Being a Shannon

So I looked up my first name in the image section of a search engine, thinking that since, in the past, I found cute-sy graphics reminding me of the laughable fact that my first name is derived from a Gaelic term for "wise one". I was inspired by an older post by the Bloggess (to which I've left a link below) about her adventures looking up the names "Jenny" and her blog name, so I thought maybe this time I'd get a fun screen grab or two with the name 'Shannon' on it, like a still of Jason in his hockey mask, weapon ready, saying, "Whatayou mean, you're out of peas?" or something, but no. No. I got the smiling faces of a bunch of professional-looking pretty strangers,including some insanely ripped, skinny women, one wearing two gold medals, and one of these:


 This treasure is from David Thorne, much to my relief after clicking on it and seeing the words "Shannon the Human Snake. www.27bslash6.com - Due to there being no petty cash left, with which Shannon was planning to buy her lunch, Shannon is now the sole key holder of the petty cash tin...", which made me think, 'Yes, yes, I share a name with this character. Perfection'.

But that can easily be met with another giggle. Check this out! -->


 Haha - Well, I can see how people could get us confused.


 Shannon Noll, a singer-songwriter.





Okay, now it's weird. Not like the Bloggess, but...weird. In reality, I'm sure this image came up because it belongs to a childrens' book author whose surname is Shannon. I didn't look. But of course my imagination kicked in and said, 'Is this, um, the way my inner child appears?' 


 I like imagining myself owning this pillow because it would just be vain in my case, and friends would make fun of it for every opportunity. 


There's my first name in Irish! 'Sionna'!


A couple of people who share my name have posted either amusing things or quotes from literature heavyweights like Mark Twain, and I figure that if we're putting that sort of image of our tastes out into the online world, that's not a bad thing. Plus some of us have good head shots. 

I See Your Holiday Shopping Stress & I Raise It With Holiday Grieving Stress

It sucks that with love comes loss, but that's unavoidable, I think. When I get emotional about the December 20th passing of one of my loved ones, I repeat to myself a mantra that I've been very lucky to know him, to be influenced by him. He was is was a wonderful person who, along with his wife and son, permeated my outlook on family and community and milking the really good, simple moments out of life. 

When a Former Bully Sends You a Friend Request

Dig this: You have a weird, bad social experience as a child, grow to understand it, move on, but still occasionally have the perpetrator pop into your world, and all that comes to mind when you see them is, 'Go away! You're not allowed to be within two miles of me! Didn'tcha read the contract?'
And you're not angry or hurt, just...you enjoy pretending the bully fell off of our flat, flat Earth.

A Letter to the Late, Fantastic Joan Rivers

 Dear Iconic Working Woman Joan Rivers, 

I feel the need to write you a note not as an inappropriate ploy for page views (ick), but as an expression of my gratitude for the gifts you gave us. I've been a fan of yours for years because of your guts - that willingness to sometimes expose your compassion and culture and vulnerability, aside from the fact that you'd "go out and do a talk show and [she'd] come out like a machine gun", as Kathy Griffin put it to Anderson Cooper on CNN. 

What I Learned From Watching ‘Hart of Dixie'

 

-                 I already had a dumb stereotype-riddled bias against the idea of my living in a

 small town and this show perpetuated all of them. So thanks for that, Dr. Hart.

-       Many of the jokes are cliché and are inserted into dialogue in such a way that it makes the whole episode script into the softest game of softball imaginable. Part of comedy is surprising your audience a bit, striking the part of the brain that goes, ‘Oh! That was clever, how great!’ and triggers a laugh. If a writer makes humor a very low priority in favor of playing to the basic wants of teenage girls via shirtless guys confessing their feelings to the uninteresting fish-out-of-water protagonist, then the jokes, the characterization, and even the kisses become cotton balls and cosmetic sponges instead of moments fans can cheer about.

About This Dream I Had

As told to my mother:
"I had a sort of lucid dream this morning just before I woke up. I went to see Ellie* at her old place and pulled into the parking lot across the street...I looked over at a nearby car to see a raccoon sitting in it, leaning out of the open window on the passenger side. I looked away for a second, turned back, and I heard feet at my passenger door. Slowly - here's the window (I needlessly indicate with my hand) - the raccoon put its claws on my door and peered in at me. It looked so aggressive that I thought it must have rabies! I knew I could drive over to the police station that was just behind the lot, but instead I decided to flip the bird at the raccoon with both hands! It started attacking my car, trying to get in, which made me think, 'Don't wanna be bitten', and I wondered how scratched that door was getting, but I quickly responded to the attack by sliding into the closest seat and proceeding to sit up tall and make claws and growling sounds." 

Yup. Probably rabies.

Just before my mom leaves the house, I say, "Fine. Telling it to you shows me that it was all my fault."  -eye roll-

*Ellie = Lola J. Massagetherapistfriend

Advice From a Writer: Wendi Aarons

A few months ago, I discovered the writer Wendi Aarons. Her humor grabbed me first, with her website, relatable tweets and always-funny Twitter profile picture, but I also had to appreciate how she keeps things simple in each blog post, choosing a topic and following it through in the ‘short but sweet’ way that I still have to work on. She makes a living based on her work, serves as coauthor of the parody Twitter account @PaulRyanGosling and just seems all-around cool. One day she published something about writer’s block and strangers disliking her style that made me think, ‘I should really ask this woman for a little advice! I want some of the things she has and she’s been in this field a lot longer than I have, so why not take a chance and come up with some questions?' I soon did just that, and – check this out, you guys – she responded! My work life has been eventful lately because I needed to change environments, y' know? It's time for a new adventure, so it was kind of a relief to read Mrs. Aarons' Wendi's answers since they made it clear that yeah, I’m dealing with the industry that Writer's Digest has been talking about. I wanted the combo of hard work, struggles and opportunities, competition, persistence and community, and this world has all that. It’s not like I’m trying to get a job keeping nuclear missiles secure. Writing (especially fiction) is definitely my thing. 

Below are the e-mails exchanged between clever celebrity blogger Wendi Aarons and myself! This has been a good dose of inspiration/reality for me.

July 7

Dear Wendi,