Turn Out the Lights…the Party's Over…..
With each opening, the participants feel excitement and anticipation. With each closing, the participants might alternately feel sad or elated…depending on the circumstances. Often a closing leads to something newer, better, and more worthwhile, and more often than not, everyone is better off in the long run.
THE CACTUS CAFÉ: The University of Texas owns and operates The Cactus Café on campus in the Student Union Building. It's been there for decades. In this venue, live bands—after all, Austin claims it is the "Live Music Capital of the World"—perform there while students eat or drink during free time. University students have free time? I never knew. When the school announced the closing, a great cry arose from the land. Now, a month or so later, a group of alumni is contemplating taking it over, redesigning, and reopening. It may not be the old shoe that fit so well, but the students just might learn to love the new one, too.
KIRKUS: Nielson Business Media shut down Editor and Publisher and Kirkus Reviews, two long-time trade journals for the books and publication industry. Again, the announcement disturbed a great number of people, but new owners stepped in to rejuvenate and revive the publications. All's well that ends well.
2010 OLYMPICS: What a grand Winter Olympics this has been! From the Opening Ceremonies to the Closing Ceremonies, Canada has "done themselves proud." Their national anthem plays in my head all the time—"Ooooh, Ca-na-da, hum, hum, hum." Great, world-wide anticipation preceded the opening, and now on the last day, viewers and participants alike share the feeling of a job well done. But while we woke up every morning for fourteen days with Olympic Hangover, we now feel slightly relieved it's all over. It was a good run, a great race, but….nothing lasts forever.
THE BOOK SPA: And so it is with the Yahoo Group we called The Book Spa. Maggie Toussaint and I are the last of the original moderators, and while we feel we performed our job well, there comes a time to move on. As with the Olympics, the original foursome experienced a great high, our days filled with planning, discussing and yes, a little bit of arguing. When at last we set the "Go Live" day, I didn't sleep the night before because of adrenalin surging through my body. Since I am Chatty Cathy much of the time, moderating came easy, and soon I felt at home with my new friends and my new tasks.
A great deal can change in a year and a half, and so for various, varying reasons, we are shutting down the Spa March 4, 2010. We've made new friends, helped a few others promote their works, and built a small community of like-minded authors. We've laughed with you, and yes, we've cried with you, because after all, life crept in among the blogs, blurbs, and excerpts.
See y'all around the loops!
THANK YOU!
Celia Yeary
Romance…and a little bit o' Texas
TEXAS BLUE-eBook and Print
SHOWDOWN IN SOUTHFORK—eBook
ALL MY HOPES AND DREAMS-eBook and Print
Published by: The Wild Rose Press
Hi Celia! All good things must come to an end, right? Thought we had the Olympic gold medal for hockey all sewn up until about five minutes ago...Must go bite my fingernails through overtime now. (Go Canada!!!)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post :)
KAYLEA--Hockey is not big in Central Texas! Now, if it was football, I'd be biting my fingernails. I want the US to win, but we all love Canada, so we won't be terribly crushed! It's like your brother winning instead of you. Celia
ReplyDeleteCelia,
ReplyDeleteYou know how I loved the spa, but I truly do understand. I don't know how you all had time for anything else! I know you are sad to see it go, but relieved, as well. It's a huge responsibility. But thank you for taking it on and keeping it going for the last year and a half! We will never lose touch, and I'm so thankful that I met YOU through the spa!
Love, Cheryl
Changes are definitely going on all over the place. I'm one of those people who are more comfortable with status quo. LOL Sorry about The Book Spa group but hope you all are moving on to more writing and bigger projects. Maybe you'll even have more time to spend with us.
ReplyDeleteCHERYL--Ahhh, thank you!And you better believe you'll not lose touch with me--I won't let you. Celia
ReplyDeleteREBECCA--change is good, usually. I look at it that way. Our pastor yesterday preached on "Don't Get Too Comfortable"--meaning when a congregation becomes very comfortable with the status quo and doesn't want anything to change, it will stagnate. So...none of that for me. Celia
ReplyDeleteI admire your interest in watching all of the Olympics, Celia. I got oversaturated fast. I am proud of our athletes, of all the athletes, actually. What they do hardly seems possible.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing the ride with me at The Book Spa. I wouldn't have traded that experience for anything in the world.
Hugs!
MAGGIE--and same to you. It was a blast, and I learned so much from you and everyone. Now I'm ready to widen my circle--I have a list. Celia
ReplyDeleteSpring is a good time for change, since it reflects a change for the better (more sun, more warmth, flowers...) and I hope all of you BookSpa mods will spring into your writing projects with renewed vigoration now! I know I'll see you around. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI watched much of the Olympics, also, and am also glad it's now over and I can go back to working at night instead.
LORAINE--yes, spring is a good time to make changes. And I intend to do just that. Thanks for the kind words--Celia
ReplyDelete