Monthly Archives: October 2020

Day 2851: Modern

Posted on October 21, 2020 by Ann Koplow

Here‘s a definition of “modern” from the modern Merriam-Webster website:


1 a : of, relating to, or characteristic of the present or the immediate past : CONTEMPORARY
the modern American family
b : of, relating to, or characteristic of a period extending from a relevant remote past to the present time
modern history
2 : involving recent techniques, methods, or ideas : UP-TO-DATE
modern methods of communication
3 capitalized : of, relating to, or having the characteristics of the present or most recent period of development of a language
Modern English
4 : of or relating to modernism : MODERNIST
Modern art has abandoned the representation of recognizable objects.

Speaking of recognizable objects, do you see anything that represents “modern” in these modern images, as I try to stay sane during these modern times?

Because I am the model of a very modern group therapist, I used that magic wand in my Coping and Healing group yesterday, so we could make modern wishes for our modern times.

This Randy Rainbow song parody was modern in 2018 and is still relevant today:

I look forward to your modern comments, below.

Modern gratitude in this thoroughly modern blog looks like this:

Categories: 2020 U.S. Presidential election, definition, life during the pandemic, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , | 21 Comments

Day 2850: Tips to stay sane in the final days of the campaign

Posted on October 20, 2020 by Ann Koplow

I don’t know about you, but I definitely need tips to stay sane in the final days of the campaign for the U.S. November election. Here are some words I’ve been using about my mental state (and the mental states of others I’m encountering):

  • nuts,
  • bonkers,
  • crazy,
  • insane,
  • wacko,
  • off-the-wall,
  • flipped out, and
  • mad.

Here’s one top tip on how to stay sane during the final days of the campaign: name what you are feeling and share those feelings with others.

Do you see any tips to stay sane in the final days of the campaign in any of my recent photos?

Self forgiveness is another top tip to stay sane, no matter how many days remain in any campaign.

Here are “Tips on staying sane during election season” from GMA:

Here‘s a song that keeps running through my brain as I try to stay sane:

Do you have any tips to stay sane in the final days of the campaign?

Of course, gratitude helps me stay sane, so thanks to all who help me create these daily posts, including YOU.

Categories: 2020 U.S. Election, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 24 Comments

Day 2849: Hold on to your face masks.

Posted on October 19, 2020 by Ann Koplow

Yesterday, when I was holding on to my face masks and visiting the hospital where I work to get my yearly flu shot and to get a hospital-quality mask, I saw this:

Hold on to your face masks! I have a LOT of photos to share with you today.

Hold on to your face masks — there are only fifteen days until the U.S. election, when we the people hope to get rid of the other person with the problem.

Here‘s the Hamilton Mask-up Parody Medley by The Holderness Family:

Hold on to your face masks and hold on to my gratitude to all who help me create these daily posts, including YOU.

Categories: 2020 U.S. Presidential election, life during the pandemic, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 19 Comments

Day 2848: Look into the distance

Posted on October 18, 2020 by Ann Koplow

Yesterday, after a restorative Nia (Non-Impact Aerobics) class on ZOOM, the wonderful instructor Suzanne Cohen told us to spend the day using our eyes to look into the distance, because we spend so much time with our eyes focused on screens (like now!).

When I look into the distance, I see

  • hope,
  • change,
  • joy,
  • sadness,
  • all the feelings,
  • celebrations,
  • disappointments,
  • hard work,
  • restorations,
  • reparations,
  • losses,
  • gains,
  • beauty, and
  • so much more.

What do you see when you look into the distance with me?

Sometimes, when we look into the distance, we see ourselves. If we widen our perspective, we might see …

… everything.

Here‘s Bette Midler singing “From a Distance.”

When I look into the distance, I also see gratitude, which is close at hand.

Categories: 2020 U.S. Presidential election, gratitude, life during the pandemic, personal growth, photojournalism, Trump stickers | Tags: , , , , , | 22 Comments

Day 2847: Deep inner feelings

Posted on October 17, 2020 by Ann Koplow

Last night, after I performed my original song “I’m Mad About You” at a remote Open Mic, Joe the M.C. mentioned deep inner feelings, which I had feelings about.

I have deep inner feelings about sharing my songs with you here on WordPress, so here’s “I’m Mad About You.”

Do you see deep inner feelings in the images I captured yesterday?

I overcame my deep inner feelings about trying something new and posted the ending of “I’m Mad About You” on TikTok this morning. We’ll see if anybody has deep inner feelings about that.

I encourage you to express any deep inner feelings in a comment, below.

My deep inner feelings always include gratitude, so thanks to all who help me share my deep inner feelings in these daily posts, including YOU!

Categories: life during the pandemic, original song, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Day 2846: Scary pictures

Posted on October 16, 2020 by Ann Koplow

During these pre-election times, many pundits are writing about scary scenarios, picturing uncertainty, upheaval, violence, and protracted legal battles after people cast their votes in the USA.

I hear from many people that they distract themselves, especially during this time of the year, by watching scary pictures, like the Halloween series.

Picturing scary election scenarios and watching scary pictures both make me shiver and quiver with too much fear, so I’m distracting myself by taking my own scary pictures. Which one is the scariest picture, to you?

The Daily Bitch calendar for today is scarily coincident with last night’s question for my Coping and Healing group.

Tonight, Michael will be taking pictures of my remote appearance on an Open Mic, which I hope won’t be too scary.

There are lots of “scary pictures” videos on YouTube. For scarily unknown reasons, I clicked on “Scary pictures with happy music pizza sound nature.”

I hope you don’t find pictures of gratitude scary, because I take a lot of those!

Categories: 2020 U.S. Election, 2020 U.S. Presidential election, group therapy, Halloween, life during the pandemic, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Day 2845: BFD

Posted on October 15, 2020 by Ann Koplow

BFD, according to dictionary.com, means one thing AND its opposite, which I think is a BFD.

This reminds me of a BFD saying I came up with years ago — we are neither as important or as unimportant as we fear.

Are any of these recent photos a BFD?

Around here, it’s a BFD when my husband Michael lets me take a picture of him and share it in my blog. We both got haircuts yesterday, which is a BFD during the BF pandemic. Also, the macaroni and cheese Michael made yesterday was a BFD.

The upcoming U.S. Presidential election is a BFD, and if my candidates win, I’m also going to win cookies and somebody else’s macaroni and cheese. To me, macaroni and cheese is ALWAYS a BFD.

In addition to Big F’ing Deal and Boston Fire Department, BFD might stand for Black Futuristic Drums:

What do you think is a BFD, in this post and elsewhere?

Gratitude is always a BFD to this Blogging Female Dilettante, so thanks to all the BFD’s who help me create these posts, including YOU!

Categories: 2020 U.S. Election, definition, life during the pandemic, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , | 21 Comments

Day 2844: Ghosts

Posted on October 14, 2020 by Ann Koplow

According to Merriam Webster, a ghost is …

1: the seat of life or intelligence : SOUL
“give up the ghost”
2: a disembodied soul
especially : the soul of a dead person believed to be an inhabitant of the unseen world or to appear to the living in bodily likeness
3: SPIRIT, DEMON
4a: a faint shadowy trace
a ghost of a smile
b: the least bit
“not a ghost of a chance”
5: a false image in a photographic negative or on a television screen caused especially by reflection
6: one who ghostwrites
7: a red blood cell that has lost its hemoglobin

These days, it’s looking like the current U.S. President does not have a ghost of a chance to get a second term. Those of us who almost gave up the ghost four years ago when he WAS elected — despite polls saying he had not a ghost of a chance back then — are barely showing ghosts of smiles about the possible outcome.

I know that some of his supporters might call me a snowflake, but I have felt haunted since November, 2016, inhabiting this world like a ghost of my former self. When I look at the posts I’ve written since then, I see faint shadowy traces of the spirit I had before. However, it’s never been so bad that I’ve considered getting a ghostwriter for this blog.

Also, many of us feel haunted by ghosts that others just do not see.

What ghosts do you see in my photos from yesterday?

Among others, I see the ghosts of Oscar the cat, the people who have been killed by gun violence, trust in our leaders, and the normalcy of our lives before the pandemic.

Also, that last photo shows the ghost of a blog post I considered writing for today — “Day 2881: Grains of salt.” There are many ghosts of posts never written in my draft folder and in my mind, but those don’t haunt me, perhaps because so many posts have seen the light of day.

Here is “Ghosts” — the new song by the very-much-alive Bruce Springsteen:

Thanks to all my readers for not ghosting me over the years!

Categories: 2020 U.S. Presidential election, definition, life during the pandemic, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , | 21 Comments

Day 2843: Sarcasm

Posted on October 13, 2020 by Ann Koplow

Sarcasm is

  • “the use of irony to mock or convey contempt,”
  • “an ironic or satirical statement tempered by humor,”
  • saying “the opposite of what’s true in an attempt to make someone look or feel foolish,”
  • something my son requested that I stop using when he was young,
  • difficult to avoid in certain situations, and
  • the subject of today’s Daily Bitch Calendar.

Do you detect sarcasm in any of the following statements?

  • The people in power care about the rest of us so much.
  • Politicians try really hard to keep their promises.
  • Everybody in the United States has equal rights.
  • The United States citizenry always does a great job exercising the precious right to vote.
  • People are so well versed on the real issues that are going to affect them.
  • The squeaky wheel not only gets the most grease, it also deserves more attention than the quieter wheels (and the wheels that have trouble being heard).
  • Everyone agrees with me and my late mother that honesty is the best policy.

To help you detect sarcasm in those statements, here is “Lie Witness News — 2019 Year End Edition” from Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Do you detect sarcasm in any of these images?

What are your thoughts and feelings about sarcasm in this age of anxiety?

These days, I am never sarcastic when expressing gratitude (although some people are), so thanks for everything!

Categories: 2020 U.S. Presidential election, gratitude, life during the pandemic, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , | 30 Comments

Day 2842: I’m mad about ___

Posted on October 12, 2020 by Ann Koplow

Because I’m mad about so many things right now, I’m going to perform “I’m Mad About You” — which I wrote when I was mad about the last U.S. Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings — at a remote Open Mic this Friday, October 16, 7 PM – 9 PM, EDT.

Because I’m mad about/in love with sharing my performances, here’s the link to sign up to attend that Open Mic:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040b4eadaa23a2f49-jamn13

You might be mad about missing your chance to see and hear “I’m Mad About You” unless you sign up by this Thursday.

Are you mad about any of my photos from yesterday?

If you’re mad about anything, VOTE!!!

I’m mad about how this photos has the word RIP in it …

… which I did.

Here‘s my performance of “I’m Mad About You” at the Jam’n Java Open Mic two years ago, on NOVEMBER 3.

Please express what you’re mad about in a comment, below.

I’m mad about collecting and expressing gratitude, so thanks to all who help me blog about all the things I’m mad about, including YOU!

Categories: 2020 U.S. Presidential election, original song, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 23 Comments

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