Day: November 7, 2018

And in the End….

Fandango11 Comments

B85E036A-1580-4C89-9101-3D7A21B2E094The news reporter was visibly shaken as he told the viewers about how scientists were predicting the imminent explosion of a nearby star. “Such an explosion, known as a supernova, would pose a significant danger to all life on our planet,” he said.

“Dad,” Alan said, “if that star explodes, will it mean we won’t be able to go on holiday?”

“Don’t worry about it, kid,” Alan’s father said. “It’s fake news. Those goddam liberals soak up this kind of crap all the time. Next thing you know they’ll be talking about how climate change will cause all of us to starve to death and they’ll be hanging papier-mâché dolls of the president in effigy.”

Before the sound of the exploding star could be heard, all life on earth was vaporized.

Written for these one-word prompts: Your Daily Word Prompt (supernova), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (danger), Ragtag Daily Prompt (holiday), Scotts Daily Ptompt (soak), Daily Addictions (starve), and Word of the Day Challenge (effigy).

100WW — A Coming Out

Fandango10 Comments

393C39CE-5219-49E7-8B0E-F12FEA914073Alex handed Vicky an 8×10 envelope with nothing written on the outside. “What’s this?” she asked him.

“Take a wild guess,” Alex said, a broad grin on his face.

Vicky flipped the envelope over and opened the flap, pulling out a glossy photograph of Paris at night, the Eiffel Tower right in the middle of the image. She gave Alex a quizzical look.

“There’s more,” he said. Vicky shook the envelope and a single, one-way ticket fell out.

“Alex?” Vicky said.

“I’m coming out, Vicky,” he said. “Where better for a gay man to come out than Gay Paree?”

(100 words)

Written for Bikurgurl’s 100 Word Wednesday prompt. Photo credit: Paul Gaudriault.

Yes, Even More Q&A

Fandango8 Comments

Ursula, at An Upturned Soul, got nominated for the Liebster Award and she was kind enough to include my blog among her nominations. She wrote, “I’ve only just started following Fandango (that’s his real name, yes it is, just check out his Who Am I? on his blog… I think he’s a he, I’m never sure about these things especially online as gender was not something I thought about until someone at some point pointed out that I was this thing known as a she and even then it didn’t seem to matter… wtf am I talking about or more to the point what was I saying before I went off on this tangent), and I’ve noticed that he (I’m going with he) often borrows the questions in the blog award nominations posts of others, so I thought he should be given a blog award nomination of his own because I’d like to see what he does with it. He also is a Blogging Community supporter and does a Word of the Day. Thank you, Fandango, for Fandangoing!

First, thank you, Ursula, for the nomination and for your very kind words. Your gut, by the way, was right, I am a “he.” And thank you, too, for creating a new verb, “Fandangoing.” I love it.

Of course, all blog award nominations come with questions crafted by the recipient that he or she poses to his or her nominees. So here are Ursula’s questions and my answers.

  1. What question are you always hoping someone would ask you about yourself? What is it about you, Fandango, that makes you so brilliant?
  2. If you could come from anywhere in the world, where would that be and why? (And yes, you can say your actual place of origin if you’d like.) I’m a first generation American and I couldn’t be any more pleased than to have been born in the United States. Although with Donald Trump as president, I am thinking maybe Canada. 
  3. What always keeps happening to you? I keep changing lanes on the freeway to one that inevitably is slower than the one from which I just changed.ABDEE7DF-59E1-4E33-AD52-4023253AD6C8
  4. How would you describe yourself to someone who couldn’t see you and would see you as you wanted to be seen? Retired, old, liberal, proud, pragmatic, practical, thoughtful, provocative, and boring.
  5. Did you find what you were looking for? I’ll let you know when I find it.9B09451B-D188-4B89-B174-B1BD38BF4C04
  6. Does a person’s name influence the person they become? I don’t think I’d be a different person if I had a different name. Fandango suits me.
  7. Does a person’s blog name influence the blogger they become and the posts they write? My blog’s name “Fivedotoh.com,” reflects the fact that this is the fifth iteration of blogging for me. My blogging style has, of course, evolved since I first started blogging in 2005, but I don’t think the name of my blog has influenced my content. And, while “Fandango,” is my blogger name, as I blog anonymously, I used pseudonyms for all of my previous four blogs, although different pseudonyms.D6AFB530-AB93-44CC-A5EF-570C75C6B93A
  8. What is the question you always want to ask people but never do? I can’t think of any question I’ve never asked. Hmm. Maybe something like “How different are you in the real world from the person you present yourself to be on your blog?” 

Okay. Your turn.

Why the Hell Not?

Fandango11 Comments

DDBF18FE-616A-429B-BB61-79FC879ECA83I saw these 20 “short” questions on a post on Melanie’s Sparks From a Combustible Mind blog yesterday. She got them from here. And now I have them and I’m going to answer them. I mean, why the hell not? You should feel free to do so as well.

What’s the most dangerous situation you have ever been in? When I was sucker-pinched by a guy while on a blind date with a girl. Turns out he was a boyfriend she never told me about.

What’s your favorite culture? My own?

What do you dislike about your own culture? Right now, the divisiveness and mean-spirited nature that seems to have permeated our society.

Your favorite type of travel?  Time travel.3DA630C4-AB30-4E89-ADCE-B8E6B307877D

Do you feel understood? By whom? I don’t even understand myself, so I really don’t expect anyone else to understand me.

How do you feel about your body? With my hands and arms.05F6EE64-246C-4361-B3B3-18DB53C6D118

What is your favorite film? Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein.”

Are you adventurous with food? At home, no. When I eat out at a restaurant, yes.

Have you ever hated a place and wanted to come home? Yes, when I was in army basic training at Fort Polk, Louisiana.0E81CB53-BBC3-45F7-BFCA-8FACB564D5B7

Are you bothered about others seeing you naked? Nah. I’m a closet exhibitionist (i.e., I can often be found naked in my closet).

Are you a good loser? It is what it is.

What was the favorite time of your life? Probably my twenties and thirties. Oh, and now.

Do you have a close family connection? Yes, to my close family members. Not so much with my extended family.

Can you speak another language? High school-level French.

Will Trump be in for another term? Bite your tongue.

What are your thoughts on English people? They arbitrarily add the letter “u” to words like “favourite” and “honour.” WTF?

Was life better without mobile phones? No. I like not having to be tethered to landline to make a call, to find a pay phone while not home, and to be tied to a computer to access the internet.

What has been the biggest change in your life? The scourge of 24 hour cable news networks.

Is climate change real? You bet your sweaty ass it’s real.

Why do you like answering questions? It’s fun.

The Continental Divide

Fandango18 Comments

2DAE690D-23F7-43BD-A08C-8F1E1D04FCCEAmerica continues to be a nation divided, and with yesterday’s midterm elections, it now has a Congress divided.

The good news is that, despite gerrymandering that heavily favors Republican candidates in GOP-controlled states, voter suppression efforts, and a series of “glitches” with voting machines, Democrats have regained control of the US House of Representatives, a body that more closely reflects the will of the American people.

But Republicans strengthened their thin majority in the US Senate. For the record, Democratic Senatorial candidates across the board amassed about nine million more votes than did Republican candidates, but because there are more red states than blue ones, and because, with the exception of states like Texas and Florida, most Republican strongholds are more rural states, Republicans held the Senate.

Of course, our demented, clueless president, in another delusional tweet, has claimed victory in “this great Midterm Election,” and calls anything that contradicts his assessment “FAKE NEWS.”C0F69BD4-2741-4685-A3A1-96A3668DC9D9So it wasn’t the “blue tsunami” many Democrats were hoping for, but at least the Republican stranglehold in Congress has been busted.

Unfortunately, confirming nominations for the Supreme Court and other federal judgeships is exclusively the purview of the Senate, so we can expect a continued movement to the far right with respect to the judiciary.

That said, I’m hoping that the Democratic House will impose some checks and balances on Donald Trump, will be more aggressive when it comes to supporting Mueller in his investigations to the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion between Trump and Russia, and will take steps to insure future election integrity, will protect healthcare, Medicare, Social Security, women’s reproductive rights, LGBT rights, and will restore critical environmental protections.

In other words, I’m cautiously optimistic.