Relative Something

*this* John W. Hays' take on things and experiences

Posts Tagged ‘list

Sunday List

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Yesterday, we enjoyed a classic Sunday at the lake… forgive me for choosing to simply list the ways:

  • wife on the deck powering her way through to the end of a book
  • an inspiring song popping up on the random shuffle of my entire music library
  • the success of a reply to a broadcast message seeking volunteers to occasionally feed horses
  • hummingbirds returning to the freshly filled feeders
  • the ping of an alert informing us of a flood watch issued for overnight at home
  • acorns randomly bouncing on the deck from the branches of the oak tree overhead
  • dew point in the 50sF and air temperature in the low to mid 70s
  • a single loud and clear loon call in the middle of the afternoon
  • meditative progress on sanding out tool marks from a sculpted wood shape

  • using up all the food we brought from home without needing to shop or eat out
  • allowing ourselves an exception to buy fresh corn cobs from a street vendor on the way up
  • mentally winding down a weekend at the lake
  • not leaving until Monday morning to avoid Sunday’s usual travelers returning to their homes
  • sheets and towels washed in advance to facilitate an early morning departure

We head home this morning, where we will learn how wet it got after the series of deluges that rolled over the region while we were up north. Only one of those downpours made it to Hayward. The rest of the time, we enjoyed pleasant mid-August at-the-lake weather.

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Written by johnwhays

August 18, 2025 at 6:00 am

List

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it was like a list
just lying there
bunch of words
one on top of the other
detailed
manicured
all orderly and stacked
tight
concise
basically like simple advice
it read with authority
commanded attention
unemotional
except for the sense
of nostalgia
it evoked
a simpler time
indeed
cigarettes
fish hooks
trundle bed
nothing that really mattered
answers for a game show
charade topics maybe
license plate
wastebasket
or bin
depending where from
the subject had sprung
what reason
spurred the creation
how the words landed
on that space
in that order
just in case
was far from obvious
dead battery
bags
trowel
random to a point
of seeming entirely pointless
but intrinsically powerful
nonetheless

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Written by johnwhays

August 26, 2021 at 6:00 am

By Some Numbers

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Random statistical snapshot of the day…

Percent of holiday shopping achieved online so far this year: 100
Percent of orders placed for people other than myself: not entirely 100
Number of times I was able to think about only one thing at a time at work yesterday: 0
Number of winter storm forecasts watched on television in the last 2 days: 0
Number of thoughts that just occurred to me that do not fit well with the idea of this list: 1, this one… I have noticed that a certain program on the CBS television network that airs on Sunday mornings has been doing a little feature about numbers that isn’t all that different from what I was compiling a second ago, before I had this thought that interrupted the whole list with a thought… anyway, somewhere in this list they do, they have been sure to feature the #1 television show of the week, a CBS show! Imagine that! The cynic in me found it hard not to believe that the whole reason they chose to do a list was so they could flaunt their good fortune of having the #1 show. That wasn’t proved entirely wrong by the fact that, this weekend their show was no longer the #1 and they actually gave credit to a competing network program, quickly followed by mention of the CBS hit show now in 2nd place. It’s like a news program carrying a story about something that happens on a reality show on their network. Is that news? Or is that advertising?
Number of nights my liver was allowed all the healing time it deserved in the past week: 0
Time in the afternoon when my eyes most want to close for a nap: 2:00
Number of emails warning me of irregular credit card activity yesterday: 1
Number of transactions that weren’t something I had done: 0
Number of minutes between emails confirming my order placed and that very item had now been shipped: 26
Volume and size of orders hitting my workplace lately: so many I can’t keep count
Number of former employees who called out of the blue to see if we might have any work he could do: 1
Number of times good things seem to happen when you invite and allow such: more than I can count

Written by johnwhays

December 8, 2009 at 7:00 am

Posted in Chronicle, Creative Writing

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