{"id":14806,"date":"2014-10-18T17:21:47","date_gmt":"2014-10-19T00:21:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=14806"},"modified":"2014-10-18T17:26:52","modified_gmt":"2014-10-19T00:26:52","slug":"post-its-help-writer-vent-amuse-and-flaunt-ignorance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/post-its-help-writer-vent-amuse-and-flaunt-ignorance\/","title":{"rendered":"Post-its help writer vent, amuse and flaunt ignorance"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Post-its ring Woody Weingarten\u2019s iMac.<\/p><\/div>\n

I\u2019m an itsy-bitsy old-fashioned: I\u2019d rather use a Post-it than an iPhone.<\/p>\n

So I ring my iMac with instant reminders, to-do lists and quick- or slow-witted brainstorms \u2014 as I\u2019ve been doing forever (no, none of them date back 20 years).<\/p>\n

The yellow stickies also sit on my desk in three piles (do-it-now, do-it-asap, and fergettaboudit!).<\/p>\n

And I usually have a pad in my pants pocket, in case.<\/p>\n

Though the mini-notes don\u2019t define my universe or my San Anselmo homestead, they do let me prioritize them.<\/p>\n

They also frequently offer pleasure or amusement.<\/p>\n

Such as a verbal bon-bon from Nancy Fox, my wife, I reproduced: \u201cI\u2019m counting my blessings \u2014 and you\u2019re a lot of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

From a source I can\u2019t remember: \u201cHyperventilation is proof we\u2019re still breathing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sometimes the notes are edgy:<\/p>\n

\u201cOverheard geezer telling companion in San Anselmo Library, \u2018My wife accuses me of being a pochemuchka, which is a Russian word for someone who asks too many questions.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFriend bemoans steady San Francisco Opera diet of Italian offerings: \u2018It\u2019s pasta, pasta, pasta all the time,\u2019 he complains.\u201d<\/p>\n

In contrast, some Post-its merely give me a chance to vent:<\/p>\n

\u201cRecent 5-4 right-wing rulings o f the U.S. Supreme Court don\u2019t pass my personal stink test.\u201d<\/p>\n

“With tech support being what it is \u2014 outsourced and understaffed \u2014 I spend way too much time on hold with the Philippines or India.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sometimes I question the so-called evolution of our society: \u201cWhen did \u2018a learning experience\u2019 get replaced with \u2018a teaching moment\u2019? And why?\u201d<\/p>\n

Or ponder what just happened: \u201cWas standing in our backyard when gray squirrel mistook me for a tree and ran up my pants leg, then my arm. I brushed it off, then shook as, watching it scamper up a real trunk, I realized it might be rabid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because I\u2019m so fond of word play, I\u2019ve enjoyed glancing at this one: \u201cOverheard, from moped-walking young woman on the Parkade in Fairfax \u2014 \u2018He makes so many mistakes his life is a reign of error.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Perfect for a musician? \u201cNobody knows the treble I\u2019ve seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perfect for a difficult non-musician? \u201cHe\u2019s not hard of hearing, he\u2019s hard of listening.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than a handful of stickies are personal.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause I often write about my songwriter-wife, she\u2019s threatened that she may start creating songs about my<\/em> foibles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or, in a moment of 117 percent syrupiness, \u201cNancy\u2019s so charming and persuasive she could make The Devil don a halo.\u201d<\/p>\n

But then comes the moment I flaunt my ignorance:<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t even know vaulting existed as a sport until Hannah, my seven-year-old granddaughter who apparently can grow taller while I\u2019m standing there talking to her, climbed onto a horse\u2019s back and blew me away by doing the gymnastic exercises.\u201d<\/p>\n

After scrutinizing a gossip website a few weeks ago, I jotted down, \u201cJust found tidbits about Mya, Ciara and Kesha, three one-name singers I\u2019ve never heard \u2014 or heard of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some Post-its are whimsical:<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you really feel about kohlrabi?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHannah the other day stupefied her mother by saying, \u2018Mommy, I\u2019m stupefied.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

And some are wholly unencumbered phrases or words I might someday use in a column (not unlike this one):<\/p>\n

\u201cA mental gulag.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCritter-sitter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy inner cubmaster.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPuleeeze.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDonna Quixote.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then there are scads of items I don\u2019t know quite know what to do with:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019I-spy\u2019 moment causes me to question what I saw \u2014 red-haired guy jogging barefoot, and bare everything else, on Fourth Street sidewalk toward downtown San Rafael.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRandom notion: How\u2019d I feel if I told an actor to \u2018break a leg\u2019 and he\/she did?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWar \u2014 does it have three letters or is it a four-letter word?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKick-the-bucket-list: Things to postpone until after <\/em>I\u2019m dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, if forced at gunpoint to choose, the stickie I relate to best is a summation:<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m an addict. Dependencies, in order of import, include my wife and kids and grandkids, my iMac (incongruously combined with being a Luddite), Diet Pepsi Wild Cherry, High-Tech burritos, films, jazz, taking digital photos and inserting prints into old-fashioned albums, and binge-watching \u2018Law & Order\u2019 re-reruns.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oh, I forgot: And Post-its.<\/p>\n

Contact Woody Weingarten at voodee@sbcglobal.net<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m an itsy-bitsy old-fashioned: I\u2019d rather use a Post-it than an iPhone. So I ring my iMac with instant reminders, to-do lists and quick- or slow-witted brainstorms \u2014 as I\u2019ve…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-14806","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-woody-weingarten"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"