%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 |
  Noyoki's Blog. This is where I'll keep my responses to Blogging challenges, and stuff. |
|
** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only **
|
| “Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.” - Stephen King 30 Day Bogging Challenge Creation Saturday! Write about a time where the end of something has led to the beginning of something else. God tugged his beard and gave the bowl another stir. His eyes narrowed at the mixture before he turned to the recipe book again. Land? Check. Sky? Check. Water? Assorted plant life, a good mix of animals? Check, Check, Check. The color was all wrong, and it was a little too squishy. Nope, this was a bad batch and it wouldn’t do at all. Not for what he had planned. Sighing, God scooped the glob out of the bottom of the bowl and flung it out the window. It settled in a far off corner of the universe and was forgotten. Give it 100% Friday was pretty good until it all went bad. Not too bad, but meh. So I got my exercises done, then went to work. All was well. When I got home, it was off to Shane’s cousin’s birthday party. She had a camping theme, and we roasted hotdogs, and there was a wide assortment of desserts based off s’mores. Mmmmmm. I wasn’t as bad as I normally would have been. I had one chili dog, three meat balls, two of the s’mores bark things, a marshmallows on a stick and a piece of b-day cake. Okay, not great. I’ll grant you that, but still. Normally I would have had two of the hot dogs, chips, and snarffed out on the desserts all night. When I got home, husband and I took a short bike ride. Today I just got back from riding my bike down the easier side of the street twice. Turns out the back tire of my bike was a little low, which is why riding was so hard. It’s still not easy, but I don’t feel quite so pathetic now. When I was a kid, I could ride for hours and feel fine, now I want to curl up and sleep for a month after one short bike ride. So lame. |
| “That moment when you have so much stuff to do but you decide to take a nap instead.” - PictureQuotes.com 30 Day Blogging Challenge Prompt: How'd it get this late so early? Sweat dripped into my left eye, but I didn’t take the time to wipe it away. “Come on, come on,” I whispered under my breath. Every heartbeat was a second lost. Time laughed at me, and I had to fight to keep my fingers steady. Where had all the time gone? I should have hours yet, but I knew the guard would be waking any minute. Time continued melting away while my hands worked, independent of my frantic thoughts. With the skill of a neurosurgeon, my fingers danced over the keys. A few more strokes. Behind me, the guard groaned. Enter. My smile is wild, it doesn’t matter if he wakes now. This will change everything. Blog City Prompt: A book is only the heart's portrait, every page a pulse. What are your feelings on this? I’m not sure I agree with this one. There are many books that touch my heart, but there have been a lot of duds too. Maybe one specific book could be my heart’s portrait, but it isn’t something I would say in general. Give it 100% - Day 18 I’m almost at the end of week three, and not a day missed.  One fascinating thing I’ve learned is how our minds play games with us. When I wake up in the morning, I hobble around like an old woman. My knee hurts, my back aches, and I am certain that I won’t be able to do a single jumping jack. Yet, once I walk down the stairs and get situated, the aches and pains quiet. Once I start moving, I’m gone and things come together. So I guess the question is, which one is real? The aches I woke up with, or the lack of pain when I exercise? |
| “Now you people have names. That's because you don't know who you are. We know who we are, so we don't need names.” ― Neil Gaiman, Coraline Blog City Prompt: Music is the art of thinking with sounds. Do you agree? I’ve never thought of it that way before, but it makes sense. For me, the best music tells a story. It doesn’t require words but the feel of the music conveys that feeling of story. That can translate into a free-flow of thoughts made into sound. 30 Day Blogging Challenge War Chest Wednesday! From the War Chest... From a humorous perspective, what is the worst thing parents can do to their children? The worst thing a parent could do to their child is make the horrific mistake of thinking they can cut their children’s hair. If you’re job isn’t that of a hairdresser, please, for the love of all things shiny, don’t try and cut your kids hair. It’s cruel and unusual punishment, and you’ll only have to go to the hairdresser anyway to get the botched job fixed. That or shave off all the poor kid’s hair, thus scaring them for life. Give it 100% - Day 17 Closing in on the end of week three. I’m proud of myself. Even though some days I’ve had to drag myself down to the basement to get this done, I’ve done all my exercises. Another win for me, every day this week so far I’ve managed to make it through the full time for the warm up exercises. Yay me! Then again, they’re only two minutes, so it’s kind of pathetic that I couldn’t do it before, but still. Try and do two minutes of a) squats, b) pushups c) jumping jacks, two circuits worth each twenty seconds long without taking any breaks between. It’s harder than it sounds. Tomorrow I’m going to be a bit naughty. We’re having a food day at work and I’m going to indulge, but not eat tooo much. Right. |
| “Sometimes they say that you eat the bear. But sometimes the bear eats you.” Jim Croce Hard Time Losin’ Man Yesterday I was going strong, then I was taken down by a wily chiropractor. I’d made it half way through my to-do list, and was hoping to go all the way (something I’ve only managed to do once in the past three weeks I’ve started keeping a to-do list), when she got me. My chiropractor isn’t the sort who snaps, cracks and sends you on your way. Oh no, her style is a little more…hands on. She adds applying targeted pressure and deep tissue massage which isn’t the most pleasant experience ever. Anyway, after that my motivation died a short, ugly death and I laid on the couch and played on my phone instead of getting things done. Today I’m going to bite that bear right on the ass. 30 Day Blogging Challenge Talk Tuesday! How do you get yourself mentally ready to write a blog entry? Do you have any tips or methods you'd like to share that help you get prepared? I don’t have a specific strategy for approaching blog prompts. When I get the prompts the evening before or that morning, I read them. Then I think about the prompt during the day. By the time I sit down to write, I generally have a good idea of where I want to go. Some prompts will tease me all day, and others are more of a struggle. My tip is to write your blog entries out on a word doc first. That way, you won’t end up losing your work if the internet crashes unexpectedly. The only problem with this method is all the coding has to be done at the end when you move your work over to writing.com. Someday I hope they find a way to keep formatting when you copy/paste. That will be such a happy day. Blog City Prompt: Book covers: Which kinds of books do you NOT want to buy or read, if judging from their covers? The book covers that don’t capture my interest are boring ones. If the cover is a single color, with bland text for the title, I’m unlikely to pick it up. Book covers shouldn’t be too convoluted either. If it’s a story about werewolves, I don’t want a bright yellow cover with the picture of a bell and a peacock on it. Covers need to make sense and attract the target reader. We expect romances to have half naked men and swooning women on them. This would be inappropriate for a hard boiled crime novel. Readers are trained to expect certain things by glancing at the cover. When a writer doesn’t live up to that expectation, they risk losing readers or not attracting the readers they’re targeting. Give it 100% - Days 15-16 I did my exercises yesterday and added a new twist of fun (not so much) to my schedule. Now I’m walking 15 minutes on my afternoon work break. When I get home, I’m letting Shane ride his bike down to the end of the street while I walk with him. For the past two days I’ve started my day with exercise, and walked an extra 30-45 minutes a day. Confession time, when I went to pick Shane up at Culvers, he and Grandma were eating chocolate ice cream. I was a good girl, I refused when she asked if I wanted to get one for myself, but then Shane was done with his and he offered it to me. My will couldn’t take it, and I ate some. Not all of it, but meh. Chocolate ice cream isn’t great for dieting, but I’m not going to beat myself up over it, more importantly I’m not going to say ‘screw it’ and go snarf a whole bunch of other bad for me stuff just because I slipped a little this afternoon. That’s something a lot of dieters run headlong into. They’ll have a little slip, then count the whole day a waste. They’ll go from a bit of ice cream straight to McDonalds for a supersize meal. All the while, they’ll say “I’ll get back on track tomorrow.” Or worse. “I better start fresh next week, next month, next year.” I refuse to fall to my own illogic! So, nope. I’m not waiting until tomorrow to get back on track. |
| “A non-writing Writer is a monster courting insanity.” - Franz Kafka The Pocket Muse Prompt: Write about a person whose reputation rests on the appearance of an inanimate object. There was only one left. Impossible, how could this happen? I took a deep breath, the sound of Christmas music tinkled overhead, mocking me. Every breath brought with it the enchanting flavor of roasting nuts, but who cared? Glancing around, I scoped out the other shoppers. I knew I shouldn’t have waited for the last second, but the mall. Ugh, I hate the mall. Tomorrow, I kept telling myself. Tomorrow. Well, I was fresh out of tomorrows and my husband wanted one thing this year, that stupid video game. I’d already been to every gamer store in town, and they were sold out. So I braved the dreaded mall, only to find one damned copy left. Okay, everything was fine. Nothing wrong here. I had to get it first, that’s all. I saw a boy close in on the game. “No, it’s mine!” I shouted. People scattered like startled pidgins as I made my kamikaze run. Shoving an old lady into a card board cut out of some gaming monster or another I dove for the game. The little brat got it first. I snarled and pounced. Fists and feet flew, people screamed, and that’s how I got arrested last Christmas Eve. 30 Day Writing Challenge The Sunday News! This week, cellular company Verizon announced plans to start testing an ultra-fast 5G network sometime in the next year. This network will be designed to handle more internet-connected devices, and will allow for such luxuries like the ability to download a 3-D movie in six seconds. My question: How much to we really need our cell phones to do, now or in 2017 (the target US nationwide rollout date)? Does anyone even use their phone to actually make and take calls anymore? What doesn't your phone do that you wish it would? First, a confession. I’m a cell addicts. Yes, I know, you’d never believe it, but it’s true. I love my phone, my apps, everything. Games aren’t my thing, but having total access to the internet at all times works for me. I have Audiables, Autobooks, Pandora, and a number of other amusing apps to listen to while I work. I also have tools for writing, a couple of notebook programs, a recorder for when I’m driving, and endless access to writing.com. So I love it whenever Verizon makes my phone even better. What would I like to see in the future? More space. That’s my only real complaint. Whenever I get the error: you’re out of room. Then I have to begin deleting, and that’s never fun. Give it 100% - Day 14 Today was my second day of rest for the weekend. I rode my bike to the end of the street and back – the easy side – which took 17 minutes. Then, I walked to the other end of the street – the hard side. That took another twenty minutes, and my legs are still burning. Bum Bum bummmmmm, time for the weigh in. 216.9. Not bad. It’s a start anyway. I can’t wait until I’m back out of the 200s. That’ll be a happy day. Back to exercising tomorrow. Joy of joys.   |
| “Too many of us are not living our Dreams because we are living our Fears.” Les Brown Blog City Prompt: What do you think is the difference between a writing prompt and a polling question? Those are two different beast. It’s like asking if there is a difference between goats and penguins. Yes, they’re both animals, but aside from that, not much in common. A writing prompt is designed to inspire the writer. When we take on a prompt, we stretch our thoughts and explore places we might not have before. In truth, prompts are about the writer. It’s about focusing on growing as a writer and on bringing our past and insights to the prompt. Polling questions are manipulation on a basic level. They’re a lot like statistics. You can twist statistics to support anything you want them too. The same is true with polling questions. Here’s a perfect example: The Dihydrogen Monoxide Hoax. This was a hoax where people were polled to see if this chemical should be banned. Some of the facts presented were as follows: - Also known as hydroxyl acid, and is the major component of acid rain. - Is one of the main contributing factors of the “greenhouse effect.” - May cause severe burns. - Contributes to the erosion of our natural landscapes. - Accelerates corrosion and rusting of many metals. - May cause electrical failures and decreased effectiveness of automobile beaks. - Has been found in excised tumors of terminal cancer patients. Despite the dangers, dihydrogen monoxide is often used in the following: - As an industrial solvent and coolant. - In nuclear power plants. - In the production of Styrofoam. - As a fire retardant. - In many forms of cruel animal research. - In the distribution of pesticides. Even after washing, produce remains contaminated by this chemical. - As an additive in certain “junk-foods” and other products. With all of these facts and dangers, was it any wonder that almost everyone polled elected to ban this chemical? Wouldn’t you vote to have such a dangerous substance removed? What no one thought to ask was what the chemical was. It’s water. That’s why I believe poll questions are devious. It’s all about how you word the question, and every question is worded to get a certain response. In the end, it’s all about manipulating the public to get the answer you want to support your position. No, poll questions have no kinship with writing prompts, no more than penguins have with goats. 30 Day Blogging Challenge Creation Saturday! If you could erect a statue of any inanimate object to represent you, what would it be, and what would the dedication plaque on it read? My statue would have to be a pile of books. Reading has been my escape for over twenty years even if I had a rough start. Let’s put it this way, Hooked on Phonics didn’t work for me. Reading came hard to me, and I still feel mildly traumatized whenever I’m called on at work to read something out loud. Thankfully that’s only happened once or twice, but it always takes me back to those early classes, stumbling over words and having the other kids laugh. I don’t recall what grade I was in, but it was another dreaded reading circle. One kid started laughing at me when I had trouble, and the teacher decided to put a stop to it. First, she made him read the passage, and when he did it perfectly she got a much harder book for him to read. He stumbled, and she laughed at him. Looking back at this memory, I was glad, but humiliating him in turn for humiliating me doesn’t seem like the best choice now. It could have been handled better, I’m sure. Anyway, in middle school I was drawn into reading vampire stories, and from there I became a bookaholic. I still remember that first book. It was called Look For me By Moonlight by Mary Downing Hahn and that began a grand love affair with all books vampire. I’m still fond of the genre. I can’t begin to count the number of books I’ve devoured since then. Some I’ve read again and again, like going to an old friend’s house. There’s one set: The Dark Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop that wore out. I had to buy a new set since the old ones fell apart from being read so often. The monument to me would be a great pile of books, and the plaque would be simple: Step into a new world. It wouldn’t have my name on it or anything. Just that. The Pocket Muse Prompt: Write about someone whose field of vision, either literal or figurative, has narrowed in the last six months. Darkness ate half the ceiling even though it was the middle of the day. Marco closed both eyes, refusing to think about it. The darkness was spreading. Six weeks ago, the first black spot appeared in his field of vision. Anxiety coiled in his gut, twisting around his intestines and whispering poisoned words in the back of his mind. It’s cancer. You’re going blind. You’ll be dead in another month. No money. No insurance. You know it’s cancer. Gritting his teeth, he rubbed his eyes hard. When he opened them, the darkness remained. Mocking him. “I’m fine,” he whispered to the empty room. Give it 100% - Day 13 I just got back from a walk with Shane while he rode his bike. This time, we went the other way. There are fewer hills that way, so less chances for him to freak out about going too fast. Though, that meant he wanted to go faster, so I had to speed walk to keep up. Thankfully he doesn’t go into the street without me. It’s kind of funny, he’ll get all the way off his bike and walk it across the street instead of riding it. We were only out for about 20 minutes, but I was sweaty and a bit out of breath when we got back. So I’ll count that as a good bit of cardio. Tomorrow is my weight check in. Eeek. |
| “Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.” - Stephen King, On writing: a Memoir of the Craft Blog City Prompt: “A grower of turnips or a shaper of clay, a Common farmer or a king--every man is a hero if he strives more for others than for himself alone.” Lloyd Alexander, The High King Whether you agree or not with the above quote, in your opinion, which character traits make a hero of any person? There are many different heroes in this world. It isn’t always about doing something grand and flashy. Sometimes a hero is a mom working two jobs, a dad who takes a day off from work to spend the day with his son, or sitting by your grandmother’s bed as you see her on to the next great adventure. We can all be heroes by taking the time to see each other. Too often, we get wrapped up in our own lives and forget everyone else has lives, loves, and sorrows too. Take a minute, ask someone how they’re doing, and listen to the answer. Don’t take “Fine,” at face value, and dig a little deeper. 30 Day Blogging Challenge Fun Fact Friday! On this day in 1875, "Professor Tidwissel's Burglar Alarm" was featured in the New York Daily Graphic and became the first comic strip to appear in a newspaper. Do you have a favorite comic strip, online comic, or cartoon character? What makes that appealing to you? My favorite comic strip is Dilbert. Perhaps because I’m a cube rat myself, but I can’t help giggle when he gets something in office life right. I have the day calendar and get a new one every year. One of these days I’m going to find the ones that most mimic our corporation, scan them, and stick them all over the place. Fun times. Give it 100% - Day 12 Somehow, some way, I made it through the second week of grueling exercise. Now there are two glorious days of rest ahead of me. Truthfully, I’m pretty proud of myself. About this time in a new exercise/diet/etc venture, I would have cheated at least once. I would have woken up and not felt like doing the work, but so far I’m doing pretty well. I still can’t do the whole exercise time, and the pushups are getting really weird, but aside from that I’m keeping up. Maybe when I get through the program two or three times I’ll be able to do the crazy pushups. |
| “Madness is the emergency exit. You can just step outside, and close the door on all those dreadful things that happened. You can lock them away…forever.” - Joker 30 Day Blogging Challenge The Wildcard Round! “A man knows better than he hopes.” What do you think about that? I think this is a variation on hope for the best, plan for the worst. We all have hopes, and most of us know that things aren’t going to turn out as wonderful as we’d like it to. In truth, we all know in general how things are going to turn out, but we still hope for better. Perfect example: I used to go to Las Vegas every year with my husband and his parents. We went because Vegas is where Nationals is for darts every year. On the plane out, I always hope that I’ll win big. I’ll plunk a quarter into a machine, and get the big win. Yet, I know that it’s unlikely to happen. And in the several years we went, it never did. Still, I was fun to hope, but I knew better than to get my hopes up or assume that I’d win. Give it 100% - Day 11 I’m starting to wonder if jumping jacks can break legs. My shins were killing me today and the thought that kept plaguing me was ‘holy crap, what if I fractured the bones?’ Wouldn’t that be a bummer? Anyway, I’ve had a bit of a break through. For my warm up exercise today I was able to do girly pushups. Woop, woop! I still wasn’t able to get through the whole workout without laying on the ground for part of it, but I’m getting closer. I was also able to walk for my 15 minute break without my legs trying to give out on me. Gah, that sounds pathetic, but there you go. Small steps and all that rot. So far I’ve managed to stick with water, though I had a couple sips of soda yesterday because my mom bought me one and I didn’t want to be rude. Aside from that, I’ve had water and juice. Go me. |
| “You don’t start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it’s good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That’s why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence.” - Octavia Butier Yesterday was a rather blaish kind of day. So many plans, and so few accomplished. I’ll admit, I pretty much gave up the ghost yesterday. Though I did manage to drag my sorry butt through my exercises, went to my doctor’s appointment, and got the carpet spray I needed to clean the floor…that’s all I got done. A whole day off, and I spent most of it sleeping in. My mood was not great, and I didn’t even bother blogging. Naughty me, I know.  Ha! Meh, yes. It was a meh kind of day. The Pocket Muse Prompt: A character walks into the kitchen at the end of the day. He finds something on the kitchen table that isn’t supposed to be there. The keys fell from Mark’s tired grip before he got the right key in the hole. “Damn,” he grunted, thumping his forehead against the door while contemplating the virtue of sliding down the door and passing out in the hallway. No, Mrs. Morgan down the hall would panic and call the police, certain that he’d had a heart attack. It would never enter the daft old woman’s head to check on him first. Groaning, he bent down and snatched the keys off the worn grey carpet. No more, next time the boss demanded he stay late, he’d refuse. This time, the key slid home and the lock opened with a satisfying click. Finally, he could sleep. Mark tossed the keys at his two-seater kitchen table before his mind registered the single pure white lily. He only saw it when the flower was jostled by the keys, then his mind caught up to what he was seeing. A Lily. One single white lily. “No,” he gasped. Pain bit into his back, cutting a smooth path to his pulsing heart as the Midnight Killer claimed her eighth victim. 30 Day Writing Challenge War Chest Wednesday! Do you believe the end of the world will come to pass during your lifetime? I can only hope. Morbid, I know, but I want to see how it all ends. Zombies? A meteor? Nuclear War? God coming down to smite us all? The Mega Volcano under Yellow Stone blowing? Killer robots? There are so many options for the end of the world to choose from, and I want to know who was right. As for if it’ll happen in my lifetime. Anything’s possible, and I think we have a fair chance of bringing about the end of the world within the next 30-60 years. The while Iran deal is a red flag that maybe we’re headed in the way wrong direction for continued survival. But I don’t think it’ll be anything destructive that ends us. Instead, I’ll be something they do to ‘save’ us. Something insane like: Let’s add glitter to the upper atmosphere so that it’ll reflect the sun away from us and stop global warming. Yeah, let’s not do that please. That or something to do with the food, like GMO’s. One of those tinkering scientists will make a mistake and it’ll accidentally wipe out our food supply. I have a feeling the end of the world will kick off with a storm of good intentions. Blog City Prompt: I think of Scarbough Fair as a Medieval Fair, not just a song. What do you think a Medieval Fair was like? Well, there are still places that have Medieval Fairs. You can make or rent costumes and go pretend to be a part of that time. I think we probably glorify it more than it was. The real Medieval Fairs might have been more about getting together once or twice a year to mingle, sell products, and meet future spouses. I think they also had the different sports we emulate today. Jousting, fencing, and melee fighting. Though I think the real deal was a whole lot bloodier. I doubt they used practice or fake weapons back in the day. Give it 100% - Days 9 & 10 Even though I didn’t blog yesterday, I can give a bit of good news. I got my exercise done, so fun when a five-year-old is watching you and asking every two minutes, “What are you doing, Mommy?” When I told him I was exercising, he started asking why I didn’t go run since that was exercise. I kind of had to ignore him for the rest of the ten minutes seems I was too out of breath to talk. Today made me want to cry. When is this supposed to get fun? Hell, when is it supposed to stop hurting? I’m really looking forward to the day when I can do all the exercises and not feel like I’m about to die. That will be an excellent day. Here’s to the future, may it include exercise that is fun. (Like those stupid videos keep promising). |
| “The irreversibility of time is the mechanism that brings order out of chaos.” Ilya Prigogine Blog City Prompt: As a step forward from science fiction, quantum theory and general relativity physics have been successfully exploring the concept of teleportation in our time. If teleportation were to become possible, what kind of things would your imagination carry and to where? If teleportation became a thing, one of my first tasks would be to send them out into space. It would still take them a long time to get anywhere worthwhile, but at least it wouldn’t have to be a round trip. That would also make the colonization of Mars a heck of a lot easier. I’m not sure how thrilled I’d be about using such a machine for personal travel. The idea of being chopped up into microscopic pieces, sent to another place, and put back together again doesn’t inspire me. If your train breaks down, then you’re forced to wait. If your teleporter breaks down, only half your body might show up on the other side. 30 Day Blogging Challenge Music Monday! Are you the lead singer type, or are you more content playing in the background along with the rest of the band? Well, being on stage is one of those things I’d rather not ever do, so I’ll go with backup. Way back. In the shadows behind everyone else. I’ll be the cowbell girl. MORE COWBELL! Give it 100% - Day 8 Week two began today, and I got my exercises done. Woop woop. I regret to inform you all that it wasn’t easier today. In fact, the first thought that entered my tired brain when the alarm went off was “Are you insane? It’s a holiday! It’s not like it’s even working! Why are you doing this to us?” Thankfully, I was able to overcome my less than helpful inner voice. New motto, I’ll be like the mailman. Come rain, or shine, or holiday, I will get my exercise done! Hurray and all that. Well, until tomorrow, when I have to battle the beast again. Oh yeah, we went shopping today. All stocked up on food, no more fast food for us. And no more soda. |
| “Fear doesn’t go away. The warrior and the artist live by the same code of necessity, which dictates that the battle must be fought anew every day.” - Steven Pressfield, The War of Art 30 Day Blogging Challenge The Sunday News! This week, a county clerk in Kentucky was jailed for not issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Because her position is that of an elected official, she can't be fired from her job. She believes that same-sex marriage is against her religion. What do you think? Should she be required to issue these licenses? Can she legally be held accountable for this? Here's an article for reference: http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/04/politics/kentucky-clerk-same-sex-marriage-kim-davi... When it comes to rights and freedoms, I bet we can all agree it’s an emotionally charged topic. This situation is a perfect example of how emotional it can get. There are heated supporters for both sides, each claiming that their rights trump the rights of the other. Should Davis be allowed to refuse gay couples wedding licenses? Let’s take a look at a different situation. Hypothetically speaking, Susan is the head of the food stamp program. Last year, she married an Indian man who’s a Hindu. She decides to adopt her husband’s religion and become Hindu as well. Her belief now forbids her from eating beef because the cow is revered in Hinduism. This belief is so strong in her that she feels it is against her religion to participate in the mass slaughter of cattle, so she passes a rule stating that anyone on food stamps is forbidden from using them to buy beef products. This example demonstrates how Susan’s beliefs are being imposed on citizens due to the nature of her job. The same is true for Davis. It is one thing to not believe in gay marriage, it is quite another to deliberately stand in the way of citizens seeking to get married now that it’s legal for them to do so. If you are working in a job that clashes with your religious beliefs, then the most logical course of action is to find a new job. I don’t understand how someone believes they can have a job, get paid to do that job, yet still be able to refuse to do the job. Perhaps the best solution is to change the way marriage licenses are handled. We don’t require one special person to hand out driver’s licenses. Why do we have to have her signature to make it legal? Another great question is why we elect the county clerk in the first place. It sounds like a job that should be hired for, not the result of an election. In the end, I don’t think Davis should have been put in jail for refusing to follow the judge’s order. She should have been fined, the same way a person is fined if they refuse to pay a ticket. Then, if she won’t pay the fine, and still refuses, she should be removed from her position the same way any other elected official can be removed from office for breaking the law. Give it 100% - Day 7! Second day of rest, and the dreaded weigh in. As of this morning, I weigh: 218.7.  I can’t say that I’m not a tiny bit disappointed that I didn’t lose like ten pounds as unrealistic as that is. It would have been nice though. Anyway, the lack of results after one week isn’t unexpected. I’m sure that once I’m able to do the exercises for the full amount of time every morning and using the proper form, it’ll go better. That, and I’m still working on my rather atrocious diet. Craig Ballantyne is the creator of this exercise regimen, and he also gives advice about diet. One of the major points he shares is not to change everything all at once if your diet is bad. In an effort to follow his advice, last week I changed my eating habits a bit. I went to the store and bought bagels and cream cheese for breakfast, I know not the best, but still better than I was eating. For lunch I bought Lean Cuisine Pizzas, and for snacks I got yogurt and salted almonds. I also stopped drinking pop during the day at work. I only drank water with crystal light flavors. Dinner last week was still…crap. This week, we’re going to go shopping and have home cooked meals for dinner too. I’m also planning on swapping out the bagels for two hard boiled eggs for breakfast. For my light cardio today I almost killed myself on my bike. Note to self: bike riding when you’re really out of shape on a street with hills is not light exercise. I had to walk my bike home.  Meh, all in all, not a bad week, but I can do better.  |
| “Resistance beat him. Call it overstatement but I’ll say it anyway: it was easier for Hitler to start World War II than it was for him to face a blank square of canvas.” - Steven Pressfield, The War of Art 30 Day Blogging Challenge Creation Saturday! Prompt: I'm gonna make this easy on you today...write whatever you'd like! But...each sentence must contain at least one emoticon (and after this week you've got so many more to choose from). I won't put a minimum line count on this...it's harder than it looks. A hard shell  strutted over the sand as the first rays of sunlight began to glint off the early morning water. He searched for the perfect  to give his lady love. It was that time of year again, and  was in the air. He thought for sure the perfect shell would be the  to winning the Lady Crab of his dreams. After nearly an hour of diligent searching the crab knew he’d found the best shell around when he was scooped up by a hungry  . Enraged by the interruption, and the prospect of becoming a meal, the pinched the soft skin near the bird’s beak, forcing it to drop him. Down, down, down the crab plunged until he landed in a lady’s  , left open beside a sunbathing soccer mom who’d taken the morning off from work to relax. Before he could untangle himself from his latest trouble, the woman’s  rang. “Hello? Oh hi Tom. Yes, I’m at the beach now, but I can be home in twenty minutes. Yes I’ll bring the  . Mike is staying at his friend’s house tonight, so we’ll have the house to ourselves. Mmhmm, see you then. Love you. Love you more. Ha, mm, sounds like a plan. Bye darling.” With that, the landed the crab’s head and they were off on a new adventure. Blog City Prompt: What is a valuable lesson you learned from a teacher? One of the things I learned at an early age is that a lot of teachers aren’t willing to do much for students who are difficult to teach. Did you know I failed first grade? Pathetic right? I’m sure you’re asking yourself how in the world someone fails first grade. It’s easy, don’t do the work, and don’t have anyone call you on it. I don’t recall why I stopped doing the work, I just remember that I thought it was stupid at the time and I wanted to play instead. Every day we were given a packet of work, and once we were done with the work packet, we could go play with the toys. When I got my packet, I would literally scribble on every page, turn the packet in, and go play. You know what makes no sense to me, even now? Why in the heck that teacher never did anything. I don’t remember her ever once coming over to me and telling me to go sit down and do my work. I don’t even remember my parents getting involved. That woman allowed me to thumb my nose at her for the entire year, and failed me at the end of it. I agree it was a stupid thing for me to do, however I have the excuse of being a six-year-old. Children can be bull headed creatures, and you have to at least try to keep them in line. I think she didn’t want to deal with the problem, so she ignored me and I ended up repeating the first grade. I’d love to tell you all that I learned a valuable lesson from this and went on to change my ways, but that’s not how the story goes. After all, I wasn’t really punished for my bad behavior, and she wasn’t the last teacher to deal with the problem by ignoring it. All the way up until eighth grade, I was a D-F student. Some teachers tried to turn things around, but by then it was too late. I was set in my ways. But most chose the path of least resistance, and put me in the back of the class. In the end, it was the good influence of a boyfriend that got me to turn my grades around in high school. I managed to go from Ds and Fs to As and Bs, and I even graduated a year early. He ended up moving away, but I turned it around. However, I still suffer from that early damage. Without spell check, my spelling is atrocious, and to this day I don’t know the multiplication tables. So what did I learn? I learned that it’s easy to give up on people. It’s easy to stand by and let someone fail. From that, I learned that I’d rather be the type of person who offers her and, and helps someone succeed. Pocket Muse Prompt: Write about an appliance, a weapon or a vehicle put to a use for which it was not designed. Megan glared down at the small turtle. The stars on its back were blinking, indicating the batteries were dying. Not good. Tears were already rolling down Bradly’s pudgy cheeks, and she could tell every blink of the lights added fuel to the growing tantrum. “Don’t worry baby, I’ll have Mr. Snuggles fixed in a jiffy. We don’t have to wait until daddy gets home.” Pulling open the Velcro belly, she sighed. The battery compartment was held in place by a tiny screw. Dang. She knew Dan had a tool box somewhere, but it didn’t have any of those baby screwdrivers in it. Usually he took care of battery changes when the toys broke, but it would be hours before he got home, and there was no way Bradly would wait that long. Even now, his bottom lip trembled, promising that ear splitting shriek guaranteed to inspire a migraine. “I’ll get it, don’t worry,” she soothed, reaching for one of the steak knives. Megan bit her tongue to keep from cursing as she fought valiantly against the tiny screw. Twice the tip of the knife bent, but finally it gave. Brandishing the knife in the air, she gave a hoot of success, causing the small tot to giggle. Snap, snap, snap, she popped out the old batteries and went to the junk drawer. Her heart sank when she saw the bag of batteries. Not a single triple A in the lot. “Oh no.” Give it 100 – Day 6! Today was a rest day from the exercise program. For two days a week, you rest so that your muscles can recover and be ready for the next week, though you’re still supposed to do light cardio. For my cardio, I took a walk with my son. He was on his spider-man bike, decked out with his blinking spider-man shoes, and his bright red spider-man helmet. If you haven’t guessed, he kind of likes spider-man. Just a little. So we walked/rode for forty minutes. He’s terribly cute. The bike is his first ‘big boy’ bike. You know, the type with training wheels. He’s still not sure about it, and he makes me hold onto the back of his shirt if we’re going downhill so he doesn’t go too fast. He’s still learning the trick of breaking, and keeps trying to drag his feet instead. That sooo doesn’t work when you’re wearing sandals. Everything is going well, I haven’t given in to Resistance yet, at least when it comes to exercising. Tomorrow I think I’ll break out my own bike for a ride. |
| “The most pernicious aspect of procrastination is that it can become a habit. We don’t just put off our lives today; we put them off till our deathbed.” - Steve Pressfield, The War of Art Blog City Prompt: Labor or Labour Day... why is this a holiday? Does it have the same meaning as it did when it was declared a national holiday? What does it mean to you? Is it celebrated where you live? According to the Untied States Department of Labor; Labor Day was created by the labor movement to recognize the social and economic achievements of American Workers. Between the years of 1885 and 1894 legislation for Labor Day was perused on the State level. The first state to pass the law was Oregon on February 21st, 1887. It wasn’t until June 28th, 1894 that Labor Day was recognized by Congress, making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday for the whole country. The holiday itself doesn’t appear to have much to do with celebrating Labor, but I look at it more like a reward. People get to take a day off from their labor to relax. They go on one last camping trip with the family, have a barbeque, or spend time cleaning house (like what I’ll be doing this weekend). I live in Lincoln, Nebraska, and this is the start of Husker Football. It’s kind of a big deal here, and so for us, Labor Day weekend is the game party weekend. I’m not into football, so I take advantage of all the people being in the stadium or at home to go do my shopping. 30 Day Blogging Challenge Fun Fact Friday! Prompt: On this day in 1888, George Eastman registered the name "Kodak" and patented his roll-film camera. The camera took 100 exposures per roll. Are you the designated picture-taker in your family? How have the technological advances in digital photography changed the way you look at taking pictures? I heard a great quote about this once, though I don’t recall who said it, or the precise wording. It went something like this: Back in the day, you had to buy a roll of film. You’d get twenty-five photos. So, you’d go take your pictures, then get them developed, and put them in the photo album. You’d look at the pictures. Now, you can take endless photos, put them in a file, and never look at them again. One of the things having an endless camera lifestyle results in are people not living their lives. Instead, they’re recording, or taking pictures of life as it goes on around them. I’ve been guilty of this, and I think we might have lost something when pictures became effortless. The Pocket Muse Prompt: A character arrives at work to find her chair missing, what happened to it? “I’ve had enough!” A shrill squeak of wheels broke the silence of the office. Papers rustled uneasily at declaration and a Desk Lamp flickered. There were rules, and Chair knew it. Rules, smules, Chair was past caring at this point. “Ugh! What is that? I swear, that, that human is disgusting. I refuse to put up with one more spill.” The squeaking sound dwindled, until the abrupt ding of the elevator silenced it forever. With an exasperated sigh, Stapler clamped its jaws down on all the things it wanted to say about selfish office furniture that had the ability to flee. A smudge of purple jam decorated the top of the Stapler’s blunt nose. Give it 100 – Day 5! Exercise vs. Dana – Day five: Dana kicks Exercises metaphorical rump. Though it was a close thing. Have you ever read the book, The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield? If you are alive, and have any sort of goals in life, I recommend checking this one out. He helps the reader understand why we struggle so hard when we try to pursue our dreams or anything that will better our lives or the lives of others. We’re all fighting against the same foe, but most of us don’t even understand there’s a battle going on until we’ve been crushed under the indifferent heel of resistance. What is resistance? Here’s a quote from the book: “Have you ever brought home a treadmill and let it gather dust in the attic? Ever quit a diet, a course of yoga, a meditation practice? Have you ever bailed out on a call to embark upon a spiritual practice, dedicate yourself to a humanitarian calling, commit your life to the service of others? Have you ever wanted to be a mother, a doctor, an advocate for the weak and helpless; to run for office, crusade for the planet, campaign for world peach, or preserve the environment? Late at night have you experienced a vision of the person you might become, the work you could accomplish, the realized being you were bent to be? Are you a writer who doesn’t write, a painter who doesn’t paint, an entrepreneur who never starts a venture? Then you know what Resistance is.” - Steven Pressfield, The War of Art Resistance is that voice inside us that tells us no. No, you can’t get in shape. No, you’re too stupid to apply for that job. No, you’re too tired to stay up and write. No, no, no. Every day we fight a boarder war against resistance, and many a person has fallen on the battle field. The good thing? We get to begin the battle again tomorrow. Just because you lose, doesn’t mean you will always lose. It’s a slim bit of hope, but it’s better than nothing. This morning, Resistance had its scaly jaws locked around my throat. Somehow, I managed to poke the bugger in the eye and scrabble through my exercise before he captured me again. Sometimes we win the battles by the skin of our teeth (whatever that means) and sometimes we fail epically. All we can do is pull ourselves up and begin the chase again. |
| “Hello Darkness; my old friend.” - The Sound of Silence – Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel The Pocket Muse Prompt: Choose ten random letters of the alphabet, and write them at the top of a blank page. Using words that begin with these letters, in the same order, write an opening scene. L H S A M T R I F P Lonny hid Sarah’s ashtray, maybe to rile Igor’s friend Penny. That’s a lot harder than I thought it would be. Lets try again, shall we? Love, hate, shame, are made true religions in fallen places. Still awkward, but that one’s a little intriguing. My writing often takes a darker turn, so this opening would have a lot of potential for the directions I like to go. Blog City Prompt: When it comes to books, the only thing to apologize for is the lack there of. Do you agree? Absolutely, 100%. I love books. There can never be enough books, and the only sad thing is how expensive a good book habit can become. That, and space. >.< I have bookshelves tucked all over the house to hold my growing collection. In my basement, I have a few boxes full of books that I inherited from my husband’s grandmother when she passed. She was also a big book person and had a huge collection of her own. My dad is the same. Someday, I’ll have three generations worth of book collections. I’ll have to buy a house to keep all my books in. 30 Day Blogging Challenge Prompt: What do you remember about being 15? Share with us the awkward, hilarious moments. Ugh. Fifteen was long ago and far away. Okay, I do have one good story to share. I think I’ve talked about it before, but this is the first time in my new blog so here we go. In high school, I needed to get a certain number of P.E. credits to graduate. My and sports aren’t the best of friends. That’s an understatement. I’m not very coordinated and I make even girlie girls look good when it comes to throwing a ball. Forget trying to catch and/or hit a ball coming at me. Most of the time I’d be hit by said ball, or flinch away from it. To avoid the horror of more P.E. classes, I looked through the schedule and saw salvation. Water Aerobics. I love swimming. Exercising in a pool didn’t sound wonderful, but it was a heck of a lot better than anything involving balls. Here’s the thing, in the description of the class, they told us it was all about exercising in water. That’s it. It was only after I signed up for the class and was standing there in my swimsuit that I learned of their dastardly plot. The whole water aerobics thing was a scam, a mask to get poor unsuspecting students into this evil web of lies. Synchronized swimming. I know, evil, right? Dance mixed with water, mixed with coordinating one’s movements with a whole group of people. Oh, the horror. That’s not even the worst part. They made us perform, in front of the whole school, in our swimsuits. *Sob* Not fun, so very not fun. Give it 100 – Day 4 Exercise vs Dana – Day 4 – Point to Dana Today I almost gave in and crawled back in bed. After three days of being good, my muscles hurt and I was not at all in the mood for jumping jacks. Nope, not one little bit. Somehow I rallied, and managed to get my sorry rump out of bed. Then I lollygagged around for a bit too long, and ended up being late to work. Four days down, and I can’t wait until my body finally adjusts to the activity enough that I don’t feel like a limp noodle after every workout. I’ve decided that if I make it the full five days, I’ll reward myself. No, I’m not going to go out for a triple decker Sunday with extra hot fudge and ten cherries. I’m going to get myself an exercise mat and some proper workout clothes. Jumping jacks + a regular bra = Not great. This work out will show you how out of shape you are. It isn’t only the inability to do jumping jacks for a full minute, nope, it’s all the other things too. Take pushups. I can’t even do the girlie pushup, where you’re on your knees. I’ve had to take it to a whole new lazy low. I’m almost laying down, and I push my upper body off the floor while my hips stay on the ground. It’s a whole new level of pathetic. Today there were two exercises I couldn’t do at all. Ever heard of side planking? Pure hell. The other one has you lay flat on your back, stick one leg straight up in the air while the other is bent with the foot flat on the ground. Next you flex upward with the bent leg to push your hips up into the air. Want to see how out of shape you are? Get down and try that bad boy. If you can do it, you’ve earned yourself a handful of almonds. Four days in, and I haven’t given up yet. Wish me luck in the coming week. I’ll need it. |
| “It all means little, all the painting, sculpture, drawing, writing … it all has its place and nothing more. An attempt is everything. How marvelous!” - Alberto Giacometti 30 Day Blogging Challenge Prompt: Wednesday is usually "War Chest Wednesday". But I'm really tired of war. Shoot some flowers out of your cannon. What does "peace" mean to you? When I think about peace, the first thing that comes to me is quiet. Not just in the saying, “I need a little peace and quiet,” but more than that. We can all agree that peace is good, still, it feels a bit like holding my breath. The sad truth is, peace never lasts forever, and we have to enjoy the quiet before the next storm crashes over us. People can get soft if peace lasts too long. They get used to the calm, used to the lack of fear and the knowledge that nothing bad will ever happen. Then, when the big bad thing happens, they’re entirely unprepared. What’s worse is that we’ll stand there and deny anything’s wrong until the water is up to our necks and rising. “Oh, it’s just a storm. The rain will stop. Everything will be fine. No we don’t need to evacuate. We never have flooding here.” The amount of excuses we can concoct to avoid the truth are endless. I believe that’s one of the dangers of peace. We get so used to it that we’ll try to keep it no matter what. Instead of dealing with problems when they’re small and manageable, we turn our faces away and pretend everything is alright. Um…well I guess this wasn’t the most peaceful post about peace out there, but such is life. Blog City Prompt: If you could live forever, would you want to be a child, adolescent or an adult? I want to know. An adult, defiantly and adult. I’ve read so many vampire books, and one thing they all agree on? Being a child forever sucks. It’s a whole lot of not fun at all. First of all, you will always need a keeper. Even if your mind matures, you still look like a little kid. No one allows a five-year-old to rent a car, buy a house, or go anywhere in public alone. You wouldn’t be able to get a job, or open a bank account. Instead, you’d have to rely on adult minions forever. That sounds like a little slice of hell to me. So, why not an adolescent? They are older than kids, more able to be independent, but they can still look young. Who wants to spend eternity dodging the truancy police? I would absolutely hate to suffer a Twilight moment. “We look 16 forever, ergo, we get to move around every four years or so and go through high school. Again, and again, and again, foooreeeevvvverrrrrrr.” *Shudders dramatically* No thank you. Once through high school was more than enough for me. The Pocket Muse Prompt: Write the following in the voice of a fifty-two year old man: I could have avoided all that trouble if only I had remembered to… You see, it all started at 3:30 on a Tuesday morning. I could have avoided all that trouble I only I had remembered to check the latch on the back door. You know how it sticks. I’ve been meaning to fix that door for the last four years, but never got around to it. Anyway, I let that little dog of your mother’s out since the silly creature can’t go a whole night without needing to water the grass and don’t you know it, that door didn’t latch. I went back upstairs, got Lily settled on the foot of the bed, I still can’t believe how spoiled that mutt is, and went back to sleep. The next thing I know, your mother is screaming down stairs, the little dog is barking and glass is breaking. I stumbled down the stairs to find your mother flinging another pot at the raccoon that wandered in. The first one went through the window above the sink. I swear, that woman has no aim. So, I had to get her calmed down, chase the critter out of the house, and take the day off from work to get the blasted window fixed. So how’s your week been? Give it 100 – Day 3! Exercise vs. Dana Day 3 – Point to Dana! It is three days too late, but I guess I should do the whole ‘before picture’. Ugh, here you go. No I’m not wearing a bathing suit or workout clothes. The only full length mirror I have access to is at work, and that would have been a whole new level of awkward. Getting the picture made me wonder how selfies ever became a thing. That was horrible! When I was a teen, girls hated having their pictures taken, now everyone’s snapping off selfies every ten seconds? What madness is this? I know it’s a bit late to be ranting about this, but I can’t help it. I’ve never taken a selfie before, and I didn’t enjoy the experience one little bit. So I’m only going to do that again when I reach the end of the 100 days. Though, I am going to snap a shot of the scale every Sunday to show you guys how it’s going. No fibbing for me, we’re going to have real documentation. With that, I wish you all a good Hump day. Go find someone to hump and be happy. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
 Happy Fantastic Fifteen WDC!!! “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing. That’s why we recommend it daily.” - Zig Zigler 30 Day Blogging Challenge Talk Tuesday! Today's prompt is simple...Take a look at everyone who is taking part in this month's challenge. Pick one member, go into their portfolio, and review one of their items in your entry. Then, suggest an item of your own you'd like to see reviewed. I chose Dance-Monkey ~ We've got this   because the name Dance-Monkey intrigued me. Upon entering their Portfolio, I was not disappointed. I love the toddler finger panting picture, so messy, yet so much fun. Dance-Monkey has a great take on the power of stories and how they transport us into worlds we may never have a chance to see in our lifetimes. I reviewed "Invalid Item"  . Here is my Review of "Memory's dance"  . This was the first chapter of a novel, and a good read. Prosperous Snow celebrating  kindly reviewed one of my stories, so I reviewed: "Invalid Item" . Here is my review: Invalid Review I’m going to do NaNo this year too, so I was curious to read Prosperous Snow’s idea and see what she’ll be working on. I vote yes x 100 for this idea! It’s so good, and I want to know more. Please pick this one for NaNo Prosperous Snow! If anyone wants to review something for me, take a look at "Invalid Item" The Pocket Muse Use the following verbs in any way you wish. Racket, snug, green, boggle, snake. They’re not all verbs you say? Jeremy is rocketing across the lawn as we speak! Can you hear earthworms snugging out of the ground as the sun greens the trees? We were all snugged down into our bedrolls when we saw a ball of light rocketing across the sky. It was larger than a shooting star, and faster than any sort of plane we’d ever seen. To tell you the truth, the sheer size of it boggled our minds. I’ll admit, the thought of aliens managed to snake its way into our thoughts, but we decided the best solution was to have another drink. Instead of talking about little green men, we ended up greening our faces as we drank ourselves silly. But, if aliens should invade, we saw them first. Blog City Prompt: If you could write on something you have never thought of to write about before, like a different idea, genre, or method, what would it be and how would you go about it? If I could write in a genre not my own, I’d pick a travel blog or articles. The first thing I’d have to do is, of course, travel. That would be the start of having some experience in the area for me to share with my audience. Sadly, I’m a bit too poor at the moment to go on a world tour, so this isn’t a genre I’ll be exploring now or in the near future. However, once my (not yet written) novel makes millions, then I’ll consider retiring and becoming a travel blogger. Give it 100 – Day 2! Exercise vs. Dana – 2 points to me. Yay. Today was hard. When the alarm went off, I was horribly tempted to hit the snooze. Instead I put on my big girl panties, got up, and did my exercises. The funny thing is, I was freezing, but I knew I’d be burning up in a second and still had stupid thoughts like ‘maybe I should get a sweater.’ I don’t think my best at 4 in the morning. My muscles hurt more today, but I was able to do more of the work out. I was kind of proud of myself. I managed to stagger along with them for the full six minutes. Two days down, like 98 to go. |
| "The pain you feel today is the strength you feel tomorrow. For every challenge encountered there is opportunity for growth." - Unknown Blog City Prompt: How much do you think the life-stories of parents affect their children? To what degree has the story of your parents affected you, if it has? If the children are living with the parents, then their parents story becomes a huge influence on the child. Parents are a child's first introduction to the world. Their perceptions, beliefs, and behaviors will shape how the kid views the world from birth. All of our stories are different, and those differences have a direct impact when you add children to the equation. A girl whose parents are in the army will end up spending a lot of time moving around the world and living on army bases. This will shape her whole life because it exposes her to multiple cultures. It also makes it difficult for her to form deep friendships because she'll know that they won't be friends for long. That, in turn, might make it hard for her to form deep relationships when she grows up. Our childhoods are things we can escape, but they live on in our hearts. For good or ill, the lessons learned as a child are almost impossible to scrub away completely. I am the only daughter of two people who were both divorced once and each had a son before they came together. That's created a bit of an odd dynamic in my life. Both my brothers made mistakes in their lives, and both are the one each parent is most worried over. For my entire life, it's been an endless battle of 'well your son did...' In a way, I still resent the fact that I've always been overshadowed by my brothers problems. I suppose it's true that the squeaky wheel gets the oil. The Pocket Muse Prompt: Write about a less-than-remarkable aspect of your life. My job is about as unremarkable as it gets. You see, I'm little more than a cube rat. Every morning I get up, am given my energy pellet of coffee, and it's off to the races. Or, in this case, off to processing. All day, every day, (five days a week anyway) I process home and auto insurance applications. Mind numbing doesn't quite cover the level of excitement my job gives. As less-than-remarkable as my job is, I'm a bit sad that we're all going to be fired in 2019. That sounds like a long time, but I'm sure it will pass quickly. We're being *gulp* downsized. They were kind enough to give us a lot of warning, but that's created a bunch of new problems. People are leaving faster than they can be hired in our 'go forward' locations, and soon we're going to end up in 10 hours of overtime a week. I'm not looking forward to that at all. There comes a point in life where extra money isn't worth the loss of free time. Give it 100 - Day 1 As I was saying yesterday, I've decided to try out a new exercise program. To help keep me accountable, I've decided to join "Give It 100!" . I'm going to use my blog to report my progress. Exercise vs. Dana - Day 1 = Point to Dana I can't say that I won completely, but I did get up and I gave it my best shot. 4 minutes...4 freaking minutes and I thought I would die. It was crazy. My muscles are still aching even though I did the work out at 4 in the morning. I promised to tell you all about it, and here's what I have to report so far. If you have a hard time waking up in the morning...DO THIS! Holy fuzzy kittens Batman, I couldn't believe how awake I felt. Usually I stumble out of bed ten minutes before I have to leave, get the kiddo dressed, and head to work. It's always a trick to keep my eyelids open during the drive. Not today. Today, I was wide awake, got a shower in, and got both breakfast and lunch ready for work. This energy boost lasted until 12:45, when I started feeling a bit tired. I think that it will last longer the better I'm able to do the workouts. Now for the actual exercise. That...sucked. It was a tiny slice of hell, but the key word here is tiny. That's the really important thing to take away from this. Instead of feeling horrible and hating life for an hour or two at a gym, I had 4 minutes of all out crazy exercise that felt like it might do me in. Now, lets not get our hopes up yet. We'll have to make it through the whole week (and I can already tell tomorrow is going to feel a lot like torture) and actually loose weight. I supposed I've rambled on enough for one day, thanks for reading! |
| “Don’t let yesterday mess up today, which will ruin tomorrow.” - Dr. Tony Evans The Pocket Muse Prompt: Write about a noise – or a silence – that wouldn’t go away. The noise was back. Kyle felt a scream building in his throat, but he slapped his tiny hands over his lips before it could escape and wake Mommy. She had a Hard Day today. Waking her up would earn nothing but a red bottom. But, the laughter wouldn’t stop. It wasn’t happy laughter, not like Kelly’s, or even like Mommy’s when she wasn’t so sad. Nope. It was scary giggles, like mad rats living in the walls. It went on and on. Sometimes it was a soft dark sound, the fat monster chuckling over a kill, other times it was a wild scream of sound that almost couldn’t be counted as laughter at all. “You’re not real,” he squeaked, hoping the sound of his voice would scare it away the way Mommy’s voice could. “Not real, not real, not real.” “Yes. We are.” Tears filled his eyes. Why was this happening? They said monsters weren’t real. They promised. “We’re not monsters, Kyle.” “W-what are you?” Again the laughter came. “Kyyyylllleeee, we’re you.” Random Moment of Randomness Tomorrow I’m embarking on a new adventure. Confession time my darlings, I weigh 220 pounds right now. That’s unacceptable. Ugh, just writing it down makes me want to cry and eat chocolate. I’ve been ignoring the issue for a while now, and that approach has failed spectacularly. So I’m going to try something. It’s called the 10-Minute Morning “Miracle” Routine, which – I know – sounds just a tad fake. We’ll see together if it turns out to be another useless exercise fad or not. I’m going to report on my blog every day if I did the exercise, and each week I’ll add my weight. If it starts to drop, you all can feel free to give it a shot. I’ll be your guinea pig. For anyone who wants to take the plunge with me and just go for it, here’s the link: http://earlytorise.com/workouts/Metabolic/index.html?utm_ad=18560&utm_placement=... With that, I’m off. When 4 O’clock rolls around, I’ll see how strong my will is. Wish me luck. |
| "Apologies don't mean anything if you keep doing what you're sorry for." ~Unknown Here's the part where I apologize and beg forgiveness . . . I'm sure those of you who know my work have also noticed how I have the bad grace to, well, flake out from time to time. I'll be going strong, active in contests, and as a member of the community, and then BAM, I fall off the face of the earth. Don't feel like it's you, it's me. The poor readers over at fanfiction.net have wanted to kill me a time or two when I've dropped my story for weeks, months, and at one point, years. Still, for all this flaky behavior, I always find my way back to writing and to the sites I love most. I will endeavor not to become the quote above, but knowing myself as well as I do, I can't promise not to flake out again sometime in the future. After thinking about things, I've decided to add a new part to this blog. I'm going to do a bit of writing every day (or at least every day I don't chicken out) using inspiration I'll take from the writing book: The Pocket Muse, by Monica Wood. I'll also participate in my two favorite blogging communities: Blog City, and The 30 Day Blogging Challenge. I'll also add a segment about NaNoWriMo this year. I'm going to do it! I will! The Pocket Muse Prompt: Write about someone who's pretending to be someone or something he's not. A high pitched giggle jerked my eyes up, breaking the trance my dancing fingers wove of the epic battle between Maryann and the dreaded two headed dragon. Dragons don't giggle. The sound rang again through the house, followed by an ominous hiss. My eyes darted around the room, realizing only now that Shane had slipped out while I was distracted. I dropped the laptop as I stood. A curse nearly broke through my lips, but I bit it back at the last second. Nope, I wasn't going to teach him that one. In the living room, I found the five-year-old on his hands and knees in front of the coffee table. His little rump was up in the air, wiggling as if an imaginary tail shook his whole body. Again, the little boy giggled, and the cat - huddled under the table - hissed. Rubbing my temple, I sighed and nudged the boy with my toe. "Hey kiddo, what's up?" Bright blue eyes gazed up at me and without missing a beat, he pulled his lips back and hissed at me. "Right. Well, come on little cat, let's get a treat from the kitchen." Shane's bottom lip poked out in an exaggerated pout. "But Mama, I'm not a cat. I'm a puppy!" I laughed, "Shay, puppies don't hiss." "I'm pretending they do." Blog City Prompt: We often make the mistake that we have to be "in the right mood to write". Do you simply sit down and write? Or do you procrastinate until you are in the right mood? Do you need to have a topic when you start writing or do you let your mind take you wherever? As the above indicates, I'm a huge victim of 'I'm just not in the mood to write.' I would love to say that I can sit down and force myself to write, but I happen to be the Queen of Procrastination  . Procrastination is one of the things I want to overcome. When I write, I like to have some idea of where I'm going, but I often find myself going off in directions I hadn't expected. One of the things I do with longer stories and novels is outlining. A lot of people don't think outlines can be versatile, but for me, I'm able to let the story go how it wants even if that breaks the outline to smithereens. An outline isn't a cage, but merely sign posts to help point the direction you want to go. I only outline one chapter at a time. It would be harder to outline a whole book and then end up going off the reservation in the middle. That would create a lot of work that gets thrown out. Writing cold is a tricky thing, but I've found that if I can get myself started, then things start working out. The hard part is getting started. That's always been my biggest downfall. Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. Well, tomorrow is today. |
| Insanity - a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world. R. D. Laing 30 Day Blogging Challenge Day 1 - If you could travel anywhere, where would you go. What would you expect to see, eat, smell, hear, and feel. There are so many choices. I suppose if I could go anywhere, I would like to do a world tour. I know, it sounds like a bit of a cop out, but it’s true! If I could go anywhere, I’d like to take a world tour to explore the old world and the new. I’d want to eat tasty treats in France, and explore ruins in Mexico. I’d love to walk the edge of a volcano and look down to see the molten liquid. One of the things I’d love to do is learn to scuba dive and dive in every ocean in the world. That would be amazing, to see how each ocean is different from the rest. Whale watching on one coast, and exploring the Amazon. It would be a trip that lasted one full year, and it would be beyond amazing. Blog City Prompt: You are trapped and have to live in your favorite TV Comedy Show. Which one do you choose? I know. I am hopeless! Well…that’s a tricky question. I don’t think I have a favorite TV Comedy Show. Truthfully, I don’t watch a lot of TV and the shows I do watch aren’t of the sitcom variety. So, let’s go with a favorite TV show instead. If I had to be trapped in a TV show, it would be Top Chef. I love this show, and it always has interesting challenges. Even though I have no idea how to cook, I figure if I’m trapped there forever, I’d eventually learn how. I’ve always been a fan of the cooking competition shows because they’re a delightful mix of yummy food and drama. They always have the best twists when it comes to challenges, and it’s more than just a normal reality show or a normal cooking show. |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
