%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 |  This contains entries to Take up Your Cross, Space Blog, Blog City PF and BC of Friends |
 Thank you, Sum1  Courtesy of Blogging Circle of Friends ![Merit Badge in BCOF
[Click For More Info]
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
[Click For More Info]
Congratulations on your new merit badge! Thank you for supporting the Writing.Com community with your inspirations, participation and activities. We sincerely appreciate it! -SMs](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Space_Blog_Merit_Badge-2223888_14.gif){kind=icon}   Best Group, Best Blog |
"August 30, 2019"    Prompt: "Book review time: tell us about a great book you have recently read. Out of curiosity, do you make lists of the books you read with a brief summary for future reference?"Just for future reference, no I do not. If I read it is either to learn something or to pass time. All of my reading now is for the purpose of learning, although my science books have so much fantasy in them that they could be fiction. I have never seen such far fetched ideas in my life. I don't believe for one second that the universe is growing. What is space growing into? More space? It makes no sense! "Prompt: Write about endings and beginnings."Life is full of beginnings and endings. A man here at the home is moving out. That is an ending and a beginning. He bought a new car and has now bought a house. Both will pay off long after he dies so they are set up to be considered paid upon his death. His son stands to gain a new house and a new car in the next few years, both beginnings and endings. College for me ends this fall but the semester just began. Again a beginning and ending. When one thing begins something else must end. I have been reading my oceanography book for college. I am required to have two science classes to graduate and this time it is oceanography. It's funny because if I was ever at the ocean, which I'm told I was, I was too high or drunk to remember it. However, I am not too high to know that I think some of the theories about the universe are absolutely foolish. They actually believe that the universe started from a singularity. A singularity is the very bottom of a black hole. Everything is crushed so infinitely small that it is nothing more than a mathematical number. Even subatomic particles are not that small. Yet these idiots want us to believe that the universe and everything in it, was once contained in one of these theoretical particles. If so is it any wonder it exploded? The explosion I can understand because anytime you overfilled something and continue adding pressure you are going to eventually cause an explosion. However, I don't for one minute believe that the universe ever began from something so small that you need a math equation to even express it. The universe is simply too big! I guess you have to have more imagination than I do to believe something as big as the universe could ever have been compressed down to the sizes they suspect. Besides if there was just a singularity, then what was here? I guess space itself would be the infinite would it not? Something had to be here. Nothing is still something. Space is a big nothingness, but it is still there. I want to talk about another beginning. Each day when I get up I celebrate the beginning of another day in recovery. Now that may not seem like a big deal, but I know what it is like to be addicted. I was using drugs every day, actively seeking the oblivion of death. I overdosed intentionally I don't know how many times. I took 36 25mg tablets of benadryl or (diphenhydramine) twice a day. At the time I knew that each of those dosages was suicidal. I felt compelled to take them and was actively wanting to die. Thank God I do not have to live that way any more. Another man who had suffered the same as I was suffering, and had found a solution shared his solution with me. It took a lot of hard work, but today (August 30, 2019) I am celebrating 10 years, 6 months, 3 weeks of recovery. I won't say "clean" or "sober" because I believe those words indicate some particular symptom of a larger condition. I am recovered. Each day is the beginning of a new journey for me. I am also celebrating a new beginning as an author. I was told all of my life that I should "show" my readers, as opposed to "telling" them. I never could figure out what that meant. Well I saw an ad in the toolbar of WDC for another writing site. https:allpoetry.com. I took out a membership on that site and began writing poems there. The editing tool, in which you submit your work tells you that your words are either "strong" words or "weak" words. I made an effort to eliminate any "weak" words and came to a realization. Weak word were usually either adjectives, adverbs, or prepositions. I then made a conscious effort to begin writing using only nouns, verbs, pronouns, and limited conjunctions. The first thing I knew I was winning all sorts of prizes on their site! Just this morning I won a "gold", which is first place. In the past two weeks I have won a total of fourteen prizes, mostly honorable mentions but a number of first, second, and third place prizes. Now my new beginning is to learn to write stories using an active voice. This will be a little more difficult for me. I am accustomed to telling what happened. To use active voice I need to say what is happening. Instead of "Timmy rode the bicycle", I need to write Timmy is peddling the bicycle down Front Street. His legs are pumping and the bike is gaining speed." I think I am off to a new start as an author! Let me know what you think. Do you believe you could improve by using less descriptive words like adjectives and adverbs and using more active words like nouns and verbs? Another new beginning I would like to make is in writing my blog. I don't always have time to write my blog,but I try to answer the prompt. All too often, I do so quickly and basically give it a half-hearted "hail Mary". I just throw something out there. If I cannot write something with heart,body, and soul I am not going to write at all. Some days I have college early, and those days I may not write at all. When I do write, I am going to make a conscious effort to write more than just a few lines. I want those blogger of the week prizes! I know this entry is in the running for the week as I am adding to it even now {Monday September 2, 2019). Hopefully the edits will win me the blogger of the week!  |
"August 30, 2019" Prompt: "Princess Megan Rose 22 Years  chose a quote of Bruce Springstein and it made me curious what song of his evokes emotions the most for you? Why? What memory does it bring to mind?"I have only listened to Bruce Springsteen a few times and that was usually "Dancing in the Dark". I liked the beat mostly but the words made me melancholy because they reminded me of myself. I was often in darkness stumbling around. Prompt: "Write about the woman who has had the greatest impact on your life."That sounds harder than it looks. The woman was my mother. She fed me when I needed fed, protected me when I needed protected,disciplined me when I needed discipline, was basically everything I needed. She raised me to be what I am today. |
| "August 29, 2019" Tuesdays and Thursdays are probably going to be late entries for me. I have class at 9:30 those days, which means leaving the house at 7:30 to catch public transportation. Prompt: "Does your family have a motto or phrase that is said frequently? That everyone knows and often finishes before you can."No, not really. My dad always did claim that my mom was a telepath though because she knew him so well she could often finish his thoughts. I always thought it comical to hear him say something and she anticipated it. He would look at her so surprised. The looks oon his face would be one of shock. It never surprised the rest of us. "Prompt: "I think that is what film and art and music do, they work as a map of sorts, for your feelings." Bruce Springsteen What are your thoughts about this?"I never thought of music and art as maps but it does make sense. If you think about it music and art guide us to certain emotions so the analogy works for me. |
| "August 27, 2019" "Prompt: What kinds of things or actions can be considered as gifts of love? Have you ever received such gifts?" For me, the biggest acts of love occur when somebody has the fortitude to tell me I am acting inappropriately. I am a recovered addict. The disease of addiction is still very much alive and well in me. I can easily slip into addictive, insane behavior and not realize I have done so. Others can see the warning signs long before I do. An act of love to me is having the fortitude too tell me I am off the mark and acting in a way that is wrong. Others see my behavior long before it becomes apparent to me. I have accountability partners for that very reason. "Prompt: Practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty. ~ Jack CanfieldWrite about a random act of kindness or a senseless act of beauty." The snow came down within minutes. 21 inches fell the first hour. We had not seen anything like it before. I grabbed a snow shovel and headed out. I shoveled many sidewalks and worked my way slowly to her house. She was an old friend who lived by herself. She would have been unable to shovel the snow herself. I did not want her to see me shovel it because I knew she could not afford to pay for the job, but would be too proud to accept charity. I worked quickly, moving several feet of snow. Please Lord don't let her catch me. I finished without being noticed and walked away. Her door opened and she called out. "You get over here so I can pay you!" I told her I did not want paid but she would have no part of it. "Okay, I said. In payment I'll take a glass of that sweet tea you make and we'll call it even." She gave me the tea but insisted on paying cash. Finally I said "Instead of paying me, how about you do something very kind and without the knowledge of somebody else. That is all the payment I will accept." A week later her neighbor was in the local store wondering where the delicious pie she found on her table had come from. We never locked our doors so somebody had taken a pie in and left it on her table without her knowledge. I simply grinned. Mission successful! |
| "August 26, 2019" "Prompt: Write a tribute to someone who you wish was still in your life?" Susan J. Schrebe September 13, 1958-September 26, 2014 Susan, I love you baby. I miss you every day and I'd give anything to hold you again, to kiss your sweet lips. You meant the world to me. You still do. I have never moved on since you left and I doubt that I ever will. There have been a few whom I have cared for but none that I love as much as you. I have some really dear friends but will probably never remarry. Honey I know I was a terrible husband. I did and said a lot of things I regret. Our departing words were not kind and that will always be with me. Honey I have spent my time since your demise bettering myself. I think you see the progress I have made and approve. I spend my time trying to help others now, instead of taking. You inspire me every day. I love and miss you deeply. |
| "August 24, 2019" "Prompt: “The scientist is not a person who gives the right answers, he’s one who asks the right questions.” ― Claude Levi-Strauss Let this quote inspire your blog entry." I agree. Most scientists will tell you that they do not have all the answers. They have theories and hypotheses. The one thing that was drummed into us in my Living Systems class was that scientists do not have answers. They ask a lot of questions and they are right some of the time but most generally they can only tell you that if they do certain things consistently certain other things will likely result. {image:2187984-33%" |
| "August 23, 2019" Prompt: "What is your favorite room in your house?" I don't live in a house. I live at the West Virginia Veterans Home, an assisted living facility. My room is about the size of a college dorm room. It isn't very big but then I don't need much at my age. I guess my favorite spot in my room would be my bed. I spend an extraordinary amount of time lying on it. I either do reviews, blog on here, or watch television. College starts back Tuesday so I will soon add class to the schedule. Aside from that there is little to do. I don't guess it's too bad though. When I lived by myself there was even less to do. I was depressed and lonely all the time. At least here there are people around, even if I do pretty much stay in my room by myself most of the time. They treat us pretty good here, though sometimes the rules seem a little trite. I guess you have to have rules in a facility like this because some of the people would take advantage otherwise. Prompt: "What does “a fresh start” mean to you?"I get a fresh start every morning when I wake up. At my age, every day is a blessing and a fresh start. I have coronary artery disease, which resulted in by-pass surgery a few years ago. After that I swore never to take life for granted and I try to live up to that. Dying would not be a good start. I mean, dying is a new start to a Christian but I'm in no hurry to do so. The thought of being dead does not worry. I just fret about the process of dying. I don't want to linger. I certainly don't want to suffer. let's just get it over with! |
"August 22, 2019"  Prompt: "If someone was to write an analysis of you by the books you have in your possession, what would it say about you? Would a stranger or even a friend recognize you by the book titles?I read the Bible a lot. I guess people would know me based on that, but I'd rather they say the one who wrote the Bible, rather than me. Of course, if they were to know me based on what I read for fun it would be action novels and science fiction. I'd rather not be known for what I read though because that is such a small part of me. It would be like knowing one of the ingredients instead of knowing the finished product. Most ingredients by themselves taste nasty. Prompt: "What does it mean to be a good neighbor?"It means doing the right things for the right reasons. |
| "August 21, 2019" ** Image ID #1887652 Unavailable ** Prompt: An old hymn says "Do you do service to Jesus your King?" Tell us how you serve. I am a soldier in the Salvation Army. My primary focus is the salvation of souls. I serve many positions. I am the adult Sunday school teacher, the community care coordinator, the adult programs sergeant, the welcome sergeant, and the men's ministries programs sergeant. I also serve with our youth. Prompt: "What does your favorite song say to you?"My favorite song is "A love until the end of time". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-Z2KB5SB_E This song is so romantic. It tells me that love can last forever and that love is meant to last forever. I find myself falling for somebody I met through WDC and every time I hear this song I think of her. ** Image ID #1871183 Unavailable ** Prompt: "To be kind to all, to like many and love a few, to be needed and wanted by those we love, is certainly the nearest we can come to happiness." Mary Stuart, Queen Of Scots What are your views about this? I believe that to be truly happy one must have the love of Jesus Christ and the peace of the Holy Spirit dwelling within one's soul. Otherwise it is all pomp and circumstance,  |
| {entry Prompt: Should churches celebrate the sacraments? I am a soldier in the Salvation Army. While we respect the sacraments we do not celebrate them. We feel the necessary ingredient for salvation is faith and we avoid anything that may detract from that faith. "Prompt: The Ice Cream Truck."The ice cream truck never came by my house as a child. In fact, few people ever came by my house. We were the last house for miles on a dirt road so nobody came that far. When the rare car did come that far, we thought we had company. A straggler here and there passed through, but most turned and went back. A few brave souls in four wheel drives or on horseback would follow the road through but that was extremely rare. The ice cream truck never came. In fact, I did not know trucks delivered ice cream until I read about it in a book. Eventually I moved to an urban area myself and my so was treated to the ice cream truck if he had earned it. " Prompt: As you go through your day, how much do you think of the existence of the sun? Do you love it or do you hate it? Do you think at one time or another it can be a threat to earth’s existence? And what about the time when humans worshipped it?"By faith I know that the sun is not the source of life. In scientific terms though it is the source of life. Without the sun, all life on earth would cease to exist. It is the source of enegy for most life, just as God ordained it to be. I don't worship the sun. In fact, I try to stay out of it but I need the sun the same as anybody else does. |
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
