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 |  Day to day stuff....a memoir without order. |
 Imagination is described by Webster as...The act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses in reality. Albert Einstein said "Logic will get you from A to B, but imagination will take you everywhere."  I never realized it until I read it somewhere but there are ways to boost one's imagination: Create a visual journal Draw whatever you see for 15 minutes a day. You don't need to be an artist. Think like an artist Cut out pictures from magazines & piece them together to create an original image. Listen to Bach Close your eyes while playing your favorite music. Or listen to the sounds of nature on a CD or in the great outdoors. Play word games Try thinking of as many words as you can that begin with MAR...or you pick. Daydream Let your mind wander, or focus on a single object & study its characteristics.     Everyone has a story....here's mine.....c   |
| Use the following words in your entry today: tumultuous, navigate, journey, and gargantuan. I'm not sure where this is going to take me but here is what came to mind right away. When I first joined WDC, I loved entering the Daily Flash Fiction Contest. Many days the prompt would be seemingly unrelated words you had to use in your entry. I developed a system. I would list the words, then under each word, I would write things that popped into my head without overthinking. So, I will do that for this prompt: tumultous relationships junk drawer bad housekeeping navigate boating life to the bathroom in the dark journey trip funeral outing with friends gargantuan overwhelming feat tarantula pine tree After writing down all the things I could think of, I would look over the words for connections, something that might be common to all four words. For example...A tumultuous room results in a gargantuan journey to navigate to the bathroom in the dark. With this sentence in mind, I would write my story. |
| What are you waiting for?There are so many ways to answer this question, both light and heavy, so I look forward to reading where you go with it! Although I hate to wait, I find myself spending a lot of time doing just that. This morning I had fasting lab work done after waiting 45 minutes. Any medical appointment involves waiting. It seems everything I do requires some amount of waiting. Waiting in the grocery line, waiting for the computer to boot, waiting at red lights, waiting to fall asleep, waiting for water to boil, waiting for speakers to begin, and so on and so on. Yes, everything requires waiting. Why do I wait? My mother always said some things are worth waiting for. And there is the balancing act. Is what I'm waiting for important enough to equal the time it takes to wait to get it. It must be because I'm always waiting for something. |
| Write your entry today about commitment. Committing to an activity, craft, person, way of being, etc. Consider the concepts of diligence, honesty, and responsibility. What does commitment look like to you? Commitment at my age is mostly to volunteer work, and I take it as seriously as I do any work. I'm full in when I commit. That means no procrastinating, and no side-stepping, doing the job (work) to the very best of my ability. I was a bookkeeper for a large part of my working life and so when my writing group needed a treasurer in 2013, I volunteered. Though I had no experience with non-profits, research and reading kept me abreast of current requirements. When I took over, the group had lost its Federal non-profit status because the previous treasurer neglected to file the appropriate yearly reports. I succeeded in getting reinstatement and continued to serve for almost 6 years. Sometimes volunteering is more stressful and burdensome than regular work, but most of the time I enjoyed holding the position. So that's what commitment looks like to me. |
| Write about a time when you made a wrong assumption. Did you realize your mistake right away, or did someone tell you later? What did you learn from your mistake? Nothing specific comes to mind, but I am one of those people who like to fill in the blanks when meeting someone new. As soon as someone starts talking, giving me a little information like their profession, where they're from, and their opinion on something, I get preconceived notions about them. You probably do this too. Doctors, lawyers and maybe even Indian Chiefs have a certain built-in status, and even though you may not know much about them personally, you have a template already in mind. I've been surprised many times by people who have later became friends. I always tend to elevate people and then after getting to know them, have to reconcile their normalcy to my previous ideas. Sometimes this is disappointing to me. |
| In your entry today, write about games! Board games, video games, card games, sports games, mind games, etc... Share a memorable story. I am a Scrabble person from way back when I was growing up right through today. On summer vacations with my best school friend, we always had a Scrabble game going in the evenings. Then, when I married, I converted my husband, and he became proficient even though he was a checker and chess player. I love the game. Now, I play a Pogo Scrabble game online. Coincidentally with this prompt I have a story in my memoir folder about Scrabble. "Scrabble"  If you have time, thanks for reading. |
| Describe a time when you exhibited bravery. I'm not sure I ever exhibited any bravery. The only thing that comes to mind is the many times I would catch my husband when he would start to fall, and then of course we both fell. Usually I kept him from being hurt but not always, and I think it was more reflex than bravery. I guess bravery for me would have to be speaking before a group, socializing when I really don't want to, and maybe that kayak experience. |
| Do you tend to be skeptical or trusting when meeting new people? Is your first impression of someone generally accurate, or does their true character surprise you? I wouldn't say I'm skeptical when I meet someone new, just interested to meet them and learn something about them. And I wouldn't say I'm entirely trusting either. Nonjudgmental might be the word I'm looking for. But I think we all make first impressions on each other, and as for me, my first impressions usually turn out to be true. Many times I will ignore those first impressions and continue on getting to know someone until I finally realize, nope, not my cup of tea. Something in their character will annoy me or turn me off. I think character flaws are only overlooked by people in love. I always thought people with similar interests would get along with each other, but even though one might have a similar interest, personalities differ, beliefs differ. Differences make for great discussion but maybe not for good friendships. I don't think I have enemies, but I don't have a lot of good friends either. |
| My current daily routine I would have to say is based around my cat. She is 17 and has chronic kidney disease so I have to make sure she drinks plenty of water which means getting up a couple of times through the night. I add some water to her wet food to encourage hydration, and she prefers a freshly filled water bowl. I expect I would be waking up anyway at least once so it is not a problem to me. In the mornings Mopsy comes first again with fresh water and food. Then it's making coffee and cereal (Special K Protein or overnight oats) with blueberries and almond milk. I've been eating this for a thousand years...almost. Next it's on to the computer, checking email, Facebook, the weather for the day, youtube news, and of course writing.com. I'm retired so there's no work to prepare for. Once my morning stiffness has worn off some, I'm in the shower, then getting dressed for the day. There is always something to do around the house even though I live alone, floors to mop, dusting, bathrooms to clean, bed to make, laundry to do, etc., etc. This varies from day to day. I have bird feeders and birdbaths to clean and fill, some yard work although that is limited now by arthritis, and on some days of the week places to go, grocery shopping, book club, writers' groups, doctors' appointments, a life history group, and other special things that come up. Saturdays are always one of these special things which may include eating out somewhere (never a fast food joint though). Lunch is almost always the same, a Morningstar Original Griller on a hamburger bun with spinach leaves, tomato, and mayo. I limit myself to one cup of coffee because I've had tachycardia (svt) so my drink is either water, a yogurt and banana smoothie, or a Crystal Light mix. I've been eating this lunch forever too. Once in a while I may vary it with an egg salad sandwich, a grilled cheese, or a tuna salad sandwich (Mopsy gets the other half of the can of tuna). Tomato soup is sometimes a go-with. But the griller is by far my preference. By 1:30 or 2, I need a short nap, 45 minutes or so, I can barely keep my eyes open if I'm home. If I'm out, this doesn't happen. Go figure. Home is boring I guess. If I'm reading a good book prior to the nap, sometimes it's delayed. Today, for instance, the weather is so nice (80 degrees and sunny) I've been pulling weeds and trimming some shrubs, too busy for a nap. If I have an art or writing project going on, morning and afternoons can be devoted to that so I do have some variation depending on when things are due. I always need a new story for 3 writing groups I belong to, and I sometimes do pet portrait commissions. Suppertime is between 5 and 6 and depends on preparation time. It could be a veggie stir fry, veggie chili, eggplant parm, a fav curry recipe I have, pizza, always a spinach salad with chopped apple, pecans, blueberries or strawberries with blue cheese dressing, and sometimes I'll just have an Amy's frozen dinner microwaved. No bread. My only bread is for lunch, pizza being the exception. I always try to watch PBS News Hour live on youtube at 6 although sometimes I can't make myself watch the entire show. I'm always checking FB and WDC throughout the day. Evenings are almost always devoted to reading and bedtime is around 11. The blogging here everyday has varied my routine a little, and it feels nice. I'm reading others' posts throughout the day and thinking about what I will write. Although I don't always comment, I always read everyone's post and really appreciate the time and effort each of you invest. |
| What are some of your favorite foods? Comfort food, ethnic food, meal, beverage, fruit, protein, unique food combination, etc - make us hungry! Salty food is my downfall. I never saw a potato chip I didn't like especially those big ones with the burnt edges. In my younger days (and probably now if I allowed myself) I could eat an entire huge bag of chips at one sitting. And it's mostly unconscious eating, one chip after another, while I'm doing something else, reading, watching a movie or tv, I'm on autopilot with the old hand going into and out of the bag. I thought I had died and gone to heaven when all those different flavored potato chips came out, sour cream, vinegar, pickle, barbecue, wow. I got so used to eating the vinegar chips if I only had plain, I would douse them with apple cider vinegar from the bottle and then drink the little bit of salty juice remaining in the bottom of the bag, I loved them so much. Once I went on a potato chip diet, only allowing myself to eat chips, thinking that perhaps that would turn me against them and I would never crave potato chips again. It didn't work. I ate chips for three days and the next one still tasted as good as the first. So the only way I found I could stop eating chips was not to buy them. I don't buy any kind of snacky salty food because they make me want chips even more. When I get to the point where I can't stand it, I buy the tiniest bag (1 serving of 170 calories) always hanging just above the check-out line at the grocery store, devoir it immediately when I get home, and that will satisfy me for a month or so. I don't think I will ever lose my craving for potato chips. Although it sounds wacky, chips are my comfort food. My favorite ethnic food would be pad thai (vegetarian), fav meal is eggplant parmesan, fav beverage is coffee, fav fruit is a toss up between blue berries, strawberries, or mango, fav protein is cheese anything, and bread and butter pickles on white bread would be my most unique (weird) food combination. I'm not sure any of this made anyone hungry, but I could sure use some chips right now! |
| Share a story from your childhood when you did something you weren’t supposed to. Did you get caught? I wasn't a prankster and was too shy to misbehave very much, scared of the consequences. And of course I was an only child so I had no ready victims at hand. The only things I can remember that got me into trouble were mocking the rooster, talking too much in school when I was supposed to be studying, and going home with a girlfriend once instead of riding the school bus home without permission, leaving my mom in the dark about where I was. I don't ever remember being spanked, but I did get a good talking to several times, once for opening the door to a salesman and inviting him in when I was home alone. My mom raised the roof on that one. I guess I was lonely and wanted the company, and I was very lucky that nothing happened. The talks did the trick with me since I guess I'm overly sensitive and they hurt my feelings. I enjoyed reading the pranks of other bloggers and wish I had had siblings, great fodder for stories. Thank you all for sharing. |
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