Maggie’s Pick 7.6.2015: Magical Monday: “Meet Virginia” by Train

Hi kids. So for the remaining weeks of this month, I’m gonna try a themed day thing. I think I’ve done this before. Well I’ve done alliterations with song titles and days of the week before.

So today is Magical Monday, as will be all Mondays this month. Next month I have a theme in mind if Labor Day shakes out. I’ll be announcing day themes as they occur this week because there are still a few I’m not sure of.

“You see her confidence is tragic, but her
Intuition magic”

This song is a lesson in first impressions, and how they shouldn’t govern everything despite how important people always say they are. I used to never listen to this song because I don’t like the beginning, but they one day I was lazy and let it play on, and it turns out I love the chorus. It’s like a completely different song.

It’s kind of like how when I first met my boyfriend, I didn’t like him because he was sitting by someone I wanted to sit by. Now he’s my best friend and I get annoyed when other people sit by him.

Also I adopted a cat:

Her name is Peaches and she’s prettier than your cat.

NaPoWriMo #14: “Fragment” by Maggie McGinity

“Fragment
By Maggie McGinity

Forever, or a
Reasonably long
Amount of time
Cannot stretch between
Tomorrow and tonight.
In so many short hours
On a coal-colored evening
Nothing can stay
All waits for the sun
Languishes for the day

However
Under certain circumstances
My preference would be
A longer night
Now withheld from me

Bright stars in a black sky
Eyes searching for light
If only there was time enough to gaze.
Now, not even time to graze
Going, going, gone the glory days.”

Quote:

“Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.”
-Emily Dickinson

NaPoWriMo #13: “The Trouble With Dinner” by Maggie McGinity

Any room with a sink in it is a great room for writing, and tonight, that room was a kitchen.

“The Trouble With Dinner
By Maggie McGinity

The trouble with dinner
I feel like a sinner
Post-food, I waste my night away
Feeling ungrateful
And ever so hateful
Towards to-do lists that await

And still I sit
Ignoring it
Staring over my empty plate”

Quote:

“There’s never enough time to do all the nothing you want.”
-Bill Watterson

NaPoWriMo #12: “There My Waiting Never Dies” by Maggie McGinity

Poetry for the frustration of everyday living for people whose weekends don’t actually exist, but are filled up with things that demand all of their time and attention, even when they have other very important things to do.

“There My Waiting Never Dies
By Maggie McGinity

Decline, rapid and steep
Oh day, this day, do not keep

Now I should be happy
Only smiling, cheering, laughing
This buzz could be better than caffeine

Woe, oh woe,
As time for productivity
Sits stale within captivity
Time disappears into a panic
Electronic tasks await to trick

Moments, recalled to be cherished and treasured,
Young, they wither, in minutes mis-measured

Take me back
Into words articulate
Make over this day
Everything else, fade away.”

Quote:

“Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Take me home, yeah yeah
Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Oh won’t you please take me home

So far away
So far away
So far away
So far away”
-“Paradise City” by Guns ‘N Roses

NaPoWriMo #10: “Into the Stitches” by Maggie McGinity

Ever and always the hope for knitting, never and always the time for knitting.

“Into the Stitches
By Maggie McGinity

Into the songs
Go all the wrongs
I feel people have done me
And all the flaws
Faults and faux-pas
That seem to be born of me

Into the poems
Go the tomes
I think will never come true
Into the verse
Go the words rehearsed
I could never say to you

Into the choices
Go all of the voices
I don’t want to listen to
Into the shows
The whims and woes
The real me could never do

Though all of my talking
Can get a bit mocking
With a hint of witches brew
Into the stitches,
Those purl-and-knitwiches
Goes love, love for you.”

Quote:

“If there’s anything that you want
If there’s anything I can do
Just call on me and I’ll send it along
With love, from me to you”
-“From Me to You” by The Beatles

NaPoWriMo #9: “Only One Dimple” by Maggie McGinity

Found out so much today, but I still have so much to learn. Too much remaining ignorance, not enough time, how do they expect me to make up my mind?

Dual audiences for the poem.

“Only One Dimple
By Maggie McGinity

I want to know
If I’ll get to go
Where I want to go

Where I want to go
Is into your arms
And out of harm

Life isn’t simple
With only one dimple
And limited charms to strangers
The dangers
Are few and far between
But they amount to everything

I am scared of building a new life
Much left behind in stress and strife
I want to be left alone
To make my way and make a home

I am wasteful
And greedy
And needy
And I will not get in line
The potential, the guilt
I feel to the hilt
Of how I spend my mind

I want to know
If I’ll get to go
Where I want to go

But likely the answer is no
And that’s fine
I can go elsewhere for mine

I just want to know
Cards on the table
Willing and able
I need to see them in a row

And I can’t let it go
Until you let me know”

Quote because I don’t want to look another one up:

“Take my hand, baby, I’ll lead the way
Don’t be afraid
We’ll walk through the valleys and through the fields
With our love as a shield
Yeah we will be all right
At least, at least in our minds”
-“The Storm” by Elenowen

NaPoWriMo #3: “High-Hoped Hypotheses” by Maggie McGinity

Originally had to post this on mobile, and it messed up the formatting and cut out some content :/. Twinning Pick for this poem here. On a real computer now and fixing everything.

“High-Hoped Hypotheses

By Maggie McGinity 

I wish I could tell her she was right
About her high-hoped hypotheses
For now, at length, it’s come to light
That they were more like prophecies

I wish I could remember
She never held on tight
How could she know she’d get to surrender
To every feeling she’d fight?

I wish I could show her that her future wasn’t faceless,
Shapeless and unknown.
Though she’d never openly embrace this
She’d cling to what she was shown

To tell her that her voice
Could change this story’s tone,
That someone else’s choice
Would challenge her to make her own

A different choice, one born of hope
She’d already learn how to cope
And who cared if the feelings fled another way?
She knew that hers would stay

Without assumptions, without expectations,
She knew this would be no vacation.
The friendship changed, somehow more fun.
But that summer girl’s not the worrying one

I wish I could see that last April girl
And tell her not to run away
That her heart wasn’t somewhere out there in the world
But right where she should stay

I wish I could keep her safer
Not from pain, but the rain of its thoughts.
Though she had plenty of faith, her
Reliance she forgot

But I’m glad she was smart, and I’m glad she was scared,
And I’m glad we are here, and I’m glad we were there,
With naked eyes, and unbrushed hair,
That September girl, completely unprepared

The reason for the rhymes.
She didn’t know what to do,
But quietly, all resistance
Slipped off like laceless shoes.
Now all is mine in this dance,
And rarely I am blue,
But somehow, all that time,
She knew.”

Quote:

“I don’t wanna steal you away
Or make you change the things that you believe
I just wanna drink from the words you say
And be everything you need
Yeah, I could be so good at loving you
But only if you told me to”
-“If You Told Me To” by Hunter Hayes

The House Showings and the Forced Clean Room

This is the Twinning post for my most recent Pick.

Some of you may remember when I began taking steps to stop and reverse my becoming a hoarder. This is also when I changed the title of my blog to its current title, Maggie Lives.

I wanted to give you a status update on how I’m doing organization-wise, living space and stuff-wise. Last week my property managers let us know that the house we’re renting would be shown to some prospective next-year tenants. They gave us a bit more than 24 hours notice, but I had work/class all day and then went home to confront my messy room. It took about 4 hours, done around a viewing of a terrible movie.

It’s amazing what the idea of strangers viewing your living space can do for getting it clean. This is what my room looks like now:

Bed made and clear of clothing/stuff.

3-drawer storage containers closed and easily accessible.

Look at that large portion of clear space on top of that dresser.

This is mostly yarn and knitting supplies. I know it doesn’t look all that organized, but I know what is in there and where everything I need is located.

Closet with laundry basket tucked neatly inside.

Look at all that clear desk space. So much room for books and notes.

My shoe collection is one of the most easily organized groups I own.

Of course, the drawers, shelves and binders are largely unorganized inside, and there are a few boxes hiding some clothing I didn’t have time to sort. But it looks great, and it’s a good foundation for me to take on some smaller organizational projects, then return it to this functional layout and state of general cleanliness.

I just wanted to let you all know that I’m improving 🙂

Quotes:

“Clutter is not just the stuff on the floor – it’s anything that stands between you and the life you want to be living.” – Peter Walsh

“Clutter is nothing more than postponed decisions.” – Barbara Hemphill

New poem: “Arbitrary” by Maggie McGinity

New poem, because I keep saying I’m going to post this and I’m a woman of my word.

“Arbitrary
By Maggie McGinity

Arbitrary.
Ask me what I like
And I’ll tell you a vision from a television show,
Not anything I actually know.

Arbitrary.

Ask me what I want

What I hound and hunt

And I will give you a list of attributes

Without attribution

A list to long for, look and loot

Without real solutions

Arbitrary.

Though the fact of the matter is

I know myself better than you,

I don’t always know what to do

Nor can I always see

What will be

Though sometimes visionary

My visions vary

And the trouble with what I imagined

Is it’s imaginary

It cannot carry

The weight of the secrets on my shoulders

The blacklist of the bold and bolder

Arbitrary.

Is the matter in the moment or the place?

In the finish line of your life’s race?

Or is the matter in the matter that you’ve found?

Far from arbitrarily crowned

Arbitrary

Is too scary

To let control my fate

Specifics I desire as of late

The matter is

That everything matters

More than it could

Now more than it should

I’m trying to be good.

Arbitrary

It’s so scary

I don’t know when we’ll see

But arbitrary

I will never be.”

Quote:

Basically this whole song, almost:

New Poem: “Guessing Game” by Maggie McGinity

I’m an introvert, which means that I sometimes need mounds and mounds of alone time to feel like I’m at the proper energy levels and just think. However, I live in an extravert’s world. I think this might explain why everything seems brightest in the morning and slowly seems to become more stressful over the course of my people-packed days. When I wake up, I’ve just completed 6-8 hours of alone time.

I also write poems to figure stuff out. Another thing I learned about myself today. I didn’t know what was bothering me, so I wrote a poem about it, and I figured it out. This is that poem. Enjoy!

“Guessing Game
By Maggie McGinity

Look at myself and don’t like what I see
Over and over, I tell these sad stories
Only doesn’t ever mean only
Selfish, and sometimes I’m so mean to me
Everyone else matters, simply.

Look in myself, don’t know what’s underneath
I can’t trust my lips, and I can’t trust my teeth
Pursuant to thoughts I safeguard and keep
Some things must wait, and some things must sleep

Sometimes I wonder what I should make out
In breathing these dreams and daring these doubts.
Never was a long time, but now I’m without,
Keen to stifle these screams and shouts.

Say what’s in your
Heart, but mine is
Incensed and a
Part of something I can’t name.
Save yourself (or I’ll save you) from this guessing game.”

Quotes:

“And I speak to you like the chorus to the verse
Chop another line like a coda with a curse
Come on like a freak show takes the stage
We give them the games we play, she said…

I want something else, to get me through this
Semi-charmed kinda life, baby, baby
I want something else, I’m not listening when you say good-bye

I believe in the sand beneath my toes
The beach gives a feeling, an earthy feeling
I believe in the faith that grows
And the four right chords can make me cry
When I’m with you I feel like I could die
And that would be alright, alright”
-“Semi-Charmed Life” by Third Eye Blind

“Run away with my heart
Run away with my hope”
-“Wherever You Will Go” by The Calling