Blog @ Work

Money and balance

Fun Fact Friday! On this day in 1998, four tourists who had paid $32,500 each were taken in a submarine to view the wreckage of the Titanic (the ship is 2 miles below the Atlantic off Newfoundland). Assuming money is no object, what do you think would be a fair price to pay for something that maybe would've been considered at one time impossible to see? (30-Day BC)

Two people with money to burn have put down deposits for the ultimate getaway -- a trip around the moon, the president of the space tourism firm that booked the trips said this week.

Tickets to ride cost $150 million apiece which, in comparison to NASA’s multibillion-dollar Apollo moon program and the cost of flying in space in general, “is actually very affordable,” Space Adventures president Tom Shelley told the National Space Club Florida Committee during luncheon panel on space tourism.
When laughter filled the room, Shelley added, “Well, it’s good value. Let’s put it that way.” (seeker.com)

If money was no object then I would consider going someday. The feeling of being unattached to the earth and actually see the earth when traveling in space would be astonishing. Walking on the moon in a special space suit would be fun too, experiencing the moon’s gravity. It would be a once in a lifetime trip. If the money is there, why not? I think despite problems on Earth you could spend the money on (poverty, climate change, refugees etc.) it is very important that science and NASA are exploring what’s out there in the great big yonder. That costs money! If they can fund it by exploring space tourism then I would be for it. Hopefully they will not clutter space with waste.

Americans spend more money per year on lottery tickets than on sports tickets, movie tickets, books, video games, and recorded music, with lottery players split between those who play for money or for fun. Write a short story with the focal point on a character buying a lottery ticket. How would she spend the prize money if she won? What does the lottery reveal about your character's perspectives on luck and money? Whether your character plays often or rarely, whether she wins or loses, what makes this specific lottery purchase remarkable in the context of your story? (BCoFs)

They shared everything, their home, their time, and their lives. The two elderly sisters were content with living a quiet life in western France. They took care of each other, especially now Clare the oldest was bedridden. But the other sister, let’s call here Eugenie, had a secret dream she never told Clare about. She wanted to travel and see something of the world while still in her sixties. So every month Eugenie bought a lottery ticket and dreamed a little dream about what to do with the money once she won. Which she never did. Till one day in spring: she went to the grocery to see whether her ticket had won anything when the lady at the counter gasped and looked pale: “You won one million euro Eugenie, congratulations.” Eugenie was in shock, walked back to the house, saw her invalid sister Clare and realized she could do nothing with the money while Clare was still there. So she picked up a pillow and smothered the invalid Clare till death. Then she packed her things and left town. She was caught by the police a few weeks later whilst in Paris to prepare for her big travel around the world. She got sentenced with fifteen years in jail.

A true story set in the 1990s I think. It is an example of how some people get into a different mode of thinking once big amounts of cash are involved. There is nothing wrong with dreaming a little every month but to actually kill your sister because you don’t want to share and can’t see beyond the greedy point of getting the money is terrible. People turn into animals when money is concerned. Their psyche get all mixed up. Money is the root of all evil. Today’s society is all about materialism.

While at Omi International Arts Center in Ghent, New York, artists Alex Schweder and Ward Shelley built a house that spins and tilts in agreement with the wind, and the shifting weight of its inhabitants. Then they resided in the structure for five days, and will spend another several days living there this fall. Write a poem or story inspired by the image or idea of living in a structure that is constantly spinning, and which tilts up or down as you walk through it. What kind of vocabulary or pacing might mimic or reflect the sensation of spinning? How can you play with emotional weight or levity to create shifting feelings throughout your work? (BC)

http://www.designboom.com/architecture/reactor-house-alex-schweder-ward-shelley-...

I walk along and stop
I step along and drop
everything

This rhythm of walking
a few feet before
losing one’s – balance -
is the strangest:

Swaying
Swinging
Hurtle
Sling.

Day FORTY EIGHT "Give It 100!"