Bubble Lamps and Laptops

Years ago, when people would ask, "So, what are you?" I would answer, "I'm a mortician."  Or, "I'm a med tech."  Or, "I pick melons."  That last one is true.  I really did pick melons, and other than this, it was one of my all-time favorite vocations.  I just didn't realize it at the time.

These days when people ask what I do, I answer, "I'm a writer."  And then I start listing all those other things I do along with it to actually make money.

Last month, though I was productive, it wasn't in writing.  And now I've been reminded how hard it is to pull out of a tail-spin with writing and get the wheels in my head turning again to produce content.  For those who encouraged, poked, prodded and threatened .... I sincerely thank you or I might be sitting here with a blank page again tonight.

In an effort to stimulate my brain, and make my limited work space as effectually inspiring as possible, I've done some considerable revamping lately.  Part of the revamping that I added within the last few months has been a bubble lamp.

It's a very cool lamp.  Makes just the right sort of noise, and changes colors while the bubbles churn in a vertical tube.

In the photo, you can see the bubble lamp.



My work space.

The bubble lamp sits right next to my laptop, and behind it is a USMC towel I've hung up to hide an area that's to have shelving put in when McGuyver (Jonathan Hall) can find the time to add them.

It will take some time because Jonathan is the busiest guy I know, but it's worth the wait because he's meticulous and does excellent work.

That being said, behind the towel is an opening to a hallway.  And though the bubble lamp is usually sitting in a fairly secure spot on my desk, today I'd slid it over while working on a project for my sister's website and online gallery.

The bubbles flowed fine while I worked away through the hours (I really did spend hours working on her project, at least eight hours today, and I'm nowhere near finished), and as I was loosing daylight this evening, and realizing it would soon be time to work-out, shower and head to another job, somehow the bubble lamp ended up vibrating to the very edge of the desk ... and beyond.

It fell backwards (thankfully) past the towel, and through the opening behind it, to land on the hallway floor.  I was THRILLED that it didn't fall sideways onto my laptop, but was sure the thing had shattered and flooded water all over the wooden floor in the hall.

Amazingly, it didn't shatter, or even crack.  And, only a small bit of water spilled through the hole in the top cover.  It's also electric and didn't make a puddle on the disconnected power cord that had detatched itself from the lamp, but was still plugged into the power source on the surge protector.

Electricity and I generally are at odds with one another.  I once plugged in a hair dryer in a hotel room in Holland.  No sooner had I plugged it in than blue fire erupted from the outlet, followed by a loud bang, and suddenly the entire floor I was staying on was in the dark and without electricity.

I was surprised that the hotel maintenance guy was so nice about it.  Maybe the fact that I was wide-eyed and shaking had something to do with his kind response to the problem.

After tonight's lamp incident I decided to call it a day with the web-building and get in my shortened version of a workout before I run off to the other job tonight.

There are new articles coming up soon on the Hub, and new posts coming up on the blog as soon.  Hope you'll keep in touch and keep up with the reading.

God bless, thanks for the read, and don't forget to thank a veteran next time you run across one!

Angelia Phillips/femmeflashpoint