Day: February 8, 2019

Return on Investment

Fandango9 Comments

B74D0A3D-933E-4CB4-9650-207B08D161CDAs David and Diane were checking into the fancy hotel, the bellhop approached them. “Sir,” he said to David, “I’ll take your baggage up to room 1614 for you.”

Diane looked up at David. “How did you afford such a ritzy hotel?” she asked. “It must cost a small fortune.”

“My greatest strength is finding great deals,” David said.

Diana snuggled up to David and said, “Well, I wouldn’t say that’s your greatest strength, babe. I hope you’ll demonstrate that for me later tonight.” She gave him a big hug and kiss and asked, “But seriously, how did you manage to get us into this place?”

“Okay, I guess I can tell you my secret,” David said. “I invested in one of those two-hour lunch things a few weeks ago. You have to sit through a lengthy sales pitch to buy into a time sharing vacation resort property.”

“Seriously?” a surprised Diana said. “Did you fall for that crap and buy into a time share?”

“Of course not,” David said. “But that two-hour investment of my time got me a free lunch and this bundle that includes two nights at this fancy hotel plus two breakfasts and two dinners at the hotel’s restaurant.”

“Sounds like you got a good return on your two-hour investment,” Diana said.

“Indeed,” David said. “Now take my arm and let’s head up to room 1614, where our baggage awaits us.”

Written for these daily prompts: Ragtag Daily Prompt (baggage), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (ritzy), Word of the Day Challenge (strength), and Your Daily Word Prompt (bundle).

Why I Don’t Answer My Own Questions

Fandango12 Comments

Ursula, at An Upturned Soul, asked me a question in a post that included her response to my weekly prompt, Fandango’s Provocative Question. This week’s question was, “does size matter?” She asked, “Do you believe that size matters, Fandango? Please explain your response.”

And Melanie at Sparks From a Combustible Mind, commented, “I don’t see YOUR thoughts on this Mr. Fandango. What say YOU???”

Okay, those are fair criticisms. Let me start off by saying that I view my role in posting these questions as soliciting the thoughts of others on the topic of the question. I certainly have my own opinions, but I don’t think it’s my place, as the person posing the questions, to offer up my own answers. My interest is learning what the blogging community thinks, not what I think.

Second, I don’t want to influence how others might respond to the question by answering it myself. I know that readers here on WordPress have their own reasoned opinions on provocative matters, but, given that Donald Trump is the POTUS, it’s clear to me that many Americans (around 40%, anyway) are susceptible to the wild rantings of a demented moron and are apparently easily swayed by the expressed opinions of others.

Third, as I read the responses that people post in their own blogs or in the comments on my post, most have already expressed opinions that I share as well, so why pile on with an answer to the question that someone else has already posted?

And one last comment. I am concerned that when I ask a question like “Do you believe that size matters?” some might simply respond with either “yes” or “no.” And so I add “Please explain your response” or “Please elaborate.”

I hope that sufficiently answers the question of why I don’t answer my own FPQ questions.

For what it’s worth, my answer to the question of whether size matters would be that it depends upon the context. In some cases, size doesn’t matter at all, whereas in other cases, it matters a lot.

Friday Fictioneers — S’mores

Fandango19 Comments

C7D45327-3A10-49E4-9AE0-DD70D9138E49“The campfire’s ready, kids,” their father said. “Grab a skewer. We’re gonna make s’mores!”

“What are s’mores?” his youngest asked.

“You’ll love them,” he answered. “You put a marshmallow on the end of the skewer and hold it over the fire until it’s golden brown. Then put it on top of a graham cracker and a piece of chocolate. You place the other graham cracker on top, like a sandwich.” Turning to his son, he said, “Jimmy, grab the bag with the marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers I asked you to put in the car.”

“Sorry, Dad. I forgot it.”

(100 words)

Written for this week’s Friday Fictioneers prompt from Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. Photo credit: Anshu Bhojnagarwala.

3-2-1 Quote Me! — Confidence

Fandango15 Comments

C542B21B-E856-452B-BFA3-14D3F6DEF756Rory, A Guy Called Bloke, tagged me for this 3-2-1 Quote Me! challenge thingie. According to Rory’s rules, I’m supposed to:

  • Thank the selector. Thank you Rory.
  • Post 2 quotes for the dedicated Topic of the Day, which is “confidence,” and
  • Tag 3 bloggers to take part in “3-2-1 Quote Me!”

Alrighty then, let’s get to it!

On the topic of confidence:

“As long as you keep going, you’ll keep getting better. And as you get better, you gain more confidence. That alone is success.”

Tamara Taylor

“When you have confidence, you can have a lot of fun. And when you have fun, you can do amazing things.”

Joe Namath

Okay, now to tag three bloggers to participate in this 3-2-1 Quote Me! challenge. I’m going to go with three bloggers I’ve only recently started following. How about:

Of course, participation is optional, but I hope that the three of you will choose to do so. You’ll have fun!

FOWC with Fandango — Ritzy

Fandango21 Comments

FOWCWelcome to February 8, 2019 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 “ritzy.”

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.