May you laugh in peace!
I’m really quite funny 140 characters at a time!
I think my personality, one driven by quick quips (say that 3x fast) has finally found an outlet in the form of social media. Not being a stand-up comic, my “humor” has lived its life at cocktail parties and gatherings. Jen can be counted on to say something out there or irreverent at just the right moment. And thus, while I don’t FEEL like a funny person, it is how I am described.
Finally, technology has caught up to my wit and I can be universally appreciated for being able to say something really stupid at just the right moment. I can ruin keyboards trans-continentally as friends spit out coffee, soda, water or even gin & tonics after reading one of my 140 character comments.
But which platform do I focus on? Twitter is the easiest way to reach thousands but it is just a smidge superficial for me. Honestly, I don’t care if you ran out of toothpaste this morning nor do I need to be the absolute first to know an eight-inch tsunami pounded the shores in New Zealand.
No ma’am, it is Facebook which has captured my imagination. I like to exchange ideas… think and joke (laugh and cry) with my “friends”.
(Honestly, I wish FB had used a different term because I define the word differently but for this blog it is not important.)
I love the exchanges… on any given day I can be comparing myself to Lucille Ball or Hunter S. Thompson. We can be kibitzing (did I spell that right) about the broken political system in California AND Bugs Bunny… and I have very deep opinions on both subjects.
(Do you think they are doing the “Duck Season – Wabbit Season” routine in Sacramento in a closed door session right now?)
Best of all, I have gotten to know some people who I truly like and rediscovered people who impacted my life in the past. It’s all good!
Facebook takes some amount of time to build your community… certainly less than it would take to sit down to a glass of iced tea with each and every one of my friends.
For me, time has become a commodity more valuable than a Barrel of Oil or even Frozen Concentrated Orange Juice. I will willingly trade it in for a good laugh on Facebook.
May you all have at least one gut-laugh every day,
JenScribe
My intent today was to write a blog solving the newspaper industry’s woes. That can wait for another day. A topic presented itself in the past 18 hours causing me to change my mind as my fingers warmed up on the keyboard. My girlfriend posed a rhetorical question last night…
How much stress can a human endure before crumbling to pieces?
In her case, she is simultaneously dealing with divorce, job change, strep, and lice. While we were talking, she was looking out the window for a plague of locusts.
I admire her strength and resiliency.
We are all dealing with an unprecedented amount of stress. Whether caused by economic woes or emotional turmoil, the effects are the same. How one deals with it is the real question.
Do you go postal?
Do you numb the feelings with alcohol?
Or simply go to the gym?
(Of those, the last is probably the best choice… however, a or three margarita does seem to work for a little while.)
My short-term fix is really loud music. I mean lowered-boom-box-on-wheels LOUD. The Mr. has said on more than one occasion “I heard you coming down the street, Jen” (I don’t have a blown super charged engine in my mini-van. My muffler isn’t dragging either.)
But the long-term fix? In the past couple of years I have been faced with some pretty big challenges. More so than any other point in my life. And yet, I survive.
I would like to share what works for me. Maybe it will help you too.
Do the action and the feelings will follow.
On the days when my feelings are getting the better of me, when all I want to do is spend hours crying or breaking things, I get out of bed and proceed through the actions of the day.
Sometimes, I am a mess, a hollow shell of a carcass. But, as I move through the day DOING… some music here, a conversation with a friend there… by the end of the day I usually accomplish something and it wasn’t so bad.
It is that whole “be in the moment and find something to laugh about” thing I have professed.
I BELIEVE IT, COMPLETELY. There is something to laugh about regardless of circumstance.
My posse is planning another MNO (mom’s night out). We are a microcosm of world issues. After a night of unadulterated laughter and blowing off steam, life won’t seem as hard.
Stress? What stress?
With Conviction,
JenScribe
Turn Off Your TV
As I write this blog my 5 yr old son is vegging in front of the TV. He had a long, active day and needs to mellow out for awhile. My husband will probably do the same thing tonight after the kids are asleep.
What has happened to our society?
When did TV become the ‘go to’ form of entertainment? (early stage development began in the late 1800s)
Do you think Philo Farnsworth planned to create a device that arguably destroyed culture when he filed for his patent in 1927?
The Federal Radio Commission issued its first license to broadcast in 1928.
Here is a trivia question for you… When was the first commercial broadcast? 2 years later in 1930. By 1936 (6 years AFTER that first commercial) there were 200 TV sets in use world-wide.
This makes me cringe. Talk about foreshadowing.
I need to admit my career in marketing. I was a rather naïve young girl heading to the big apple to work in the ad game. I got lucky, I was assisting the assistants who assisted editing TV commercials.
The pinnacle of my first job was selecting the most realistic horse clomping sound… after all, I was a country girl and grew up with horses. We spent DAYS on those 10 seconds of horse clomping. (Decades later I picture the Monty Python Knights with coconuts.)
TV grabbed us in the 1940s and hasn’t let go since.
Most come home and automatically turn on the tube… for noise or to watch the talking heads pass off a mindless program called NEWS. And then there is “prime time”… named for the demographics convincing advertisers they must place their spots at a certain time.
When you consider the genius of Thomas Jefferson or Ben Franklin (men of great thought, writings, and truly remarkable change) you wonder how they were able to accomplish so much.
I’m pretty sure I know the answer… they did not spend a single second watching Michael Jackson’s funeral on TV.
I wonder what the rest of us could accomplish if we only turned off the TV. How about for just ONE of those prime time hours? You may be surprised with what you can get done.
With Conviction,
JenScribe
Movin’ On Over
Sometimes it takes a few months or even a year to figure out you are on the wrong path… of course if I had listened to my ‘advisors’ in the first place… but then I may have second guessed myself to death.
It is time for me (“Tangy”) to spread my wings and soar. While, I am no longer writing the Lime Juice Blog, I want you to know those words and thoughts were mine. I believe, deeply, everything I have said about friendship, family, and the world at large.
So now “JenScribe” takes over where “Tangy” left off… but now the handcuffs are off. I no longer need to link my thoughts to the Livin’ Lime concept. It always was me but deep down, I was thinking about selling shirts not just commenting on my thoughts of the day.
I will continue to post 3 days a week for the next few weeks but my goal is a daily post. The blog will take shape over time. It is my sincere hope you will continue to read, enjoy, and comment. This is where DIALOG can take place.
With Gratitude,
JenScribe
Luke, Harry and Michael… what is a hero?
News headline today… Michael Jackson is STILL dead.
I wonder, was he really a hero?
I want make you think about the concept of HERO. All over the world, we mourn losses of people who are only known to us through a series of images in the media. It happens continuously: JFK, Elvis, Dr. King, Princess Diana, John Lennon and now Michael Jackson. These tragedies will transcend the ever-shortening news cycle into something deeply embedded into our culture. (Where were you when you heard the news?)
A hero can be defined as someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself. With that definition, certainly the previously referenced names qualify for HERO status.
Joseph Campbell studied the HERO MYTH and how it has affected storytelling since the beginning of time. When George Lucas created Star Wars he credited Campbell’s study of the ‘Hero’s Journey’ and now Luke and Obi Wan are permanently rooted in our culture.
The same holds true for Harry Potter. In a ‘hero’s journey’ the father figure is ever mindful of the budding hero who will eventually replace him. And regardless of the perceived sexual orientation of Dumbledore he guided Harry to his place in modern day folklore.
There is something primal about our need to worship our fallen heroes and I am not sure what it is. I wonder at what point in time these public figures transition to someone we worship. After all, it was not long ago we vilified Michael Jackson, ostracized him as a “freak.” In fact, many (most) of our modern day heroes had their very human failings displayed for all to rip to shreds.
It’s true, an enormously talented man died prematurely and this is sad. His mastery of pop culture, music, and entertainment became part of the fabric of our lives.
But enough is enough… rather than focusing on the media driven frenzy of a pop icon we never knew, perhaps the lesson to be learned is closer to home. At any moment, the heroes of your lives can be gone… a family member or a friend. Perhaps we can all take a moment to appreciate those in the here and now before it is too late.
M.J.’s extravaganza will happen on Tuesday in LA, I wonder how many people will show up? If I were smart, I would buy as many Krispy Kreme doughnuts as would fit in my car and drive by the Staples Center at 6 AM selling them for $2 each or 3 for $5!
What would you do?
JenScribe
JenScribe's Take 