosophical concept for a long time ;) — I appreciate you engaging with the Camu, and I am with you on this. I had really latched onto the quote as a reframing until I started writing about it for here and immediately saw how it could be, as you said, “perverted into a justification for evil.” But that wasn’t where I started, and I’m glad you see the other side, too. I hear an unspoken “remainder” of the line…. Something like…. “Or else there really is no meaning (for us)” …. I like the quote you noted. I think this approach has so much to do with how I view and think about gratitude. Thank you for commenting on the reminders list. Have a good week.
Hi Amy! You are correct! Finding handfuls of plastic beads in your clothing - especially while trying to be in a professional environment - IS very funny! And I’m glad you trusted your readers to find the humor alongside you. Feels like the kind of detail that would work so well in a piece of fiction!!! 👏 👏 👏
I laughed out loud at the beads raining down from you in, of all places, that meeting! Such an amusing and hilarious description!And yet such a hard moment when something so comical and unexpected happens, and that person you want to share it with, and have always shared those things with, isn’t there to hear it. Many layers of emotion in this post. Thank you for sharing it. ❤️
Amy what a story! I could picture every scene, well told. I love your weekly overlay image. It’s movement, it’s ephemeral, it’s everyone. Very cool. I don’t know how I missed this post on Sunday even after looking for it, substack maybe changed some things, or maybe I started following too many people. Maybe I need to reign it back. I’m still doing my weird offline 100 day project - which feels like it may not be going anywhere but that was the point this time around so I can follow the process and see if anything comes of it. Sisyphus as happy! It’s a shocking idea, a quote I’ve never heard either. Feels a little 1984 but what doesn’t these days! Have a great week Amy!
Thanks, Lauren! I’m sorry if it was hard to find and didn’t pop up in the inbox. I’m glad you are still with your 100 day project. A month in is a good sign. Maybe it will lead you where you wanted to head.
Hmmm, I have a lot to think about now in regards to that Camus quote. Definitely relateable, as I frequently feel like I am trapped in Groundhog day.
I definitely giggled at the bead story. I know the feeling of a necklace breaking, or just coming undone, in a crowded room and trying to be subtle as you quest into your shirt. I can hear the pitter patter of the beads hitting. If I were sitting near you, I would certainly have covertly laughed with you, and picked up the beads I could reach and handed them back. Having a laugh under the nose of the man always lends an extra air of hilarity.
Thanks, Laura. I think so many of us feel that cycle of repetition and sameness. I appreciate that you would have helped with the beads. Lol. In a room of five, two people squirming and fishing would have been hard not to see!
I had a very similar situation where my evil eye bracelet broke in a meeting where there was an actual evil person speaking.
I later read that the bracelet was doing its job - protecting me from evil.
It absorbed the negative energy at the moment.
I hope my story helps.
It gave me something else to focus on at the moment, and maybe that’s what you needed too.
I hope your weekend is going okay.
I always like to read your life stories. Take care.
Thank you for reading and commenting, DeAnn. Your story of the evil eye bracelet does sound like it meant something, breaking when it did!
Beads were a plot point recently on an episode of Matlock, the new series starring Kathy Bates as a lawyer who is looking into the causes of her daughter’s overdose death. In this episode, she is wearing an elastic bracelet that her daughter made her. It says Mama on it. At one point, the elastic snaps, and all the beads fall on the floor, and there is a heartbreaking shot of a man’s dress shoe stepping on the beads and crunching them.
She will never get that bracelet back, and her daughter is dead, and you just feel for her.
What a sad plot line from the show, Fran. It sounds like it was done very well for that underlying meaning to come through so clearly.
Hi Amy!
I also had a laugh thinking of the “Little Pony scat”. What a great phrase for your colorful beads tumbling down your shirt. I also would have giggled and bent to help you collect them. I used to wear a few necklaces at a time but they would forever tangle and catch as I changed clothes. I broke so many silver chains that I finally gave up wearing them.
There is a sadness of not having someone to share the laugh with! recently I had to think long and hard to share something funny with anyone.
I am doing the 100 days of art. Some days I create several things. What we have in common is watching tv at the same time. My passion is British films and tv. Also Aussie and Nordic noir but then I have to watch the subtitles so not as much drawing happens.
Lately I have watched youtube videos that people share on walking the El Camino trail. Wishing I could have done it but knowing I never will.
I feel slightly guilty watching so many almost like when I would eat when I ate too much candy or chocolate.
As for attending meetings I always hated them. I could never focus for long. I volunteered at a historic society after I retired and I had to quit that as I could not handle the boring meetings. I am also guilty of not wanting to attend our once a year strata AGMs at our building. I quit being on strata council as I hated the monthly meetings!
I remind myself often that people are more concerned about themselves and really hardly notice us.
Also knowing now my grandkids and eldest daughter all have been diagnosed with ADHD makes me think I probably have it as well.
My mood varies lately…often worried about the future but pull myself back to enjoy the small moments of joy like spring flowers, my cat, art and my grandkids and the beautiful scenery around me.
I really enjoy your 100 days art project!
Keep on creating !
I think focusing on the small moments that bring you happiness is the best you can do on some days, Gail. I know it can be hard, but I hope you keep finding those things. Your art is wonderful, and I am always glad your family is close. And Suki! Thank you for laughing at the My Little Pony scat of it all. Such a silly moment. As for TV (or videos). I don’t know that we need to feel guilty about the time we spend at night, especially since we are creating art at the same time!
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Before I jump to the poignant parts of this post, please know that I snorted when you described finding the pile of beads in your chair, and later, 50+ beads in your bra. Snorted! And for that reason, had this happened to me, I would have not been able to keep it a secret. My face would have flushed when I let out a cackle and then I'd have had to fess up. You have so much self-control, Amy, and it's just wondrous for someone like me who has paid a lifelong price for blurting before my brain fully engages. Maybe another of your superpowers is leaving a secret trail of unicorn scat everywhere you go. That this fits so perfectly with your 100 day project is just incredible!
I am so sorry that no one in your immediate surrounds was able to giggle with you about it, but I'm glad you were able find joy in it.
And I think that's my take on the Camus-Sisyphus quote. Yes, there is real danger of it being perverted into a justification for evil, but I don't think it's meant to said by someone about someone else. I think it's about us and our ability to imagine happiness being possible even when it might appear that we have nothing to be happy about. I hear Nightbirdie's / Jane Marczewski's words in my mind with some frequency. “You can't wait until life isn't hard anymore, before you decide to be happy.”
I really love your "Room for Individual Moments" this week and need to take each one to heart. Thank you.
Thank you for the snorts, Elizabeth! In the moment I think the pile under my butt was a shock, but the pile in my bra definitely got that reaction from me. Hah! I’m going to hold on to unicorn scat as a philosophical concept for a long time ;) — I appreciate you engaging with the Camu, and I am with you on this. I had really latched onto the quote as a reframing until I started writing about it for here and immediately saw how it could be, as you said, “perverted into a justification for evil.” But that wasn’t where I started, and I’m glad you see the other side, too. I hear an unspoken “remainder” of the line…. Something like…. “Or else there really is no meaning (for us)” …. I like the quote you noted. I think this approach has so much to do with how I view and think about gratitude. Thank you for commenting on the reminders list. Have a good week.
Hi Amy! You are correct! Finding handfuls of plastic beads in your clothing - especially while trying to be in a professional environment - IS very funny! And I’m glad you trusted your readers to find the humor alongside you. Feels like the kind of detail that would work so well in a piece of fiction!!! 👏 👏 👏
Thank you for reading and sharing the humor in the moment with me!
🩷❤️💚💙🩵🧡💛💜
What a funny story! Thank you for sharing. I hope you can find a new (or old) favorite to replace it!
Thanks, Lea! I appreciating you reading. Have a good week ahead.
She ❤️💔❤️
Yes. Yes. Literally, yes. But smile knowing that she would have laughed. ❤️
I laughed out loud at the beads raining down from you in, of all places, that meeting! Such an amusing and hilarious description!And yet such a hard moment when something so comical and unexpected happens, and that person you want to share it with, and have always shared those things with, isn’t there to hear it. Many layers of emotion in this post. Thank you for sharing it. ❤️
Thanks, Erin! I appreciate you reading and commenting.
Amy what a story! I could picture every scene, well told. I love your weekly overlay image. It’s movement, it’s ephemeral, it’s everyone. Very cool. I don’t know how I missed this post on Sunday even after looking for it, substack maybe changed some things, or maybe I started following too many people. Maybe I need to reign it back. I’m still doing my weird offline 100 day project - which feels like it may not be going anywhere but that was the point this time around so I can follow the process and see if anything comes of it. Sisyphus as happy! It’s a shocking idea, a quote I’ve never heard either. Feels a little 1984 but what doesn’t these days! Have a great week Amy!
Thanks, Lauren! I’m sorry if it was hard to find and didn’t pop up in the inbox. I’m glad you are still with your 100 day project. A month in is a good sign. Maybe it will lead you where you wanted to head.