I'm in a Descriptive Mood....

Originally written 8/11/08.

I have fifty two years of experience, memories, and life on which to draw interesting entertaining anecdotes, and I'm sitting here staring into space (actually, staring at the desk top, real not virtual) trying to figure out what to write about. And now I've gone and ended a sentence with a preposition. I could delete "about" but I'm past that. Oh, hell....

Life should be like making movies. If you don't like a scene you get another take....or two. Do-overs till you get it right. But then we'd need writers and a director and gaffs and best boys. Traveling with an entourage could get pesky. I do like the idea of a soundtrack. Life should be accompanied by music. Please note my suggestion.

I'm entering an essay contest. Oh, yes, indeedy. It's not as easy as it sounds. It's much more difficult to write to a specific concept than to just ramble grammatically. I have to submit something soon. Time is running out...and so is my patience. It's an essay for god's sake not the Sonnets of Shakespeare. I'm feeling confident, although I know first prize will go to a cancer survivor. And how can you argue with that?

The contest, however it resolves, will be a test of my writing resolve. I'll look for more contests and continue to write with a specific objective. It will be good practice.

I'm reading. I'm reading and I'm thinking about how the words are going down on the paper. Some writers are so descriptive. Maybe all writers are so descriptive. I have to start describing things. Ok, here goes.....

The Desk:

The desk is not my favorite piece of furniture. It never has been. I didn't really like it the day Tall One brought it home. It's nondescript wood veneer with ugly, badly carved drawer pulls. I suppose it's intended to look old, substantial and classic. But, it can't pull it off. It's like a homely child decked out in faux pearls and plastic heels. You smile indulgently, but nobody's fooled into thinking this is Jackie Onassis. The contrast with older/newer/better things in the room doesn't help. The computer compartment on the right, hosts a hinged door that's decorated to mimic the drawers on the left. Bad idea. Above the door, that we keep open all the time for ventilation, is a pull out desk top extension that we've never used. On the left are two drawers, a file cabinet and a desk top extension that we do use, mostly to keep the grandsons out of the valuables when we're foolish enough to try and work while they're awake. The desk top holds, in addition to the 17" flat screen monitor (I had to locate a ruler for the dimensions) and speakers, placed smack dab in the middle, is a picture, to the left, of Tall One and I dancing and smiling at our son's wedding. Behind the picture is the lamp, one of a set of three, that we purchased in a Palm Springs boutique. The shade consists of three panels of translucent vellum that glow a coppery orange when lit. There's a special name for it that I just can't remember. In the far right corner sits a chest of little drawers, picked up in an antique market, that holds things like stamps, check books, paper clips and stapler. It's solidly built of real wood and the back is made of a thin sheet of metal, as are the the insides of the drawers. An old wooden pencil box with a sliding metal lid sits immediately in front of the monitor. And, a tile coaster, rarely used, lays beside. There are two flat, impossible to read calculators in front of the many drawered chest (not sure why we need two on display, I think I'll put one away), and invoices, checks and various miscellaneous papers and notes scattered about. A few pens and sticky-note pads add to the function and chaos.

Ok, now I have to take a break and straighten up.