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Thursday, May 31, 2007

Minor madness + a birthday



















Zany moment...

I have committed a MySpace page. If you're interested in such things, take a look and tell me what's wrong with it and what I need to add: http://www.myspace.com/marlyyoumans. Since I don't have a lot of time, I'm just going to do a few minutes on it every day. I'm thinking of it more as a "pointer" to other sites and to what I do with my writing. It's just an experiment.

But I'm afraid that I have a wicked desire to be wholly fictitious. Yesterday when I started the thing, I declared myself to be 99. Today I am 23. That's a rotten age, but so is 99. Tomorrow I might be 33, which is a third of 99 and 10 years happier than 23.

Alas, on MySpace I have no friends. That would be sad, if only I didn't have real life, plus my visible and invisible visitors here. I suppose if I stick to 99, I'll meet codgers and crones. And 23 will gain angsty types...

If you're not interested in such things, just slide down to Slush Pile Baby! C'est moi!

***

And now for something that matters...

The real news of the day is that 10 years ago, at about 2:00 a.m. in the morning, I almost kicked the bucket but did not, and neither did my baby--the jolt of gratefulness when the morphine dreams wore off a few days later has stayed with me for a decade.

Today N is in double digits.

Happy birthday, N!

***

Credit: The photograph is courtesy of Lithuanian Zilvinas Valeika, a.k.a. Poetas, and www.sxc.hu/.

23 comments:

  1. Dear Marly...i will, upon getting up from the keyboard, drink a grateful toast (albeit elderflower cordial given that i'm a teetotaler--never want to be a drunken Z!) to you and Dear N. How GLAD i am that neither of you kicked the bucket 10 years ago!!

    As for your MySpace experiment...i think the whole fictitious idea sounds delicously fun.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I too think the wholly fictitious sounds fabulous. A community of like souls would be hilarious...then you could have some sort of reunion and try to figure out true identities (unless it is thought that such would spoil the fun).

    Buon compleanno. A day for celebration, indeed.

    ReplyDelete
  3. zephyr & Amanda,

    A zephyr with a glass of elderflower wine...

    How poetic of you!

    Yes, I'm awfully glad, too. I thank you for the birthday wishes.

    Perhaps I shall have to delete that one and start a more outrageous one. No time now! Company! Birthdays! Etcetera.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I totally sent you a friend request. Myspace can be so fun, especially allowing you play big brother and spy on people you once knew. It can be really fun and when it myspace is hacked you can freak out like everybody else and wonder if TOm is indeed the anti-christ.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Happy, happy birthday to your N. And goodness, I am glad you didn't kick the bucket. I am 99 in my myspace account and if you do not give me away (and hey, even if you did) I will be your friend. You need someone other than Tom. (I got a myspace simply because I needed one for some other endeavors).

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  6. jarvenpa,

    Yes, come be my friend. I'll have to go back to being 99 so we can be twinish poets.

    Does that mean that only crones come visit, though? Crones and the few surviving ancient gentlemen.

    susanna,

    Is Tom everybody's friend? That's a little scary. What is a friend request? I'll have to go see. Can't imagine what happens when MySpace is hacked.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Very few people actually seem to visit my myspace page (it's under a different name than jarvenpa, so don't be surprised at a friend request from someone whose last name should have been Dalloway). The flurry of visits I received at one point had to do with people involved in a local dispute who were trying to figure out who I was (they managed, too, being more cyber aware than I was). Tom is a slut. (okay, Tom is everyone's helpful friend, and it is a bit spooky).

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  8. Oh--a friend request? That's when someone decides to be your friend. You get the option of saying yes or no. I think you get an email or something from helpful Tom who says "the Duchess of York wishes to be your friend" and you click yes or no, or accept or deny, or something. You'll figure it out.

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  9. Mysteries. I guess that I'll figure it out--though I might just drop it. It has the air of a tent set up in Times Square, all flashy billboards and lights.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ah, to be any age you choose!

    I recently 'saw' my face in the mirror and realised that what I saw bore no relation to how I felt.

    Thankyou for visiting Secret Hill and leaving a comment on my 'Leaf' post.

    I shall come knocking on your blog door again, if I may, as your images and words enchant.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Yes, do! And thank you for the compliment.

    It's almost 10:00 p.m., and I just got home. At 6:00 the party of 13 little boys began. Much laser tag, much gem panning, much golfing, much riding low scooters around a track, many sundaes, many drinks, much cake.

    We have had our swing at the Barnyard Swing near what used to be a beautiful farm and is now the Dreams Park.

    And I am tired. Yawn.

    Tomorrow: third day of parties in a row. Sleepover ends. Grandparents arrive. Turning to double digits seems to be exhausting for parents...

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  12. Lovely to see what you look like Marly, and very good for 99. I also like the idea of a hike in the Himalayas with GMH.
    Don't know how you do it all with partying prepubescents et al.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Herhimbrynn,

    I recently was thinking about that myself. I stll see myself skinny, younger, and with totally brown hair. Then, I look in the mirror and go YIKES, who is this overweight, middle aged, graying woman-because she hasn't dyed-recently. And why does she look like a combination of both my grandmothers?

    Speaking of dyeing or kicking the bucket, Marly, I am so glad you and N. are alive and well. I remember seeing N. at NCCAT and he was a sweet, beautiful, charming boy. You will have to write and tell me about it sometime. By the way I have given you a Flying PIG award for finishing your seventh book, and put a link to your website at Flying Pig Productions.

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  14. It's all so very fragile, isn't it, absolutely everything...
    and that's why certain stuff in our lives IS so wonderfully precious.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oops,

    Forgot to say I really LOVE this picture. And I posted a fledgling poem at the Donnas art blog.

    AND a myspace account? So are you trying to beat me to seven or eight blogs or what? Just kidding.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thank you, lucy. Perhaps GMH would like two companions.

    B. Q., after three days of birthday cake, I may be a flying pig! Yes, the Lithuanian Poetas is poetic. Some people seem compulsive about blogging, don't they? Chris-the-sculptor and Robert-the-sculptor take the cake (the regular one, not the birthday cake) on number of blogs among my visitors.

    jan, you made a line from Philip Freneau pop into my head, the end of Freneau's "The Wild Honeysuckle":

    From morning suns and evening dews

    At first thy little being came;

    If nothing once, you nothing lose,

    For when you die you are the same;

    The space between is but an hour,

    The frail duration of flower.

    I hadn't thought of that poem in many years...

    ReplyDelete
  17. A MySpace page can never be anything but hideous - and I don't just say that because Rupert Murdoch owns the joint. Hideous, hideous designs. Besides, I hear that Facebook is really the better place to do this kind of networking now. It's no longer just for college kids, apparently.

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  18. Self-note: consult DAVE before ever taking action on the web. Knows all, good advice.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Myspace, Facebook sounds like fun anonymous or otherwise or perhaps both! I could talk to myself aged 99 or 23! I better check if I have hairs on the palm of my hand now!

    The lovely girl in the hat has invited me to join Marly, so I'll have to find out from College boy son how to do it!

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  20. Hi Marly - Just taken a look - you've made that space very much your own, I'd say.

    And so glad you both missed that bucket!

    Hope you both had a great day.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Hallooo across the ocean to Robert and Clare--

    Robert, you and Chris are going to be the most plugged-in people on the planet! I expect to see you anywhere and everywhere I go.

    Clare, three great days were had. Party a day. Some little people do not know when to quit (see next post!) I am t-i-r-e-d.

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  22. So glad you made it, Marly!!
    And N, too! What a harrowing thought that you might not have.
    A belated happy birthday to N, who seems such an interesting and bright boy.
    It's HARD to keep up with all of your doings. Can't wait to see what Yaddo wrought, though I know I'll have to.

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  23. Hi Laura--

    I feel the same about you--and the weird thing is the mysterious way we have people in common. I'm so glad to see the wedding paintings: there you go, and one is launched into the great big world of matrimony.

    The novel I wrote there is a realistic novel of interest to irrealists. Odd.

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Alas, I must once again remind large numbers of Chinese salesmen and other worldwide peddlers that if they fall into the Gulf of Spam, they will be eaten by roaming Balrogs. The rest of you, lovers of grace, poetry, and horses (nod to Yeats--you do not have to be fond of horses), feel free to leave fascinating missives and curious arguments.