A to Z Challenge – Z is for Zenith

And, here we are. The final day of the A to Z Blogging Challenge, and surprisingly, I made it through to the very end. This is a doubly-auspicious occasion, as this is also my one-hundredth post to this blog.

As for why I picked this particular word, I believe it’s because this is probably the height of what I can do as a blogger. I doubt the blog will go away; the fact that I held onto it for seven years without making a single post should serve as testament to that. However, I would not expect much in the way of content, especially over the next few months, as I recuperate from trying to think of interesting things to write about every day.

I wish to thank all of you that came and read my ramblings, and left comments in your wake. At least I know my efforts weren’t totally in vain. I’ve also enjoyed reading as many of your blogs as I was able to, and as is my nature, I didn’t say much because I could think of nothing that needed to be said.

I’m not sure if I will do this again next year. I have plenty of time to consider that option. All I can say is I am glad to have made it through this challenge, and I wish all of you well in your endeavours.

A to Z Challenge – Y is for Yawn

It’s early morning on Monday. In a few minutes I’ll be heading out to do laundry, as I do every Monday morning, and then seeing about that long-overdue haircut. If I’m lucky, I may get to nap for a few hours before going to work.

I suspect I’ll be quite tired tonight, but I’ll manage to make it through work as I always do. But that’s not the reason for the title of this entry.

It comes from reading the comments left by others on this blog. I know, I was surprised to see comments here, too. After reading them, I came to a not-too-difficult-to-realize observation: I’m really quite boring. I haven’t really written much here lately because I’ve had nothing interesting to say, nor does anyone really care what I have to say in the first place.

I’ll wrap all of this up with tomorrow’s post.

A to Z Challenge – X is for Xanadu

“In Xanadu did Kubla Khan

A stately pleasure-dome decree:

Where Alph, the sacred river, ran

Through caverns measureless to man

Down to a sunless sea.”

- from “Kubla Khan” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1875-1912)

We’re all searching for our place of untold luxury, our Xanadu, and fewer still ever come close to attaining such a place in their lifetimes. It would be nice, wouldn’t it? A place of luxury, idyllic and yet exotic, where we could indulge ourselves of whatever we desire.

Some confuse Xanadu with Utopia. Utopia is a place of perfection in all things, while Xanadu is a place of luxury, not quite perfect but pleasing all the same. They’re easy to mix up because both are equally unobtainable, and thus both are associated with a dream that always remains beyond our grasp, tantalizing and frustratingly impossible to achieve.

A to Z Challenge – W is for Weather

Weather has always held a fascination for me, from the first time I stood out on the porch with my father and we watched a thunderstorm together. I took note of most of the severe weather due to pass through our area, from the greenish sky I saw right before I saw my first hailstorm (and learned the next day that a weak tornado had passed through an adjacent town), to the tropical storms and hurricanes that passed through (the worst one I personally experienced was Gloria in 1985), to the Blizzard of ‘78 which paralyzed where I lived for close to two weeks.

As I got more into my driving career, and gained access to the internet, I fueled my passion for weather with a need to know what conditions I’d be driving through or in, and attempt to make smart decisions for my travel. Too bad my employers didn’t share this vision I had in regard to weather, which is why I drove home through the howling winds of Tropical Storm Floyd from about Worcester southward to Connecticut, and then got sent out into the flood-ravaged areas of New Jersey the following day.

Many of the commercial trucks I’ve driven in the past fifteen years or so are equipped with radios that receive the broadcasts from the National Weather Service. When I was doing long-haul trucking, I had a laptop that I would use to check the weather ahead and stay alerted to any potential storms, and adjust my travel times or routes accordingly. I did the same thing when I did linehaul, getting out of Houston just as Hurricane Harvey was making landfall far to the west of me.

I still pay attention to the weather, although not as close now that I’m mostly office-bound. But, when time permits, I will wander out on the loading dock during a thunderstorm and take in the full fury of nature playing out before me.

A to Z Challenge – V is for Vitality

About the only connection I have to this word is the fact that I’m writing about it for this blog.

I have absolutely no energy these days, despite all I do to try to stay active and live a healthier lifestyle. I also believe that if, when I wake up and look art the clock, and that little voice inside my head tells me not to bother getting up because the day is simply gonna suck, I should listen to it more often than I have been.

This has not been a very good week.

A to Z Challenge – U is for Uninspired

I have absolutely no idea what I should write about for today’s letter, so I picked the only one that conveys my current state of mind.

This is why I generally don’t blog every day … or month … or year. I have very little inspiration for my writing, and forcing my writing is like, pardon the analogy, forcing a fart – push too much and all I have to show for it is a pile of crap.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll find better inspiration, maybe I won’t. It’s all day-to-day now, right up to the very end.

A to Z Challenge - S is for Stupid and T is for Tired

Yeah, I forgot again, hence another double post.  I kept reminding myself that I had a post to write, even going so far as to plan to write something during the down time I have at work, and totally spaced out.  I didn't remember until I was driving home from work this evening.

Normally, I would have had it written on Sunday night, or at the latest Monday morning when I got home from doing the laundry, but I was just too tired to really do anything but crawl back into bed.  I still haven't fully recovered from whatever death plague was going around at work, or from the scoping I had about a week ago.  So, it's small wonder I wrote nothing until today.

I will be back on track to finish this out.  I have a few posts in the pipeline, so there's no excuse.