New Moon, Zero Percent Full

The lunar phase icon in my middle sidebar declared this a few minutes ago. It got my attention.

New moon. Zero Percent Full.

CURRENT MOON

lunar phases

What a concept.

It's a time for new beginnings. Forging ahead.

Remember the couple in "2012", played by John Cusack and Amanda Peet? They have two young children and she has a fiance who gets smoked. Woody Haralson plays a fabulous part as the 'raving maniac' who predicted the whole thing.

Has anyone, besides me, noticed that kind of urgency on the air these days?

~ Olivia J. Herrell

~ For JP, more sky antics

Do You Camus?

"Readers and critics alike are often quick to find some label by means of which they can characterize or summarize an original writer and thereby render him less disturbing." ~ John Cruickshank, on Albert Camus and the literature of Revolt, OUP (1959)

I don't know him well yet, but I've fallen in love with Albert Camus.

On Thursday, my new beau and I discovered a Used and Rare book store just off the square in Carrollton, GA. I'm not sure who was more tickled, me or le beau. We browsed the shelves, read cool posters and had fun with a myriad of unusual finds. Then we came across a basket of buttons, each with a quote and picture of a famous author. Of course I had to read them all.

The quote on the one that snagged me and had me shelling over four bucks to the owner?

"With rebellion, awareness is born." ~ Albert Camus

See? I find that as deep and as hard-hitting as an avalanch. And so flippin' true. Apropos for my blog? Uh-huh. I bought the button, brought it home and for the past couple of days, I've gazed at the picture of this man with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, looking all Bogeyish, and wondered who, other than a philosophical genius, is this writer?

Today I got a chance to google. And Oh. My. God.

You know that quote, "Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend"? Yep. Albert Camus. Or the one, "In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer." Him again.

Author and playwright for Caligula? Albert Camus.

But there is so much more.

I found interpretations of his books on the Albert Camus Society of the UK website and am determined to get my hands on those books. If you click over to the website, notice the quotes in the upper left-hand corner. Those teasers prompted me to google and click over to BrainyQuotes.com where I found a plethora of common sense, kick-ass quotes by none other than Albert Camus. Pages and pages of them!

I encourage you to click over and check them out. Maybe you'll fall in love with this forward thinker from way-back, too.

OH! And by the way, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957. Guess this is my week for being influenced by Nobel Prize winners. In lit. Hmmm. Portent? Or at least a new pretty to contemplate. Imagine this announcement: "The Nobel Prize in Literature 2020 was awarded to Olivia J. Herrell for her important literary production, which with clear-sighted earnestness illuminates the problems of the human conscience in our times".

Yeah. A new pretty to agonize.

Happy Saturday, Olivia J. Herrell

Pen Name = Presumptuous Fraud?

I have a picture of Albert Einstein in my bathroom with his "Imagination is more important than knowledge" quote. Sometimes, we talk. Occasionally, he brings a friend.

A month ago, I was considering my hair in the mirror, thinking of dying it blond, so I could paint it a different color every week: pink, chartreuse, purple, depending on my mood. I flashed to one of my favorite characters, Mavis, from J.D. Robb's "Death" series, who does just this very thing, and it's a trait I find endearing.

Suddenly, from nowhere leapt Ernest Hemingway shouting, "THAT'S IT! THAT'S YOUR PEN NAME: MAVIS HEMINGWAY HERRELL!"

He grabbed my hand and waltzed me around the room, then deposited me, breathless, back in front of the mirror. Standing before me was Mavis Hemingway Herrell, grinning her shit-eating grin. "Hell-o," she drawled, then we giggled as we danced our own happy jig.

When I turned back to Ernest, he was gone. This didn't preclude us from having a conversation in which I told him how presumptious people would think me for daring to take his name. His head appeared from the ceiling, upside down to his full white beard. He looked quite insulted.

"It's mine to give and I'm giving it to You. Where is the presumption in that?" With a cheeky grin and a twinkling eye he disappeared in to the ceiling.

For days I contemplated that pen name. I liked it. But using it seemed tantamount to blasphemy.

I googled it. You know I had to. And found several Mavis Hemingways in Europe. I doubt anyone ever thought badly of those ladies for sporting the Hemingway moniker. But then they're probably not climbing the slippery slopes of authordom, either.

Stale mate.

So I'm asking you guys. What do you think? Do you like the ring of 'Mavis Hemingway Herrell'? Or does it make me sound like a presumptuous fraud?

Why is finding a pen name such an elusive feat, anyway? *sigh*

~ Olivia J. Herrell

Click to read the speech in which Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1954. It's a great read if you're curious. Even better is the two minute recorded excerpt from Hemingway's acceptance speech.

Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows

A new wind is blowing through my world.
I called, and it came.
The soft, teasing sort,
That tickles your hair
On a warm summer day.
Light, airy, safe,
Ever there.
Unbidden, my lips turn up at the corners,
Curious as to what happens next.
The wind swirls, steady and sweet
Then gently sighs, at rest.

~ Olivia J. Herrell

A new wind indeed.

I met a guy. And not just any guy. A special kind of guy.

He found me. On match.com. From only fifteen miles away. Our paths, though different, have crisscrossed many times. Now we meet, at the middle of our road, for the first time.

Of course, it's early. We just met. And had one date.

But Mav said it best, mischevious grin and all, "I don't know, but uh, it's looking good so far."



P.S. I officially have DSL at home as of today and am so very grateful. I feel connected again. Thank you all for that. Oh yeah! I promised you a happy post. Did I deliver?

Goodbye My Friend, Carry On

"Baby if you can hear me
Turn down your radio
There's just one thing
I want you to know
When you've been near me
I've felt the love stirring in my soul..."

This song has been playing in my head for two weeks.
Courtesy of Jackson Browne.
It is time. To move on.
New song.

Yeah.

But daaaang.

"Baby if you need me
Like I know I need you
There's just one thing
I'll ask you to do
Take my hand and lead me
To the hole in your garden wall
And pull me through."

Yeah.

But you know what folks? That ain't happening. Not now. Not never.
That door. Has closed.
And the sound.
Resounds.
Down the halls of the past.
In to the future.

Goodbye my friend.
Carry on.

I will still rejoice in your successes.
But I will no longer wait.

Not for you.

Not anymore.

Goodbye my friend.
Carry on.

~ Olivia J. Herrell

To family, friends and faithful readers, I am finally letting go of my Bobby McGee. And moving on. I have a profile on match.com and am meeting my first 'match' this Saturday. Don't cry for me. I am happy. I've found home. And whether there is a man in my life or not, I know that I am loved.

Raise your glass for a toast to what happens next: *clink*
And I promise. I'll be back with a happy post soon.