Z = Zillions

Zillions,.. it's big big number, more than you can count... indefinite... A Zillion is a lot.

Zillion, first documented in the 1930s as a jocular alteration of million, billion... because really, who needs a billion anything?

Are there a Zillion stars in the sky?

Zillion is hyperbole... an exaggeration.

Wishing you a zillion successful moments in your life. 

Y = YES

YES. It's what brought John and Yoko together.
http://www.artbouillon.com/2013/07/yoko-ono-yes.html

YES. The group from the 70s who just announced their summer tour 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rpBUD0hjaI Owner of a Lonely Heart from the 80s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELpmmeT69cE

YES. Saying Yes to everything for the day may bring some surprises. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3ar1tBj_Zk

SAY YES TO LIFE 

X = Xenon

Xenon, a noble gas.... I imagine a bluish crown floating around being nobility and all... It's used in flash lamps and arc lamps, it's the blue glowing part that you see in those obnoxiously bright headlamps.In Chemistry speak, it's Xe. The atomic number is 54. But mostly, it's a great word to know for SCRABBLE.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenon

W = Winnie the Pooh

A personal favorite since watching the Winnie the Pooh series on the Wonder World of Disney, Sunday evenings. Silly ol' Pooh offers the right kind of mindset to get through life happily and with many adventures.

As much as I loved Winne the Pooh, I didn't have the book until I had children. Together. my three kids and I read many books but one that we read and read again was AA Milne's The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh. As they reached their teen years, we also read the Tao of Pooh and the Te of Piglet which they've read individually as well. Because Pooh and friends offer many lessons about attitudes, motivation and life.

V = Viking

Have you ever come across information that you've read before but this time it speaks to you? My latest fascination are the Vikings. No, not the football team, but real Vikings, today. And maybe not surprising, they have facebook and a website.

http://grimfrost.com/en/

From clothes and domestic products to jewelry and posters, if you are interested in modern day Vikings, Grimfrost is a great place to start.

U = Umbrellas

An Umbrella is a device consisting of a circular canopy of cloth on a folding metal frame supported by a central rod, used as protection against rain or sometimes sun.

I have several umbrellas, one black & one white parasol for the bright sunny days and one black & white polka dot umbrella for the rainy days. The rainy day umbrella lives in my car. It stays dry even on rainy days because it lives in my car.... 

T = Turkey

Since the time of Ancient Greece, the region now known as Turkey has been at the crossroads of civilization. Istanbul, also known as Constantinople or Byzantium was one of the largest cities in the Ottoman Empire. Located between Europe, Asia and the Middle East, the country and the culture offers a unique blend of multiculturalism from time immemorial. 

Turkish food has flavors from Asia, Greece, Jewish, Middle Eastern and Balkan dishes. The music is beautifully syncopated and when blended with psychedelic music it's amazing. Listen to Baba Zula 

photo borrowed from goholidayturkey.com

S = Suicide Prevention

Suicide touched my life when I was 13. I am forever changed by it.

Suicide is the 4th cause of adolescent deaths in the US.

Some of the warning signs are:

• Talking about wanting to die.
• Feeling hopeless or having no reason to live. 
• Feeling trapped or in unbearable pain. 
• Increasing the use of alcohol or drugs. 
• Acting anxious or agitated.

• Sleeping too little or too much.
• Eating too much or too little.
• Withdrawn or feeling isolated.
• Displaying extreme mood swings.
• Preoccupation with death.
• Loss of interest in things one cares about.
• Visiting or calling people to say goodbye.
• Making arrangements; setting one's affairs in order.
• Giving things away, such as prized possessions.

If you or someone you love has these symptoms/ signs, reach out for help: www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org or call 800-273-8255 

R = Rebellion

Rebellion is often a word embrace by the disenfranchised, those without any other recourse to those concepts promised but not truly offered within the guidelines of society. It's one thing to say that we value freedom but quite another to actually offer the resources required  to gain the freedom given to those with resources.

In open resistance  against the government, rebellion comes in a variety of forms, the most powerful is humble resistance, civil resistance, persistent resistance to injustice such as we find brewing in Baltimore.  Following in the tradition of Martin Luther King, the demand for justice comes from those who view themselves as oppressed.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-major-cleared-20160407-story.html

https://www.popularresistance.org/tag/baltimore/

Q = Question

Question Authority may be traced back to Socrates, re-popularized in the 1960s in theory. But what of questioning? Who do you question? When do you question? Why Question?

The first place to question is with self. What questions to ask? What goals do you seek? Why not just do as you are told?

Query for the truth? Query for the Lies? Which questions are you to ask of yourself?

For if you don't know yourself, you may not ask the right question.

P = Penny Dreadful

19th Century English reading material were serialized  stories primarily for the working class audience. Young boys often purchased one and passed it around. Among the most popular was The String of Pearls: Romance also known as Sweeney Todd.

The mass market in America was the dime novel. Paperbacks were re-purposed into magazine series, The Authentic Life of Billy the Kidd .

O = Ophelia

Ophelia is Greek, meaning HELP.

From Hamlet: 

Ophelia says: There's rosemary, that's for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember. And there is pansies, that's for thoughts.

There's fennel for you, and columbines. There's rue for you, and here's some for me. We may call it herb of grace o' Sundays...

Ophelia by the Lumineers  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTOC_q0NLTk

N = Neverland

The Never part of Neverland came from the new places of Australia, the Never Never.  The Never Never was a place many people went but didn't return, the outback.

One of the things I like about writers is that we incorporate so much of what's going on around us in the piece. Then later we see how what was happening in current events or our lives seeped into the story.

Intentionally, I want my story to be uplifting maybe even a little inspirational. Truly I'd like all have all the crap I've been through be useful to others.

M = Metacognition

When you think about your own thinking so much that you can figure out how it is that you are thinking, that is Metacognition. 

Metacognition is something that happens to people when they become self-aware to the point that they recognize that they indeed don't know it all and have enough time to self-reflect to find other idiosyncrasies, short comings or personality points that might need some improvement. 

The thought is that through thought how we think can be analysed, corrected, proper patterns adopted which will produce better results toward a stated goal. 

For me, spacing out for a while then having a creative surge of ideas for a story or project is fine with me. I could break it down if I thought about it, but I'm also okay with the mystery of wonderful inspiring ideas from the Muses. 

 

L = Livingston

I remember when everyone was talking about Jonathan Livingston Seagull... did you read it? you have to read it? Isn't it wonderful? so profound, don't you think? It's a must read... all the hippies said so then the talk show hosts and then our parents and teachers.

The pressure to read this pop culture book was horrendous. So my answer was yes but the truth was no. Oh sure, I started it. The book about the bird that flies, but I didn't finish it.

I noticed the cover and thought to myself, "Recycling that one again are they?" Then I looked a little closer and noticed that the expanded title was "The Complete Edition." Ha! Come to find out I wasn't the only one who didn't finish the must-read Jonathan Livingston Seagull, apparently Richard Bach didn't finish writing it until 2014. Now that the story is finished, I may go with the updraft and read the once started story of a gull that flies.

K = Book of Kells

The most famous Illuminated Manuscript is the Book of Kells. Known to have existed since the 12th century. The Book of Kells is a medieval version of the 4 Gospels.

Highly talented artists wrote and decorated the manuscript.

Medieval Irish believed that very close to a miracle, is writing. The most blessed thing you can do is write, and not just write but write the Scripture.

There are so much intricacy, perfect in every way, the Book of Kells must have been the work of angels.

From the Book of Kells

J = Journal

jour·nal

1 a newspaper or magazine that deals with a particular subject or professional activity. 

Medical Journals 

2 a daily record of news and events of a personal nature; a diary 

He keeps a journal.

So many kinds of journals to keep, how do I decide if I'm even a journal person anymore? I kept a journal when I was a kid. My privacy was invaded by people who read my diary, so I stopped the practice.

I started thinking that maybe now is the time to begin again. So many things are happening in my life that I have list upon list and various organization systems to help me stay on track through this fast paced change everything in my life period I'm in at the moment.  The thought occurred to me that some of my doubt might be alleviated if I wrote about it. Having time to write would be another bridge to cross but what kind of journal would be good for me right now?  

Emotional journal, event journal, daily log, record book, gratitude journal, I just can't decide... 

Do you journal? How do you journal? Do you recommend journaling? What do you get out of keeping a journal? Do you hide your journal or lock it up? 

1. 

I = Inigo Montoya

Doesn't matter how many times I watch certain scenes, I just love them as much as I did the first time, sometimes even more.

One of those favorites that just makes me smile every time is the scene from Princess Bride when Inigo Montoya finds the six fingered man who killed his father. At the beginning of the scene, it appears that Inigo will, like his father, be killed by the six fingered man. But as he has rehearsed the moment, he pulls from his inner strength and says: "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father, prepare to die."

H = Hell

H - E - DOUBLE TOOTH PICKS as we used to say way back when...even as a child I was oddly fascinated with the thought of a huge horrible place where all the bad people went. At some point to find Dante's interpretation with nine areas with subsets of those nine increasingly awful places was amazing, and I felt comfort that if karma didn't get the bad guys here, the inferno waited.

First Circle/ Limbo is for the unbaptized. Second Circle is for the lustful. Third Circle is for the gluttonous. Fourth Circle is for the greedy. Fifth Circle is for the angry. Sixth Circle is for heretics. Seventh Circle is for the violent. Eighth Circle is for those who commit fraud. Ninth Circle is for traitors.

G = Ganymede

Don't know why but I just always liked saying Ganymede. It's a fun word: Ganymede, ganymede, ganymede.

Ganymede is the largest of the Galilean moons orbiting Jupiter. Galileo recorded seeing the moon in 1610. The moon is named for the cup bearer of Zeus.

I took Astronomy in college because someone suggested I take it. He said later that he thought I would fail. But how I got there doesn't matter because I loved Astronomy, got an A, and took the next level with the sky observations.

More about Ganymede:

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/ganymede/indepth

http://www.nasa.gov/press/2015/march/nasa-s-hubble-observations-suggest-underground-ocean-on-jupiters-largest-moon

http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/12/8199689/jupiter-moon-ganymede-hidden-ocean-water

F = Float

Float... it's what I tell myself when I feel anxious or upset.

Float... it's what I tell myself when I want to run away.

Float... it's what I tell myself when the pressure is really on.

Float... it's what I tell myself when I wonder what I'm doing.

Float... it's what I tell myself when I fall to sleep each night.

And sometimes, I tell myself... just FLOAT...

E = Ellipses

There was an article not too long ago that said, the days of punctuation are coming to an end. The author went on in details about the internet and email and texts and micro texts. With a limited number of character spaces, writers will eliminate the punctuation.

I don't know that I agree with the author but I do know that there is more poorly written items in public than is good for any reader. It's a garbage in, garbage out situation. So much so, I forget many of the rules for grammar and punctuation that I know... I know... I really know... I used to know.

My favourite bit of punctuation is the ellipses, because it's full of the unknown and I usually have a good time filling them in.

What are you thinking when you see ... ?

D = Dog

A girl and her dog... they've been my best friends. Each one has had his or her own quirks, personality, and life-story. I've been privileged to have them with me for many years.

 My first two dogs were pedigree pups and I loved them. But really my heart goes out to the foundlings, the rescue pups. They are so loving and so grateful. I've been truly blessed to know:

Kacee (Beagle), Marty (Poo-?), Brandy (Akita), Sadie (Terrier), Homey (Hybrid), Max (Rottweiler-Chow), Tippi (Fox Terrier) and Merlin (Rhodesian Ridgeback).
Click the links for short videos 

Dog is a girl's best friend. 

C = Chinese Philosophy

If you read the Chinese Philosopher Confucius, you will notice that the Golden Rule figures prominently: Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself.

Based on personal morality that promotes justice and sincerity in  all relationships including those in work and social  environments, his philosophy gave order to life.

At the same time, he advocated for the faith to allow for the serendipity that life brings. Even if you have plans to grow up, go to college and become a doctor, maybe your heart and small experiences will lead you to developing a new way to harness energy that will free the world from the consequence of carbon emissions, but not if you continue with your medical school plans.

The message is to Go with the Flow... enjoy life and be kind. 

B = Beggars

Not far from the freeway on ramp I use nearly every day, there is a homeless encampment. It's not unusual to see homeless people begging at the corners and on the median.

I had an extra bottle of water and a peanut butter bar. I know the quality is good, it's what I had for lunch. A man approached my car. Rarely do I have extra but  today, I did, so I rolled down my window to give him the water and the bar.

As my arm extended out the window, he looked at what I held and snapped,"I don't want that!"

Pulling the bottle and packaged bar back in the car I thought about lessons I had learned as a child, BEGGARS CAN'T BE CHOOSEY but apparently, he hadn't heard the saying.

So I looked at the gift rejected, opened the bottle of cool fresh water and drank it on the way home.

Reasons to eat protein bars:

 http://nutrition.about.com/od/meatsandproteinsources/f/Nutrition-Faq-What-Are-The-Benefits-Of-Eating-Protein-Bars.htm 

And they're yummy! 

A = Anxiety

Anxiety it's where I live at the moment. Life is moving so fast with so many projects. I almost missed the A to Z challenge sign up!

Here are some medical links for those of you who have real anxiety.
http://www.adaa.org/finding-help/treatment

http://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/guide/anxiety-panic-guide-treatment-care
Helpful links:

http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/natural-medicine/aromatherapy/aromatherapy-stress-relief.htm
http://www.prevention.com/mind-body/natural-remedies/how-massage-helps-depression-and-anxiety/

I have the kind of anxiety called too many projects and looming deadlines. ;)

Take Time to Smell the Roses