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Journal entries of my life as a writer. |
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This is a journal of my writing life since I joined the Writing.com community of writers. This is such a different place for me, I think it's a good idea to document my new writing adventures. |
July 19 Blogging Prompt for "Blogging Circle of Friends "  How much does the clutter that fills our closets describe us? I think the clutter in the closets describes a life. I once found an old report card that belonged to my dad from when he was in high school. I got so mad when I saw it. My dad was so big into me getting straight A's that he yelled at me for getting a B in biology and didn't even let me explain why I got a B. He was just angry that it wasn't an A. His report card showed he got a C in a foreign language class. I told him he couldn't expect me to get straight A's if he didn't get straight A's and I got A's in foreign language classes, when he only got a C. Boy was I ever hot under the collar. So I think the clutter in the closets is like a photo album of objects that tells an interesting story of who we are. |
| July 19 Blogging Prompt for "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" How do you feel about genetically modified food? Should companies be made to label their food if it contains genetically modified ingredients? According to what I've read, genetically modified food has been approved for commercial sale since 1994. The first approved food in this category was delayed ripening tomatoes. This would help tomatoes travel better on the trucks and be less squished before getting to market. This cuts down on food spoilage. I don't see a problem with making sure more food makes it to the consumers, rather than it going to waste on the way. Other examples were to improve nutritional value or improve resistance to things that would also make for better and more food for consumers. This makes me feel like the government is watching out for the food supply and better health and nutrition for consumers. The percentages of genetically modified foods making it to market are so high, everyone has probably already eaten genetically modified food. There are no labels on fresh tomatoes or fresh ears of corn. I don't think labeling something at this late date means anything at all. It seems pointless. |
| July 18 Blogging Prompt for "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" What completely silly fad have you fallen victim to? Do you think stress undermines empathic abilities? Is it different for men than women? Another double prompt day is with us again. I fell into the gum chewing fad years ago. I still enjoy chewing gum and blowing bubbles with the gum. I think blowing bubbles with bubble gum takes practice. I know gum chewing can be hard on the jaws and some gum can lead to tooth decay. I always liked Juicy Fruit gum because the flavors were so great. I know my mom thought it was strange I liked gum so much, but the gum chewing phases of my life have always been brief. I know people like to say things about my gum chewing habits and think what I did as a kid is what I do as an adult. Oh well. People are silly for thinking I chew gum now like I did when I was a kid. Based on the reading I've done, there is evidence that traumatic events can enhance an existing psychic ability. Stress could be traumatic and could enhance empathic abilities. I guess it seems like stress should weaken the ability, but I think it is possibly a defense mechanism that kicks in when needed. I think it is possible that men could find stress more traumatic than women. Women are equipped to handle child birth and this can lead to them handling stress better than men, although we all know this is not always the case. I believe carrying a child and giving birth to that child can build a strong bond between mother and child and possibly help the mother identify with the needs of the child. Not all mothers and their children get along, but I do feel mothers tend to be better at raising children than fathers. But both parents being involved seems to work best and there are some dads who handle raising their children better than the moms. I see nothing wrong with a stay at home dad if that makes sense for the family. I just wish I had a way to cut down or stop the child abuse that is so wide spread. Maybe more people need to develop empathic abilities. |
| July 18 Blogging Prompt for "Blogging Circle of Friends " What is your favorite restaurant? My favorite restaurant is Olive Garden. Yes, it's a chain restaurant and yes, it's a heavy carb restaurant. I just love the food they serve and the way the restaurants are set up to give a feeling of Italy. The bread sticks and salad and entres and deserts are all outstanding and the service is world class. I have been to different Olive Garden restaurants and they all had the same high quality all around. It is very impressive. There is obvious high quality management in this chain of restaurants. I also enjoy the changing menus with old favorites mixed in with the new dishes. I feel the prices are fair for the quality and quantity of food served. I feel this is an all around fantastic company. I don't think I have ever had a single thing to complain about with this chain of restaurants. I always felt like I was treated like royalty. It is a treat to dine at Olive Garden. My hat is off to them. |
| July 18 Blogging Prompt for "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Funny Friday: If HISTORY repeats itself, I am so getting a dinosaur! What are you getting? Be humorous, show me your comical side! On this time traveling scavenger hunt, I am getting a genuine court jester outfit. I made one for a French costume party and wore it years later at a costume contest at work. Then I showed up at a friends' house with it still on. Someone was rude enough to point out that my undershirt was showing because I had obviously gained weight since the time I made the costume. I thought I had done an outstanding job on the costume, especially with the hat and the fool. I cut the end of a broomstick off to make the handle of the fool. I sewed the bells on all of the points of fabric and on my shoes. I thought people would be impressed with my sewing skills. I thought they would think my outfit was cute. I didn't win the contest, but I did get to show off my creation to a large group of people. It was a stiff crowd. Maybe it was too over the top for them to handle. I was a tough worker, so maybe seeing my fun side was too much for them. I know there were high level managers there that day. I wonder what they thought of my display. |
| July 17 Blogging Prompt for "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" Which old fashioned monster do you find the most frightening? Frankenstein, Count Dracula, the Mummy or the Wolfman? Which fictional character would you like to be for one day? Another double prompt day... I think the Wolfman is the most frightening monster from this list because he seems the most vicious and the hardest to fight off. As far as which fictional character I want to be for a day goes, my life already sounds like a fictional work of art. So I choose the character Chickidoodle from Chickidoodle Chronicles. That would be my horror love story autobiography and I am Chickidoodle and I am proud to be Chickidoodle. So there... I am already a fictional character. Why would I want to be more than one fictional character when I can barely handle being Chickidoodle? |
| July 17 Blogging Prompt for "Blogging Circle of Friends " People spend a lot of time on their hair. Does your hair color or style say anything about you? I do think hair style and color say a lot about a person. Sometimes it's a matter of finding what works best for a person. I grew up with medium long hair and then went shorter and shorter my senior year of high school. Then a year later I went into my perm stage. I finally got it looking so good people thought it was natural. Then I went back to short for my teacher years. And now I'm back to medium long again. I think I will just stick with the medium long for economical reasons. Perms are expensive and have to be redone every few months. Short hair needs to be maintained as well. I know it's not good, but I can go a very long time without a trim with my medium long hair. So I will keep my wash and wear longish hair for the foreseeable future. The only thing is that it makes me look like I did back when I was a teenager and people don't believe me when I tell them I'm 47. Oh well... |
| July 17 Blogging Prompt for "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Do women talk more than men? There is a new science study on this topic, what do you think? Don't be shy, say it like it is. I my opinion, women talk way more than men. I heard men like to talk about sex and women, but I think women have much more to say. Don't teenage girls talk on the phone more than teenage boys? Although I did talk on the phone for hours on end with a teenage boy when I was a teenager and I had a marathon series of phone calls with my first boyfriend many years after we broke up. Now in both of these cases it was kind of equal on how much we were talking. But then I did have that phone call relationship for years. He would call and I would do most of the talking. My answer still stands that womem talk more than men. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it. |
| July 16 Blogging Prompt "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Confucius say, "To go beyond is as wrong as to fall too short." Do you agree or disagree? I choose to aim high in life. I say that I aim for the stars and if I only hit the moon, at least I hit the moon. I aimed at becoming a high school math teacher and I ended up teaching at the college level, too. So was it bad to overshoot my goal? I don't think it's bad to teach at the college level. So, no, I do not think it's bad to go beyond. I am an over achiever. So what? What's wrong with being an over achiever? People in the workplace valued me as an over achiever. I learned there is power in knowledge. I was good at being a content expert. People knew to go to me for answers and support. I enjoyed working in production support because of it. I learned all I could and helped others learn so they could do a better job. I did corporate training. The world of education doesn't know that's teaching, but I wasn't passing out letter grades, so there is a difference. As a teacher, I helped shape a school and did what I could to turn around the reputation of that school. I am proud of being an over achiever, even if it means there is professional jealousy. I did the best job I was able to do under the circumstances. I am proud of the work I have done throughout my life. I do believe a job worth doing is a job worth doing well. I believe in a strong work ethic, even if I did play sick at work one day to get my homework done. Oh well, I'm not perfect. I'm only human. |
| July 16 Blogging Prompt for "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" If you were going to an art museum, would you rather see paintings or sculptures? Do you like older ones or modern ones? I like all art in museums. It's fun seeing the different types of art all mixed together in one building. I like a mixture of old and new art in the same museum. I like it all. |
| July 16 Blogging Prompt for "Blogging Circle of Friends " What is your favorite magazine? Why? Do you read it on-line or off-line? My favorite magazine is from childhood. It's Highlights magazine. I used to see it at the doctor's office waiting room. It was fun to find the hidden objects and it was cool people made a magazine just for kids. I don't know if it is available online or not. I enjoyed it in paper form offline. |
| July 15 Blogging Prompt for "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Tell us about a time you had to choose between two options. Against the opinion of your family and friends, you chose the unpopular choice. Why? What were you hoping the choice would provide? Against what anyone wanted me to do, I became a credentialed teacher in the state of California in the US of A. This is the most important achievement I have in my entire life. Being a teacher was what I was meant to be. I still consider myself a teacher, but now I teach the world. I am now able to use my education and experience to share what worked for me, in the hopes what I present will also help others. I feel it is my social responsibility to give back to the world of education after receiving so much from my educational career. I have attended public and private schools and I know quality when I see it. I hope my educational resources make life better for teachers, parents and students of all ages and ability levels. I chose to be a teacher because that was a goal of mine since elementary school. School was more fun than being at home and I really enjoyed learning new things. I was hoping becoming a teacher would allow me to make a positive difference for students. I also wanted to make high school better for others than it was for me. I ended up helping students complete their high school education by teaching them how to go to college. I helped to break the cycle of uneducatedness in that town. I convinced a parent to get her high school diploma and another parent to go to college. One of my students earned a double associates degree from the community college in that town. I helped make a college graduate. |
| July 15 Blogging Prompt for "Blogging Circle of Friends " Tell us about a happy memory you have. I was so happy when I finally finished my bachelor's program at University of San Francisco in California in the US of A. I received a Bachelor's of Science in Information Systems Management. That's a management degree in a bachelor's program, rather than a master's program. It is a highly marketable degree for the tech world. It took me twelve years, four colleges and at least three majors to complete that degree. Working full time while going to school made me focus even harder on school. I usually took classes one at a time and somehow finally finished. This allowed me to get over one of the hurdles to becoming a credentialed teacher in the state of California. I am so proud of this degree. It means the world to me. It was through this special program that I learned how to create an HTML website years ago. Look at me now. https://www.edonyourown.com |
| July 15 Blogging Prompt for "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" Animal testing - yes, no, maybe. Let me hear your opinion. Do you believe in conspiracy theories? Which ones and why? So we got a double dose of Blog City and no prompt yet for Blogging Circle of Friends... Maybe it will arrive later on in the evening. I am an animal lover and I know cruelty has been done to animals during testing. So I have kind of a strange view on animal testing. I'm okay with it in certain circumstances and not others. I guess that leaves me in the grey area of maybe for this prompt. As far as conspiracy theories go, I'm keeping my mouth shut. I am very aware that people do conspire to commit crimes. I just feel like I'm not in the place in my life where I want to go on and on about my beliefs in various conspiracy theories. Oh, well. :) |
| July 14 Blogging Prompt for "Blogging Circle of Friends " Write an anecdote. According to Merriam-Webster.com, anecdote comes from the Greek word anekdota, which means unpublished. It is defined as a short short story concerning a funny or interesting occurrence, or event. Based on the Greek definition, it's impossible to respond to this prompt in my blog, because once I submit this entry, it's published electronically. The other definition looks like a possible definition for flash fiction. Is this the non-fiction version of flash fiction? Or are flash fiction stories anecdotes? The line between anecdote and flash fiction seems very blurred here. Maybe flash fiction is just a really, really bare bones story in as few words as possible, in order to get the point across. If the story doesn't need it, throw it out. If it's included, it better be relevant and pertinent to the story. Nothing outside of what is needed for the story should be included. There are people who beg for the beautiful painting of the story to be spelled out in black and white. With flash fiction, some things are left up to the imagination of the reader. In my opinion, it takes a higher degree of imagination to truly enjoy flash fiction. I have been told there are some people who don't like flash fiction. They want a good mixture of the whole picture, the whole kit and kaboodle with the kitchen sink thrown in as well. I say you get what you get. The writer dishes it up and the reader takes it as it is. Editors and editing is another concept altogether. Who owns the story? Who is allowed to tinker with it? Is there a contract that clearly states what will happen? Do editors make suggestions, or do they turn into editers? I have serious issues with this concept. Delibetate mistakes have been found in my writing. I had to clean up Chickidoodle Chronicles in one fell swoop, so my stalkers didn't mess with it again. I hate being a stalking victim and having every single thing in my life destroyed. How do I get away from it? As far as writing an anecdote goes, I'm choosing the impossible Greek definition. It can't be done in this blog. |
| July 14 Blogging Prompt for "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Do you think suicide should be legal? This is very interesting. I guess the concept is a person should want to live life to the fullest extent and have the best life possible. So if someone is suicidal, it is considered a mental illness and that person should receive medical attention. Adding in that it is illegal to take your own life is very interesting because the only way to break the law is to actually succeed in the suicide attempt, so the failed attempt is not a crime, but an illness. I ponder this from time to time as it really messes with my head. Doctor assisted suicide, or helping someone to their death, is a very different concept. It's supposed to be for those people whose lives are so miserable from their ailment that they beg to be dead and then it is considered a mercy for a doctor to help those people to their deaths. Then there are those people who are unable to beg for their own deaths. That is a sticky wicket. The advanced directive helps with this, as it allows someone to choose how things are handled in such a circumstance, before they are unable to beg for their own death. The people who don't have advanced directives are at the mercy of spouses or loved ones or sometimes the courts. There are ways to show if someone is brain dead or not. Some ailments are so bad, there is no recovery. Some people remain in a coma for extended periods of time. I say take an alarm clock to those people. They might just think they're asleep. Once someone is off of life support and surviving on their own, things are a mess. There is no plug to pull in those cases. My mom was given the option of letting my dad starve to death because he was declared a vegetable and he was such a brilliant mind before the blood vessel burst at the base of his brain. It doesn't take all that long to starve to death and this disaster went on for weeks. My grandma called me up at work one day and told me I had to fly down and take care of my mom because things were getting so bad. It was horrible. My mom couldn't stop crying and begging my dad to come back. They said they had to relocate my dad from the hospital to a nursing home. So I took my mom and grandma to see Jurassic Park while my dad was being transferred. I figured everyone needed a break. After the movie, we were told my dad had died in transport. He was just too weak to survive the trip. The next several days were like a blur. I felt like the only one on top of things. Mark wanted to help with the obituary, but got mad every time I asked him what he wanted to do on it. Jay came to the house because my dad had left things from work at home and she wanted him to give the eulogy. I remember him askng my mom what to say because he didn't know what should be said. At the memorial service, I sat next to my brother and listened to Jay go on and on about my brother. He had such nice things to say. He looked over at Mark when he was finished, saw me sitting next to Mark and he looked like a ghost had scared him because he forgot to mention anything about me, so he said, "... and his daughter, Janine." It was like a lifetime confirmed. My family didn't care about me. I don't think my family even noticed I was forgotten in the eulogy. At the line outside of the church, where we thanked everyone for attending the service, the people from my dad's dance troop, who filled the place, kept asking me over and over if I was going to move back to Los Angeles to take my dad's place and lead the dance troop. I just had to laugh. There was no other choice. People who barely knew me wanted me to lead them in dance, yet I was forgotten in the eulogy. Jay didn't know what to say. I told him not to worry about it. I didn't tell him, but I blamed my mom for not giving him anything to say about me for the eulogy. How was I going to explain that in that brief moment? I know people thought it was inappropriate to laugh after my dad's memorial service, but from my perspective, I could laugh or cry and I chose to laugh. I found out later I was turned into the FBI for murdering my dad, who died of natural causes, because I laughed that day. My laughter is something people remember me by. People either like it or hate it and more people told me they liked it than hated it, so that's the way it was. Years later, my laughter came in handy a few times. I laughed when someone asked me if I was CIA and supposedly, I laughed my way into an international espionage investigation. It was the first accusation hurled at me that could have possibly been accidentally true. I wrote about why I thought it was so funny. Supposedly they used what I wrote as part of the investigation and then tried to shut down the investigation by incarcerating me at home, while I lived at my grandma's house for a couple of years. Yeah, I'm known for my laugh. |
| July 14 Blogging Prompt for "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" Vacation or Staycation: which do you prefer and why? This answer changes as time goes on for me. I love the idea of going all over the place on vacation and I have been to many different places in my life. However, the past several years have been a great big slice of hell. I have been attacked in my house, in my apartments, in hotels, in motels, in my car and even out sleeping on the ground. It hasn't mattered where I have slept, my stalkers have found me. So, I think I need to say it's staycations for me since it's so hard to find anyone to protect me. |
| July 13 Blogging Prompt for "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Provide your thoughts/opinions on a newspaper/magazine article or a radio/television news story from the past week. And if you feel inclined, let loose and blog about your week. Also, feel free to comment on your favorite blog entries from your fellow challengers from the preceding week. I read a magazine article this morning using my Flipboard app on my phone that was originally found on The Wire on July 8, 2014 by Polly Mosendz, called Restaurant Owner Sues Google for 'Sabotaging' Weekend Sales. I thought this article was both interesting and landmarking. According to the article, Google is responsible for posting an ad for a restaurant incorrectly stating that it was closed on weekends and Mondays. The restaurant used to have their highest volume and sales on the weekends. Business dropped off so much, that they laid off workers and were forced to close the restaurant due to too little business to sustain it remaining open. It said Google is trying to have the case dismissed for having no merit. I think there is merit to this case and this is a valid way to run someone out of business. I think the case should go forward and if the proof stated in the article can be substantiated, then I think the restaurant owner should win the case and for a very high dollar amount for destroying that person's ability to earn a living. The taint could possibly extend to another restaurant started by the same owner and the same sabotage could be done for any restaurant that owner ever opens in retaliation. This could be construed as a targeted attack, rather than picking a random restaurant due to the uniqueness of the dishes served. I think this could be a landmark case for showing how false advertising can destroy lives with the loss of jobs and a business, which was the source of income for the owner. I hope the case goes the way I want it to go. I enjoyed the blog entry from yesterday by amy-Has a great future ahead   , titled "Invalid Entry" . I was very impressed with her first attempt at song lyrics. I believe the lyrics she wrote told a beautiful story that should be told and why not tell it in song? I hope she continues her efforts in writing in general and specifically lyrics. I am just so happy to share her gift with the readers of my blog.This past week, I finished assembling my crazy quilt top and put the three layers of the quilt together and sewed the binding and started the quilting to hold the three layers together. I am enjoying this hand sewing adventure. I have been posting the progress of the quilt on Facebook and I even used one of the photos to make an educational resource to add to the art section of my website https://www.edonyourown.com as a written response to a photo. The assignment requires a little research and includes a trick question. The answers are provided, so a teacher or parent could guide the student(s) through the assignment and could do some research to supplement the activity to make it an even larger project. This is how I build my website. I do my creative work and then use my creations to make interesting worksheets and packets to be used in the classroom and at home. This is one of the reasons why I am still here at https://www.Writing.com. I have found some very interesting resources in this community that can be molded into educational resources, without resorting to plagiarism. This online writing community has sparked many different ideas for me to use in my work. Enjoy. |
| July 12 Blogging Prompt for "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" Us And Them by Pink Floyd I like Pink Floyd's music a lot. I read the lyrics for this song and it sounded like it was about war and hard times. I often think of people who write song lyrics as poets. So many songs sound like poetry set to music. Rap music is extremely intetesting as a sort of Ghetto poetry in music form. I'm not sure they consider themselves poets. They might take offense to being called poets. Oh well. This is a very interesting prompt. I have trouble hearing some music on my phone, but I can read the lyrics and still participate that way. I don't feel like I have much more for this entry. Take care. Oops... I'm supposed to be creative and write something along those lines... Here it goes. Marching Blue They came in like a storm Crashing through the barriers What comes next? Will they use bullets? Will they use gas? Will they use high powered water? How many will be injured? How many will flee? Did the marching blue do their job? That could be a matter of opinion |
 I ended up getting up early again today, so I was all excited to get started on the blogging prompt for this morning, but it's not there. So here I am just writing something because I was all set to write in this blog. I didn't want to let myself down or get all down in the dumps, so I decided to treat myself to a free prompt for now. I have to do what I can to keep my spirits up. Wah. I want my prompt. I guess I'll have to just keep checking and hope I remember to get it done today. I hate when I forget to answer the prompt. It really bothers me. Oh well, on with my day. Toodles. |
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