About Me July 20, 2007

About me … hmmm …

I live in Decatur, Georgia – the only town I could think of dwelling in unless my dreams of becoming an ex-pat living in Paris do one day come true.

I market various medical and non-profit organizations by day, and retire to my humble abode with the love of my life and my dog Cosmo (or ‘Smo, as he’s known around here) in the evening, where if I’m lucky I get a bit of writing done.

I love to cook, sing, and spend time with my friends, who are among the most wonderful people in the world. Other than that, I can only tell you…

1. I fall down. A lot. Some of you have seen this. It honestly doesn’t matter if I’m drunk or sober, wearing high heels or walking barefoot. I try to act like a poised person who has her act together, but it’s really hard to do when I’m falling on my ass all the time.
2. I have this slightly OCD thing where if I scuff the bottom of one foot on the ground, I have to scuff the bottom of the other foot too. But if I scuff the second foot harder than the first, than I have to scuff the first foot again, etc. Like I said – just slightly OCD.
3. I name almost everything. I also assign personalities and genders to everyday objects. My old car was an Infiniti that was kinda falling apart and had no muffler, so she was dubbed Yoko, after another grumbly Japanese woman. She used to do cool things like roll her windows down all by herself. I miss Yoko.
4. I love speaking in public. I never thought this was weird until I got into theater and speech classes and found out that the average person lists public speaking as their worst fear. This means the average person is more afraid of speaking in public than of death. I cannot comprehend this. Perhaps I’m a show-off, but I love being in front of people. Ask me to do a math problem, however, and you’ll soon find me cowering under my desk.
5. When I’m nervous about something I have to do the next day, I dream all night that I’ve already accomplished it. Then I’ll wake up, realize I’ve been dreaming, then actually go do it. Then I’ll wake up from that dream, realize I’ve been dreaming, then acually go do it … one painstakingly neverending loop. It’s like Groundhog Day, only Bill Murray’s not there to make me laugh.
6. I have an endless capacity of useless entertainment knowledge. I mean really useless stuff, like what astrological signs movie stars were born under. I don’t try to keep up with this stuff, I just hear it once and it doesn’t leave my brain. And I’m a master at the six degrees of Kevin Bacon game. I’m like the Rain Man of imdb.

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Now, you ask, what is “Strictly for Pleasure?”

Well, recently I’ve come to the conclusion that I haven’t been paying enough attention. Rushing through life on autopilot, headed toward somewhere else I was supposed to be, and not actually experiencing life as it’s been happening. I’ve been so focused on becoming that I haven’t taken the time to just be.

That realization is what gave me the idea for this blog.

Strictly for Pleasure, or at least my interpretation of it, is an outlook. A way of experiencing life. A wake-up call to live with not only your eyes open, but with all of your senses at attention. How does your day to day life look? How does it sound? What does it taste like? Feel like? Smell like?

Are you paying enough attention to be able to answer those questions?

I’ve been doing things like walking outside barefoot a lot lately. Playing Frisbee in my yard. Cooking (and sampling) new foods and wines. Seeking out music, film, and art I normally wouldn’t. Just trying to experience things with all five senses at once. And you know what? I feel like I’ve finally woken up.

So I thought I’d start writing about it, because I think it’s worth sharing.

In this blog you will read about things that turn me on to life, broken up into five (or so) categories:

*Sight: Art, photography, or film… or whatever I happen to see that feels worth mentioning at the time.

*Sound: Music, of course.

*Smell: Perfume, essential oils, aromatherapy, candles, incense, and that special tie between scent and memory. It’s one of the strongest ties to the past we have.

*Taste: Food and drink.

*Touch: This one isn’t quite as clear cut, but I sort of need it to round out that whole “five senses” gimmick, you know? So for now, I’m going to define touch as anything that touches me or those around me – emotionally, spiritually, or physically.

That’s how I’m planning for these posts to pan out, anyway. In the mean time the most of them seem to be collecting in a catch-all category I call Life, the Universe, and Everything. This is a learning process. I expect to stick with my intended format more strictly in the future.

So that’s the very long answer to “What is Strictly for Pleasure.” Thanks for stopping by!