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 |  My blog for the blog challenge |
| Ahem, ahem, ahem ... cough cough cough ... mememememememe ... Okay, I'm ready to write now. |
| Day One: Let's start with something easy to get you in the mood of escaping. Tell us how you escape distractions to be able to write? Explain the most annoying ones and the schemes you use. If this is too easy, maybe you can relate it creatively like this Method One: Turn on fan, lock door, scream at anyone who dares enter my zone Method Two: Pull up music playlist, plug in headphones, scream at anyone who dares enter my zone Method Three: Take laptop outside, scream at the chickens for making too much noise Method Four: Kick everyone out of house for the day or at least several hours, scream at the cats who won't stay off my keyboard And then ... when I'm distracted by the lack of something, I play with my photographs and images until I settle down ... all the while screaming at myself for being a complete idiot.  |
| Unofficial 30DBC Prompt for April 9, 2015 Prompt: We’re being good, polite tourists. (I hope!) Each of you meet someone. Tell us about the encounter. Where are you and did this person tell you a story, perhaps their life history? I had gone to the space lock to check out the lunar eclipse. As I stood dazzled by the sight of earth so far below and the moon close enough to touch, I caught the whiff of Old Spice after shave and unfiltered Camel cigarettes. The scent of my grandfather. I didn't know that space held memories, too. But then again, if someone whose been dead for twenty-six years can visit me on earth, I suppose he can visit me anywhere. At home he often holds open the back door when I go out to work in the garden. That used to bother me, unsettle my nerves. But now I just thank him and go on my way, somehow relieved that he is still watching out for us. He always hovered over us, afraid that we would fall, skin a knee, hurt ourselves in some way ... or be hurt in some way by someone. He couldn't stand the thought that he might not be able to take care of us or provide something we might need. I wondered why he came to me at the space lock, at the eclipse of the moon. Why he'd followed me on this journey of all the ones I've taken. And I understood immediately that it was because of my writing and the journey that has taken me on. He was a writer. His journals are full of poetry and stories. Amazing worlds that I used to hide in the closet and read on hot summer days. I guess he knew what a challenge being a writer would be. The ups and downs, the pitfalls, the criticism, the joys followed by ultimate despair. He came to protect me ... still ... even though I'm a grown up. He can't stand the thought of me being hurt, of not being able to take care of me, to shield me from the roller coaster of emotions and anxieties that come with being a writer. He knew. He knows. And I'm glad he's here. Because I can't do this alone. |
| Unofficial 30DBC Prompt for April 7, 2015 Prompt: You’ve popped back home. Yes, you know no one knows you’re gone, but you’ve gotten homesick. Tell us what’s happening there. The gardens are growing. Bees buzzing. Wisteria perfuming the yard in heavenly scents. Peaches have set on. Tiny little fuzzy green tits. How delicious they will be come summer. Broccoli and kale are full. Asparagus rocketing to the sky Kittens are nestled under the vines. The days have been hot then cold then hot then cold a pattern without end But my feet are getting itchy again Staying here My heart starts wandering wondering exactly what I'll find out there ... ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Unofficial 30DBC Prompt for April 5, 2015 It looks as if everyone is settling into their ship room and a routine. Some of you have decorated yours so nicely you may never come out! *Smile* Prompt: As we plan out various excursions, what is a place you do not want to visit? Wow. I'm honestly not sure I have an answer for this one. There are a couple of places in the world I don't have a interest in traveling to but if given the chance, I'd still go there to visit. Out of this world ... Hmmmmm Perhaps Mercury would not be a place I'd like to go. It's a little tooooo hot there for my liking. I've never liked hot places. I don't even like summer much, especially after the thermometer hits 100 and stays there. My mom says I was born in an air conditioned hospital, driven home in an air conditioned car, and grew up in an air conditioned house so my system thinks it should always be a constant temperature. That's not exactly true any more. But I do fair better in England than in the US during the summer months and I'm affectionately known as the Coloradoan in my town because I'm notorious for wearing shorts and coat in winter. If I had the Birkenstocks to go with it ... ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
Unofficial 30DBC April 2, 2015 Prompt When you enter your assigned room with attached bathroom on the ship, it’s bare. You may decorate and furnish your room any way you like – just say it or wish it. The only limitation is you only have one port window. Tell us what the room looks like after you finish with it. The trouble with having more than one blog is that sometimes I write entries in the wrong place and then post them in the wrong place and then I have to go back and redo everything. Sigh. Anyway, what would my room look like? Hmmm? I would have a queen sized bed. I've had one since I was a kid and I'm used to the space ... plus ... well ... someone might join me. I doubt it, but they might. Nothing fancy though but with a great tempur pedic mattress for a good nights sleep. It would be tucked into a corner all cozy like. I would hang heavy drapes across to make a little nook. Then I'd have a leather sofa, brown, in front of it facing the other end of the room with a matching chair and ottoman. I'd need a table between them with a lamp as well. Need my reading light. Against the far end of the room I'd have my desk right beside the port hole window so I could look outside while I was writing. I'd have a ball chair to sit on while working as well. On the walls, would be shelves and shelves and shelves of books. I know. Boring. Plain. Typical. But I figure on this ship everything else around me is going to be out of this world and magical, so I need my space to be sane and comforting. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| DAY 866: April 2, 2015 Prompt: Have you ever completely changed your mind on a belief you held strongly? What caused the changed? You know, I probably have but nothing comes to mind. I've been thinking about this all day and I can't pick out one particular thing that has evolved that way. I'm sure at some point I held all kinds of beliefs that I later learned weren't right and abandoned them along the road. Everyone does as they grow up and age throughout life. My outlook on things now is drastically different than it was when I was twenty years old ... but ... it didn't happen overnight. The change came from a lifetime of experience and understanding and perspective. For example - the debate on whether or not to eat carbs and low carb diets. When they first came out I thought they were a crock of bull. They seemed to work for some people I knew but those people were not only eating that diet they were exercising four or five hours a day too. I figured if I exercised four or five hours a day I'd lose weight even I ate a donut factory in one sitting, so what was the point of reducing carbs? But as I've aged and been diagnosed with things, I've tried different approaches to help. One of them was reducing carbs and, to my surprise, it helped immensely with certain aspects of my disease. I honestly still don't think it's a cureall like it was first touted to be, but it has helped me. By experience I have changed my viewpoint on it. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Prompt for April 1, 2015 Day 1 - If you could travel anywhere, where would you go. What would you expect to see, eat, smell, hear, and feel. Earth and all of it's people, sky scrapers, farmlands, mountains, oceans, deserts, etc full of car horns, sirens, screaming children, lawn mowers, and chirping birds assaults me every day with the fumes of diesel engines, cattle lots, gasoline, baking bread, body odor, and trash. So, I wish, for one day or so, to go somewhere none of that exists. Maybe the moon where my rotund body could bounce along like a little child again, where the only sound is that of my breath in my space helmet, and the only smell is my husband's cologne permeating the handkerchief I carried along to remind me of his warm embrace, his encouraging words, his optimisn in the face of everything disastrous. I'm certain I couldn't write in such a place though. Distraction helps focus me. Odd, I know. But oh for moment of solitude and silence ... ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| March 16th Prompt. Wildcard Monday! What does the phrase "March Madness" mean to you? Although I'm not a sports fan, I happen to live in a state that seems to be ruled by it's sports teams ... so March madness is always Basketball time. Personally, this March is full of madness. The weather has been insane. A week ago we had snow on the ground. Today I turned on the air conditioner. Tomorrow its supposed to be cold and rainy again. No wonder I'm coughing up my lungs and in bed sick ... ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| March 15th Prompt. Halfway there you guys! The Sunday News!: Pick a random article from the headlines and talk about it. Share your opinions and feelings about it. Encourage a conversation. http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/09/middleeast/israel-ancient-treasure-found-in-cave/i... I picked this because one, I'm fascinated by anything historical and anything ancient ... and two, I'm intrigued by what makes this newsworthy. Why exactly does ancient treasure finds interest people? Are we romantics who like to think days gone by were better than they are now? Or is it the old saying "those who forget history are doomed to repeat it" that makes us gaga over things like this? Or perhaps we all harbor dreams of becoming filthy rich because of some great obscure find we make that other people are gaga enough over to pay big bucks to own things like this? ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| March 14th Prompt. Creation Saturday! Make a "Top 10" list...on any topic of your choosing. Why is #1 your #1? Top Ten Places to Learn Things That are Absolutely Useless 10. town council meetings - especially if you live in a small town 9. network television - unless you plan on needing a Grimm 8. reality game shows - unless you are going to find yourself left on a deserted island with ten other people you either hate or want to sleep with 7. nightly news - although this can be a handy place for teenage girls to justify their need to be drama queens 6. Facebook - need i even explain??? 5. novel writing workshops - because rules and more rules make all the difference in the world ... NOT 4. summer camp - really, who needs to know how to macarme a plant hanger or take plaster casts of animal tracks? 3. competitive sports teams - feel like jumping in head first??? 2. church - okay, I said Almost Useless 1. school - I have to explain this? When was the last time you used Chemistry in your real life? (if you're a chemical engineer or teach science you can't answer) Or had the need to conjugate latin verbs? Or needed to know what the inside of your locker looked like? Honestly, school made the #1 slot because of the irony of it. School should be the place you learn the most useful things of your life outside of your family. But instead most people learn very little that they actually need to know later in life or ever use again. Literally, I'm an architect. We engineer buildings to stand up for centuries. I've never once used Chemistry or Calculus, the history of Ancient Rome, Stage set production, any of the philosophy courses I took, etc ... Kids would be much better off at home with their parents learning how to actually function in the world and learning things that interest them so that they could be productive members of society as adults. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
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