All GoodThings Must Come to an End

All Good Things Must Come to an End

By

Imari Jade

I wrote four whole pages yesterday while I was at lunch. Not bad for thirty minutes. But when I got home I put a big X through all the pages because what I wrote didn’t make sense, even to me. So I knew it wouldn’t make sense to my readers. It was a pivotal love scene and it didn’t slide into transition easy enough and it just got pretty stupid.

It was in the heroine’s Point of View, so I tried to rewrite it in the hero’s POV and it still didn’t read right. So I just tossed the tablet aside and went on to something else (Watching pretty Asian boy bands on Twitter). Like fine wine and cheese some things just have to age to get better.

Woke up this morning and was watching the early morning news before leaving for work. I heard a “pop” and a “sizzle” and looked to my left only to discover that my television had died. I unplugged everything to make sure no fire would start and then I went to work. The first thing I thought about as I walked to the bus stop was, how am I going to get to sleep tonight without a television?The last time this happened was about fourteen years ago and I had to plug in a sound machine so I could have noise to lull me to sleep. Tonight it will probably be my MP3 player. But let’s back this story about the television up and start from the beginning.

On December 17, 2010 I ordered a television from Florida and paid for three day shipping. By December 21, the television hadn’t arrived so I checked the tracking and it was in Texas. I checked the UPS site and it had the same thing. On December 26, 2010 I called the company where I ordered the television from and was told that the last thing they had on it was that it was in Texas on December 21, 2010 and nothing else. I was told that either it had been stolen or lost in transit. Okay I was pretty cool about it. I asked her were they going to get any more in stock. She told me, yes. So I told her to just ship me out another one when the shipment came in because I didn’t want a refund and I wanted the television at the same price. She told me, okay. Note: I ordered it from Florida and the last place it went was to Texas. I live in Louisiana and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that UPS never stopped in Louisiana with it.

I couple of days later I got an email that they had done an investigation and that I would hear from them soon. I did hear from then. They returned my money. I checked the site and the television was back in stock but now it cost $300.00 more and the shipping was more expensive. Apparently they thought I wanted that television bad enough to pay that price for it. They were so wrong. What happened to good old customer service? I think it has come to an end. They did give me a $25 gift certificate which I plan to use before the 90 days expires.

My grandson spent a night with us on Monday night so he came into my room and I turned the Cartoon Network on for him to watch Family Guy before he went to bed. He asked me, “Maw Maw, what is wrong with your television?” The people were all red and splotchy. I told him, “Maw Maw needs a new television.” He politely told me that he was going back in the den to watch television with his father. “You’re not hurting my feelings, little boy,” I told him. “I got to get up at five in the morning, anyway.” Apparently television is more important to him that I am.

So now I’m back to square one…an unfinished story and no television. Of course I can cry like a big baby and ask why everything happens to me. But I was never one to sit around and wallow in sorrow. My objective is to rethink the scene of the story. I think I’m having problems with it because my mind is trying to come up with a creative way to describe the sex scene and make it interesting. I thought about just ignoring this scene all together. The story is about voyeurism and I just had a scene where the couple was watching another couple get busy and this turned them on so naturally they had to get busy. How do you follow one great sex scene up with another one? Is it possible?

I was outside talking it over with an editor friend of mine and he was laughing at my crazy behind as usual. I’m telling him I have the characters in the bedroom and it’s so boring. He told me that making these characters have sex in the bedroom is so normal, and he knows I don’t do normal. So now I have to find some far out place to have them make love and to do this I have to back them out of the bedroom and get them to this other place. Now that I don’t have a television I probably have time to concentrate on it and get it right. I’m going back to the tablet. Chat with you later.

Imari Jade

Procrastination

Procrastination

By

Imari Jade

I’m actually at home alone for the first time in…never. I have lived for this day, and in my head I have planned all types of things to get done, but we all know that is not going to happen. First of all, I came home and cooked dinner, took a shower and got on Twitter and Facebook and did my thing. That didn’t take very long, so I went over to Yahoo to check out my email.

Before I got into it good I decided to clean out my purse. That lasted about ten minutes. I think I have a doctor’s appointment coming up so I need to find my appointment card. Well, that was the plan but I ran into things like outdated Lottery tickets (could be winners but I won’t know until I check out the Lottery website.) I found prescriptions (some of them probably need filling), I also found thousands and thousands of receipts dating back 2008. Don’t ask me why. I probably didn’t want to throw them away because I thought I might need to return something. What I actually planned to do was put in my 2011 pocket calendar. Most of the time having one keeps me up to date with what I’m supposed to do. The last one in my purse is dated 2009. What happened to 2010? Makes me think that I was pretty unorganized last year. (Yes, I was). I am suffering with CRF (Can’t Remember S_ _T_). It comes with aging. It also comes with job-juggling, multi-tasking, having children and taking care of elderly parents.

From previous posts I’ve mentioned that I used to be a very organized person, so my goal for 2011 was to get back that way. So far I’m four days into the New Year and I haven’t really accomplished this task. The file cabinet in my office is still overflowing with things I need to get rid of, my desk is over-run with tablets, books and advertisements, I can’t see the type of my dresser because the mail is piling up, and there is one corner of my room dedicated to Christmas wrap (from 2009 and 2010). I can’t even get into the closet that I cleaned two weeks ago. I used to blame it on not having the time to do it, now I think I’m just procrastinating.

So believe it or not, right now I’m typing this blog, cutting coupons and listening to the People’s Choice Awards because I really don’t want to watch it but I need the noise. Sounds like I’m really getting something accomplish, but I can’t find my scissors, so I’m trying to carefully tear along the lines of the coupons so I don’t tear codes.

This isn’t the topic I wanted to blog about but it’s better than not blogging at all, and lastly I would really would like to be watching something else, because I really don’t know any of the movies or shows or songs that are nominated on the People’s Choice Awards because the only thing I watched in 2010 was Asian dramas and Japanese anime. Either: (a) I’m turning into a real boring person, (b) I did a lot of writing in 2010 or (c) Asian dramas and Japanese anime are better than anything on American television right now. If you answered A, B, and C you are correct.

So what am I really supposed to be doing right now? Research for a book I have about a week to finish. I’m 30,000 words into it, but for some reason this morning I came up with a better idea. I don’t have an ending for the story yet but I know what I want to happen. What’s stopping me? I need to get these coupons cut before I go to the grocery on Friday.

What else am I supposed to be doing? Looking for ways to promote my new book that is being released on Sunday. What’s stopping me from doing it? I need a buy link for the book that I won’t get into Sunday.

Ooh, Elton John’s on the People Choice Award. Hell, I’ll stop what I’m doing to watch him. He’s doing favorite country artists. The nominees are: Taylor Swift, Lady Antebellum, Keith Urban, and Carrie Underwood. And the winner is: Taylor Swift. Well maybe I’m not such a boring person since I knew who all the nominees are. Next up is Selena Gomez. (Cute kid). Where’s JYJ?

I’ve started watching a comedy drama named “The Secret Garden.” Do not confuse it with the movie from the late 1990’s or early 2000’s. It’s a Korean drama which is really very good. I’m also watching a drama called Flames of Desire, which is also very good. Of course I’m going to do a review once they both are over. I still have several more episodes to watch but if I stop to do it right now I’m going to feel really bad for wasting time.

A lot of fans have asked me about my obsession for watching Asian drama shows. Well, someone made a very stupid decision and took off Buffy the Vampire Slayer so I had to find something else to watch. I am tired of watching reality shows, dance shows, and CSI, which believe or not I’ve never seen. I used to watch a lot of drama on American television but I got tired of it. Life is depressing enough. I have a lot of DVDs that I need to watch. I just got “Eclipse.” Normally I would have had it in the DVD player as soon as I got it out of the mail. But I still need to watch Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon, Vampire Knight 3, Romeo and Juliette, and numerous other anime DVD I’ve purchased.

One of the reasons that I haven’t viewed these yet is because my television is having issues. I decided to treat myself to a new television for Christmas. I found the one I wanted, ordered it and paid for three day shipping. This occurred on December 17, 2010, so I expected the television to arrive at least by December 24, 2010. Somewhere around December 21, 2010 it got stuck in Texas and that’s where the tracking ended. I called the company the Monday after Christmas, and they were as dumbfounded as I was. The representative told me either it got lost in transit, or the delivery driver gave it to someone else. First of all, it was being delivered from Tennessee. Why did it do everything but arrive in Louisiana. I might not be able to drive but I do know that you have to pass through Louisiana before you get to Texas. Hell If I knew they were going to lose it I could have met them at the border and they could have given to me.

The next thing she told me was that now the television was out of stock and she would issue me a refund. “Are you planning on getting any more in?” I asked her. “Yes.” “Well, I don’t want a refund; just send me the television when you get in your next shipment.” “Oh, you are so very nice. I’m going to give you a $25.00 gift card.” I’m from Louisiana so I like getting Lagniappe. A couple of days later I see where they put in the claim, the claim got accepted and the next thing I know I get a letter saying they are refunding my money. “Why?” The television is back in stock at a higher price. You see they are not going to lose any money, so they’re refunding mine thinking I want that television set bad enough to buy it at the higher price. Not going to happen. As long as I can access YouTube I can care less if the people on my current television are all red and squiggly. I’ll just wait it out until the Income Tax Sales specials come out and keep my money in my account and let it collect interest. Oh, yes, I will be using the gift card tomorrow.

So am I finished procrastinating? Yes, I’ve finished cutting coupons, and tomorrow I might even file them in the coupon caddy? Why am I not doing it right now? Because this morning I wrote my heroine into a corner and I just thought of a way to get her out. See, sometimes you have to stop doing what you’re supposed to do and do something different to get the brain functioning.

Chat with you later,

Imari Jade