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 |   Second blog -- answers to an ocean of prompts |
 "Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself." CHARLIE CHAPLIN  Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet confinement of your aloneness to learn anything or anyone that does not bring you alive is too small for you. David Whyte        This is my supplementary blog in which I will post entries written for prompts. |
| Prompt: "To succeed in life you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone, and a funny bone." Reba McEntire Do you agree? --- Maybe I do agree, although I don’t pay much attention to itemized needs to make life a success. Let’s see: A wishbone: We wish for something or other with a hope for a future. Without hope, everything would be dark. People who lose hope can also lose their lives. Even those who claim they don’t want things for minimalist living at least hope for the status quo to continue. A backbone: A backbone is our internal strength. We each have to learn in life to stand on our own two feet and not let anyone push us around. We also should be resilient and self-respectful enough to stand up for what we believe in. A funnybone: This means a sense of humor. Humor is both a form of entertainment and a means of coping with difficult or awkward situations and stressful events. Chilling out and not taking things too seriously and finding the humor in most situations. A good sense of humor can even protect our health by giving the immune system a boost/ So, yes, all three are needed for a successful life along with many other things, but they are not the only things we are going to need and that’s for sure.  Prompt:“The image in the mind’s eye. For me, it’s where the obsession began. It’s what keeps me going, it never fails to excite me.” -Martin Scorsese What do you think of obsessions? As a creative writer, are you as happy as Martin Scorsese about your own obsessions? ----------- If we wouldn’t obsess at least to some degree, we writers could never finish anything, especially during NaNo. This type of obsession, however, is more of a determination than the obsession that eats a person up. Maybe Martin Scorsese does obsess to the degree of being-eaten-up-by-his-own-mind. If that kind of obsession could make any artiste more successful, I’d probably welcome it; however, if people are obsessed in that fashion, they shouldn’t venture to have families. Family life rarely supports that kind of obsession, be it the artistic kind. |
| Prompt: A retort is a sharp or wittily biting reply to an aggressive remark. Is there such a thing as the art of retort, and are you good at it? Are there any instances of it that you can recall either in your life or those that you have witnessed? ----- Yes, there is such a thing as the art of retort and I am very bad at it because I usually freeze when bitten. The only time I was good at it was during my preteen years against my mother. I used to think and presuppose what she could say to me and I would have an answer ready, so much so that my cousin who is my age was in awe of me. But that was it. At one time during my later teen years, I decided to befriend my mother and the age of my retorting became prehistoric. Recently I read a book that contained a few retort lessons, and its main advice was what I was doing as a preteen. Getting the answers ready ahead of time. In other words, taking time and practicing by myself through my internal dialogue, imagining unpleasant, insulting things said to me and thinking of some good, relevant, and creative retort. If I recall correctly, the book said, not exactly but pretty close, because I took notes:  “Distance yourself from own flaws and chill out And don’t take anything personally because calmness and peace of mind is where the best retorts originate. Look serious and don’t laugh. Your being serious increases the effect and people around take you more seriously. Also, throwing your retort suddenly, with a bit of acting of seriousness makes it more effective. Make it surprising, something unexpected. Relate it to the popular and current topics, scandals and trends. Look at the situation from a totally new perspective. If you don’t want to retort at the subject thrown at you, change the subject but make it surprising and entirely different, possibly by taking one word out of their remark and pulling it to an opposite direction. Amuse and entertain yourself while you are coming up with your clever retorts. This will lower the tension. When all else fails, ask, “Why would you say that?” or “Why would you do (want to do) that?” These questions might get the people off track.” Then, since I’ve grown into my present mindset, I can always walk away from insults and altercations, with or without retorting. |
| Prompt: Have you set a writing plan for 2019? If not why not? Do you feel planning makes you more productive or less productive? ----- No. I don’t like to make plans because it takes the joy out of my writing. Then, my productivity has nothing to do with planning. I am always reading or writing anyhow, whether I post what I write on WdC or not. Truth is, I have never known or understood what that infamous writer's block is. If my flow stops on one subject, then I go on to tackle other subjects, and when I return to the first subject, I find I can still write. I never knew of stopping because of a major block. For the same token, I doubt that planning will make me more productive; although, through NaNo Prep, I found out that making an outline will make the writing go more smoothly but with less tension and less enjoyment, too. What makes my writing stop are the concerns and duties in real life, but not the writing itself or any writer's block. As I am in the process of reading Asimov’s memoir at the moment, not that I write or can write like him, I was delighted that he felt the same way as I do about planning. He says: “Writing was exciting because I never planned ahead. I made up my stories as I went along and it was a great deal like reading a book….The excitement was all I wrote for in those early years. In my wildest dreams, it never occurred to me that anything I wrote would ever be published. I didn’t write out of ambition. As a matter of fact, I still write my fiction in that manner---making it up as I go along—with one all important improvement…What I think of now is a problem and a resolution to that problem….. When asked for advice by beginners, I always stress that. Know your ending, I say, or the river of your story may finally sink into the desert sands and never reach the sea.” |
| Prompt: It's Friday funny or factual Friday It's your blog write about one or the other. If you want to share something funny for Friday or if you want to discuss a fact you discovered that might be helpful to us. Have fun. ==== This was a while ago and is verbatim mostly. I wrote it down as a possible story idea, at the time. Out of respect for the amateur stage-enthusiasts, I am keeping the town's, the play's, and the theater's names incognito. It is from an ad panel from a certain amateur local theater. The play was said to be about finding love and there was some sex in the story, which might also be shown on stage, from what little I know of it. Here it goes: “Have a Cheerful Friday everyone! Come to the theatre four weeks later today to *finid* out what all the hype is about. Have a drink on us while you enjoy a showing of this outrageously funny play about *finiding* love…” Underneath, way down, after the images of some scenes, it also said: “Hands up if you wish to see a showing of *play’s title here*. Well, will you be waiting for it? Don’t miss your chance to catch this outrageously funny play.” Still underneath the same panel: "Calling all ACTORS to be extras. Ages: 5-7 and 8-11 Rehearsals start on *date*" I only hope the five-to-seven-year-olds were not shown how to “finid” love, as at that age, they must already be quite confused about the ways of this planet. Only in Florida! ---- An afterthought: As their explanation, the ad for extras was for a different play, but they put the ad for kids on this play's ad panel since they didn't have space for hanging another ad. A friend who lives in that town says after someone pointed it out, on the panel, they crossed over the part for kid rehearsals with a marker.  And then another Friday Funny here: After I wrote for the above prompt, I looked into other BC bloggers entries and found out that they mentioned me and Megan and Lyn, and nothing about the above prompt I received in my email. I thought people dodged the Friday Funnies. Lol! Then, it occurred to me to check the prompt on the forum's page. I couldn't believe Lyn's a Witchy Woman would send me a different prompt. So I checked my mail again, as I can never be sure of my own goofball actions. Yup, I got a different prompt. Well, thanks Lyn and those who wrote! You're delightful.  |
| Prompt: "My guiding principles in life are to be honest, genuine, thoughtful and caring." Prince William Do you agree with Prince William? ----- Do I agree with what Prince William says about himself?  I wouldn’t know exactly if the Prince is really honest, genuine, thoughtful and caring, but since he says these are his guiding principles, I’d take his word for it. My impression of him, from what the media reflects, is very good, though.Since he is a prince and is in a leadership position (and he might become a king sooner or later), I think his basic guiding principles need additions, such as: seeking excellence in his endeavors, challenging himself always, being a coach, partner, or a mentor to those who seek his advice, being self-aware and checking his ego often, helping talents in the kingdom to succeed. Yet, Prince William’s basic guiding principles are good for me, too; although, I would like to be following those and other high ideals without being conscious of them or voicing them openly. Those things should become parts of me like my skin or internal organs, and I don’t really talk about my skin or internal organs, do I! |
| Prompt: What Hollywood classic movie remake would you like to have the leading role in? === This is a tough question. As much as I jiggle the idea in my mind, I can’t come up with a female leading role I’d like to do. All that I like are the male leaders. This doesn’t say much about how Hollywood has treated the females, does it!Yet, I always liked Hitchcock’s movies, in which case, maybe Grace Kelly’s role as Lisa in the Rear Window would be great. I thought she was very real, plus stylish, elegant, and courageous there. Now if I only looked like her! Still, as Hollywood goes, in this movie, too, women are shown as impossible-to-ignore sex objects, both the murdered woman and Lisa, but only at first glance. I liked Lisa’s taking the helm here with her relationship with Jeff (James Steward) when she brings Jeff dinner and later, makes the first romantic move, inviting herself over to dinner and spending the night. Then, she is the one to go snooping in the murderer’s apartment, risking her life. In this movie, as a whole, although the gender roles agree with the general consensus of the time, Lisa has the more active role than Jeff, while Jeff with a leg broken is shown as a weak and immobile man, even if with an active mind and stubbornness of character, who is isolated and helpless (however temporarily). I liked this movie a lot when it first came out because it was a love story as well as a murder mystery with Hitchcock producing it to make sure every detail is attended to and every supporting character perfectly portrayed. Thinking about it, I find lots of metaphors and symbols in it, which today’s moviemakers seem to miss. |
| Prompt: “I had read with equal voracity the ‘good books’ in the library and the ‘low-class material’ in pulp fiction. What was it that influenced me in my writing, then? I’m sorry. It was the pulp fiction.” Isaac Asimov, from I, Asimov If pulp fiction influenced Asimov the most, did any unusual or unexpected event, experience, or type of reading also influence your writing? And are your reading choices eclectic or specific? ---- Just to clear the air, at the moment, I am reading I, Asimov (Thanks, ~Minja~) and this is a quote from that book. In the same vein, Asimov continues to say that his very first attempts at stories and sci-fi did end up sounding like pulp fiction, and only through his later and other reading he could inject some quality to his craft. Still, I agree with him in the sense that reading anything and everything can help a writer. Most any writer will tell you that reading widely has been very helpful to his or her craft. Even when I was very young, I read anything and everything. I read Russian Literature alongside cheap detective novels and comics. Even at my age, I have read Anne of Green Gables, the entire Harry Potter series, and all the Outsider books. Then, I didn’t and still don’t read with the only purpose of elevating my writing. I read because I love reading all books, interesting books, surprising books, entertaining books. I recently finished reading Gerald Durrell’s Corfu trilogy alongside with two Stephanie Bond books, and a load of non-fiction. I can read Philip Roth, Virginia Woolf, or Paulo Coelho in one Kindle while I am in the middle of a Dean Koontz or Sue Grafton book in another e-reader, cellphone or laptop. In fact, at any given time, I have several books in my current reading schedule, together with magazines and other material I can get my hands on. Granted, to me, some issues and subjects are more enticing to read about, but still, even in the books that may not be more to my liking, I find interesting passages, characters, and ideas. Even in the books, I don’t fully understand, like Cybertwists: Hacking and Cyber Attacks, I have found at least several very interesting passages. Reading, as much as we can, helps because we learn empathy through it and become familiar with the idea of what exists in the world, and more importantly, we realize that the world can be made into a much better place. |
| Prompt: “Anytime you get two people in a room, who disagree about anything, the time the day, there is a scene to be written. That’s what I look for.” Aaron Sorkin Does a situation like what Aaron Sorkin describes upset you or do you take it as a chance to write it in a scene or a story? For that matter, can you think of similar negative situations you have used or plan to use in your writing? ************ I can certainly appreciate how Aaron Sorkin's mind works on the subject. I’ve been there thousands of times, in the middle of an argument when suddenly it dawned on me that I had no business being there, listening to people argue their hearts out. But I stayed. At first, I stayed watching the arguing parties because I was young and I was learning how to argue by example; then as much as the arguments upset me, I began to find idiosyncrasies in them and even thought some ideas to be baseless and funny. Later, much later, when I was writing something, if an argument I had witnessed surfaced in my mind, I realized I could use it in a story; however, the arguments between my story characters are much milder than the real-life ones, usually. Most people think if they have paid a good amount of emotional currency to an idea they are right or rather, they have an insatiable need to be always right. Now, that is a great character flaw for the writer to bank on and can very well be used in developing a fictional character. Getting back to real-life examples, one memorable argument both my husband and I never forget took place on a tour bus in Canada, about two or three decades ago. A couple sitting in front of us started arguing. The argument jumped from one thing to another and the man came up a sarcastic comment. Suddenly, the lady stood up, screaming, “I shall not be insulted.” Then she insisted that the driver stop the bus and she wanted, no demanded, to get off, but the driver would do no such thing. So, she had to sit alone at the very back until the next stop. My guess is that their relationship didn’t last very long. Now, her words have left an indelible mark in our minds, and anytime an opportunity arises, we say, jokingly, “I shall not be insulted!” Even so, I haven’t used that scene in my writing, at least not yet. In an argument, it is a good idea to consider the opposing point of view and also, figure out why the other person isn’t giving in or trying to find the middle ground. Nobody should feel bad about conceding especially when there is a good reason to concede, and in any case, as hard as it may be, avoiding sarcasm could help greatly. |
| Prompt: Dinner with Queen Elizabeth or Stephen King. Which one would you enjoy dining with and why? You can only ask one personal question, what’s it going to be? ---------- Stephen King, hands down. Queen Elizabeth, too much pomp and circumstance. Stephen King, literature, writing, and especially because I read his book, On Writing. I would enjoy dining with him or just sitting around chewing the fat. I am sure I’ll learn a thing or two. After all, this is the author who said, “Books are uniquely portable magic” and “Writing is seduction.” As to asking a question, I really don’t like to ask personal questions to anyone, unless I know them very well and I know they won’t be offended. Since I don’t know Stephen King personally, I am going to ask him this: “In a Paris Review Interview, you mentioned a huge St. Bernard scared you, which led to your book Cujo. What else scares you that you haven’t written about, yet?” |
| Prompt: John Gardner's The Art of Fiction has an interesting third person limited POV exercise. Let's give it a try- "Try describing a barn from the point of view of a man who just learned that his son has died. Don't tell us anything about the son or even that his son has died...just describe the barn as he sees it." Have fun. ==== He stood like a solemn totem pole in the middle of the cornfield in his ancestral land, now of grass and weed, and shifted his eyes toward the old empty barn, toward where the gray and white sparrows flew, toward the rusting tin roof like that of an Orthodox Cathedral on which the rain had beaten down during the night before. At the window frame, a broken glass pane had become a portal for the pigeons, swallows, and mice. The barn’s broken-down walls with their peeled-off bold shade of red paint and their cracked plaster echoed of the past, whispering stories of times gone by, of wheat and corn swaying in the gentle winds and of pigs, the wild sow, and their troughs. They talked of the water well, still there, still bearing its existence in the cold and rain, its pump now rusty and absurd, unable to turn of its own weight. They talked of the sweet meadow hay stacked in bales, old cowbells, and the pitter-patter of little feet, now ethereal, and the hayloft’s rafters smelling of rot, where love once played hide-and-seek. He stood there like a solemn totem-pole, remembering, looking, taking in the devastation of the barn and his own tattered and torn insides. |
| Prompt: "If you're not having a good time, find something else that gives you joy in life." Penny Marshall Do you agree with this? --- Who wouldn’t agree with Penny Marshall? Her saying is making a pact with my unsaid motto, which is~~there is always a way out, or else, find another road to follow.~~ Whatever it is that isn’t giving us a personal satisfaction, preventing our momentum in life, or we are going through a dry spell with what we do, we can always go past it by replacing it with something else that we like to do. To do this, it is always a good idea to cultivate different interests in different areas. This way, if need be, we’ll have a wide choice of things to do and like. As they say, why flog a dead horse! Prompt: In the winter, she curls up with a good book and dreams away the cold. What is your take on this? --- Winter can be the actual time when cold weather descends upon us or it can also be the time when nothing seems to work for us. A good book, a book that we may like to lose ourselves in, has always been the answer for me. Even without the winters of my life, I have always loved to live with books and to live inside them. Through the books, I travel to distant places, even imaginary ones, find other cultures, and learn to peek into the people’s psyches. What can be better than that! |
| Prompt: “I am still committed to the idea that the ability to think for one’s self depends upon one’s mastery of the language.” Joan Didion, Slouching Toward Bethlehem: Essays What are your thoughts on this subject? --------------- In fact, this may be another chicken or the egg debate. Yes, I think the kernels of thought can form without the language. Anyone who has raised an autistic child can attest to that. Even watching an average baby grow, we know how they get frustrated when they can’t show us what they want or feel. Therefore, what good is there in thought processes if they cannot be expressed through language? Don’t most of us sometimes struggle to find the words that adequately describe what we are thinking? Since my original training is in linguistics, I can safely say that the reason different nationalities have formed different cultures has been somewhat dependent on what they can express through their languages. Because thoughts originate in the brain as the result of perception, their seeds may well be formed before a language is attained. In return, the depth of the knowledge of language fine-tunes the thoughts and even branches them out in different directions. This is because different languages focus the attention of people on different characteristics of the environment or life in general. As the result, we only have the words for concepts that are important in or relevant to the specific group of people (nations or cultures), and the more we learn, the more we invent new words or borrow certain words and phrases from other languages. |
| Prompt: Psychologists claim that some people feel they don’t deserve to be happy. Why do you think this is and what may be the reason or reasons some people feel this way to undermine their own happiness? ----- Anxiety, depression, and other ills can be the results of self-sabotage because people don’t think they deserve to be happy. Even in subtler forms like not taking the steps to reach goals and desires can be because of such hidden beliefs within the psyche. But where do those feelings and ills arise from? The first place to search is our past sins or those actions that feel like sins or events when, as children, we were blamed and punished for our actions, rightly or wrongly. Traumas may be to pinpoint as well, like those of abused women and children who end up thinking they were somehow responsible and they feel dirty, and therefore, not deserving to be happy. Survivor’s guilt is one trauma that can mess up our self-image, too, leading to PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder_ Parental guilt, strictness, or worry can act as reasons, too. The worst, in my point of view, is the critical self-image because it is self-inflicted. Perfectionists and hard-driven people who expect top achievement from themselves are guilty of that. Such people scold themselves inwardly when they don’t achieve perfection and they feel guilty when they relax. I think it is a good idea to think about why one doesn’t feel happy and whenever he or she does, why that person feels guilty or does something to disrupt her or his own happiness. If the problem comes from childhood, past sins, or something else that caused this negative feeling, getting some closure to it would help. Closure can be forgiveness and can be accessed through the form of writing, a letter, an apology, or something like that. It doesn’t matter if the person or situation causing the wound isn’t around anymore. Getting it on paper, on canvas, or any other art form may help because it is an act of acknowledgment. If the problem has taken more serious forms, therapy or treatment may help. Happiness is the result or the side effect of a fully lived life. We all deserve it. |
| Prompt: Write a story or poem that's inspired by absence or emptiness of a person, place or feeling. --------- First version, mine. Locking the Door there’s a way out but she chooses to stay in to empty out disposing possessions unwanted, never used for she knows nothing is what she sees she decides to lock the door her steps at first the hardest and a journey begins to end differently than intended just maybe it’s only a click ========== New Improved version after Lyn's a Witchy Woman touched itLocking the Door She decides to lock the door her steps at first the hardest as the journey begins it ended differently maybe it's only a click there's a way but she chose to stay emptying, disposing unwanted possessions they were nothing like she thought maybe it's only a click |
| Prompt: In your own non-fiction, have you struggled with representing yourself honestly while being conscious of how others might view you? Do you have any suggestions for non-fiction writers? ---- By “own non-fiction,” I am guessing this question has to do with me talking about myself. I have written about myself a lot in my blogs, not so much as to the actual events but about who I am. In general, I don’t like to talk too much about myself, especially about subjects my mind is half made-up. For example, if in such and such a situation I have acted in a certain way, I might tell of the situation, but I won’t talk about why I have acted/felt that way if I have two minds about it and I have surprised myself. (Believe me, I surprise me more than anyone else does.) When I do write about myself and my experiences, though, I try to be factual. As to representing oneself honestly, can anyone really do that? Not because one worries of others' assessments but because one can really be at fault in seeing oneself correctly. “Any suggestions for non-fiction writers?” This is what I can come up with. 1. Learn the basics of the craft as to grammar, building good sentences and paragraphs, and giving your piece a logical sequence. 2. Create a list, itemizing what your content will consist of. 3. Choose a topic you are familiar with and know well. If not, research, research, research. You can never do enough research, but once you feel you have enough material, you are good to go. 4. Organize your research material and decide where and how you’ll insert your personal opinions, if need be. 5, If you are writing a memoir or creative non-fiction, don’t limit yourself as to the subject matter and what may be more popular. Write what feels right to you, as long as you express yourself in a narrative way as if you are telling a fictional story. At this point, make sure you know how to present characters, set up hooks, and create a climax and an ending. 6. Your style--chatty, serious, friendly etc.—is your business. 7. Try to stick to the facts as much as you can tell them Do not tell anything that you will regret later, as to getting yourself in trouble with the family members, your workplace, or the law. Still, how much you open up is again your business. If you have a burning need to tell something no matter the consequences, then, do so. |
| Prompt: Start with a fresh page." Henry Ward Beecher What would your fresh page to say? ---- Starting with a fresh page is not exactly my stance in life. I am grateful for all my experiences, good or bad, because I’ve learned from them, and I hope I never lose their memory. Still, taking each day as a gift and looking forward rather than back is a more positive approach Since I don’t cherish fresh or blank pages all that much, I am not into making resolutions or setting strict goals for a very distant future. I make to-do lists for short-term projects, however. These are not must-to-do lists at all. I write things down so in my old age I don’t forget to do things or do them halfway. Then, for some reason, if any items on the lists stay undone, so what? I don’t push or punish myself. Those lists are only referrals. My experience has been that--because life can throw curve balls or some situation may change for better or worse every once in a while--not every goal is doable as it was intended at the start. I understand that goal-setting may work for young people and for those who are undertaking a new project or a new vocation. I applaud those who are able to reach their original goals, and I sincerely hope that all goal-setters can achieve perfectly whatever their hearts tell them to do.  |
| Prompt: "Open a volume and next comes fragrance: fresh, green and inky if it's new or a bit dusty and aged like a grandfather's cozy den" Which do you like better, new books or old books? ==== The physical aspects of a book don’t matter much to me, as long as it is readable. Then, its contents, what is written inside it, are the most important. When I was younger, before the electronic anything, the smell of books, old or new, used to stay with me forever. Then came the E-readers. I now read an old book or a new one on a Kindle, as long as what is written speaks to me in some way. In fact, I prefer to read on an E-reader or my cell phone because something so small and light can contain large volumes that I can hold easily and carry with me wherever I go. In which case, the smell of warm rich words, forgotten verse, and deep thoughts are the better choice to make me feel happy. |
| Prompt: Goodreads has a writing challenge each year. Do you participate in the challenge? How important to writing is reading other author's work? Do you read only books in your writing genre or do you mix it up? ------ I don’t know about the writing challenge but I participate in Goodreads reading challenge. Reading is not a big achievement for me because I’ve read all through my life more than I did anything else. I consider reading to be a joy and a privilege. This year with Goodreads my count is 135 even if I had pledged 75 books at the beginning of the year. My actual count may be even higher because I haven’t reported all the books I’ve read, especially those from the local library. Then, I usually finish every book I start, but there were those two books I stopped reading this year because I felt their authors wanted to be published more than focusing on the importance of the meaning in their words. Although I seriously believe each person has something to add to the culture of humanity in general, no matter what the size of their know-how, it is puzzling to me that a writer can dare to spit out his/her words without doing any reading except for what he/she has read for schoolwork. Reading, especially in the genre one is writing in, is essential for analyzing and expressing oneself correctly. Reading is crucial for people's well-being. According to scientists, it creates cognitive give-and-take that improves many things, such as vocabulary, thinking skills, and concentration, while also affecting empathy, social perception, and emotional intelligence, and all this may help people live longer. Reading, for me, is more important than writing because my own experiences of this life are not enough. I want to get under other people’s skins and experience things as they've had. I also like to read from other cultures because we are one world and we are all so different and wide-ranging. Usually, I am partial to the books under the “literary” heading in the bookstores and Amazon, which some reviewers say are boring or slow-moving, but I read in many genres because a book in any genre can be literary, too. I like all genres in general if a book speaks to me in some way or has an interesting story to tell. My least favorite genres are Erotica, Romance, and Horror. Yet, I have read and keep reading in those genres as well, for I have my favorites in them. I also read a great number of non-fiction books. Usually, I have several books going at the same time. That is why I have two Kindle E-readers, four Kindle Fires, and a Nook. I also read on my cellphone. Physical books are great, too, but a bit more difficult nowadays because I have arthritis on my fingers and holding them is a chore. Still, I do read them. |
| Prompt: Use this words in your blog today: elf, turkey, ham, wagging, feathers, doorbell and solstice. ==== Oliver, The Elf A Children's Story Oliver the elf moans with pleasure while he munches and crunches on a turkey’s leg bone wrapped with a slice of ham. He has been on strike for a few days now because Santa said nice things to Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer and didn’t pay any attention to the elves making all those toys. The elves have rights and feelings, too, thinks Oliver. It is a good thing he took over this empty house after leaving the North Pole. The feathers of the turkey are still on the kitchen counter. Oliver has plans for shoving them into the mattress to make it more comfortable. Then, the doorbell rings. Oliver drops the food on the plate and goes to the door. Why it is the witch and the ogre who say they have come to alert him to tonight's winter solstice with a supermoon, a meteor shower, and Jupiter to roll in the sky. The witch’s dog, Cerberus, wagging its tail, barks at the elf as the witch pushes her way into the kitchen. “Turkey feathers!” she exclaims. “Just what I needed in my cauldron.” She gathers all the feathers and stuffs them in her bag. The ogre follows her inside and his large eyes even grow larger when he sees the half-eaten food on the table. He attacks the food and gulps it down without even looking at Oliver. The witch turns to Oliver. “We heard you left Santa’s workshop. So, we’ll all be here to keep you company.” The ogre, still chewing the last morsels of Oliver’s food, adds, “Ogress Gryla, Yule Cat, and Perchta the sorceress also are on their way. Gryla and I have a weakness for Schnapps. We hope you have it or else!” Oliver crosses his arms to keep them from shaking. “No, I don’t have Schnapps in the house,” he says. “I’ll go get a case right away from the garage.” And Oliver rushes away from the house never to return. When all is said and done, there is work to be done at Santa’s workshop where he can live safely. After all, who is he to be upset with Santa! Prompt: What is the best thing that happened to you this year? ==== I stayed alive and so did most people important to me. My dr.’s appointments went well, and blood tests were good, too. Next best thing is nothing else too bad has happened, unless you might count the flooding in my kitchen because the piping under the faucet broke down and the porch drainage system has conked out on us. I still feel lucky because none of my Kindles or computers broke down. So, I am ahead half a step. Prompt: "It is the sweet, simple things of life which are real after all." Laura Ingalls Wilder Do you agree with this? ==== If by the word “real,” Ingalls Wilder means what we may appreciate, that depends on what sweet, simple things are. Since I don’t know in which context the quote was said, I might take it as dark chocolate, honey, a kind word, leaves dancing in the breeze and a myriad of other things. Plus, what is real and what is not is not up to me to judge since neither I nor anyone else on this earth is the original creator of everything. |
| Prompt: In figuring out--beforehand--what other people will do, how often do you get it right? Does your sixth sense or gut feeling help or does it confuse you? ------------------ I seriously think the sixth sense is a God-given gift, and not everyone has it and/or not everyone can read it well. My problem with it is that I sometimes don’t believe it, thinking it is my alter ego or my brain sending me a warped message. Here is an example that happened a few decades ago. I was in a big city in a foreign country, which I am not going to name, but what one I might call a third-world country. In those days, I didn’t know what fear was. I was walking on a street, a main thoroughfare, where one could cross at the crossing signs quite safely, although the natives crossed it anywhere they wanted to and, more often than not, someone was hit by a vehicle. I was going to get on the train across the street to visit a friend who had invited me to stay overnight. There were two crossing places that I could take. I wanted to take the first one because the crossing was shorter and it would also save me extra walking. When I stopped at the first crossing, I had this feeling in my midriff that something would go wrong. Someone even whispered, “Not here, it is risky,” but I thought it was my imagination. After all, being alone as a young woman in such a place can make a person be alert. I looked around and there was nothing to worry about. The street was crowded and both sidewalks on opposite sides were full of people. So, I didn’t listen to my gut feeling. I crossed the street. On the opposite side, I was still feeling uncomfortable but I didn’t know what it was. I thought it was my mind playing tricks. Like me, many other people were going to the trains, and I didn’t notice anything, except that a certain person kept walking with me. I already had a ticket so I walked right in. Someone sat next to me on the train. He smelled, no reeked, of liquor. He was the same person walking behind me. Then, he began talking. I answered, thinking he just wanted to talk, but a little later, he put his arm around me and he started saying far too forward things. One of them was that he had seen me while I was crossing the street and he was stunned. I wanted to get up, but he held me down. It was a very bad feeling. I told him, if he doesn’t stop, I’d scream. He said since I had been talking to him, everyone would think it a lover’s quarrel. At that time, I kept looking around and spotted a vacated seat across the aisle, plus the ticket conductor coming from the back of the wagon to punch the tickets. He was walking toward where I was. Thinking, the guy wouldn't dare to hold me down by force with the conductor in view, I suddenly arose and took that empty seat next to an old woman. It wasn’t finished with that. When I got off the train, it was getting dark, and he followed me to my friend’s house. I was quite scared, simply because, in that country, if you made waves and got everyone’s attention, you would be the one to be blamed, and possibly, they wouldn't let me leave the country until they got to the bottom of things, which has happened to some foreigners. And, I didn't want to attract attention, anyway. Other things also happened, but most of them were good, such as my gut feeling telling me to pick a certain-colored ticket from a jar to win a present. I pay better attention to my sixth sense now, just about anything, but I am almost always unsure, at first, if the warning or the tip is my sixth sense, my judgment, or my imagination. |
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