Category: Burningbird

Inhale

Post author By Shelley Powers
Post date June 18, 2003

I went to bed at 3 and got up at 6 so have had 3 hours of sleep, and feel much better. Today was also my last day on the contracted job. The people at the place where I worked were very likable, the consulting company that arranged the gig less so. However, that’s not unusual. Am currently working next chapter of story of life.

I have to finish the proofs for Practical RDF for the editor tomorrow or risk the wrath of a production editor on deadline. Believe me, that’s a not someone you want to antagonize. However, I wanted to clarify that my comment in the last post about the Advice emails isn’t directed at my regular readers. You all can give me any advice you want – as long as you accompany the email with a nude photograph of yourself.

I think that’s a fair deal. Don’t you?

One day after the fooflah yesterday, and lots of good reasons to like wikis, but I still dislike them. The frenzy of activity yesterday accomplished a lot, I will admit – but it was like ants scurrying about an ant hill, as the number of edits headed into the hundreds, and pages were changing by the minute, much less the hour.

However, my dislike of wikis has nothing to do with Sam or his decision to use a wiki. I like ants! Ants are good!

Not caring for a technology does not mean that I’m slamming the people who use it, ants analogy aside. That’s equivalent to saying that anyone who doesn’t like RDF must not like me because I wrote about it and promote it’s use. Such silliness.

Speaking of RDF…

Burningbird Weblogging

Taking a break

Post author By Shelley Powers
Post date June 17, 2003

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

After today, I’m not sure I even want to continue weblogging.

The same people who question about my not ‘getting well with others on the lists’, – have you ever stopped to notice that it’s almost always the same people controlling the discussion? The format? The invitees?

Perhaps the issue is not that I don’t get along well on these lists – it’s that I don’t get along well with certain people, but they’re usually in charge. And I can agree with this.

I will say this – Sam made a statement in an email earlier, and in his weblog that shows he genuinely wants open discussion. So I wish him luck in all good faith. And I thank him for inviting me in, but I’m not sure why he did. Still – thank you Sam for thinking of me.

As for me – I’m going back to working on the server and writing my essays and taking my photos. And trying to decide if I even want to continue this weblog. At this point, I don’t see the point.

Events of note Just Shelley

These tennies are made for walking

Post author By Shelley Powers
Post date June 12, 2003

I’m taking a break from my Katy Trail challenge to meet a challenge of a different nature this weekend – participating in the St. Louis Race for the Cure, in support of breast cancer research.

Katy Trail adventures will return next week.

Weblogging Writing

Write Redirect

Post author By Shelley Powers
Post date June 7, 2003

Nicholas, aka Aquarion is another weblogger going on leave in order to spend time on other things. He writes:

I’ve spent three and a half years this week doing this weblog. That’s two and a half years of diarizing my life, and a year of “Weblogging” propery, discussing stuff with people far better at this than I am. Since I started Weblogging “properly” last year, I’ve written nothing. That is, I have fifteen fragments of four stories, two of which could be novel-length, and I wrote most of those while I was ABEND in Febuary. The Theory runs thusly: If I stop weblogging for a while – and I don’t know what the definition of a while is yet – I might get some writing done, and since writing is the thing that I think I’m good at – far more than any of the stuff I blathered on about for months on here – I have decided that it’s worth the experiment and the number of complaints I’ve had that the site is down.

I hear these words most deeply. I’ve forgotten what it’s like to write just for the sheer joy of writing, myself. But I kick at the screen when another voice goes quiet.

Just Shelley

The Odds

Post author By Shelley Powers
Post date June 7, 2003

He was born with the odds against him and the miracle of his birth was accompanied by the miracle of his life. Arms too short and body so weak, they said he would never make it through high school, but he did. And like a weakling at the beach, he kicked sand into the face of his own mortality.

Must not run hard, they would say, and he’d grab tennis racquet, holding it close to his chest because he could hold it no other way and he ran and he hit and he lived. Every time the odds would try to hold him back, he’d look right through them and just continue on.

He’d sneak out at night to join his friends, getting into the mild trouble all teens get into, drinking a bit too much, partying a little too hard. His parents were aghast and scolded him and said to stay away from his Bad Friends. But they weren’t bad — they just saw within him the spirit, the normalness of him.

He grew from a frail kid into an adult, spending too many days looking at white walls. Getting too many cards along the way. Against the odds, in spite of the odds, he thrived. “How are you feeling?”, you’d ask and he’d say, “Heck with that, let’s go ride a horse.”

I remember once when he helped us move, watching him haul boxes into a moving truck, shoving them in so hard I thought something would break and I’d say “Take it easy”, and he just laughed.

The spirit, even the strong spirit can’t work around a leaky heart and he had surgery yet again. And once more, he beat the odds, turning around at the door when he walked out, saluting the hospital good-bye.

But then, a few weeks later, he went for a walk and when he returned he said he felt tired. Wanted a nap. When he didn’t show for dinner, they went to check and found he had died in his sleep.

He was 48, and the odds had finally caught up.