Geico Commercials

I found this video from YouTube of coveted Geico commercials. I love Geico commercials because they are always funny!  Enjoy!  (This leaves me with 12 more post until I reach my goal of 600.)

13 more posts until January 2016

I can't believe that it is almost January and that we will be in the year 2016. That is crazy to me!  I know that it will take me some time to get used to writing 2016. I will give myself a month or so to acclimate myself to '16.

I love watching commercials, especially Geico commercials. I need 13 more posts to make my goal of 600 posts before January 1st, 2016. I leave you with the new Spy Geico Commercial. It was quite clever. I wonder if my daughter ever thinks that I call at the most inopportune time like this guy does. I like the Zumba reference. It is quite funny!

Weather

I really wish the weather would change. It was tough to go outside on Christmas. It wasn't that I felt the frigid vortex of a blizzard. I wasn't snowed in or iced out. Nope! It as eighty-two degrees as I headed for church and it was 7:30 pm in the evening! It felt so humid and disgusting!  That is life in the South! Some years we get normal December weather where sweaters and sweatshirts are normal. Other years, we get this kind of non seasonal weather. I have been running my air conditioner so that it can feel like Christmas in my house.

When I leave my house, I take off my sweater and don a t-shirt. It feels rather disgusting. There is good news on the way. I hear by tomorrow night, a cold front is on its way and we will experience lows in the thirties.  That will be nice for the season.  That is more like it!

Left In, Left Out! Revisited

I wrote a poem called Left In, Left Out sometime last year. It is great to go back and see what I was thinking and feeling. At that time last year, I experienced complete frustration and disillusionment. There were many things pulling at me and I  tried to make sense of it through my poetry. Boy, what a difference a year makes! Thank God Almighty, I have been set free! I tried to take my poem from last year and revise it, based on time and its ability to heal all wounds. Here's my poor attempt at doing that! Writing is so cathartic.

Left In, Out-Gone!

by Maureen Ucles

Left in,

Left out
Year later
found my place

made me wanna

scream
now

a whisper
Can you hear me
now?
You?
Don't really care
anymore
in the least
have

time to chill
learning how
peace

Makes no sense

not in the least

these decisions

 left in

 mostly, 

mostly... out
But it's okay
as I peer into
my present
without ya
 another place
feels safe
staying here

Why me?

What had I done?

Left it all on the floor

but...

don't care anymore
you're removed
by
smiling faces
appreciations
brilliant minds

Left in...left out
 gone
 let go

forged a new path
for me

with others

Left this
 tired, 

sorry
 scene
evacuated

gone

moving forward
my momentum
wind at my back
Like Stella,
got my groove 

Left in?

I'm out!
Adios!

Bye-bye!

Not to be continued,

Making Lemonade

Making Lemonade-Revisited

By Maureen Ucles

Lemonade, Lemonade

Sitting on a makeshift table

please come forth

make yourself known

with your acidity

pH factor

so sour, sour

sourrowful

Lemonade, Lemonade

Sitting in the hot,

hot Summer Sun

Not too tart

Not too sweet

better than Country Time

Hand made

squeezed, squeezed

to perfection

guts and all

completely spent

sprinkled with

a little zest

Lemonade, lemonade

How many lemons  

gone and sacrificed

for you?

A few seeds 

seeped through

ice cold

to the touch

while you simmer

I muse

peer into...

Lemonade, Lemonade

was it worth it all?

Countless lemons
used and abused

peel and all

thrown away

forgotten

Worth the effort?

Blood, sweat, and tears?

So many years

devoted to

the making

of...of

you

For today

gone tomorrow

fleeting
 sweet, sweet
sorrow

to behold

if only

for an 

instant

Lemonade, Lemonade

Can you make it here?

Can you make it there?

Does anyone really 

care?

Cool winds  

blowing

breeze

showing

me knowing...

I,
 like you

making

lemonade

Lemonade, Lemonade

givin' up--

no more fear

Hey,

ya never know

could be

new frontiers?

Peering through

crystal prisms

new points of view

after endless

slamming of doors

windows are

 wide open

my soul's 

a' searching

me perching

lookin' in

ain't no sin

just me

drinking it up

my life

my lemonade

Ahhh!

Polyps

I went to get an endoscopy today. It took quite some time. I arrived an hour and a half early. I waited about three hours until the procedure. Since I hadn't eaten or had anything to drink since midnight, I was quite thirsty and hungry. Finally, I was wheeled into the procedure room. The antastecia kicked in rather quickly. While in the recovery room, my daughter filmed me in my loopy state. I thought I was inputting grades into an invisible computer.

I have to go see my gastrointerologist in about a three weeks to see the results of some polyps that he found in my esophagus. He clipped a few during the biopsy. He didn't seem too concerned because he said most polyps are benign. Other than that, I have some minor stomach irritation. I was glad to hear that since I thought I had an ulcer. I have been suffering from stomach discomfort since August.

What a way to spend December 23rd! I still have one more day to shop. I will have to do that tomorrow morning. I can't wait for my daughter to see what I bought her! 

Now, I have only 13 more posts until 2016!  

The Value of Writing-A Face Book Prize-from the Archives

I brought this post back from the land of the drafts.  I believe it might be about a year and half old. Since I previously posted this, I have learned so much more about the power of writing. Reading several books about writing including Acts of Teaching, On Writing Well, and studying Janet Emig's work has had a profound impact on my thinking. Writing is so very important!

I woke up this morning and grabbed my phone.  I noticed that I forgot to charge it last night.  There was still some battery left, so I took a gander.  Drawn to Alana Morris' post today, I read on and on. It is so TRUE!  I couldn't have said it any better.  I copied and pasted the quote for you to read.

Writing is thinking made tangible, thinking that can be examined because it is on the page and not in the head, invisible floating around. Writing is thinking that can be stopped and tinkered with. It is a way of holding thought still long enough to examine its structures, its possibilities, its flaws. The road to a clearer understanding of one's thoughts is traveled on paper. It is through an attempt to find words for ourselves in which to express related ideas that we often discover what we think."

---J.Gage Why Write?

 Writing is a tool for thought, generative in nature, great for processing, creating, evaluating, and understanding. Writing, as a tool, engages many areas of the brain at once. 

I am a writing apologist.  For some, it is that red headed step child left on the stoop by accident.  It is the umbrella placed in the closet in Death Valley. It is...discarded completely.  If we only understood the power of writing, then we would incorporate it into everything that we do. My wish is that more people (teachers) would become more enlightened with regards to the the power of writing and actually try it out for themselves.  By doing so, one can begin to  see the value of it.  

Marioneta Revisited

Marioneta

por Maureen Ucles

Soy marioneta

Nada más

Nada menos

En tus manos

me quedo

encajada

todo el santo día

sin luz--

vida

Soy marioneta

sufriendo tanto

no hablo

me quedo mudo

sin movimiento

ninguno

Soy marioneta

hazme mover

hazme creer

en tus intenciones

tal vez

maldiciones

¿para qué?

Soy marioneta

con una sonrisa

falsa

fingiendo...

sin movimiento

hasta que me lo digas

encarcelada...

nunca libre

para expresarme

callada

callada

pálida

sufriendo

sin cesar

Soy marioneta

hice lo que

me dice

¿por cuantos siglos

eh?

Pero,  ¿para qué?

Tu rompiste

mi corazón

mi corazón de madera

quebrada en pedazos

pedazos, pedazos

aun que

invisibles…

pero,

¿para qué?

Soy marioneta

a ver

cuando

me vas a  librarme

de estas esposas,

grilletes

hazme libre

por favoricito

quisiera

expresarme...

mis pensamientos 

muy profundos

en mi propia

idioma

mi cultura

con mi gente

que me conoce

bien, bien, bien

pero 

soy marioneta

pero,

…¿para qué?

What?

What?
M Ucles

I said what?

What you say?

I say what?

Can't quite hear ya

Too much static

No I am not there

In my attic

trying to find some

peace without...

I said what?

Don't know what to say

To respond to you

I said what?

Can't listen?

Got cotton in my ears

Hear you?

Please

I put you 

officially 

on mute!

I said what?

Can't do this anymore

sportin' my Bose buds

Noise cancelling?

Ever heard of them?

What?

Volume is maxed out

What?

Do I look as if?

No

No

I don't care

I said what?

Leave me alone

stop flapping those

gums

Don't cha get it?

I am not hearing 

endearing 

befriending you

What?

Shut the door

Go on out

Lock the door

 Throw away the key

Leave me

Just leave me

be

Read my lips

taxing?
Don't want
Can't take
Not fakin'
For real
Get going
I'm deaf

Sign language?

I am blind

Text to talk?

No bars

the battery is dead

didn't pay the electric bill

The lights are out

No one is home!

I am evicted

No return address?

No return at all

Left the planet

live on the moon

No

don't visit

can't hear you 

No air

Remember?

You still here?
C'mon now

Said what?

Paying you no mind

No offense

taken
given

I am invisible

Yesterday's news

Gone, gone, gone

What?
Ugh!

Just Stop!

Just Stop!
by Maureen Ucles

No really

Just stop

Stop it now!

Stop all of it!

Some of it?

None of it?

You have got to be...

No, for real

Stop it!

Halt it!

Move it out!

To Siberia!

To Nigeria!

To Blissfiria!

Stratopheria!

Just STOP!

Outta here!

STOP!

The insanity!

Your vanity!

Vileness

Kinda pile-ness

on me!

Leave!

STOP!

Blabbering!

Gabbering!

Feathering!

Trumpeting!

Stumpeting!

STOP!

BASTA YA!

STOP

I can't take it!

Can't fake it!

Want to hurl!

Vomit!

Throw it up!

Down!

Down!

Down!

All around!

STOP

IT!

it

STOP 

your incessant

piping off

wiping off

your residue

on all the new

and old

We are past tired!

Past tired and sick!

Enferma?

I am terminal

Terminally

Fatally

Weighted down

by your...

Do I need to continue?

Don't answer!

STOP!

STOP!

STOP!

YA!

No mas!

Blah! Blah! Blah!

Blah! Blah! Blah!

By Maureen Ucles

Sit up!

Pretend you are listening!

To what?

For whom?

No!

Shhh!

You are listening!

Smile

Make eye contact

Write down some things

Like what?

What they say?

Who?

The talking heads!

The important ones

In the middle

With the fancy pens

Monogrammed

Clicky!

Leather organizer!

Write it down!

Now!

Sounds?

Nod your head!

Bow!

Agree!

Write!

Look up!

Take notes!

Noises

For what?

What am I listening for?

Shhh!

I hear voices!

Where?

What am I listening for?

Shhh!

To the door

Creaking

Breaking

Opening!

Oh no!

The meeting!

Everyone is here

Look down

Smile

Write down

Shhh!

Sit up!

It has begun!

What?

The meeting!

Sit up!

Take notes!

Important notes!

No!

Shhh!

I wasn't talking!

Listening to...

the voices

I hear voices

Choices?

No voices!

Do you hear voices?

Something is going on

Talking heads

Blah! Blah! Blah!

Shhh!

What?

Stop it!

Laugh now

Smile

Agree

Nod your head

Everyone is laughing

Laugh again

Eye contact

Look down

Look intense

Agree

Shhh!

Stop!

Leave me alone!

Did you get that?

What?

The voices?

Yeah!

Did you write it down?

What?

The noise!

Stop doodling and listen!

Grow up, would you?

What?

Leave me alone!

What?

Write?

What?

What did they say?

Blah! Blah! Blah!

More like

Yada, Yada, Yada

No!

More like

Charlie Brown's teacher

What what what wa wa

Don't be disrespectful!

Listen!

Write it down!

Did you get that?

Sure!

Shhh!

Listen!

I gotta go!

I can't hear myself think!

Yada, yada, yada!

Sit down!

We aren't done!

Pray!

Meditate!

Look interested!

Blah! Blah! Blah!

Get that?

Sure

Smile

Nod

Write

Smile

Nod 

Write

Bow!

Are we done yet?

Not quite!

No one has moved!

Moved?

When someone gets up!

We can go?

No one is moving!

Sit down!

Not you!

I saw it!

What?

Someone moved!

No, that is changing posture!

Doesn't count!

Shoot!

Now?

No

There's a pause

Laugh!

Laugh!

Smile

Nod

No questions, okay?

Questions?

Write it down!

The last thing!

Okay!

The move!

Get up!

No eye contact!

Smile

Say thanks!

High tail it out!

We are done!

Yada, yada, yada!

Phew!

No

Don't listen!

Act like you didn't hear!

 No!

Don't go back!

You'll never leave!

Awww!

More

Yada, yada, yada!