Some of my ideas are really bad . . .

like the one about dreaming up blog posts while I'm trying to fall asleep. I forget that the point in falling asleep is to turn your brain OFF, not fill it up with plans and schemes. My normal alternative to counting sheep is to think up lists of things in alphabetical order: names of cities I've visited - Anniston, Bella Vista, Couer d'Lane, . . .; names of flowers - amaryllis, begonia, columbine, . . .; streets in Shreveport - Albert, Blom, Camille, . . .; Bible verses - All we like sheep have gone astray, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right, . . .etc. Usually by the time I get to LMNOP I'm having a hard time hanging on to a thought. The alpha lists require enough brain activity to shift my focus away from the buzzing in my mind, but not enough to excite my thought processes, so it's easy to abandon when the sleepies finally arrive.

But tonight I was thinking about possible topics for blog posts. The ideas were rolling in so fast I was afraid I'd forget them if I didn't get up, turn on the light and write them down. Well, since I was trying to fall asleep I didn't want to get out of bed and turn the light on. So instead, I started trying to think of mnemonic devices to trap those thoughts till I awoke in the morning. Then, I got so caught up in the quest for memory tricks that I just gave up and got out of the bed. Now that I'm up I realize that having my supper with a big glass of my favorite beverage - my home-brewed iced tea - was probably as much to blame for my sleeplessness as anything else. So I did what any reasonable person would do - took some Benadryl and drank a cup of hot milk. The sleepies are creeping in even as I write this.

I'm tossing around ideas for a name for my blog - something more creative than "Pat Anne's Blog". It's occurred to me that the writing can be a way to process some of my thoughts into something more meaningful and insightful, to give my thoughts some purpose other than just temporarily having residence in my head and then slipping away to lodge themselves loosely into my fragile memory. If I'm going to have thoughts, I'd like to be able to make decent use of them. So the name of the blog will relate to that, but I'm in no real hurry to come up with something. After all, the writing is for me. I'll get there soon enough. Right now, I'm going back to bed. Now that's a good idea!

Here we go again

I've been inspired by friends and coworkers to attempt the blog thing again. I'm not sure what my topics will be, but I am sure that even making the effort will help me to organize my thoughts and improve my writing skills -- after all, I want to be a travel writer when I grow up. ;-) Actually, I'm a good writer if you need a technical writer. In my younger days I was a bit more creative and I hope to rediscover that side of myself. My goal is to make it flow, without editing too much. Possible topics are gardening, travel, Shreveport-Bossier, home decorating and do-it-yourself projects, grandparenting, my Sunset Sisters, Maria's cancer, my work, my friends, my family. Wow -- there are a lot more things to write about than I originally imagined.

I already spend way too much time on the computer so I'm gonna have to find a way to work this in on a regular basis. Breezy the poopy cat is committed to keeping my feet warm while I write. So I'll give this some thought and try to come up with enough to write about. Maybe this will be something I can think about when I'm trying to fall asleep at night.

Gmail

Just been reading about Google's new Gmail and was hoping to snag an invitation to open an account.