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** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** March 4, 2015 Prompt for the 30 Day Blogging Challenge - Official March Challenge From the War Chest Name a time when you broke a rule or law. Did you get caught, or did you get away with it? Hello Again What, what! Name a TIME! Like breaking laws and rules is something I do all the time. Like I have an entire lifetime of criminal activity to draw on. Like I'm a bad person! I'm a little bit offended, that it would be assumed, that I have even one example of an experience related to this question - Let alone, multiple examples that I can choose one from! But, a prompt is a prompt, so I'll have to think of something to write about. Hmmm Let's see. ... ... There was the time... ... ... ... Hey! I do have an entire history of breaking laws and rules. Now my problem is choosing just one. Geez, there sure are a lot of them, now that I think about it. I never realized what a horrible person I have become. I thought back to what lead me down this road of compulsive, and chronic criminal activity, and I came up with this... I was an angelic six year old boy, on my way back to school after having a lunch break at home. It was a short (two block) walk to my school, where I was a grade one student; it was the first week of September, and a warm afternoon. I was no further than a few steps from my front door, when I spotted a ticket on the sidewalk. I bent down and picked it up. It was a single 'ADMIT ONE' ticket. On the reverse side, 'TICKET' was written. The moment I touched the ticket, an evil plan unfolded in my little brain, and I acted on it instinctively and immediately. I marched straight up the walkway of my neighbor's house, Mrs. Minkus. I rang the bell, and glanced towards my own house to make sure my mom wasn't watching. When Mrs. Minkus opened her door, I held the ticket up and announced in a loud confident voice, "Would you like to buy a ticket?" Mrs. Minkus's face brightened with a big smile and asked, "What's the ticket for?" "It's for a dance," I answered, without hesitation. Her smile broadened. She must really like dancing, I thought. "How much does it cost?" "Ten cents" "hang on, I'll go get you a dime." Mrs. Minkus paid me ten cents for the ticket, and I thanked her, then I made a bee-line for the corner store, to spend my ill-gotten gains on candy. But as I walked I reflected on my sales pitch, back on Mrs. Minkus's doorstep. It was too easy. Something didn't sit well with me. Then it occurred to me...I didn't tell her when or where the dance was being held. Oh my god! What if she goes to this dance - (because now I think there is a dance going on somewhere, otherwise she would have asked where the dance was) - So... What if she goes to this dance, and they tell her the ticket I sold her is a fake? I was overwhelmed with a sense of guilt, and full of fear - of being caught. I opened the door to the corner store, but couldn't walk in. I turned around and ran back to Mrs. Minkus's house and dropped the dime in her mailbox, then ran all the way back to school. I worried for the entire day, that at some point, somebody would call me out on my ticket scam, but no one did. So... The very next day, as I was leaving the house and returning for the afternoon session of school. I went back to Mrs. Minkus's mailbox, reached in, and retrieved the dime, (it was still there) then went to the corner store, where I spent it on candy. The perfect crime! As the Contest Turns I won't take up, but a minute more of your time... With twenty-two people grumbling about the lameness of the prompts going out: I had to think up something quick. I divided the players into two teams. I tried to place the people who I knew, and knew were strong bloggers, on opposing sides, and then divide the remaining players (the newbies and the people I was less acquainted with.) equally between the two teams. This was all in an effort to make the teams as evenly matched as I could. I ended up getting the only two male players Fivesixer   and Charlie ~  on the same team, but other than that, I think I made fairly even teams.So I sent out a stall tactic the first team challenge, then went to work on what the next step in the game should be, and creating even more annoying prompts. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only **
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** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** March 3, 2015 Prompt for the 30 Day Blogging Challenge - Official March Challenge pump your own tires Seeing as how it's only the 3rd, I don't think it's fair to do an actual "Two-Fer Tuesday" prompt. Instead, pump your own tires...share with us an item of yours that you're especially proud of. Bonus points for today if you choose to review one of your fellow challengers' items (and you submit the review using the Invalid Review tag in your entry). It's like a "community spirit" thing! Hello Again Brother's Blog is my default 'Go TO' item, whenever I'm given the opportunity to promote an item of my own. There's no need to promote my blog in my blog.  The Monkey Bar has it's neon signs to attract *ahem* patrons. What else could there be? Oh yeah! I do have a poem or two, a couple of scribbles and such kicking around in my port. Hmmm, I wonder if one of those would do? Well... You know I don't like to blow my own horn. But... If nobody is going to do it for me. ... ... ... Then... Toot! Toot! Bring on the Penguins  The Penguins Dropped By A poem by Brother Nature in Honor of Theodor Seuss Geisel aka Dr. Seuss. (March 2, 1904 - September 24, 1991)
As the Contest Turns On February 1, 2015, eleven people were signed up and were ready to do what ever it was they signed up to do. I was amazed that eleven people signed up. Most of The Mob had reassembled. It made me laugh that The Mob would sign up again. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** The Mob Blogging Challenge of 2014 didn't quite go as planned for me. First of all, there weren't nearly enough people to form a proper mob. And then I had this idea that we would rampage around Writing.com as a mob. We would 'Mob' blog comment random targets. 'Mob' review random items. Buzz the Newsfeeds with outrageous demands, stuff like that. But what actually happened was ...the mob turned on me, kidnapped Andre the Blog Monkey, and basically run a muck throughout the website. It was definite! If the Elimination thing is going to work we'll need to have more people. I checked back to the early days of The Mob formation to see if anything worked to attract more people. I found this note in my ramblings of some sort of rules of no rules: Our recruiting efforts thus far have produced . 0  new mob members. I will update this number as it increasesThat's it! I'll start a recruiting mini challenge! And two days later we had twenty-two paying participants wondering what the hell they got themselves into. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Check out this terrific poem by one of Writing.com's newest members: Summer Street There is a house on Summer Street Where the fields are cold and gray Where the clouds choke the sun And birds don't sing their greetings There is a house on Summer Street With the shutters boarded up Abandoned, left to rot, but not forgotten She watches in her dreams There is a house on Summer Street Hidden in a blanket of silence There's no recognition - it doesn't exist To them, but it does to her In the house on Summer Street Is where she hides her fears The painful dark, the longing trust Mingling with time's dust and rust Invalid Review  By Brother Nature ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only **
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** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** March 2, 2015 Prompt for the 30 Day Blogging Challenge - Official March Challenge WILDCARD MONDAY!! March comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb (or vice/versa). What are you most looking forward to this spring? Hello Again I've never 'gotten' the coming in like a lamb thing with March. This was one of the things I first learned about in school, of all places. I was still trying to understand the science behind Groundhog Day, when they spring this bullshit on me. And get this! The teacher who taught about March coming in like a lamb assigned a coloring task in support of her lecture on weather forecasting and the lunacy of the planet you live on, yet didn't ask to join. A coloring assignment! Here kids color this picture of the white lamb standing in the white snow, if your mind isn't already blown from my lecture on the topic. And she's going to display them, along with our paintings of snowmen in a snowy scene. And, Me! The kid with the poverty pack of Crayola (knock offs)... Six colors: Black, Brown, Red, Green, Yellow, and Blue. No White! This is the same teacher that taught us about Santa Claus, Jesus, and The Easter Bunny, but claimed the Tooth Fairy, Boogieman, and Sandman were just 'made up' characters from storybooks, and the delusions of our adult caregivers. "Why do they lie to us," I ask? "Never mind that, Joel, just worry about coloring your lamb picture, so you don't fail grade two, and have to repeat the the grade, while your peers (with the 36count boxes of Crayolas with seven shades of 'White") move on to grade three without you." I knew this... Any lion, that comes IN to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada at the beginning of March, is going OUT in a coffin at the end of March, because it will freeze to death in a matter of hours, because it's cold in March no matter what the fucking groundhog says in February. So... What do I look forward to this spring? Spring! I look forward to spring. I look forward to global warming, and the greenhouse gasses to work their wondrous miracles of nature and warm the place up. The last few weeks it's been -19 to -35 and when the windchill is taken into account (because it should be, due to the fact it can kill you) the real temperature (outside) is actually -28 to -40. Those temperatures are in Celsius, but it doesn't matter, because if you try to survive outdoors in 'minus forty anything!' you will die. Aside from all that, I'm looking forward to going to our place in Sunset Bay, Manitoba and just BE THERE. I'm looking forward to sitting outside, in the yard, or by the lake, I don't care what the weather is like. It will be spring when I get there, and I won't leave until summer arrives. As the Contest Turns So, with basically no idea of what I was doing I began working on inviting people to join my half baked elimination, fundraising contest. I knew I would need scapegoats help for this project so I sent emails to ElaineElaine  , Wordsmitty ✍️  , and Fivesixer . I really wanted Lyn's a sly fox   to help me, but she was the first to sign-up. Five Sixer declined to help in favor of playing along, (so that was good), and Elaine and Smitty both agreed to help where they could.Having done all that, the only thing left for me to do was figure out what to do. But first I had to gather a large group of people and raise some funds. So I made an entry requirement of 400GP to join, and Lyn was the first to join and paid an entry fee of 10,000GP. And so it begins... I've gotta go folks! Cheers! ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only **
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** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** March 1, 2015 Prompt for the 30 Day Blogging Challenge - Official March Challenge The Sunday News: Pick a random article from the headlines and talk about it. Share your opinions and feelings about it. Encourage a conversation. Hello Again It was just about thirty days ago that I thought it would be a good idea to host a 30 Day Blogging Challenge, Unofficial, Elimination Style, Fundraising, Blogging Challenge. in the 30 Day Blogging Challenge Group. I even asked Leslie what she thought, because I have a history of acting on less than baked ideas. (it sometimes works out) Leslie said she thought it was a good idea, but wondered (out loud) how I would actually do something like that. I thought about how I would make an elimination style fundraising contest work on a writing website with a group of blog authors, but I couldn't come up with a single thing. You might find this hard to believe; but thinking takes up a lot of my time. So when it was time to get the ball rolling on the unofficial challenge month of February, (and I still didn't know exactly how I would put on such an event) I decided not to worry to much about 'how' and focus on getting as many people involved as possible. And that, folks, is how it all got started. It's not over yet, there are still the judging, scoring, and announcing of the winners, maybe even an after-party in the Monkey Bar to look forward to. I'm even going to include a 'making of' account of the month's highlights and lowlights as I boldly blog forward in another installment of The 30 Day Blogging Challenge Official March Competition. I decided to make a little game out of today's prompt by first deciding that I would go to the third news story listed on my local CTV news channel's web page. As luck would have it - it's a story about internet dating gone wrong. http://regina.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=561405 I tried internet dating once. A couple of my buddies were talking about how they met and dated single women after meeting them online in dating sites. I figured if those guys could get dates online, I should be able to as well. I told the truth at all times. I went on three dates. one date blossomed into an eighteen month relationship. The relationship might have lasted longer if it wasn't for the day that...While she was being arrested by the R.C.M.P. back in her small hometown, I was at home getting a look at my mail for the first time in several months. I was wondering why my bank account was overdrawn, and all of my utility bills were left unpaid for several months. Long story short - I was robbed. It took another eighteen months, for all the court hearings etc. and another year after that to catch up on all the bills and debt I was left with. So yeah, On-line dating; I'm in! Let me know (in the comments) what kind of a guy or gal or whatever you're looking for in a date. I'm pretty sure I'm exactly what you're looking for. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only **
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** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Blogging Circle of Friends Prompt: Who was your first friend in life? What were they like? Hello friends My first friend was Johnny Sokowloski, he lived with his family in the upper suite of the duplex we lived in. The year was 1965. Johnny and I were both born in 1961; We were the baddest pre-schoolers in the hood. I remember many of the antics which seemed to unfold whenever we were left unsupervised for any length of time. There was the day we got caught playing with matches; Another day we destroyed a brand new (toy) parking garage I had received as a Christmas gift, by bending all of the metal tubes (which were supposed to hold the whole thing together) in a 'test of strength' competition; Then there was the time we mud painted my dad's car. Johnny liked to play-fight and prove his strength. Seeing as how, I had older brothers (who were the same way) I was always a willing sparing partner for Johnny. We shared everything, including the measles and chicken pox. We started kindergarten together, but then we were separated, (they moved Johnny to the afternoon session) because we weren't playing with the other kids in our class. The way I saw it was: There was me and Johnny, then the other kids. Johnny and his family moved away, then we relocated as well, shortly after that. Johnny and I lost contact, except for: My mother would run into his mother at bingo from time to time. My mom would always tell me when she saw Mrs. Sokowloski and pass along any news or greetings, well wishes, etc. in regards to Johnny. Sad ending... About twenty years ago my mother brought a newspaper article to my attention which reported that: Johnny Sokowloski was killed in a bar-room fight, when he was hit to the head and upper body with a metal chair several times. One of my friends. The way she goes. ... ... ... RIP buddy. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] |
** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** DAY 781: Wednesday, January 7, 2015. Prompt: There was a strange wailing sound coming from the next room.. Write a story, poem, rant, or whatever you like about the strange sound. Hello friends "I'll take that big blue one in the tropical tank; What is it, anyway?" "It's a baby whale and I only have two left, you better take them both, so we don't split them up. I'll make you a deal - two for one." I added them to the tank in my aquarium room. "What are they, my mom asked." "Baby whales." Theirs was a strange whaling sound coming from the next room. More baby whales. Bigger tanks, then even bigger tanks. Theirs was a strange whaling sound coming from the next room. WARNING THIS BLOG ENTRY IS RATED ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** BY ANDRE & TROOP Global Management & Consulting Technology Services Sorry about that; I thought I was going somewhere with that. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** 30 Day Blogging Challenge - PROMPT for January 1, 2014 "Everyone talks about the changes they want to make when New Years Day comes. I don't want to know about your resolutions...I want to know what you don't plan on doing in 2015. Don't be obvious...be creative!" Hello friends I don't plan on attempting to write a blog entry everyday in order to compete in The 30 Day Blogging Challenge. I didn't plan on being obvious, but you're not interested in what I plan on, you're interested in what I don't plan on. When I think of saying don't don't be obvious I confuse myself and end up not being sure what I have to be - obvious or not obvious. More "Don't Plans" .... I don't plan on over-eating, and under-exercising. I don't plan on gaining weight each month. I don't plan on eating potato chips, or candy, or salty snacks, with the exception of popcorn night. I don't plan on anything going wrong. Okay that one is pretty obvious. Hey... Wait one minute there... If I post this blog then I've already spoiled my first "Don't Plan." Well played, Fivesixer , you almost caught me there.Good luck to all of those that are continuing in the challenge; I'll drop by to check in on the competition later on. Happy New Year God bless popcorn night and keep it lightly salted, Amen. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Blogging Circle of Friends, blog prompt for: Day 774: Wednesday, December 31, 2014 "Forget yesterday--it has already forgotten you. Don't sweat tomorrow--you haven't even met. Instead, open your eyes and your heart to a truly precious gift--today." Steve Maraboli Prompt: Do you agree or disagree with this quote? Why or Why not? Hello friends Welcome to the final day of 2014. I'm being reborn for 2015, so I'm totally excited for the endless possibilities for excitement in my new life. I think I'll start by proclaiming January 1, 2015 my birthday. Don't forget to send a card. I'll be making a list of new year's resolutions and starting a countdown to Lent on my Word Press blog. It's a little bit like starting my own religion. Perhaps, 'cult' would be a more accurate description, but a cult recruits followers, and me... well, I wouldn't turn down a financial contribution, but I'm not... Oh never mind. My point is...read on. I don't completely agree with the quote in today's prompt. I don't think forgetting about yesterday is a good idea. I believe it's important to remember our past, so we can learn from it. We can make a better future for ourselves by not making the same mistakes our continuing along a fruitless or destructive path. I don't sweat tomorrow, and my eyes and heart are open 24/7. Each day is a gift, and I'm looking forward to the arrival of 2015. Peace and Love. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Ho, ho, ho there, Yule all. The prompt today comes from Brother Nature (Joel) . Thanks for the idea, Joel!  Prompt: Christmas trees - what's your preference - real or artificial? Here is a little history on my experience with Christmas trees. I can remember from some of my earliest Christmas's - the day the Christmas tree arrived. We always had a real tree. I think my dad must have dragged it home on a toboggan, or something from where-ever he bought it. It was as much fun watching him set the tree up in a stand, as it was watching him open up a crate of Christmas oranges,(see note} because he wasn't very handy around the house, and didn't own much in the way of tools. note - Christmas oranges used to be sold in wooden crates, and we called them Japanese Oranges. My dad would pry the shit out of the thin wooden slats with a claw hammer while all six of us kids would look on, waiting to get our hands on one of the sweet Christmas treats. We could eat an entire crate of oranges in less time than it took dad to open it. Anyhow, dad would trim the tree with the sharpest kitchen knife he could find because he didn't own a handsaw. The whole house smelled of pine. Tree branches and pine needles were everywhere, and we picked up couple new swears, as we watched dad saw through four inches of solid pine with a serrated bread knife. The best part was decorating the tree; The whole family joined in for the task. Mom had the best decor-ma-rations, they were from the nineteen-fifties, which (to me) was the pre-historic times. After the tree was set up and decorated, my siblings and I would sit in the living room for hours and play a game called, "I Spy." I spy, with my little eye, something that is red. A real Christmas tree was the only thing there was, and then the nineteen-seventies came along, and everything changed. Artificial Christmas trees hit the market and people snapped them up like kids gorging themselves on a crate full of Japanese oranges. The first ones were not even an attempt to look like an actual tree. Tin foil monstrosities - I felt like it was a insult to Jesus to even look at one. But...Santa still left presents under them either way, so it didn't take us long to get an artificial tree, as was the trend at the time. When I had a home of my own, I went back to getting a real tree for Christmas. I even bought a handsaw to avoid, the two hour cutting and swearing exercise. We even ventured off into the forest and cut one down a couple times. Now that the kids are grown, we've gone back to artificial trees. Our current tree is two and a half feet tall and comes completely decorated - Just plug it in, and bask in the glory. Today, we're waiting for Jimmy to arrive, (not the Jimmy from South Park, but we say his name the same way) Jimmy from St. Bannerman is driving here to spend a few days visiting. Little does he know he will be visiting the basement to help me move the washer and dryer so I can complete painting the entire floor. He'll be visiting the Home Depot as well, so he can help me pick-up a couple tons of drywall. I better go paint more of the floor so I'm ready to do the other jobs I just spoke of. Talk to you soon - Be nice to each other. Joel ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Please visit my blog @ "Invalid Item"  Made in Canada   |
| Prompt: Are you planning to travel for the holidays this year, or will you stay home? Do you prefer to travel to visit family/friends during holidays, or would you prefer to host the festivities? Ho, ho, ho, there. I would have to start out by saying. "all of the above." This year there is no getting around traveling during the Christmas Holiday, as we've relocated during the summer, and have no family (or friends) here in Regina, Saskatchewan. My family is one province over to the east, and Leslie's family is two provinces to the west. Last year we spent Christmas with Leslie's family on Vancouver island, so this year we'll head back east to spend Christmas with my side in Manitoba. From as far back as I remember Christmas Day was a road trip to either my Grandparents or one of my aunts or uncles. We were a family of six children, which made eight of us in all, and we never had the means or room to host an extended family gathering. Regardless of which relative hosted our Christmas gathering it was always incredible. I'm so thankful to be born into such a close and loving family. Christmas for me, was THE best holiday EVER; Each year it was better than the previous year. I was the second youngest among my siblings, so by the time I was an adult, our family had grown to more than three times it's original size. Our extended family had grown in size as well, by adding spouses and children to the mix. Our family of eight became closer to twenty head, and our Christmas gathering became too large of an event for anyone (in their right mind) to host it. The last time we all got together I think we were a group of nearly fifty men, women, and children. The time had come to gather in smaller groups. Even now, our immediate family which includes nieces, nephews, and their spouses and children is a pretty big deal to host for a dinner, but we do it. We take turns hosting, I've hosted a couple, and I think I was thirty years old before I got to spend a Christmas Day without traveling to a family gathering. This year, Leslie and I will make a seven hour drive on Christmas eve, and lodge with my second oldest brother and his wife for three or four days. Christmas dinner will be hosted by our only sister. (five boys and one tormented girl) I'm looking forward to seeing my son and daughter, and the whole lot nearly forty strong. Oldest brother travels from his home in Toronto every year to spend Christmas with us. My preference would be to stay home and host Christmas, but that wouldn't workout for the rest of the family, so travel is unavoidable. I'll take this opportunity to wish everyone a very merry, joyous, and peaceful Christmas, and happy and prosperous new year. I'm counting down the days until Christmas over on my WordPress blog, as well as documenting my basement renovation project. I've shared a couple pictures from the basement here, below. One is a before picture of the portion of the floor which is planned to be painted. The picture is a "before" picture taken after I applied an acid wash. The other picture is of a wall in the basement where I have been cleaning paint brushes and paint rollers on. In the end, I think it will be an original wok of art depicting a wintery scene. I'm not sure what I'll do with it when it's complete. I may just leave it "as is," or paint over it. The saga continues @ http://wastedtimemachine.wordpress.com/ Cheers Joel ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Please visit my blog @ "Invalid Item" Made in Canada |
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