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 |   Theses are my thoughts and ramblings as I forge my way through this thing they call life. |
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These are my thoughts and ramblings as I forge my way through this thing they call Life. I blog with these groups:     "Blogging Circle of Friends "  [E] 
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30 Day Blogging Challenge PROMPT July 30th 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? For this blog it is hard to remember a favourite blog without being able to look back, but I enjoyed the inventions prompt and in particular, Robert Waltz   ’s entry. I have enjoyed Star Trek and thought their gadgets were just a matter of time in development. Some one made a comment about William Shatner having a flip cell phone make the Star Trek Chirp when he starred in Boston Legal. I love it when they link things like that. As for the rewarding aspects of this competition, I enjoy writing to the prompts, as well as reading what others have to say on the same topic. It always amazes me how varied we can get when it comes to responses. I also like that fact that I have something I have to write each day. It gets my butt in the chair and writing. I have done most of my writing each day, but I often forget to post my entries to my blog and then to the forum. I think I blew it on the second day this month, but just because I messed up does not mean I give up. I am doing Camp Nanowrimo this month, so most of my writing sessions have started off with doing my blog then moving into more fictional realms. I have two days left to get almost 5,000 words written. I am not worried. My Thursday and Fridays are pretty open and I have been going out to a few newer cafes to give them business and give myself a change of scenery. Getting to them, also requires that I walk, so I get some exercise into my day as well. One place has a great trail by the river nearby… and I can still use the bathrooms in the building afterwards before I drive home. |
30 Day Blogging Challenge PROMPT July 29th Write about an invention or technology that you wish existed that would make your life better. Okay. How many of us are going to say a vaccine to rid us of Covid-19? Allowing us to return to normal, with the knowledge of what we have learned over our confinement. Knowledge that people and connections are important. Knowledge that we can find creative ways to interact without always using technology. And a new appreciation for going out into the world. One of my concerns with the confinement and the way our way our world was going beforehand was that people were 'Leaning In' - that means they were working too much and not spending enough time with friends and family. Having done remote teaching and talking to people who have been working from home, I've found people are giving too much time to the work because there in nothing to denote when you are at work and when you are at home. Those in that situation need to learn to step away. I have a friend whose husband works at Google. It is an international company, which means he works all day on his own projects and then often returns to work after dinner to have meetings with people in Germany or California. So instead of working 9 to 5, he is working that plus an additional 2 or 3 hours after his workday should be done. They don't have children, but I can see why relationships could suffer from this kind of thing. The concept of Leaning In does not feed the individual, it feeds the company.... and when it comes right down to it, you need to think does that company really care about you or your family or are you just a tool it uses to make its profits. I know Company's like Toyota cut their Christmas party budget so that they don't have to support anything more than what they have to. Having read Tena Henley's Leaning Out, she makes an argument for taking back your time and your life so that you fulfill yourself and don't give it all away. Why work yourself into the ground for some big company that doesn't give a damn? I believe this pandemic was a chance to rethink our values and consider what is important... people are always more important than the Machine. Still, we need to find a new normal. One that gets the work done and still supports us as humans, not as just another worker in the grind of life. Hug your kids, reach out virtually, keep a safe distance and one day we can appreciate the energy and dynamic wonderfulness that is human interaction again. |
30 Day Blogging Challenge PROMPT July 28th All month, you’ve been replying to prompts straight from the Challenge War Chest, filled with prompts from previous 30DBC competitors. Today, write three of your own prompts and then reply to one of them in your entry. I knew this day was coming... 1. Discuss a book that had an impact on your life somehow. 2. What do you currently do to pick yourself out of the doldrums? 3. Are you going on any vacations or adventures this summer? What do I currently do to pick myself up out of the doldrums? I take mini- adventures. Today, I headed out to Indigo. It was my first time there since the beginning of March. I wandered around for a good long while. It wasn't busy. I wore my mask. I used hand sanitizer and washed my hands well, when I did use the bathroom. I bought three things... I restricted myself to only 3 things. Two of the things were notebooks - one is to keep track of my writing and reading goals; the other is either going to be a bullet journal and / or a place where I can keep track of all the contests I have entered. I also want to keep track of the short stories I have written and also track their edits and submission journey. I enter at least 52 contests a year on Writing.com (part of the I Write in 2020 Challenge - of which I am one week ahead of schedule). I would like to start venturing out further - submitting to magazines and anthologies. I also have hopes of one day completing my novel and getting it published)... but I am getting of track. After my wonderful adventure at Indigo, I headed over to Cambridge - a 20 to 30 minute drive east of my home base. I had decided yesterday, I wanted to go to spend some time at a new coffee shop - Blackwing Coffee. I only had 45 minutes because many coffee shops are limiting their hours until only 2 or 3 pm. The plan is to go earlier tomorrow or go Thursday when they are open until 4 pm. I also learned that the building Blackwing Coffee is in is open later and they have bathrooms that are accessible later than the coffee shop's closing hours. I know that sounds weird, but my day trips need to coincide with available washroom facilities or else I need to be home in two hours. That is my limit. If the drive is 30 minutes both ways that does not leave a lot of time to explore. After the coffee shop closed I walked into downtown Galt (Cambridge is made up of 3 small towns). Galt runs along the Grand River and I climbed down to the water's edge to touch the water - very nice! I checked a few other shops - all of which had early hours, but I did find one more coffee shop that was open until 3 pm so I bought an iced almond chai latte. The beautiful walk got me back to my car by 3:30 and I was home just before 4 pm. After 2 days of listening to the heavy machinery at our neighbour's place - they are rebuilding a wall - I got a chance to get away and hear much more peaceful sounds. Well, the weird guy yelling about pigeons on the bridge was a little wierd.... but hey, it was interesting. Now, I am just relaxing on the front stoop doing a little writing. It's been a good day. and my step count is a healthy 16,000. |
30 Day Blogging Challenge PROMPT July 27th Write about a time you were caught off guard, surprised, or had the rug pulled out from under you. How did you recover? I can't think of anything for myself here.... beyond my divorce, but I would not rather write about that. I would love to fictionalize this entry in that many of my novels start off with this kind of thing. The discovery of an unfaithful boyfriend and the fallout that comes from that kind of situation. It is always so much easier to write about something like that in a fictionalized sense. It helps makes sense of my own situation without the glaring reality of what really happened. Because real life is so much more boring than what I can makeup. |
30 Day Blogging Challenge PROMPT July 26th What food would you like to judge in a Cook-Off? Ribs. I would love some ribs right now and it is only 5:43 in the morning! I have heard they are still doing some rib-fests this year, but it is like a drive thru.... now I have to Google that. Burlington, Ontario had a drive-thru Ribfest - 3000 cars. Raising $25,000 for charities. https://canadaslargestribfest.com/thanks-burlington/ This is another blog I did then forgot to post. Oh well. Here it is. |
30 Day Blogging Challenge PROMPT July 25th Reflect on your week. What was challenging? What did you do that made you feel successful? What made you smile? This has been a harder week. Monday was relatively productive, but Tuesday was a blue day. I was great in the morning, but by mid-afternoon I had lost any interest in making the day interesting. I thought about walking downtown, but the idea of going somewhere that may or may not have washrooms held me back. I don't want to walk for half an hour, then have a coffee and have to walk home without being able to wander and explore. Not being able to find a bathroom also makes me a little anxious. It was also too warm to walk too far. I considered driving to another little town, but again... the washroom conundrum holds me back. Deflated, I lumped myself in front of the TV and ate copious amount of junk. Wednesday was a bit better. Thursday I worked with my client - first time since before the confinement. The highlight of my week. We couldn't do anything exciting, but we did 'picnic' in my car port and sit at the back patio to colour before taking a walk down to the lake. Thank goodness it stopped raining. I usually take him swimming in the summer, but I am not inclined to take him to a pool. I also don't want to venture to a mall. Outside venues are where it's at for now, anyway. I was tired that night, probably from stressing out about how it was going to go. Our neighbours are also refixing their retaining wall and the big machinery has been going since early morning the last two days - yesterday it was 7:25 am! I had to go out to find some peace. We'll see what the weekend holds. |
30 Day Blogging Challenge PROMPT July 24th If you could switch places with one other person, who would it be and why? What in particular would you do? I have no desire to do this. Each of us has our life history and we have built a place for ourselves; switching with that does not feel right. Now switching houses for a vacation might be interesting. Kind of like The Holiday with Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz. It would be cool to live in a castle for a couple of weeks.... or each a shack on the beach. I am curious what other people wrote. |
30 Day Blogging Challenge PROMPT July 23rd You've been given a full budget and creative license to bring a book you read to film. What book would you pick and who would you cast as the characters? If you choose a book with an existing movie adaptation, what changes would you make? I would love to do the book I am currently reading - The Ten Thousand Doors of January, but I am not finished reading it yet. I love this book and its message - that doors open to world and allow for change. The bad guys are the white establishment that wants to close the doors and keep this world unchanged. They want to hold on to their privilege and status. They want the beautiful, priceless things of the other worlds, but they do not want any of the change that might leak in through the doors. Other worlds are very different - one allows a black girl child to escape the colonization of the area she was born to... the one that steals her family's land and reduces them to the 'help'. She escapes to a world where she is among Amazonian Women who have wives and husbands. Where she is a warrior. Her name is Jane and she follows January's father back to his world and her door is destroyed trapping her back in this world. January's father hires her to protect his daughter. January is a cinnamon child with a Black father (from the world of Nin where he is a scholar) and wheat haired mother with freckles. Who is one of Mr. Locke's 'priceless' items.... until she becomes too old to be seen and not heard. Who would I chose - strong Black actors. Dayo Okeniyi as Julian (January's father) and Amandla Stenberg as January. For Jane - Latarsha Rose https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3912883/ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3964350/ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1127289/ January's mother could be... could I use creative license and use a younger Jane Seymour? January's boyhood friend, Samuel, who runs away with them would be... Davide Giordano https://www.cdastudiodinardo.com/artista_3322_1_1_Davide_Giordano.htm And some pastey white guys like Woody Harrelson with long hair as Havermeyer and Donald Sutherland as Mr. Locke. |
30 Day Blogging Challenge PROMPT July 22nd Make a list of the top five most important virtues and why. I am not putting these in any particular order: Respect. I think this is a baseline or foundational virtue, in that all others branch from it. Respect is for yourself and for others. It is living the Golden Rule of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. The importance of stopping to think 'how would I react if someone did... such and such." Taking a moment to consider that helps you maintain a level of respect for all involved. Can I group Love/Kindness/Caring together? These are also foundational virtues... particularly LOVE. It may be more foundational than Respect. And like respect, it is towards yourself and towards others. The idea that you must love yourself before you can love others has merit. Coming from a place of love highlights all the other virtues... and I could also include Compassion into this mix. Trust and Honesty also come into play. Not only do you have to trust yourself and your abilities, you have to be honest with yourself about things. It starts with you, before it moves out to others. Trust must be earned.... when I was younger, I trusted more readily, but with age, I have come to find that not everyone is so trustworthy. Still, I try not to judge a person. I try to stay aware of my own prejudices and stay open so that those prejudices don't colour the experience. A person needs to be taken as a person first, not strapped with judgments that are probably not accurate. I am honest with myself about those thoughts... and make a conscious effort to stay open and not close done with judgement. These are my six top virtues. They are foundational to living in a world where people are people and not a caricature of prejudices. |
30 Day Blogging Challenge PROMPT July 21st Write a letter to your fifteen-year-old self. Didn't we write a letter to our 14 year old self earlier this month? No, maybe it was just the letter to our parents on July 1. 15 years old. Grade 9 and 10. The beginning of the high school years. A time of growth and change. Family life was okay. Friendship groups were in a state of flux with adjustments. My friends from a year behind me (with one girl - Michelle - I had known since I was 9 and she was 7), were entering high school and they were not part of the group of friends I had developed in grade 9 (which were a new group - as my friends from the year before had gone their separate ways). I straddled both groups. But I also made friends with Debbie in my drama class. My other two groups of friends did not like Debbie. Both my grade 9 and grade 10 friends were strongly academic groups. Most were on the honor roll, but Debbie was not one of those. She was the type of person that would head to the library to skip class to write an essay (that was due third period) after playing cards until the nine am bell. I took that drama class to try to overcome my extreme shyness. It helped immensely. Debbie was a new transfer. She'd come from the Catholic School system and though she was older than me, she didn't seem so. In fact, school was not Debbie's forte. By the time I graduated from high school (grade 13), she was behind me in Michelle's grade... and then she dropped out six weeks before the end of the school year. Impulsive, a tad. But she's a good soul. The fact that I had friends across several groups is true even today. I have various cohorts of friends and I am able to fit in with each group easily. School/work friends, Writing friends, long-time friends... a real mix of people. Debbie and I are still friends... she was in my wedding party, as was Michelle. It took time, but these two eventually became friends and are still friends today. I apologize for the jumbled nature of this blog, it represents my mind today. Unfocused and buzzing everywhere. It was like that yesterday too, which it why this post is late. Now as I read the prompt again, I realize this was supposed to be a letter.... Dear me, Hang, the hell, on! Future Self |
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