Day: October 19, 2018

3TC — Witness for the Prosecution

Fandango12 Comments

0E6FF6D8-274D-46C0-A515-D86DF37A7855I received a summons to appear in court today as a witness for the prosecution in a breaking and entering trial. I didn’t see much of what happened, but I did hear the glass break and my neighbor’s home alarm go off, and I saw some guy wearing a hoodie running from the scene. But it was dark and I couldn’t see his face, so I’m not sure can offer much of value.

Still, I’m very excited about this. I’ve been summoned for jury duty three times in my life, but I’ve never been summoned to appear as a witness. I want to make sure I present myself well, so I spent a lot of time in the bathroom this morning. I showered, shaved, trimmed my mustache, brushed and flossed my teeth, and combed my hair.

I’m ready to leave my townhouse, but I need to check the mirror one last time. After all, I want to make a good impression in court today.

Written for Teresa’s Three Things Challenge. The three things are three, mirror, and summons.

40 Odd Questions

Fandango18 Comments

84E3B403-F590-40C6-A5E7-603F4F29806DCheryl (aka, The Bag Lady) published a list of 40 questions labeled “odd things about me” that she received from her sister. 40 seems like a lot of questions, but they’re short (and odd) and don’t require a whole lot of thought. And since I don’t particularly like to give anything a whole lot of thought, I thought I’d take a shot at them.

1. Do you like blue cheese? No. When cheese turns blue, it’s moldy, so I throw it away. Or maybe when it turns green. I can never remember.

2. Coke or Pepsi? Diet Coke.

3. Do you own a gun? I have a soldering gun in my garage. Does that count?

4. What flavor of Kool-aid? Never, no way, just yuck!

5. Hot dogs? What about them?

6. Favorite TV show? The Rachel Maddow Show. Yeah, I know.

7. Do you believe in ghosts? No.

8. What do you drink in the morning? Coffee.

9. Can you do a push-up? A single push up? Yeah.

10. Favorite Jewelry? Other than my watch, the only jewelry I wear is my wedding band.

11. Favorite Hobby? Blogging.

12. Do you have ADD? No, I have SUBTRACT.

13. Do you wear glasses? Only when I need to see anything.

14. Favorite cartoon character? Bullwinkle Moose.

15. Three things you did today? Ate, walked the dog, and responded to these 40 odd questions.

16. Three drinks you drink regularly? Coffee, Diet Coke, water.

17. Current movies? My wife just dragged me to see “A Stars is Born” with Lady GaGa. It wasn’t bad.

18. Do you believe in magic? Only as a Lovin’ Spoonful song title.

19. Favorite place to be? At home.

20. How did you ring in the New Year? Snoring.

21. Travel? Where would you go? Australia and New Zealand.

22. Name five people who will most likely read this? I don’t know. I guess five of the dozen or so people who regularly follow my blog and comment on most of my posts.

23. Favorite movie? Young Frankenstein.

24. Favorite color? Blue.

25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? Don’t know. Never tried them.

26. Can you whistle? Yes, but not like those really loud whistles.

27. Where are you now? Home.

29. Favorite food? Chesapeake Bay Blue Crabs.

30. Least favorite chore? Cleaning the bathroom.

31. Best job you can think of? Radio disk jockey.

32. What’s in your pockets? Pants pockets: wallet, keys, Vaseline Lip Therapy tube, mints, lint. Shirt pocket: tissue, more lint.

33. Last thing that made you laugh? My cat playing in an empty box for something that was just delivered from Amazon.

34. Favorite animal? My dog…and my cat.

35. What’s your most recent injury? When my cat scratched the shit out of my hand.

36. How many TV’s are in your house? Three, but the one in the guest room is rarely used.

37. Worst pain ever? Diverticulitis attack.

38. Do you like to dance? Nope.

39. Are your parents still alive? No.

40. Do you enjoy camping? I used to back in the day, but now I prefer a nice comfy bed in a nice clean room that is bug free at a place that has indoor plumbing.

Now you copy and paste the questions to your blog, but replace my answers with yours. Easy-peasy.

Basket of Deplorables

Fandango15 Comments

681E68DC-FCF5-41C2-98FB-4375F09CA837Do you remember when Hillary Clinton said “You could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables”?

Well, it turns out that she was right. Now I don’t want to disparage all, most, or even half Trump’s supporters by calling them deplorable. But I will say that the Trump administration is teeming with people who are despicable.

And I include in this cast of despicable characters Trump, himself, his kids (except for Barron, who is probably too young to be despicable), his wife, his entire White House staff, every member of his cabinet, every Republican in Congress, most Republican candidates, and several Supreme Court justices.

In just a few weeks, our American democracy will be faced with its greatest challenge in our lifetimes. Republican governors and legislators in red states are doing everything they can to suppress the votes of those who are most likely to vote for Democratic candidates.

And have you seen these hypocritical Republican candidates dissemble when discussing Obamacare, claiming that they will protect benefits for preexisting conditions while voting for and supporting legislation that would eliminate such benefits? Is that not the very definition of despicable?

It’s time for each and every one of us to make a resolution to vote in the upcoming midterm elections and to sweep the Republicans out of control of the House of Representatives — at least.

We need to save our country! VOTE!

Written for these one-word prompts: Word of the Day Challenge (deplorable), Daily Addictions (teem), Ragtag Daily Prompt (week), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (challenge), Your Daily Word Prompt (dissemble), Scotts Daily Prompt (resolution).

#writephoto — When Another Door Opens

Fandango8 Comments

DB92B21A-4E32-4A93-BB6D-9C19649A11BCAllison looked out of the airplane window shortly after takeoff. The sun was setting over the midwestern city she was leaving, probably forever. She let out a heavy sigh. Her eyes welled up and she struggled to hold back the tears. It was hard for her to face the fact that she was leaving her old life behind.

When she discovered ten months earlier that her husband of eight years was having an affair with her best friend, Allison was devastated. She was more angry with herself for being blind to the betrayal by the man she thought loved her and by her closest friend. She knew that she could never forgive either of them. And she also knew she needed a complete break from everything. It was time to start over with a clean slate.

She moved back into her parents’ house until the divorce was settled. She received half of the proceeds from the sale of the house that she and her husband bought together shortly after they got married. While the net proceeds after paying off the mortgage and the real estate commissions weren’t that much, the amount was sufficient to cover the cost of the one-way plane ticket and a few months rent in a new city halfway across the country.

She didn’t know anyone there and didn’t have a job. But as her father told her, when one door closes, another door opens. Allison certainly hoped that would be the case. She pulled her iPad from her carry on bag, opened it up, connected to the airline’s in-flight WiFi, logged into WordPress, and started typing on the tablet’s virtual keypad.

“Hi,” she typed. “My name is Allison. Welcome to my brand new blog.” She paused, and for the first time in a long, long time, Allison smiled. Then she resumed typing. “I’m 31 years old and I’m starting my life all over again, which is why I’ve named my blog When Another Door Opens.”

Written for Sue Vincent’s Thursday Photo Prompt.

FOWC with Fandango — Challenge

Fandango33 Comments

FOWCWelcome to October 19, 2018 and to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). It’s designed to fill the void after WordPress bailed on its daily one-word prompt.

I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (US).

Today’s word is “challenge.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. You will marvel at their creativity.