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 |   One writer's journey |
 She sat down at her old wooden desk, pen at the ready. Her thoughts raced. What shall I write today? Tilting her head to the side, a small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth before enveloping her delicate face. The purple ink began to fill the once blank sheet, each stroke a labor of pure joy as the words flowed from her mind, her heart, her very soul.  My Dreams... to write of romance and endless love to love without boundaries to learn from past mistakes to laugh with all my heart to be the woman I am meant to be  TODAY... I will reach for the stars Will not give up Will give all that I have Dare to dream the impossible dream For anything in this life is possible   <---I am blown away by this    |
| Tell us about something/someone that fucked you off this week. In case you missed the breaking news, I'll give you a link. And yes, this is what fuck's me off today! As a woman, I am disgusted and think every woman who voted for this piece of shit should feel ashamed of themselves. It's not like there weren't any warning signs, ie: pussygate. <--I despise this word btw. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-pulls-back-obama-era-protections-women... He certainly makes his daughter look like a complete idiot sitting beside him when she's tweeting today about it being equal pay/rights for women in the workplace. This asshole doesn't give a shit about anyone, just himself. If he even cared about his wife or daughters, you'd think he would want them paid fairly and know that people had their back if they were ever sexually harassed in the workplace. Think again. This takes us back so many steps it makes me sick. My poor mother is so outraged she cannot even think straight. I had only heard about this because I spoke to her in the middle of her tirade because she had just heard about it. Every time this man [and I use the term loosely] opens his fucking mouth it's another attack, or temper tantrum, or a LIE. Hell he ran his damn campaign ripping on others for lies, and yet every fucking word out of his disgusting mouth is just one compounded lie after another. And yet, in this day and age, people are buying into it. I don't fucking get it? What is it going to take for people to wake up and see how he is continually dividing us as a nation? To see the con artist for what he is? If you haven't woken up yet, then truly I feel sorry for you. Never in my life did I ever feel such a divide in this country as I am feeling right now. You may think that friendships cannot be broken over what this administration is doing, but think again. They are bringing out the ugly in us, and I don't see it getting any better. It's not fun being blindsided by someone you've known over half of your life to suddenly see their true colors coming out in spades because 'we should back our President'. My friend of 30 years told me this a few days ago. I was so taken aback I couldn't even process the information that she actually voted for this piece of crap. It's not like I didn't know she has a piss poor view of certain races, there were little digs here and there throughout the years, but now that it's no holds barred, all the things I didn't know about her are front and center. It is tainting our friendship. Why? Because suddenly Trump has decided that it's okay to be a racist. It's okay to tell the world that you are and you expect to live in White America. That only White America should be the majority, should make the rules, should get away with whatever the fuck they think they are entitled to and fuck the rest of us. I honestly don't know where we are going to wind up when this administration comes to an end. What I do know is that we will be more divided, more racist, more hated by other countries, and there is no way in hell we will be the leader of the free world. Just look at his track record. Divide and conquer. What I say goes. I am the President, therefore, every lie I sell you is true.   I want no part of this bullshit. I would really love to get a copy of the Constitution and shove it up right up his ass. |
Now the second I saw this prompt, I just had to go with it, because, well....you'll see  Prompt: Tell us about your favourite swear word. What is it that you like about it? How often do you use it? As my mother would say, "Well holy shit the bed!"  And yes, we are talking about my favorite swear word SHIT. I don't know what the appeal is about this word for me. Maybe it's because it's the one bad word I got away with because it's just a tad more tame than dropping an EFF bomb. All I know for sure is that I use it daily, in as many sentences as possible. I'm not joking.My children know they've done good giving me a hard time when I refer to them as little shits. The first few times I went to Lebanon to live there, I remember trying to be really sweet and good, not swearing in English and learning all those delightful swears in Arabic. And let me just insert this here, English swear words do not compare to the Arabic ones. I mean come on, who uses a swear that talks about someone's sisters, vajayjay and makes it come off sounding noble? The Lebanese. That's who! Okay, so me being me, burning food, spilling something, clumsily walking into something it was impossible for me not to swear and my go to is always shit. My mother-in-law asked me what it meant, I translated it to her, which made her laugh. I cannot get the pronunciations down accurately. It wasn't long before she started mimicking me, and then all my in-laws were running around saying shit, and so were their kids. Shit for me is practically like saying hello. When I first got married and would yell shit, R would blow a gasket thinking something was seriously wrong. It's taken him awhile to realize that I could say the word for really no apparent reason at all. My bad. The strangest thing for me is that since Zak got married in December, I've noticed he says it a lot. I've never heard my kids swear really. Well, Danny loves to damn everything, and that still makes me stop in my tracks, but to hear Zak running around saying shit is too new and too bizarre at the moment. In a few months, I'll be the right proud mama, saying, ah, that's my boy! 
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| The Wildcard Round! This Week's winner, as selected from all eligible entries by the Virtual Dice, will receive an Inquisitive MB! Have you ever been on tv, the radio, or in your local newspaper before? Tell us about it! If not, tell us about someone you know who has. Yep, I've been on television when I was 5. We went to Chicago and I was on the Bozo show. I went with my Brownie troop, though I don't remember much. As for the newspaper, this is going to take a bit of history. My parents divorced when I was two, and my father didn't come around much. When I was 17 I went searching for him, found his mother's house and a few weeks later, I met my father. The relationship was short-lived. He would come in and out of my life for a few years, but never anything steady. In 2001, not long after buying the house I live in now, I happened to be going through the newspaper. I skimmed the page where there was an article about a new local business. I looked at the picture, didn't recognize anyone, and then I noticed the names. And there it was, in bold black staring back at me. My father's name. I didn't even know he was living here again. And in the same damn city no less. My father was a truck driver out of California and hardly ever had a route through Michigan. To learn he was back, living here, in the same damn city and he hadn't bothered contacting me really annoyed the hell out of me. I still have that newspaper article. No idea why. He's long since passed away. But there's my story. Thanks for all the great reading and interesting stories this month my fellow bloggers~ WakeUpAndLive️~🚬🚭2024  , Prosperous Snow celebrating  , SandraLynn Team Florent!  , Kit of House Lannister  , ember_rain, LdyPhoenix , Mitchopolis  , Chris Breva  , Lostwordsmith , SB Musing  , Jade Amber Jewel , Apondia  and of course a big shout out to Fivesixer  for keeping us going with the prompts. |
| War Chest Wednesday! From a previous challenger... Some people start making or buying Christmas presents in January and by October they're all wrapped and ready to go. Others hit the shops on Christmas Eve, frantically buying presents for everyone. Which are you? Tell us about the best Christmas present you ever gave anyone. No. No. No! No!! NOOOOO!!!! This is something I cannot even wrap my brain around. I mean, come on, seriously? How do you know that in say 10 months the person you're buying for won't:1~ buy the item themselves 2~ buy something better 3~ change their freakin minds 4 ~ totally forget they ever wanted said item 5~ have a huge lifestyle change 6~ or even die I could go on here. I have a million reasons not to shop this far in advance. Besides, doesn't it take away the fun of the season? I refuse to even listen to Christmas music until Thanksgiving Day! And they start playing it on November 1st. I avoid that station like the plague because the mere thought of it makes my skin crawl. I don't even want to see Christmasy items up in the stores before Halloween. That usually pisses me off when I walk into a store and see all the decorations out in mid October. Just goes to show how commercialized the holiday has really become. If you are someone who can shop way early, more power to you, but I personally want no part of that thank you very much! I think the best gift I ever gave was the complete James Bond collection. R got me into Bond. I really wasn't a fan growing up, and I remember making fun of my sister for being all into Roger Moore. Now I love the movies, and watch them all the time. So many channels do marathons and anytime they are running a marathon I'm all over it. So buying R the entire collection a few years ago was actually a smart move on my part. I also bought him all of Bruce Lee's movies one year as well. He was quite happy about that. |
| Talk Tuesday! What do you do when you can't sleep? Sometimes I will just lay there and make lists of the things I need to do when I finally drag my butt out of bed. Then there are times when I actually do get up and either play games on my phone, or hit the pc. Stories sometimes keep me awake and are relentless until I get things written down. When I am really tired I will read hoping that it will make me drowsy and I can go back to bed. I'm tired all of the time now, so falling asleep isn't difficult for me, it's staying asleep that is the biggest issue I have. And right now a nap sounds so inviting that I may just have to try and get one before the rest of the day pounces. I have been known to clean when everyone is sleeping. Any activity I can find that will help me sleep I will try at least once. |
| Motivational Monday! Jazz singer Sarah Vaughan , born on this day in 1924, once said, "When I sing, trouble can sit right on my shoulder and I don't even notice." What affect does writing have for you when trouble sits on your shoulder? One of the easiest things for me to do is get lost in my work. It can also be the most difficult. Usually, when I'm stressed out I clean to get my aggressions out. But coming back to the computer and writing is something I look forward to. A lot of my emotions come out loud and clear in my writing. I find it next to impossible to keep my emotions at bay most days. This can be a really good thing depending on the scene I'm working on. I think getting caught up in our work is the case for a lot of us. It's hard not to lose ourselves in the story or poem. Time can rush by when we are in the throes of it trying to get the things in our heads down, and then going through the process of perfecting it until we are satisfied. I tend to be a perfectionist when it comes to my writing. I never realized I was until someone pointed that fact out to me. Whatever our personal issues are, writing can be our own therapy, a little escape that takes us out of the here and now, and lets us focus on something else. I know for me, there have been times when writing has helped me figure out a personal problem I'd been having. That's the beauty of this world we as writers live in. You may be trying to distance yourself from something going on around you, and yet somehow it sits in the back of our minds and suddenly a solution will dawn on you. It's a gift.  |
| The Sunday News! This week, a self-driving car was involved in an accident in Arizona. What are your thoughts on autonomous vehicles? Cool new tech of the future? Too many unknowns and variables to be considered safe? Or do you fall somewhere in the middle? Tell us what you think. I probably fall somewhere in the middle. Of course, I think it's cool that technology has progressed this much that cars can operate without a driver. My kids hate driving, and honestly, I could see them getting around this way. I forced them both to learn how to drive, and they each have their own car. I think Zak may have slowly gotten into the benefits of driving, but Danny I can tell still would prefer not to drive if given the choice. As with any new tech, there are bound to be some glitches. Just think about a brand new car model. Never buy this vehicle. Why? Because it's the first year of this model and it will have issues without a doubt. Buy it in year three, because by that time, every problem and complaint will have been tweaked. I see driverless vechiles much in the same way. Whatever is new will have bugs to be fixed so that things run smoothly. Sure accidents suck, but having a car accident is nothing new. How many almost accidents have we all been in over the years whether we were the driver or not? And now with everyone texting and driving, or being so engrossed in our cell phones, accidents are on the rise. I grew up watching the Jetsons, and still to this day I remember how cool it was to see them fly around from here to there and get their food in an instant. I'm patiently waiting for these things to come to fruition. |
| Fun Fact Friday! On this day in 1973, musician Lou Reed was bitten on his rear end by a fan during a concert in Buffalo, NY....the male fan was ejected from the show. Do you have any fun or interesting concert stories involving bands you've seen that you'd like to share with us? Alternately, you can share any fun concert story you've heard if you don't have one from experience. The first concert I ever went to was in 9th grade. 6 of us went to see the B-52's at Pine Knob. We had great seats, main floor, row eight, left of center stage. I was on the end of our group of girls with my friend's mother. We are dancing, screaming and having a blast, when suddenly the guy next to me passes me a joint. Oh man how I wanted to take it My friend's mom started yelling at the guy, but he was too high to realize we were all about 14 at the time. Must have been the 80's high hair, mini shirts, and makeup I suppose. I saw Prince in 1994 at Joe Lewis Arena. And where did that tour kick off? The D! Deeeetroit baby. We Detroiters love our Prince. That's right, we claimed him. And I'm not really from Detroit, but I do live in the next city. But I claim Motown, Red Wings, Lions, Pistons, Tigers, and anything good that comes out of the city, just so we're clear. What I remember most about the Prince concert was him climbing on top of the huge black speakers that were on stage and jumping off of them, and then him and Sheila E pounding away on the drums. I screamed the entire night and could barely speak the next day. I drove a group of us downtown to see Pat Benatar. Here's a story. I locked my damn keys in the car, and didn't realize it until after the concert. We met up with friends, who piled 6 of us in a Mustang GT. Do you know how insane that was? We were able to go back to the venue and get a wire coat hanger and jimmy the lock. OMG, it was so crazy. I kept swearing up and down I had the keys in my pocket. But alas, they were actually still in the ignition.  That 79' Nova was so ugly no one would want to steal it!My most recent concert was Luke Bryan last year at Ford Field. It was his last concert of the Kill The Lights Tour. I was so damn happy because I couldn't really remember the last concert I had been to. Was probably 20 good years ago. So it was just me and my mom, and that was cool. I even bought a beer, and I usually don't drink, but I thought what the hell. The place fills up, Dustin Lynch comes out and opens. It was a pretty good performance. Then Little Big Town hits the stage. I wasn't really a fan of theirs until I saw them live. Hell, I was buying their songs on the drive back home through iTunes. Just before Luke hits the stage the 4 empty seats in front of us are finally occupied by two couples. The girls were smashed, and could hardly stand on their own, not that they needed too since they were determined to be hanging all over each other. Now the couple in front of me had a huge age difference. The girls didn't look older than mid 20's and this dude was a good 40+ and all gray. I mean I know the tickets were like $250 each, which makes me think sugar daddy. Hey! I'm not judgemental. Much.  Anyway, for the love songs, they were hanging on the guys. For every other song, the girls were hanging on each other, rubbing up against each other. It was really quite difficult to figure out who was with whom.They were a huge distraction to the concert. Even the family next to me were commenting every time they did something outrageous and laughed like it was the funniest thing ever. Drinks keep coming; like they needed more. The couple in front of my mom starts fighting. I think her date was a little jealous of the attention her girlfriend was getting. There was yelling, a lot of pushing and shoving, and of course, she broke down crying. Her friend and Mr. Gray were all over her, ready to comfort and lend support. The girl blew the fight off and went back to having her drunk on. They didn't even stay til the end of the concert. Who pays that much money for a concert ticket, misses the two opening acts, gets too damn drunk to even remember it the next day, and leaves in the middle of the main event? All I know is that I wasn't impressed. And I really, truly, painfully pray that that wasn't me twenty years ago at ANY venue I attended back in the day. I'd like to think I had a little more class than that, and that I didn't drink myself into missing out on a fantastic concert. I believe my concert list goes this way, [if memory serves] B-52s, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers with Lone Justice, Foreigner, 3 times in the 80's, INXS with the Soup Dragons, Prince with Sheila E, and Appolonia 6, The Cult, Pat Benatar. Oh and Rick Springfield a few years ago here at our yearly Homecoming and that was free. Best free concert ever!! I'm sure there are a few I'm missing, but I can't recall who. "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS"  by Fivesixer |
| What are some of your favorite things about springtime? It's definitely gotta be the weather and spending more time outdoors. Winter can drag on so long here, as I get older, my bones cannot take the cold. I totally appreciate the grill because I get so sick of the same foods during the winter. And by grilling, I mean not stinking up the house, and letting R cook. Anytime I don't have to cook is a good day for me. This morning when I woke up it was in the 20s. And if they are correct, tomorrow it's going to be close to 70. I pray that finally the weather will warm up and stay warmer. All this menopause, hot flashes, night sweats, and just being cranky has me losing my mind. I'm lucky to sleep for 20 solid minutes at a time. I long for a nice breeze, colder showers and the ceiling fan. I do admit warm sunny days and cool nights sound delightful to me right now. I am so dreading a hot summer. "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" by Fivesixer |
| War Chest Wednesday! From a previous challenger... Are you in any writing groups outside of WDC (like in your school or your community)? Have you/would you share blog entries in that group? How would you go about doing it, given the logistics of trying to share something that is on the internet in a physical group setting? Nope. None. Nada. But I've always wished there were one available in my area that wouldn't take me to downtown Detroit at night. A lot of my blog entries are personal rants. I have no issues sharing those, otherwise, I'd set my blog to private. With technology, it would be easy to pull the latest entry up on my phone and read it aloud. Or print it before and share it that way. I don't think it would be that difficult of a feat to accomplish. I imagine a lot of people print their work so they can share it and get feedback. Isn't that the whole purpose of a writing group? To help other writers polish their work? As for my personal rants and opinions, I have a pretty open mind, and love a good debate. This would be totally doable for me. "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" by Fivesixer |
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That's got to be tough, especially this time of year. 
Keep strong!
