Postcards from the Funny Farm

Begin blogging experiment-departure time from Victorville: 10:02

Sarah is driving the minivan so I thought I’d try an experiment. I’m using Windows Live Writer which is great when you’re offline and get the itch. Radio says: “Thunder only happens when it’s rainin’; players only love you when they’re playin’” Probably a deep thought to a woman, not to me so much. Any women out there have a shout out for that lyric?

Traveling is broadening. For some, it means going across the globe and getting sick on the foreign food. After awhile adjusting to the culture shock and eventually when you love it … time to go back! That’s what it was like for me when I studied Spanish the summer of 1996 in Guadalajara, Mexico.

But today I’m only traveling 74 miles, accoring to MapQuest. Victorville to Murrieta, we’re going to see my parents. We hit the drive-thru at Farmer Boys on our way to the freeway. I got a coffee and french fries. So here I am, halfway through my fries and coffee watching ominous clouds waiting for something amazing to share with you … what sucks is that I am in awe of the view of these mountains around me, gigantic powerline towers, and the open road ahead, it is amazing indeed. I don’t have the words to record it. We’d do well to remember that as some of us spend 24/7 writing and reading … there are many sensual human experiences that can never be captured. Make sure you get a hold of those as much as you can, it will improve your psyche and in turn your writing. For me, the hard part is getting away from it all and leaving my schedule open to have those spontaneous experiences. I should go back and insert into every post I’ve written on how to blog the following: “Before writing, get away and get unplugged.”

Topics for blogging are all around us all the time. How many of you had that teacher in school that would give you dreaded assignments like: “Write about life on the head of this pencil” (or other odd single subject prompt). When I taught college writing I used to do pretty weird writing prompts. But if you finished those assignments, you should be thanking that teacher: blogging is 100% just that. You have to be open to finding your own prompts all around you and then use discipline to create something that is truly inspirational. Have you read an inspirational blog post lately? I can tell you when I come across one, I want to travel through the interweb wires and give that blogger a kiss. I’ll leave that at that concerning the lack of inspirational posts in the blogosphere. You know what’s a really good movie? Little Miss Sunshine with Alan Arkin, Greg Kinnear, and Steve Carell. It’s the kind of movie you should see with a psychology major … totally mental. You’ve got this teenage death rockertype that hates his family and it really gets you thinking about that time of adolescence. Didn’t we all on some level hate our family? Anyway you see him come to appreciate family in the movie and it is very touching. It’s an oddball flick for sure, kind of in the same vein as Juno (also a great flick). Okay, so we are almost there and at least if this post is the most boring you’ve read from me yet, at least you have two movie recommendations ;)

end of blogging experiment: arrived in Murrieta 11:12am