Monday, August 21, 2017

Mulitiple Choice Quiz-- Excuses Why the Midlife Roadtripper Has Not Blogged Since August 2016


Midlife Roadtripper Excuse for Not Blogging Quiz

Quiz Instructions: Choose whatever answer fits your fancy.

Excuse #1 Blog Header

A, She turned 60 in August 2016 and therefore her header and blog name no longer apply.

B.  She didn't realize she hadn't posted since August 2016 because in her mind she was current. One day she cleaned house and found about ten notes written to herself that said "Write a Blog Post" hence discovering she was twelve months behind. Whoa! Have to blame it on the 60 thing. (Holy Crap! She turned 61 last week. Even worse.)

C. She doesn't want to believe that 61 is no longer in midlife and sounds ancient to anyone under 59.  She still doesn't know how to get the photo in her header to center nor start over to find all the stuff that has been invented on Blogger since she started this adventure over nine years ago.

D. If she keeps this blog going, she will have to come up with a new name minus the Midlife and the only possibilities that come to mind are:

The Old Bitch Keeps on Ticking 
Someone Pluck her Chin Hairs
The Bonus Years -- Meandering With a Worn Out Shrew
Senior Roadtripper (NO!)
Life with Julie (NO!)
Roadtripping When Your Knees Hurt

None of these inspire her.

Excuse #2 Busyness

A. Twelve days after her granddaughter, the very sweet Maisy Grace, was born, the Midlife Roadtripper turned 60 and went to Schlitterbhan Water Park to celebrate. She rode down water slides and after landing at the bottom of the one she feared most (where she crossed her ankles to avoid a landing douche) she decided it wasn't all that thrilling or hard and could easily conquer Schlitterbahn at 70.


That realization inspired her and she couldn't quite figure out how to put that experience into a blog post. Then she went on a vacation to the foreign land of Guadaloupe where beaches were king and no one spoke English so she forgot her communications skills and therefore couldn't write anything anyway.




     B. She had a bunch of women writers come to her cabin in September and they set goals and she realized the reasons she hadn't been working on the second book she's been writing were bullshit so therefore dedicated her blogging time to working on the novel.


She wrote the book to the end, printed it out, read it, saw how much work it needed,  and put it on her desk for a complete re-write, again. And then. And then.... Christmas. New Years. Valentines Day. Easter. May Day. Needed the table.


     C. She developed structure and rhythm in her disorganized life. It became habit to read three new poems a day, write her three journal pages of rambling crap and then write a one page can't-pick-your pencil-up-til-you're-done essay/short story or poem before she got her ass out of bed to work on the book she now dedicated an hour to every day. After that, she had no more words left to write.

     D. She's lying and just stays in bed all day until her husband gets home from work whereby she has managed to put on her sweat shorts and t-shirt, brush her teeth, and hand him a chef surprise dinner. "You might need to get out the Cholula for this one, Hon."

Excuse #3 The Election

     A. The election threw her for a loop and everything she believed in regarding the advancement of women, people of color, and education had been blown to shit so she chose to live in the world of well written fiction by reading all the books in her house she hadn't read before. 70 books last year. 45 so far this year.

     B. She joined the VFW near her Hill Country cabin which doesn't require one to be a veteran and won't let you in if you have teeth so she knocked her teeth out and joined. She can play 12 Bingo cards at once now while not falling off her seat at the end of the bar.

     C. Her blog post rough drafts began with cheery stories of hope for the future for her children and grandchildren but soon melted into dystopian visions of barefoot women confined to kitchens surrounded by snotty nosed children who have no future, no clean drinking water, no breathable air, and no national parks to visit because they are filled with oil derricks and tainted water.

Which made her want to write politically. Which she doesn't want to do.

    D. She just didn't give a shit about anything anymore.

Excuse #4 Physical Education

    A. She decided to dedicate her life to her body and started running 10 miles a day and then going to Yoga and Pilates in the off hours.

     B. She guzzled camomile tea and just stared complacently out the windows of her house all day. Enjoying the moment.

     C. She spent excess time wandering her neighborhood with an audio book playing on her phone, her camera around her neck, sauntering mindfully down the streets taking photos of birds, flowers and cracks in the sidewalk.

     D. Her new FitBit reminded her when she hadn't moved 250 steps each hour so she had to practice moving her arm up and down while in a sitting position to make certain at the end of the day her report showed she had moved every hour from 10am to 8pm.

Excuse #5 Creativity

      A. She attended several women's circles on creativity and now has so many things on her pile of creative things that are fulfilling her that she has to make herself go to bed at 1am even though there is still so much she could be doing for enjoyment.

     B. She has decided that now she is 61 she must prioritize her life and make certain that the ways she spends her time needs to have meaning for her, for she truly does value herself.

    C. She has too many projects going not to mention the ones she hasn't yet discovered and truly does enjoy finding a few new pieces in the current 1000 piece puzzle spread on the table or sometimes just looking out the window and studying the clouds. Or the water. Or the swan that has decided to hang by the dock.



     D. She wants to finish that novel started 12 years ago. Not necessarily for publishing purposes -- just because.

Excuse #6 Seriously

     A. Perhaps many of the above.
     B. Perhaps she has read 116 books in the past 20 months.
     C. Perhaps has decided that the ultimate travel time for she and her husband will be in the next 15 or so years, if they are lucky, and needs to make those trips happen. Their list of places to visit is long and she spends time researching trips so they can be travelers more than tourists. Also trips cost alotta so learning about Discovery Corps and Friendship Force and any others that she is completely open to learning about.

She ignores looks from her husband when she says things like "You know, if you're in New Zealand it would be silly not to hop over to Fiji."  Or, "We should probably get to the Maldives before they're under water."

     D. Perhaps she is working on her novel  and by the time she does her daily reading/writing/warm up and walks to get her steps, cleans toilets, makes dinner for her husband, and then reads some more or knits a stocking or makes a blanket or farts around reading the New York Times, she truly just has nothing more to say.
   
Final Quiz Instructions: Make your picks. Multiple guesses allowed. Suggestions for a new blog title and old people travel groups accepted in the Comment section below.

.
As to that grandbaby? Well, who wouldn't stop everything to spend time with her.


The moment I make an excuse, I confess to many things. 
Muriel Strode (1875–1964), My Little Book of Life, 1912

32 comments:

  1. Most excellent!! Thank you so much for the laughs through my summer cold infection.

    Change the title to
    Shaving My Face in the Shower Now!

    Really, its liberating and now we can use that extra time because
    we don't have as much leg hair anymore!

    Please write more and I'm already looking up those websites you mentioned!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hahaha! True, much less leg hair. Thanks for commenting and let me know what you find for senior travel. (Painful to type that senior thing.)

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  2. I think you should stick withe 'MIDLIFE' title . Ha' because you never know
    you might make 150 and you would be very vexed angry even when you suddenly realised the mistake you made when only sixty-two!
    Continuing in that vein : modern medicine soon might give us a pill that removes old age. Now don't scoff, for I might just be correct and another thing considering I still think of myself being in "MIDLIFE" now I am 74 feeling active, articulate, full of fun (include flirting too) and witty to boot.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, never stop the flirting, that's for sure. The wit will always stay. You do have a point in regard to 150.

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  3. Nice to hear from you again. I wondered where you had been.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aw, glad you wondered. I see you are still enjoying the incredible outdoors. I've missed the beauty of your photos.

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  4. I recognized a lot of my own truth in your list of possible excuses. And you have reminded me that my blog title is also inaccurate. Still blessed out when I'm with the grandkids, but my politics have taken on a sharp edge, some of which will have to be written about when I blog again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are braver than I am, Nancy. For certain. Sometimes we don't know where we end up. I'm pretty certain neither of us ever thought we'd be bloggers. Ha! Now, the task is figuring out where we go next.

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  5. Lots of laughs and information here. You forgot to add "she began talking in the third person." ;)

    I totally get the lagging on the blogging.. but still, I'm always glad to see you post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, sometimes we all need to break and reassess. As to that "third person." Makes me laugh. Currently switching the novel I'm writing from third to first. Guess I still needed to be third somewhere.

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  6. You always will be my midlife road tripper. Sharpen your political opinions; explain them in detail to Maisie Grace (any child whose name includes 'Grace' will make the world different; travel the world while you still can do all that walking, and take Maisie; make no more excuses--blog again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Love your comment, Joanne. Yes, I hope to expose that little girl to as much as I can get away with.

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  7. I'm going with: All of the above. Yow! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ha! Probably some truth to that! Thanks for commenting.

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  8. Replies
    1. Thank you and greetings to you. Just enjoyed a visit to your blog. Very interesting. Hope the vacation is going well.

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  9. Thank you for your voice and for the laughter today. I've really missed you. I would offer that you have a huge gift that you deny the rest of us when you don't blog. Just sayin'. :-)

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    Replies
    1. You are too kind, Catbird Scout. You are making me blush.

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  10. It's great to read you again, Julie, and your multiples presentation was very original—and funny! Nevertheless, there's a bit of despair in there, and everybody here probably gets that, and sympathizes. I do, certainly. My 60th (two years before yours) was hard to take, but that election was waaaay worse. But isn't it remarkable how we haven't all jumped, parachuteless, off a high building because of stuff like that? We are resilient although I wouldn't like to think we're resigned.
    What do you really need to finish that novel? You're close, it seems, and you're much more motivated and experienced than I am. I do want to know what's really stopping you.
    I miss blogging. I miss the community, and the structure, self-directed as it was. Not sure I have anything to say anymore, though. Really glad you came out of the woodwork.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love what you've said, Deborah. I miss your voice. And your stories. Such a journey this blog has traveled in the meeting of so many intelligent and caring souls.

      I'm working on that novel, but felt guilt for not continuing on this path. Figuring out a way to do both.

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  11. Boy you certainly are letting words spill out now! 61...what a baby. Wait until the next decade.

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    Replies
    1. Hmmmmm. 70's. I can imagine it gets harder, yet if you are in that realm, you make it sound pretty easy.

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  12. Yay!!!!! I'm so glad you are back, no matter the reason.
    And writing a book! How wonderful! That's fantastic!
    And Happy Birthday! And no, 61 does not sound ancient. If you can travel and write a book or sit around in your sweats all day it sounds like the perfect age.

    I haven't been blogging much (I was off the blog all summer and spotty at best before that) either. And the political garbage going on has made me stay away from the news and internet all together. Blech.

    BUT anyway, I am so glad you are back. I'd keep your blog title as is. Or change it to Mid(ish)life Roadtripper. ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So fun to catch up with you and that lovely family, Kat. You are in school, with four kids. Really? Incredible woman.

      I like that --- Mid(ish)life.

      Delete
  13. Great to hear that you're still alive and kickin'! Cheers, cher!

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    Replies
    1. Hahahahahaha! Always fun, Marguerite. I wish you well.

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    2. Great to see both you and Marguerite are alive and kicking, so am I ~ let's have a party . . . hahaha

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  14. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  15. All the excuses are definitely plausible even though you missed the one about "SIXTY IS THE NEW FIFTY" then of course their is the Jack Benny approach. Oops wait a minute your way to young to remember that one...:)

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  16. Hey, Julie . . . great to see you posted.
    I have been awol as well but dabble ocassionally.

    No worries about your blog name ~ just add a bit at the end to read the full title:

    Midlife Roadtripper (but only if I live to be 120)

    lol.

    I haven't read your post yet in full. I aim to give myself a treat soon in which case I shall present some more constructive comments . . . lol

    Oh No! . . . did I hear you say? . . . :)

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  17. Haha! Many of us aren't posting as often, but it's nice to see an update. As longevity increases why can't 60's be middle life?

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  18. Life gets in the way of living.
    Always.
    Go easy on yourself; there's a long line of folks willing to trash you. Don't join them.

    ReplyDelete

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