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 |  My blog for the blog challenge |
| Ahem, ahem, ahem ... cough cough cough ... mememememememe ... Okay, I'm ready to write now. |
| March 13th Prompt. In honor of Friday The 13th, tell us about a time when something went so horribly wrong that all you could do about it was laugh. The last big vacation we took was to Yellowstone National Park. Trips like this are few and far between for us because we just don't have the money to travel that much so if was important to me to get it right and have it planned out. I spent four months researching and planning and booking rooms, etc for the trip. But God, and his sense of humor, had other plans in mind for us. We made it to Yellowstone alright and everywhere else on our agenda but if something could go wrong, it did. First, our car that we had carefully packed to include everything we needed for camping out for a family of four for twelve days, decided to die 30 miles from home at 4:00 am. Six hours later, we managed to cram about 1/3 of our stuff into my mom's borrowed car and start again. We were all wedged in place with multiple things in our laps. I said the good part was, if we had a wreck, no one would get hurt because we couldn't move. The dinner we had planned with friends in Denver had to be cancelled. And the activities for the evening crammed into the next day. But we didn't take into consideration doing quite so much in one day and I ended up with altitude sickness. I thought I was going to die. Not funny. But in our trip of comedy of errors ... my husband opted to stay in camp with me and send our son to town for the meds I needed. Great good wonderful. But our son missed his turn and ended up half-way across Colorado with no cell service while I lay in camp moaning and hoping I didn't die. Then we head to Wyoming where the fun continued. Did you know that it was rainy and cold in June in Wyoming? We spent four days in Yellowstone campground with about 600 of our closest fellow campers cooking over a campfire in the rain. We had opted to leave out our camp stove to save some space. Holding an umbrella, tending a fire, and making a meal all at the same time doesn't really work. And, in a freak turn of events, a bus full of Japanese tourists had brought NoroVirus to Yellowstone with them which promptly ravaged the food service crews ... and us. We were now puking on top of everything else. But then there was a storm that wiped out the power to most of the park ... which meant no showers, no laundry, and no food service available ... and no gas pumps. Sometime around that point, as we all lay moaning in our tent on air mattresses in 34 degree weather while I read Dracula to everyone ... we all realized the utter ridiculousness of our situation. Then we couldn't quit laughing. As one thing piled on to the next and the next and the next ... it was all just funny. The drunk neighbors in camp who peed on our tent ... Me getting sulpher fumes in my contacts and not being able to see anything ... while wandering about one of the greatest "sight" seeing places in the world ... The endless cooking in the rain over a fire ... The snow ... Old Faithful being late for the first time in over three years ... The baseball sized hail ... The list just goes on and on and on ... ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| March 12th Prompt. Opinion Thursday! According to this article (http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/02/america-war-93-time-222-239-years-since-1...), the United States has been "at war" approximately 93% of its entire existence. Does war solve anything? Nope. Neither does divorce. Or sending people to jail. Or the death penalty. Or forcing religion on someone else. Or ... this list could go on forever. But sometimes, you just have to get on with it and do what you've got to do to make things right. Usually that's where the problem starts ... because who gets to decided what's right? In our world, the guy with the biggest guns and largest army and the most friends wins. Honestly, that doesn't make it right and it doesn't solve the problems that exist ... but that's how it works. The human brain is an interesting thing. As the parent of a child with autism I have had to learn more about the brain than I ever really wanted to know. But one of the most interesting things is that humans have the unique neuropathy that needs things to be ordered, catalogued, named, put in the right box, ... That's how the human brain works. It processes information and stores it in files according to a system that it defines. But this need to define and catergorize and label things in order to learn about them goes awry and ends up controlling us, attempting to control society at large. It's only supposed to be a learning tool to help us understand ... not what defines our existence on this planet. When we use it to say something is right or moral we have strayed from it's intended use ... and yet this is how we use it every day. We catergorize people based on all kinds of random things ... religion, sex, race, education level, friendships, nationality, ... and then expect people to fall in line with those parameters. But when they don't. all havoc breaks loose and we have to DO something to control the chaos. Problem is ... humans are never just one thing. If you try to stick them in a box, their arms and legs and heads all stick out everywhere. Sometimes other humans can't see that the box isn't necessary and they try to force the arms and legs and heads all back in the box. Someone then gets ticked off and declares war. It really is pointless in the long run. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
March 11th Prompt. War Chest Wednesday! Do you have a lucky number, and if so, why is it special to you? If you don't have a lucky number, is there a trinket or similar object that carries a special lucky significance for you? I've never found anything that was lucky for me ... not a number or a trinket. I do have things that I keep in my pocket and car though because they ... comfort me ... I guess that's the right phrase. I have several turtles ... a small one carved from soapstone, a jeweled one that's legs and head wiggle, and a small stuffed one known as "Captain Turt" who resides in the car. (The car is known as The Enterprise ... so we have Captain Turt, Commander Pock, etc ...) I also have trinkets for writing. I have an old piece of a string of beads that I found outside the cemetery in New Orleans and a ball point pen that I got at Harrods in London. In the living room, I have my little flashlight beside my chair. Not that I need it for the light. I just like to click the button on it. And then there is the treasure chest of little things that I've collected from around the world ... a small rock from Yellowstone Lake from when I was 12, a piece of chalk from the White Cliffs of Dover, a piece of eggshell from a robin's egg I found when I was 8, ... to anyone else it would be pure junk. But to me it's all priceless because each thing holds an amazing amount of memories that flood back in vivid detail every time I hold them. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| March 9th Prompt. Wildcard Monday! Saturday night parts of the world had to set their clocks ahead one hour to account for Daylight Savings Time. Did you have to, and if so, did it affect you at all? According to this link (http://www.weather.com/health/news/daylight-saving-time-spring-forward-health-ef...) researchers think the switch to DST every year impacts our health. What do you think? I don't think it has any impact on my health in the least ... but then I don't work on a normal clock schedule in the first place. I go to bed when I'm tired and get up when I wake up and live life in between. Pretty simple. I think the world would be far better off on my schedule actually. We need to have Cobe Savings Time round the world. You go to sleep when your tired. You get up when you wake up. (no alarms allowed) And you live life in between the two. Whatever gets accomplished for the day is what gets accomplished for the day. No stress. No rushing around. No cramming more into a day than you can manage. Of course that would all depend on people being diligent about their lives and not spend the day pissing away drinking or god knows what else ... I'm sure there would be those too ... I just don't happen to be one of them. anyway ... prompt answered. the end. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| March 8th Prompt. 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.cbsnews.com/news/passage-the-destruction-of-history/ This makes me sad and furious in more than one way. First the destruction of antiquities is just wrong no matter who does it. And second, why can the media not understand that the more publicity they give IS, the worse the situation will be. Yes, I understand the need for the world to have knowledge of their destructive ways. They are bad people. Evil people committing these acts of atrocity. But the world, by now, knows who they are. And we don't need more examples of their violence publicly flogged on all world media sources so that they get more attention. Just quit covering their acts. They're like toddlers pitching a fit about going to bed. The more drama you make over it, the more drama they will create. Sigh. I'm sure I'm probably in the minority here in my opinion, but really ... enough is enough. Quit creating a market for what they're selling. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| March 7th Prompt- Creation Saturday! When I inherited the "30-Day Blogging Challenge" , I was also given a few other items...the one I use the most obviously is the War Chest, which holds a majority of the prompts I send out. The people who have owned it before me put some effort into organizing it; prompts are loosely categorized into the days they should likely be used on. As I was scrolling through the lists looking for an appropriate 'Creation Saturday' prompt, I came across the very last 'Funny Friday' suggestion, and I've decided to put it in play for Saturday instead. So without further ado, answer the following question in any manner you wish (poem, drama, humor, essay, lyrics, bullet points, etc...any way you'd like): Where is Waldo? I guess it wouldn't be too creative to just say "Who gives a rip?" would it? When I first read this prompt, I thought it would be cool to go in and make a grid that contained all of the WDC emoticons arranged across the page and then add an image of Waldo from Where's Waldo fame somewhere and let that be my entry. But I'm no tech guru and to create that with writing ML would have taken me hours and hours. Time I just did not have. As you can see, I'm late even getting my blog post sent in or written. Life is just too busy some days to even turn on the computer. So, here's what I've got for "Where is Waldo?" Waldo is in the garden planting peas sipping a lemonade under the trees dining with family and friends he holds dear time is slipping away by the year. He's out with the goats cutting hay pounding in fence posts along the way feeding the chickens fermented grain cleaning up muck left from the rain. He's taking a walk with his wife talking about things concerning their life motivating her to keep up with their plan showing her he can be a man. Waldo's not hiding as we've been told he's living a life and growing old just as he should it seems to me so leave him alone, just let it be! ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| March 6th Prompt. Funny Friday! The "How To" article is a staple of popular magazines. We don't always need informative-yet-boring "How To" articles...what we sometimes need is "How NOT To" advice. Try to make us laugh and tell us a good way of not doing something. Oh, ugh. I'm horrible at humor in writing. But if I have to, I have to ... so here goes. How NOT to Write a Novel First, you will need to have an idea what you want to write about. A true tale morphed into fiction? A vampire romance? That edgy thriller that takes place in Africa? or maybe something Science Fiction? For me coming up with ideas is always easiest when I start with a character or a setting and let them take control. But you could also use brainstorming for this step. Write down every idea you've ever thought of writing about on a post it note and hang them all on one wall. Give yourself some room around each of them to add in extra ideas related to it. You can be neat and orderly about this step and put them in rows and columns or you can be more free form and arrange them like giant thought bubbles covering the walls of your room. The more ideas you come up with, the easier it will be to NOT write that novel, so really spend months on this step thinking through every possible rendition of each character, setting, genre, and climax. You wouldn't want to miss out on a great opportunity to write that best selling novel. We all know how critical the idea is. It must be perfect before you ever write a word. Second, you either need to outline it so that you know everything that will happen from beginning to end or you need to face facts that you are indeed a "pantser". There's nothing wrong with being a pantser no matter how many derogatory things you've heard before. As a matter of fact it will help you in your journey to NOT write the novel, so I will encourage you to give pantsing a go even if you've never tried it before. Third, now that you have that great idea and have decided on an approach, you need to set up a Facebook and Twitter account for the novel so that you can keep your eager fans notified of the progress you are making on it. This step is very important in NOT writing your novel. The more social media accounts you can set up, the better. You might even want to set up a blog dedicated to the novel as well to give potential readers even more in depth knowledge of the novel they will never be able to read. Fourth, create a daily schedule to follow. Spend almost as much time on this step as you did on the initial idea phase so that you are certain you can get this novel done. Make sure you use fifteen minute time slots or less so that you can schedule in potty breaks and pencil sharpening and that next text to Twitter. You wouldn't want to miss out on the opportunity to promote your non-existent novel. Don't forget to include scheduling when to let the dog out to pee, time to decide on what you will fix for supper, those precious moments when the cat demands attention, checking the mail to see if you have more bills to worry about paying, and phone calls from telemarketers. (we all know they call at supper time, so you might as well include them in your schedule) Fifth, set up your writing space. You will want a dedicated area for this to happen. If possible, build on another room to your house so that you will have complete control over any interruptions to your daily writing schedule that you spent so much time creating. This can be as simple as a discarded refrigerator box with a large floor pillow. (I would resist the urge to cut out a window flap. The cat will just find it and play with it all day long.) Or, if you are planning to be a full time novelist like Stephen King or Agatha Christie you could build an entire writing studio at the back of your property. The choices are endless so spend as much time as you can getting it right. The most important part about it is that you have all of your essentials arranged just so on or near your desk. Go on a special shopping trip (or two or three) to make sure the pencil holder (that you don't use because you actually type everything into your computer) matches the decor of your room perfectly. You will need a coffee mug or two as well. These should have quotes from your favorite authors on them and should give you inspiration for the novel you're not writing. Extra points if you find one that matches the decor of your writing space to hold your pencils. Sixth, speaking of coffee, you will need to have as much as possible of this nectar of the gods at your disposal twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. You will not be working on your novel that much, right? Find a local gourmet coffee shop that sells bulk coffee from around the world, if possible. Make sure you plan several day trips a month to the coffee shop if for no other purpose than to soak in all those fabulous aromas around you in the store and sample their daily offerings. Seventh, now that you have an idea, a method of working, a schedule, a place to work, and all the essential coffee you will need, sit down and open your word processor on your computer. Type the title and chapter at the top of the page. Then you will need to check your schedule. It will probably be time to check in with facebook by now and give an update. So take care of that. And while you're on social media, you might as well check your notifications and reply to anyone who's replied to you or made comments. I'm certain by now your cat or dog or two year old has done something cute as well, so you might as well post that too. Your fans will think that you are human by posting those kind of details and so relate to your writing even more. Eighth, refill your coffee mug and while you're up you might as well take a pee break even thought it isn't scheduled for another half hour. Your bladder can't read a schedule after all. Ninth, fix yourself something to munch on while writing. This might be a bowl of nuts or chips or maybe a hot pocket. Better still, a warm gooey cinnamon roll sounds perfect with your hot mug of coffee. So a trip to the store is in order. While you're there you can get the grocery shopping done for the week. It's not scheduled until tomorrow but you'll be ahead if you go ahead and do it now. Continue this pattern for the next ten or twelve years and you will NOT write your novel. Easy Peasy. |
| March 5th- Opinion Thursday Prompt. Again...from the War Chest... Do you believe in miracles? Why, or why not? In a way, I believe in miracles. I believe in things like the miracle of life. I've seen too many animals born to not believe that every live birth is a miracle. We hatch chicken, duck, and turkey eggs every year. Watching them develop in the shell is fascinating. At first they are merely a blob with a beating heart, pulsing against the yolk, spreading blood vessels like a web around the shell. If all goes well, in about two weeks, legs and wings can be seen flapping around. And by four weeks, if nothing has gone wrong still, cheeping can be heard and the shadow of a beak illuminates in the light as they tear through the membrane. I say ... if nothing goes wrong. So many problems can happen between the beginning and ending of incubation and different species are susceptible to different things. Ducks tend to have great fertility rates and almost every duck egg we put in the incubator forms a baby duck. But ducks are prone to genetic issues that kill the ducklings off just before they hatch. It's very sad to watch the babies develop only to quit moving two days before they are supposed to hatch. But it also makes understanding the miracle of life so much more poignant. People being healed ... money falling into peoples hand for what they need ... people surviving in the midst of disaster ... to me those aren't defined by miracles. Acts of God, certainly, sometimes, ... but not miracles. |
| March 4th Prompt. From the War Chest... Name a time when you broke a rule or law. Did you get caught, or did you get away with it? Oh my. I've broken many a rule in my lifetime. Sometimes I was caught, other times not. I've only broken the law twice ... sort of. I stole a bottle of blue glitter fingernail polish when I was 9 because my friend dared me to. They only cost a nickle though so as we went past the register on the way out, I put a nickel on the counter because I didn't want to be stealing anything. The clerk gave me a look but it was back in the day before bar code scanners or even automatic cash registers. No one knew I took it except my friend and technically, I paid for it. I also ... well ... speed now and again. Does that really count though? I mean technically it's a law to follow the speed limits but, if all the other traffic is driving faster than the speed limit, you can be stopped and ticketed for impeding traffic .. even though everyone else is breaking the law.  I've never quite understood that one.Other rules I've broken ... when I was a kid I wasn't allowed to hit anyone. But there was this one girl at school who was always pushing me around and taking things from me and making fun of me. Well, she broke her leg and had a cast on with crutches. Everyone was feeling sorry for her and giving her things. But I wasn't about to give her anything. She was mean to me. So at recess one day, she got her friends to call me names because I wouldn't give her my key ring that she wanted. To avoid the problem I got a book and sat on the ledge outside my classroom window so the teacher could hear anything that happened. This girl started taunting me and even after the teacher told her to stop, she started it up again. Normally she was bigger and stronger than me and I never would have even considered doing anything to her, but that day I was mad and didn't care if I got in trouble. As soon as the teacher went back inside, she started calling me names again and I decked her. Made her fall over on her butt, crutches went flying. She laid there bawling. I never did get in trouble. The teacher told her that maybe she should reconsider who she teased in the future. And I never had to deck anyone else ... |
| March 3rd Prompt. 20 Challengers this month! I've got my work cut out for me! Seeing as how it's only the 3rd, I don't think it's fair to do an actual "Two-Fer Tuesday" prompt. Instead, pump your own tires...share with us an item of yours that you're especially proud of. Bonus points for today if you choose to review one of your fellow challengers' items (and you submit the review using the Invalid Review tag in your entry). It's like a "community spirit" thing! Okay, since my portfolio seems to be full of things that need revision, I guess I'll pick the thing that needs the least revision. Lol. "Invalid Item"  It was written for the Screams contest (which I love, btw) "SCREAMS!!!" . If you like to write or read scary stuff, this is the place to find it. |
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