This is directed primarily at my OS friends on my friends list, but it might be instructive to others who may have fallen into the same self built trap that I have.
Hello, my dear OS friends.
OS is, an has been, a wonderful therapy for me since I found it, especially given my current medical problems. It keeps my brain active and motivated; and it keeps it off of me.
Plus the warm friendships I have developed here have been so supportive, genuine and honest, much more than I thought possible on the internet. I so do love the community aspect of OS and try to contribute to it and build it up in many ways, including the Must Read Posts lists each week.
OS for me is addictive. And I have an addictive personality. This means that a lot of the life that I could be having outside of OS, even given my medical problems, has all but dried up. I can't get too far from my LazyBoy but there are a lot of things besides OS that can be done from this chair.
When Sue comes home I am on OS, but often also when she is here for the few hours we have together before she goes to bed. Then after she goes to bed it is more OS, until 2 or 3 in the morning. I get up about 10 or 11 AM and start back on it about noon every day and it repeats itself.
I am normally a voracious reader of novels and biographies. I haven't opened a book this winter.
I subscribe to Newsweek and three motorcycling magazines all of which are piling up unread.
I used to read in some detail every day on the internet the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Huffington Post, along with some Politico, the Nation and Salon. Now I hardly look at them.
I like to watch the MSNBC talking heads even though they often irritate the hell out of me. But they are better than the others. Now they provide a bit of background that I hear now and then, and ocassionally look at over the top of the laptop screen.
I like to actually listen to music, not just have it on as background noise.
I love to watch basketball and the Cavs are now a great team. I turn them on and mostly ignore them because I am reading or writing on OS. If it gets loud I will look up and see a replay. That is hardly enjoying a game.
The biggest part of the time consumption on OS is something that I have done to myself, well, actually I have done it all to myself but this one is pretty obvious.
I have insisted to myself that I go out to every friends blog at least two or three times a week, sometimes more, and read whatever new they have written.
And when I read a post I always comment on it. I think it is important to the writer to know that someone read it who took the time to write a simple thank you. And I will never change that.
But what I am going to change to start to get a bit of the rest of my life back, is to not go out to every friends blog several times a week.
I will rely partly on the damned too short feed on the right side of my blog pages to catch new friends posts. A lot of time that won't work because a post can be there for only a few minutes before it is bumped.
I will rely more importantly on friends sending me notices of their new posts. I do not call it "blog whoring" and I think that word should be trashed and never used again.
All of my friends are mutual friends. They have agreed to receive notices and I and have asked every one of them to notify me. Many do, many don't. But I will no longer go searching for what they are writing. I wish that were not so, but the reality is that I can't get more balance in my life if I am obsessing about "having to" go search out the new posts of my friends.
If that doesn't provide enough balance then I will take a close look at the Must Read list. I play the effort it takes to do it down but the truth is it takes a lot of time to find the posts, write the reviews of the posts and just physically get all the links into the post and then reply to the comments.
My problem with the List is not just the time consumption. It is whether it is doing much good for the effort expended. I have tested that on Vol. 4 and Vol. 5 the only way I can, and I found that there are very few new comments on those posts after I post the list.
The problem is that comments don't tell me much because I know that there are many more page hits than either comments or ratings. I wish those posts had a hit counter so I could see how many more hits they got after the List is posted. But it is not obvious to me that the List is accomplishing the intention of increasing readership for the posts and the writer.
So, bottom line, I love OS and I care very much for the friendships I have developed here. And I hope to keep them and gain new friends as I go along. I am not leaving. I am not unhappy. The problem is me, not OS. But I must cut back. Sue hasn't asked me to, but I know it is what I need to do. I hope that you all understand that.
I am pretty sure than a number of you do, who have told me in PMs that you just can't keep up, or that OS is eating into time that you should be using for other things.
I would be glad to get anyone's comments on what you think about the addictive nature of OS and how you handle it. I would imagine that those of you who do not have addictive personalities don't have a clue what I am talking about. All I can say to you is that you are very lucky, and I envy you. ;-)
Monte
2240 page views 2010 01 27
TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
Lucy Mercer
Erica K
Shawn O'Shea
Melissa Holbrook Pierson
Sissy414
Raymond Roske
Salon.com
Comments
I hear what you are saying. I, too, feel as if parts of my life can sometimes get shortchanged by my devotion to OS.
The policy that you have proposed is a wise one. You're right--I'm one of the worst users of the word blogwhoring. I will strike it from my dictionary.
We're all trying to form a circle of support here, but we all have lives to tend to, too. Balance is the best thing.
Thank you.
i've got to say, when i joined three or four months ago i never imagined it'd be the sort of addictive thing it has become. that being said though, i've had far worse addictions, so i try to keep it in that perspective. there are definitely worse things i could be doing with my spare time, and i've done all of 'em:-P
It is too hard for me to comment some days. My fingers just don't work. i get sucked in this site.
I am so addicted, and I just aint ready for the 12 step program yet.
I think we all understand, and will always look for one another when we are here. Please take care of yourself and enjoy life! OS is just one part of it - a wonderful part of it, but just a part.
Best wishes. :)
As for your List I do have stat counters on every page I publish. When you cited my post "Each Night I Participate in a Disturbing Threesome...pinned between my two Labradors," there was a big jump in traffic to that post. It was obvious because after it was initially published the traffic had dwindled to just a few visits per day, and then the sudden jump.
I am in awe of your abilities Monte, I want to read more about Wilma and your step dad!
We must all seek balance in our lives. With that in mind I'm out the door to count bald eagles and search for baby seals on the shoreline. It's a beautiful day!
One last thought:
Whatever you do,
Don't neglect Sue!
If you wanted to keep doing the critique could you pull back to maybe once a month? And perhaps limit the number on the post?
Or just do it whenever you want, if you want. Or not. The main thing is for you and Sue to be as comfortable as possible.
All best, whatever you choose, and feel good.
I have scaled back on all aspects to get back on my horn. I had not gotten to the point where I was neglecting my family, but it probably would have. So I applaud this post. Everyone knows the addiction is true. I think it's the number one reason most people leave.
I'm not leaving either, but thankfully for most, you'll see me less.
You know I love you like my slightly older brother. :-)
We can always e-mail each other too since we have that.
Stay in touch and all the best with your pain, may it subside and you be happy.
Much Love,
Your little brother G
It is hard to keep up and I can see that many new writers have shown up in the past few weeks as I have been out in the romantic fields. I enjoyed being "unaddicted" for the past week as much as I missed the reading and comment threads (not to mention, writing my own stuff). But I can't devote as many hours every day to this without shortchanging other people or aspects of my life so I am feeling less guilty about it now than I was when I first went off for a few days.
You put a tremendous amount of work, effort and your heart into everything you do here, Monte but I completely understand. You may have a little withdrawal at the beginning, but you will also feel a renewed sense of purpose enjoying other things that you have left behind. And, when you poke you nose in, you will be more inclined to read what interests you rather than what you feel "obliged" to.
We know you are a big presence here and if you don't have time to comment, I for one, will not take it personally. You deserve to enjoy your time on OS and not feel owned by it.
As for 'blogwhoring', it has become necessary. There are so many members now, that it is possible for an article to get drowned out.
People's Picks 2/7/09
This is the list that I was included on.
I appreciate your list because it has pointed out a number of good posts that I might have missed, and if you liked it that's a good endorsement.
So much of what you write here, I, too, experience.
For simple self-preservation, I've had to go back to a thorough reading of the NYTimes (well, no so thorough---but at least the columns and editorials) so that I can engage in conversations with non-OSers on occasion.
I think we will all keep an eye out for you---send over an occasional holler when we post ---and watch for your posts as well.
We won't let you get lost (you are too valuable for that)---but we will let you wander away.
1) Make deals with yourself - do NOT get on OS until you've done xx number of chores/hours of something else
2) Release yourself from the self-imposed expectation of keeping up with all your friends. It's impossible to do and it creates unnecessary stress.
3) Perhaps ask (some or all) of your friends to submit one or two entries for Must Read - then it can be more of a collaborative effort & you won't feel like you have to read everything in order to make the list.
4) And clearly, although I love it, it does not have to meet some weekly deadline either.
5) Make a list (clearly one of my favorite things!). Perhaps even post it on OS - of the other things you want to be doing - and we can hold your feet to the fire to make sure you are!
6) Set aside at least ONE day a week where you do NOT get on OS at all! This will be hard, but it will help. You will realize that you CAN indeed live without it. Pretend your Internet connection is out or your electricity is off. Don't you remember how freeing that feeling is - you just CAN"T do anything other than sit in the dark and play games.
7) Try yoga. I know it hasn't seemed to help Greg or me terribly much in our OS addiction department, but still - you can easily modify the breathing and exercise parts to your condition and it does help (when I do it actively!) keep me centered.
ok, that's all. I think the list is a great thing. I saw more hits after I made the list. Also, I think it just needs to gain some steam - along with the Daily Crawl. I've just today added a link to your blog for the Must Read List(s).
Namaste,
Lisa
http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=90080
You and several others were good enough to take the time to comment on it.
In any event, the only way I have of dealing with the addictive (and yes, I have the same personality problem) nature of OS is to ... well, shut down the computer and walk away. That sometimes helps. I'm hoping spring will arrive soon and I'll be too busy doing outside work.
The hell of it is, I'm really conflicted about you spending less time here. I thoroughly enjoy almost everything you write, and my day is usually brightened by both your posts and your commentary.
But needs must, chum: Sue and your home are far more important than any of us on OS.
Thanks for all your wonderful posts and comments and for providing the must-read list.
Best of luck!
Leeandra
This does feel addictive to me, and yet, I feel like my writing is improving in a way that nothing else I have ever done to support such an improvement has provided. For that, I am eternally grateful.
The friendships here, some are deeper than others, but many feel of the kind of kinship that we all seek in real time, and in physical proximity to one another. I think that it has been the willingness to write vulnerably and openly here that has made such kinship possible. Who wouldn't want to be a part of that!
So Monte, friend of mine, I am grateful for any and all contact with you and in whatever way you need to balance your real life, and knowing that OS is a part of your real life now, I am your friend and capable of adjusting to any change that makes your life more satisfying for you and for Sue.
peace, my friend
First of all, because I work from home, managing my OS time has become a necessary evil. I literally have to set a timer so that I'm not on here for hours and hours.
Much of this stems from my own self-imposed rules: 1) read everything that everyone sends me, 2) respond to every comment personally, 3) read blogs of those who comment on mine, 4) check out friends' new posts when I see them.
This is IMPOSSIBLE and causes me a ton of guilt. I have so many unread "Please Read" messages in my inbox, and I've been doing a terrible job of getting to read other people's blogs. And I only post something of my own two times per week!
Over this past weekend, I limited my OS time and I actually spent time reading a real book (you should see my stack of unread books, magazines, and other reading material. It is literally 2 feet tall. I am not exaggerating.) I am striving for greater balance with you, my friend, so let me know if you find something that works.
One thing I especially wanted to comment on was your Must Read Posts. As you know, I've done this myself in the past. It takes a TON of time to find and compile these, plus notify the writers of their inclusion, and I didn't even include the commentary that you do! I finally stopped due to not only time constraints, but also because I found that it didn't seem to make a difference in the traffic to the selected blogs. I thought maybe my taste in what was wonderful was way different from the rest of the world's. Did people even read them?
I think that Critical Mess has been much more successful, but I don't know for sure. In any event, I think that for this type of activity to not be such a burden on any one person, everyone needs to contribute, either by recommending posts, or by forwarding their own. It's ridiculously time-consuming otherwise. With more and more worthy posts competing for readership, it's only going to become even more so.
Whatever you need to do to achieve more balance, I heartily support. I wish you nothing but the very best. You need to take care of yourself and your marriage. The rest of us addicts will still be here, looking for balance of our own. :)
I understand everything you are saying in this letter. I too have an addictive personality. I have been letting OS take a lot of my time that should be spent on other things in my life. I have tried to cut back, I have been able too a little..SMILES! since my good-bye post. I limit myself to how much time I spend on OS, some days it has worked and other days it hasn't. But I will keep trying. Because life still has to go on.
As for your list, I love them and appreciate the time it takes to prepare them. They are a great tool to use to find great writings to read. Thank you for them.
You figure out a way to limit your time on OS. Then you let me know how it works for you and what you do..lol Because I could use the help also..LOL
I will keep sending you PMs about my new post. I agree with you that it is so much easier to make sure you hit your friends new posts then to try and catch them on the feeds, or to go to every blog to see if someone has a new one. I have stopped sending my PMs about posts to most of my friends because of the blogwhoring thing, but I still send you one.
Thank you so much for this nice post to your friends.
Take Care
Fireeyes24
So I totally get it, I think we all do, and good luck to you returning to your "real" life and just occasionally dropping by here, trying to appear cool and casual as you lean up against the "Most Read" column, smoking a cigarette, even as your heart is pounding with desire.
I had a long winded response to this wonderful post. I clicked on spell checker and the cyber thieves ate it. The point was clear. I am you as you describe your addiction. There are so many excellent comments here that I really can't add anything but to let you know I get you completely. Your one of the few that I try to read everything they write, but it is too hard to keep up here. I also need to cut back.
:) glad you are taking care of yourself Monte
I think everyone has a healthy perspective on this. Like any addictive activity, there has to be moderation. My reading has suffered neglect, and other things similar to your situation. I made up my mind I would not try to keep up w everything anymore.....comment on my closest pals, and work HARD on my writing. I sometimes feel I'm being a selfish pig, but I feel I can contribute more to the community and the life of this rare forum by publishing pieces of writing that affect folks in some way......that's what art strives to do, change the way we see our world. In the art world, nothing has ever moved me more than seeing the power of ideas to move minds....through my visual art and the original way it occupies, or critiques our notions of nature and/or space.
I hope to do the same some day with the writing...so that's where the energy and attention needs to go. Affectionately, G
I feel such genuine affection for each of you that it pains me that I am not going to take the hour or so to respond to each comment individually. I know. That's not like me. And I can't tell you all how all of my guilt buttons are pushing themselves without me doing anything. But I am going to do this in this one reply, even if it kills me.
Sue and I just got back from spending two hours at our church's annual Valentine Swiss Steak Dinner. Believe me, I didn't go for the food. But it had been months since I had seen some of my friends, who were my parishioners, and I was hungry to see them. I really can't make it to church with my med problems which are pure hell for the first four hours I am up, so I was especially glad that this event came up tonight.
Please just know how much I appreciate your kind responses to my post, which, if you read it between the lines was as guilt laden as anything I have even thought about writing here.
It is an honor and a privilege to have such good friends. And, I have had a new thought!, which is rare in my family, and that is that the distinctions between "real" friends and "OS friends" is highly over rated. I would say unequivocally that many of my friends here feel closer to me and more honest in their relationships with me than do some of my friends "in real life." The proof is, of course, the responses to this post.
So thank you all.
Monte
I've been active only since the week before Christmas, and it's come to consume so much of my free time. I hate to miss what my friends have been writing, and I hate to leave a post without saying something in appreciation.
I scan the friend list ... read the short ones and copy & paste the long ones into a word doc. ... this works especially well when there's a series or when it's something spectacular and you want to savor every delicious syllable ... Then I read them in carpool, waiting at the dentist, pushing the cart through the grocery store ... wherever, whenever I might have been wasting my time otherwise ... and the plus is that you can start and stop a million times without ever going near the patooter.
The only problem I've encountered is that sometimes I forget to come back and leave my comment when I'm done, but I'm working on that.
I think you have earned a break ... no one is a more conscientious commentor than you. You should get an award for your dedication to leaving sweet words on every single post. I know that's just you being you, but we love you already ... you don't have to work so hard.
So ~ from now on, all you have to write on my comments is "awesome masterpiece" ... I'll know exactly what you mean!!! ;0
xoxo
ann
Nothing wrong with wanting to find a sense of peace and order in your life. I feel what you are saying and understand. :)
Big hugs and Paws, my friend!
Ah, but there's so much great writing here, and so many stories. It's like visiting a graveyard except nobody's dead. I look at birthdates (astrological signs) and locations and imagine houses and yards and families. I think it's a writer-thing, every piece is a different character sketch. I will vow to read for only ten minutes and then the next one looks so interesting...just five more minutes! but I like it so much, I want to comment...but what to say? No, no, that's not right. Ummm...okay. Done. I'll shut it off now and...oh wait, Monte has another post...okay, just one more...
I think you are making a wise move pulling away just a little and having a life. I say this selfishly, because the more life you experience, the more stuff you'll have to write about and the more we'll get to READ your stuff. I hope you're not even reading this now. I hope you've shut off the computer and are off reading Tolstoy or something. Step -- back -- from -- the -- computer!
You could still send me an email every once in awhile :)
Hey! The Daily show is on and I have a stack of books here as tall as by house
The OS is quite simply, a "turn on." One of brains, hearts, mutual expression, acceptance of differences and the embracing of creativity and support for one another, most of all.
Who in their right mind wouldn't find this appealing, alluring, slightly addictive and even part of the balance that we need and want. Not trying to give you a sales pitch here, but you are as equal a contributor here as you are a receiver and part of larger system.
I believe it is intrinsically good when tempered with the incite to make time for other important responsibilities, time for the other non-OS people and loved ones in our lives and our other healthy ways of being.
Boy, do ya think I'm loving the OS or what?!? It's been a positive for me and has opened me up to a love and passion that I had long forgotten for so long. Now that I have reconnected with this love of writing and written expression of thought in a variety of genre's, I would find it hard to live without.
I am not an "addictive type," a very loosely defined term and one I do not embrace or take too seriously, in this culture where labels, mental maladies of various degrees, short comings with an RX no one can live without for every single thing you experience from tjhe moment you wake up till you fall asleep at night and on and on, ad nauseum. There should be a pill coming on the market to help you wake up in the morning, because, before too long, we won't even be able to do that without some form of chemical intervention.
Way off the subject now, Monte! Sorry!!! You see how I am?! You give me a premise to comment on and I run with it, all the way to nowhere!
You just do what is authentic for you and take the best care of yourself and Sue and all your vital passions. We will understand and appreciate you all that much more.
Off to indulge in another addiction, if I can break away. Ice cream with chocolate sauce!!! Buh byeeeeeee!!!!! xoxoxoxoxo
I certainly understand the temptation. I am saved by the other demands on my time and attention. I agree with someone above who suggested that it's fine just to read and not comment. If you PM people to whom you really want to comment, no one will feel slighted because no one will know you're around at that moment. Escaping the beauty-contest aspects of this place can only be healthy!
Make OS work for you, friend. Take good care.
Whenever we hear from you it will always be a treat, but it'll be most important to hear that your life is going well.
"Ah, but there's so much great writing here, and so many stories. It's like visiting a graveyard except nobody's dead."
I've kicked most of the things I've been addicted to. Can't quite quit food, though, that's a necessity. But I must say that OS can be as big a jones as cigarettes and I quit them almost seven years ago. Thank you for coming out and saying this. Balance is so important and what we should be persuing. Peace to you, Monte.
I'll still send you pointers to my posts, my friend. %;-)
I have been through this kinda thing over the years just with the internet and specific sites in particular that I get very attached to checking in with. It is easy to invest too much time and miss out on "real life". Not that OS isn't real and wonderful, but those flesh and blood humans we know and love in person (often in our own homes) should take precedence.
Oh yes, and work. I also work from home and it's far more fun to be here, so I have to discipline myself on that.
Interesting that so many here struggle with this.
I recently dropped over half the email lists I was subscribed to and severely trimmed my bookmarks. It was amazing home much time I freed up and stress I dropped.
BTW - Did you realise there's a RSS feed link at the top left of each authors blog? it can be used to keep track of new posts by them.
I recently posted about the dilemma of trying to "tame this beast" and find what is worthwhile without spending so. much. time. at it. I need to find a way to have it in balance without giving it up.
One thing I would like to be clear about. I am going to cut back on OS. I am not going to take a break, or a vacation from OS. Just cut the hours.
Look at it this way. On a typical day I am on OS from noon to 5 pm, then again from 10 pm to 2 or 3 am and sometimes I am on OS part of the time from 5 pm to 10 pm, seven days a week.
Add that up and you get a minimum of 70 hours a week. Say I cut that down to 4 hours a day. That is still 28 hours a week. That is in the ball park that I am shooting for.
A LOT of people who are not retired and addicted don't spend 28 hours a week on OS. So my cutting back is relative to what I have been doing.
OS is way too good a therapy for me to disappear from here. OS is basically good for me. But so are lots of things that if I don't moderate my use of them then they become toxic. That is all I am trying to find: a moderate balance.
Thanks, everybody. Much. You are all such good people, and I am blessed to have found you.
Monte
Kisses
This resonates with me because, like you, I have done these kinds of posts and agree with you about all the above.
It is difficult to gauge the effectiveness of our efforts, as you say. I had some very faithful readers who would actually go around to see the posts and comment but sometimes it seemed like diminishing returns.
My most successful posts were those in which the featured writers themselves would visit each other's posts. That kept it on the feed and introduced new writers to each other.
Am addictive myself so quite understand your efforts to have a life outside these posts as my recent defection shows. I see Critical Mass doing an extraordinary job but also notice that it is CM's full time OS job.
Missing good posts and writers was also a problem as I could not see or include them all. Honoring good writers also carries with it the pain of ignoring others who are equally deserving. It gives you more of an idea of what the editors go through to do covers and EPs. Tain't easy, McGee as my mom used to say.
You have my full support in this and you are a great guy who commands a great deal of respect and fondness here and I am glad to claim you as friend!
peace, brother.
Limits are good. What I've done in order to keep up with those folks that I feel compelled to keep up with is this:
I use Firefox both at work and at home, so I simply make RSS feeds of people I want to keep up with (it's gotten to be a big list of feeds, but I can see at a glance who has a new post). I still check the inbox for notices, and as time permits I go visiting and check out the feed and the "Friend's Posts" column, but I've tried to reduce the number of hours I'm actively reading OS each day. Let's face it; there aren't enough hours in any day to keep up with everyone. However, this post served to remind me I had yet to drag you into my own personal feed. Consider it done. :-D
Now would you read my latest? ;-)
rated, of course
Bless you all.
Monte
Kidding...I'm a procrastinator....(looking in the mirror of reality)
Be well, be safe but most of all be true my friend,
Ted
Monte
I don't think that there is any conspiracy. But the fact is that the comment and reply ability is what takes up so much time, and is also perhaps the most interesting and valuable part of OS. Kind of a Catch 22.
Then add to that that we gain friends who are actual friends and we interact with them not only through posts, but through PMs and regular email with some. Then the numbers grow, slowly for me, but now I am at 60+ serious mutual friends. So the GUILT builds that you need to read as many of their posts as possible. That is what friend who support friends do, etc.
...So a friend posts.
....You read it and take your time because you seriously want to clearly understand them.
....Then you read the other comments to see how they are reacting, and some of them are your friends too.
.....So you comment and try to be clear and supportive while still telling the truth and saying something nice that is true, etc.
.....Then you bookmark that thread to go back to it to see if they have replied to YOUR comment.
....So then you go back and maybe they did and maybe they didn't.
.....But you keep going back for a couple of days and give up if they haven't replied.
....Meanwhile there are dozens of posts, just by friends that are piling up all waiting for you to go through the same process all over again.
...Soon you have a dozen or more posts at various stages in that process.
AND
.....You are thinking about what you are going to write, maybe drafting something out on a word processor, etc.
Can you see how innocent that seems, and how it can suck you right in? And, if you are addictive like me, that suck is more powerful than any outside thing vying for my attention.
Monte
Monte
I have also decided to post some chapters of a book I am (was) was working on for my Lenten Reflections. That will save me writing them, just editing a bit to fit this format.
Monte
I have posted elsewhere on the Internet, but OS seems one of the best I have found and I intend to stay. I have listed you as only my second friend, and would like to talk to you about the proper purpose of life. I know that sounds almost trite, and in some ways presumptuous, but that subject is the core of our being and cannot be over-emphasized.
I have written 3o books on my computer, but so far have never submitted one to any publisher. I am now thinking of self publishing all of them as I am able to get it done.
As I develop my blog I will be laying out my recommendations for the standards I believe people should live by. They are based on my interpretation of the Biblical injunctions as I understand them. Much different interpretations, I might add, than any church I have been affiliated with. To me, the Churches seem like sheep to have all gone astray, and to have all got it wrong, and sold out to "the world."
I go strictly by the literal meaning of the KJV, carefully parsed. I have degrees in English, so I am fairly well trained to deal the the KJV which I prefer, while I correct it as need be as I go along.
If you have any interest in my teaching for a good life I will make a special attempt to answer any questions. In any case I respect your lifetime of education, and your Opera favorites, which are my own. I have been listening to Pavarotti every day for months, so good choice there. I also downloaded one of your cat pictures and sent it to my daughter as it looked just like our now passed on cat. Thank you for posting it.
I am at your disposal sir, warts and all. If I didn't think I have what would benefit you, I wouldn't be writing this comment to you. You are in my fervent prayer.
I think you might enjoy my new series of Reflections on the Death of the Messiah.
Monte
One of the reasons I've not been on OS since Feb 13 is that once I get started reading and commenting, the day is done! LOL
Monte
I appreciate you taking time to get to know this woman. I'm working my way through your entries. One day at a time.
Monte
No Mr Monte is not "wise"... just thoughtful he won´t get clobbered by all those attracted to OS.. which is Joan´s pet and bread on the table other than her dog..
To all of you having the feeling you get swamped with what is OS... don´t..!!.. I never did and I´m here for most of the 3 years after I found the outlet.. that is.. at 90 minus a strike or 2 and napping only 3 to 4 times 2-3 hrs a day I am the only human loner next to my dog habitating these widespread premises which are in the not so rich part of the City of Las Palmas on Gran Canaria... in Catholic Spain´s Canary Islands archipel.... ever since wife II kicked the bucket and joined Number 1 Balalaika Girl at Pete´s HonqeeTonq Saloon Up There right around the Corner from His Gate.. Nº II´s "darling son" caused her a fatal brain hemorrhage 3 years ago.... which is "Murder 1" to me so he´d better not come w/i arm´s length.. I´ll slice his throat..
So you may say "yes"... I split my remaining 12 hours per day between OS and others feeding cyber info into the computers; my satellite TV inputs (CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera plus any of the 5 sports channels) just to be kept updated.... eMails come in at the rate of 30-40 a day and notify me by audio from the amplified sound system... and yes.. I do listen to background "noise" (Mr. Monte´s terminology) which alternates between Classic piano (Bach. Brahms. Beethoven , Mendelsohn, organ by Briggs), BlueGrass and Southern Jazz....
Like I said.. I am and live alone.. so I need some companionship.. altho I have a lifetime housekeep who comes in twice a day (!!):- keeps the house uncluttered and keeps us alive by food and trips to the medical fraternities at no specific cost as healthcare is a social fact. (Stateside does not provide healthcare of any sort for their elderly on offshore.. so to me your state based systems stink..)
So to all of you complaining getting swamped.... it´s all up there in your noodlebox.. I don´t.. Meet me privately at as one of you, "podunkmarte" does...
From the GripeVine.... & Donah..//
Is there anything like "Death of the Messiah".??
´Long time ago I noticed there wasn´t any so why "the Death" ??
From the GripeVine.... & Donah..//