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 |  This contains entries to Take up Your Cross, Space Blog, Blog City PF and BC of Friends |
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Congratulations](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-BCOF-1901868_10.gif) ThirteenTime Blogger of the Week on Blogging Circle of Friends Last was December 6-December 12, 2020 ![Merit Badge in Space Blog Merit Badge
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    Prompt: "Congratulations on making it to the last day of the competition! What was your favorite prompt from the last month? What was the most rewarding aspect of participating in the competition? What did you learn?"I don't remember all of the prompts. To be honest, I often don't remember what I did yesterday though. I just sort of muddle through, letting everything sort of settle into my brain to remember at a much later date. I think my favorite prompt however was the one in which we were asked to come up with prompts. It was interesting to see what others came up with. The best part about being involved has been the friendships I have developed. I have enjoyed hearing from people every day. What did I learn? I learned that people are not all that different from me. "Prompt: Use the following words in your post: cover, chastise, resist, wretched, unkempt, club, water, moonlight."I am glad I do not cover the news. I would have to chastise some of these idiots who do. They are so biased and unkempt in their reporting. There was a time you could count on objectivity from the reporters. Now you have to choose a side and listen to the arguments supporting your opinion. The wretched reporters stir the pot more every day and have us on the verge of civil war. I resist even watching television and especially the news. I don't support reporting to support a particular club. I drown in the water of the watered down biased reporting. I'd have to moonlight doing something besides reporting. Prompt: "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans.” — John Lennon Has there been times in your lives when this is has been true?"I believe proper grammar would be "have there been times" as opposed to "has there been times? And yes, there have been times when this has happened to me. God is in control and my plans don't always work out. Prompt: "Sunrise/Sunset: The sun comes up, the sun goes down. It goes round and round. Write something inspiring about the sunrise or sunset."The sunset is orange and red casting pink shades upon the sky Fiery sun is taking his evening nap He works tirelessly all day casting warmth Let him rest for the night.     |
| Prompt: "When I was little, I dreamed of living in a treehouse surrounded by a pool with a spiral staircase going up the middle of the trunk. *Tree* In your second to last entry of the month, write about your dream home. Describe the rooms in your fantasy house and any unique characteristics. Be creative!" When I was young I loved the western show "Bonanza" that was on television every week. Of course the show is based on a setting in Lake Tahoe Nevada. The Ponderosa Ranch was supposed to have bordered or possibly even owned Lake Tahoe. I fell in love with Lake Tahoe and always dreamed of owning a log cabin there. Then the show "Airwolf" came on in the 80s and the pilot of Airwolf lived in a cabin on Lake Tahoe and that made me dream even more. My cabin like his would have a stairway leading to a loft. The outside of the cabin would be logged. The inside would be paneled with cedar or redwood. I would prefer cedar. It would have hardwood floors throughout. There would be a driveway but there would also be a boat deck with a small motorboat or rowboat tied off to it. I'd have the Airwolf house! Prompt: "Let's talk about your childhood memories of Memorial Day or a similar holiday that honors those who died in military service. Did you march in parades as a girl scout or boy scout? Did you go to the cemetery and place arrangements on the headstones of loved ones?"I didn't participate in boy scouts. I went to one scout meeting and the scoutmaster called my mother up and let mom know in no short order that children of my quality were not scouting material. She told mom that I was not welcome to come back and I never went. Instead, I joined 4H and did well in it, though I did not attend regularly. My family also never celebrated holidays. We would celebrate Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, and Independence Day but that was about it. We only celebrated them because of family. We were really poor and could not afford flowers anyway. Prompt: “Suffering is like anything else. Live with it long enough, you learn to like the taste.”~ Leigh Bardugo Agree or Disagree?"I disagree. I don't know that anybody likes suffering except maybe a masochist. I have come to appreciate suffering's eventual effects because it matures me. I just don't think anybody wants to suffer though. |
| Prompt: "In our endeavors to recall to memory something long forgotten, we often find ourselves upon the very verge of remembrance, without being able, in the end, to remember." ~ Edgar Allan Poe." I would have to agree with Poe on this one. There are a lot of things I try to remember and in the end I can't remember them. I rack my brain and can't remember. I search and search the crevices of my memory and come up empty. I think Poe is spot on here. Prompt: "Help me fill the Challenge War Chest with new prompts! In your entry today, write at least three prompts to be used in future rounds of the 30DBC. Then, write the rest of your entry using one of your own prompts.1. What is your worldview? Are you religious, non-religious, how do you base reality? 2. Complete this thought: If April showers bring May flowers, May flowers must bring ___________." 3. Do you have a paid membership to WDC? Why or why not? I will answer that yes I have a paid membership. I own a website myself, although it is not as popular. I know they are expensive to maintain. I appreciate The StoryMaster   and The StoryMistress  for the efforts they put into allowing us to put up all different opinions and all kinds of posts here. I appreciate the ability to express myself freely although I am trying to be more careful with how I say it. I have unintentionally hurt the feelings of others with my comments. I try to learn from those mistakes and move on. I pay for my membership every time I get new student loans, usually six months or one year at a time. I believe I am now extended well into 2021 with a premium plus membership. "Prompt: "I flip the lock on the back door, peer through the screen and am held captive by the view." Use this quote in your Blog entry today."I flip the lock on the door, peer through the screen, and am held captive by the view Her beauty transcends all other beauty on earth She is a magnificent breath of fresh air Her radiance holds the sun captive and the stars dance in her eyes Her charm could calm a grizzly bear and her demeanor captivates beasts She is my world, my all in all, My daughter. Discuss this quote in your blog. |
| Prompt: "If your life were a song, 1) what genre would it be, 2) who would sing it, and 3) would it be a hit?" If my life were a song I would hope it would be a ballad. As to genre, I'm not really sure. Maybe country. I love gospel but gospel glorifies God and I don't want glorified and I'm certainly not Jesus! I'll leave the gospel completely to glorify Him. I'll just be a country ballad about a preacher. If it says that I glorified Jesus Christ and tried to live my life according to His will then I would be a happy camper. Who would sing it? I really don't know because I don't listen to a lot of country anymore. The housekeeper on our floor listens to oldies rock while when working and I overhear it. Aside from that I seldom turn on a radio or the television. I use my television for a computer monitor. If I had to choose a singer I guess it would be Carrie Underwood. I've heard her sing How Great Thou Art and she has an amazing voice. Prompt: "Use spirals in your entry today. Like for instance, in our DNA, the galaxies, in a coiled tendril of a vine, or the tracery of a fingerprint, it's your blog have fun with all the spirals in our world."I am so glad I don't have time to sit around and think of the spirals in the universe. I am glad for one thing because spirals make me dizzy. They seem to go on and on and never end. Second, I am glad I don't have time to think about spirals because it would mean I was bored. I like to stay busy. One of the reasons I prefer working and weekdays as opposed to weekends is to stay busy. I hate being bored, angry, or lonely. "Prompt: Love. Home. Joy. Use these words in today's Blog entry."Love is the most important principle taught in the Bible. It is the beginning and end of human worship and the reason for our existence. God created us to be in fellowship with him. That fellowship is love because God is love. To be in fellowship with God we must first love Him and then love our fellow man. Joy comes as a result of that love. Sin brings pain and in this world the consequences of sin bring pain and death. Joy comes from love. Home is where one lives. |
| Prompt: "Complete the following sentence: When I’m in the mood to celebrate, nothing can stop me from ___________. Considering that yesterday was Memorial Day, I'd have to finish that sentence by saying that when I'm in the mood to celebrate nothing can stop me from walking outside and looking at my driveway. I live at the West Virginia Veterans Home and we go all out for Memorial Day. The picture below is a picture of our driveway. Along with the Sherman tank sitting in our driveway it is a sight to behold. The tank is attached as well. It sits to the left of the driveway.   "Prompt: As May draws to an end, my thoughts turn to ____________ and ________________."June and July. I'm always thinking of what should logically follow or complete the prompts. The fact is that as May draws to a close I'm wondering where it went. Yesterday was April 1. I feel like I've lost two months to some kind of time warp. I can't believe how fast Spring has come and gone. Before you know it will be turning cold again and Christmas will be upon us. "Prompt: What if the only way to add to your life was to subtract from it? To do that, what would be the things that you would want to remove from your past or present life?"I declare that I think you have been reading my Spiritual Formation assignments from seminary. This sounds a whole lot like the questions we had yesterday that dealt with personal sin and trials. I'd rather not answer you. However, I will say I have some regrets that would not be there. |
| Prompt: What is the most useless skill you have? The most valuable? I have this uncanny ability to mess up math problems and screw up directions. It is all due to having had my skull fractured and damage done to the left hemisphere of my brain. If you give me something to do such as organizing a bunch of files on the computer, I will screw it up every time without fail. I can complicate the easiest tasks that way. "Prompt: What does getting back to normal mean to you? For the inspiration of this question see "Warren Harding Tried to Return America to ‘Normalcy’ After WWI and the 1918 Pandemic. It Failed." by William Deverell https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/warren-harding-back-to-normalcy-after-191...I don't know that things will ever be exactly the same after this pandemic. One things is for certain: for the people who lost loved ones there won't be the "old" normal. Each day brings change anyway so why not embrace it and accept whatever is going on in the present as "normal"? After all, whatever is going on is normal for you at that moment. You may not be doing what you usually do at that same time, but what is normal anyway besides a state of mind? What is normal for one person is not normal for another. It is "normal" for me to get up and do my devotionals in the morning, followed by doing my blog, followed by work. For somebody else none of that is normal. Normal varies from person to person. Do I think we will always see people going to weird extremes to keep from getting COVID-19? No. I think we will eventually develop a vaccine and it will be a thing of the past for most people. Do I think we will continue social distancing and so forth? Who knows? Some probably will, others will not. "Prompt: Does Memorial Day make you feel patriotic, and do you think we could ever have a world where we wouldn’t need a military?"I always feel patriotic, but my loyalty is to the kingdom of God. I am a Christian and I believe the Kingdom of God is a very real place that exists in the spiritual realm and in the physical realm as the church. I am a citizen of that Kingdom and quite patriotic to it. This is the tank in my yard: Of course, I am also an American and quite patriotic to America. Image #2187984 over display limit. -?- |
| Happy Birthday in heaven Helen Michelle "Mitzy" Schrebe (May 23, 1973 - October 17, 1974.) Image #2066112 over display limit. -?- Image #1967457 over display limit. -?- Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: Write about any type of wind." After taking Geology 157 (Oceanography} in undergraduate school along with studying weather a little when I flew with the USAF Auxiliary I understand wind a little better. When the lower atmosphere heats the air rises, which then forces the air it is displacing to move. This causes wind. Of course, there are other important factors too. I just know that on a hot summer day I like a cooling breeze to blow. During the winter, when the temperatures plunge I prefer not to have the wind. I remember one night when the wind got really strong. I was living in a mobile home at the time and feared for a few seconds that the wind might tip it over. It did not tip my house but it did blow my transformer. The line came down, shorting the transformer, which caught fire. It was as bright as day at midnight from the arc coming from that transformer! My wife and I did not leave the house until the power was off and it was safe to do so. It was frightening for a while. Image #2066112 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "What is something you like to do that other people might think is “weird?”" Okay you asked so I'm going to tell you. I have always been attracted to women who are 1/3 my own age. Well, I can't say I've always been attracted to them. It started after I buried my wife who was 3 years older than me. Then I buried my ex-wife who was seven years younger. Now if I date at all it will only be a woman in her 20s because I don't want to bury another. Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "Memorial Day! Do you have a loved one or know someone who gave their life while serving their country?" I personally do not but I live at the West Virginia Veterans Home in Barboursville WV with guys who sacrificed a lot to serve their country. Image #2098718 over display limit. -?- Image #2118746 over display limit. -?- Image #2187503 over display limit. -?- Image #2187984 over display limit. -?- |
| Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Image #1967457 over display limit. -?- Image #2066112 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "Music often has the ability to remind us of old memories. In your entry today, be inspired by a specific piece of music or a musical instrument. What feelings/emotions does the music or instrument stir in you? Share a specific memory your chosen song or instrument reminds you of." Every time I hear the songs "How Great Thou Art" and "The Old Rugged Cross" I have bittersweet memories of two little girls who were very precious in my life. One was my sister Michelle who died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome at 22 months of age. The other was my niece Alisha who was killed in an accident at 18 months of age. We lost them both much too young but I have some wonderful memories of them. Hearing these songs reminds me of their funerals and thus the memories I made with them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnvg0OtupuI Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "The full range of human experience from joy, love, and lust to greed, betrayal, and despair can be expressed in any activity." Do you agree or disagree? What activity best expresses all of them?" There are a lot of activities that express all of the things above. Some of the activities mentioned God calls fruits of the Spirit while he calls the rest of the activities mentioned sin. I think the thing that best expresses all these emotions is being human. Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "Some people love chaos, others crave order. Is it the implicit coldness in order that you need or is it the random warmth that gives you a rush in the unknown? What pattern works for you?" I prefer warmth and order, although a certain amount of chaos keeps the pressure on and makes me work to right it. Chaos can be motivating but I still prefer warmth and order. Image #2098718 over display limit. -?- Image #2118746 over display limit. -?- Image #2187503 over display limit. -?- Image #2187984 over display limit. -?- |
| Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Image #2066112 over display limit. -?- Image #1967457 over display limit. -?- Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "I feel pity for...." I feel pity for anyone who does not realize the beauty of having a relationship with Jesus Christ in the here and now. Many think that having a relationship with Jesus is just about being saved. Yes. Being saved is an important part of a relationship with Jesus. However, there is so much more to it than that. Having a relationship means being at peace with Him and knowing that peace deep into one's soul. It is knowing that He loves you and walks with you each mile of the way. It is knowing that He accepts you just the way you are and encourages you to stretch yourself to be so much more. He gives you the strength to grow into the likeness of him while at the same time maintaining exactly who you are. Your ideas of fun change. So many think you no longer have fun as a Christian. You do have fun. Your ideas of what is fun change so that doing godly things is even more of a thrill than acting sinfully. Jesus is a blast. Try him out! Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: When do you feel the most creative?" I usually feel the most creative in the morning, which is why I try to do my blog when I first come online in the morning. I use the remainder of the day to do my homework and stuff for college. Image #2066112 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "Not including your phone, computer, or other Googling devices, write about the top five most useful items you own." You have named three of my most useful items and took them off of my list! I don't own a whole lot because I live at the West Virginia Veterans Home in Barboursville WV in a room about the size of most people's den. It maybe 30 feet wide and 30 feet long so I guess I have about 90 square feet. The thing is that half of the room is not really mine. They could move somebody else in here at any time because it is a two-man room. It isn't likely that they are going to do that however because I am the floor leader. As such one of the perks is that I get my own room. I asked them about moving me into a smaller one-man room but they said I should just stay here. They won't put anybody else in with me unless they have no room left. As it is I have the biggest room on the floor and one of the biggest in the building. Even at that it is still a very small room. I have four cabinets, two of which I do not use. They would normally belong to a roommate and I leave them open in case I get a roommate. I could certainly use them and chances are that I won't be getting a roommate. If I do I could always move my stuff. This still does not mean I own a lot though. Aside from my computer, telephone, and such I own a flat-screen 32" television that I use primarily for a computer monitor. I also have cable but it is just basic cable and there is never anything on but reruns from long ago. I don't care for television anyway so I won't invest in getting any higher cable channels. The main reason I even have basic cable is because of another important thing I do own: that is my WI-Fi. Without it I wouldn't be able to get online for school or to do my blogging. I am getting my student loans in about a week and I intend to pay my cable company about $1,000.00 which will credit my cable for months in advance. Then I can pay some on it each month and allow them to get the balance from the credit. I like paying anything I know I am going to rely on well ahead because I never know when something may happen and I won't be able to pay it. If I have credit ahead it will carry me over the hump. The WI-Fi then would be my second most important item. The third item that I own that would be hard to do without is a compact refrigerator. I store a lot of Pepsi-Cola products like Diet Mountain Dew, Mountain Dew, Pepsi, Wild Cherry Pepsi, and Caffeine Free Pepsi in it. It nearly freezes them and I love soda or "pop" as we call it around here that is cold enough to have a few ice crystals forming. I bought this refrigerator from another man on the floor and it is one of the best investments I ever made. The fourth item I own that I would not want to do without is my Strong's Concordance of the Bible. If I am not exactly sure where a very is located all I need to know is a keyword from the verse and I can easily locate it. The Strong's also has the words in Greek and Hebrew along with their original meanings. It's a cool piece of literature. My final thing that I absolutely could not do without is my relationship with Jesus Christ. I am very happy to be a Christian. So many perceive Christianity to just be about going to heaven. It is so much more than that. Heaven is the icing of the cake. The cake itself is having Holy Spirit as your best friend and guide. Once I learned to trust Him Holy Spirit has led me down hill into valleys and uphill to plateaus and it's all been beautiful. Image #1967457 over display limit. -?- Prompt 19: "Good Vibes: What makes you smile? What makes you happy?" I think what makes me smile the most, besides my relationship with Jesus, is serving others. I like doing things for others, especially when they or nobody else knows about it. It makes me feel good deep inside to love on others this way because humans were originally created to do just that. We were not created self-centered like we normally are. Image #2098718 over display limit. -?- Image #2118746 over display limit. -?- Image #2187503 over display limit. -?- Image #2187984 over display limit. -?- |
| Image #2066112 over display limit. -?- Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- Image #1967457 over display limit. -?- Image #1967457 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "Shopping: Write about your shopping wishlist and how you like to spend money." I am just a few days away from getting my student loans for the semester. I plan to spend them basically prudishly. I want to buy life insurance and if possible pay the premiums one year in advance. I will also put another year on my prepaid phone since I use it basically to talk to friends and clients. It is currently paid until January of 2021. I will extend it to January 2022. I will also prepay my cable bill by $1000.00. Then I can add a little money to it each month out of my paycheck and keep it paid ahead. The remainder of my student loans will be divided up among my Discover debit card and my Visa debit cards and put in the bank. Of course, I will pay my WDC premium one more year and a premium on its sister site: All Poetry.com. Image #1967457 over display limit. -?- Second Prompt: "The Professor: Write about a teacher that has influenced you." I have had a lot of professors influence me over the years. One was Dr. Boyce, my Philosophy professor. He had us develop an airtight argument for a worldview that either supported or denied the existence of God. I knew that it would be easy to write a position paper proving why I believed in God and set out to write one proving God did not exist. I succeeded and got an A. I also became a long time atheist after that. I finally got my faith back but he really rocked me. Another professor who influenced me deeply is Dr. Christopher White, a historian at Marshall University. He changed my overall thinking about the psychological causes of addiction. I had always considered it to be hereditary. Now I see that it is as much a result of nurture and past influences. Trauma is the big one. Image #2066112 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you choose?" I feel that as a person who was addicted for drugs for the biggest part of my life I quit maturing when I first picked up. That was at around 12 years of age. Since I have been clean I have matured another 11 years and some months so the math makes me about 25 psychologically. Give me the body of a 30-year old, please. I could use the energy now that I have the motivation. Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- Prompt: "If you could time travel to any year, which one would you visit?" I'd probably have to visit 1978 and try to convince myself to stay in high school the following year and sweat it out. I quit high school to join the army when I was eighteen. The army did not work out and I was discharged early due to illness. I wish I had stayed in school and learned mathematics. Maybe I would go farther back to a date prior to third grade when I began blowing off my math assignments and convince my mom and dad to force me to do my homework. Image #1971183 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: Write about a lesson you learned the hard way." In my Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- blog I was just talking about learning the hard way how important it was to learn mathematics. I blew off my math assignments in the third grade, often turning in blank papers because I hated the teacher I had. I have lived to regret that the rest of my life. Image #2098718 over display limit. -?- Image #2118746 over display limit. -?- Image #2187803 over display limit. -?- Image #2187984 over display limit. -?- |
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