Day: July 19, 2019

Spy Versus Spy

Fandango21 Comments

BB3EDA1A-E3E8-41EC-B00B-A3C8C361DA91I’ve been getting some strange comments showing up in my spam folder lately. Like this one:

“Alex9, this message is your next piece of data. Immediately message the agency at your earliest convenience. No further information until next transmission. This is broadcast #5771. Do not delete.”

Sometimes, like above, the comment is addressed to “Alex9.” Sometimes it’s addressed to another mysterious, secret agent-like name. But the message is always the same.

And the cryptic wording is weird. “Immediately message the agency.” What agency? Are we talking CIA? FBI? MI6? Mossad? KGB? What?

And then there’s “…at your earliest convenience.” So what is it — immediately or at my earliest convenience? “…next transmission” “…do not delete.” Seriously?

Well, listen, whoever you are, I’ve got news for you. I never sent in an application to any of those spy agencies. You showed a serious lack of judgment sending this message to me. I may be an uncle, but I’m not The Man From U.N.C.L.E. As much as I’d like to, it’s not my job to eradicate evil in the universe or to stop the polar ice caps from melting.

So I’m going to ignore your directive to message the agency and I’m going to delete this spam comment forthwith. Over and out.

Written for these daily prompts: Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (news), The Daily Spur (judgment), Your Daily Word Prompt (eradicate), Word of the Day Challenge (universe), Ragtag Daily Prompt (Emmy), and for Rachel Poli’s Time To Write (application).

Friday Fictioneers — Life Sucks

Fandango5 Comments

9343A5B3-C05B-4E0F-B4BC-1D3090A91FC7Ben was dead tired. He had to pull a double shift when Clyde called in sick. It was almost midnight and nobody else was around except for Lin, who was working the hot dog and pretzel stand, and she had started to pack up for the night.

In just a few minutes the lights around the avant-garde sculpture in the courtyard of the Museum of Modern Art would be turned off and he could go home.

Oh wait. Ben almost forgot he had agreed to take the midnight shift at that after hours club in Harlem. “Life sucks,” he thought.

(100 words)

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

Fandango’s Friday Flashback — July 19

Fandango9 Comments

Each Friday I will publish a post I wrote on this exact date in a previous year. I’ve had this blog for two years, so I have only 2017 and 2018 to draw from.

Wouldn’t you like to expose your newer readers to some of you earlier posts that they might never have seen? Or remind your long term followers of posts that they might not remember?

Why don’t you reach back into your own archives and highlight a post that you wrote on this very date in a previous year? You can repost your Friday Flashback post on your blog and pingback to this post. Or you can just write a comment below with a link to the post you selected.

If you’ve been blogging for less than a year, go ahead and choose a post that you previously published on this day (the 19th) of any month within the past year and link to that post in a comment.

It would be great if everyone who reads this post would scroll down to the comments and check out the posts that others provide links to.

I originally published this post on July 19, 2017 in response to a One-Liner Wednesday prompt from Linda G. Hill.

IMG_2370Have you ever taken the time to contemplate the meaning of life? I don’t do it very often because I’m still not sure life has any real meaning.

No, I’m not a nihilist. I’m just not someone who feels the need to seek out an answer to life’s true purpose or what my role in this world should be, other than to survive as long as I can and to make the most of my short existence on this planet.

Okay, maybe I am a bit of a nihilist.

But the other morning I was sitting at the kitchen table reading the morning paper and drinking my morning coffee and I found myself wondering about life, what it all means, and how I fit in. So I asked my wife, who was sitting across from me busily working on that day’s newspaper crossword puzzle, what she thought the meaning of life is. Without even bothering to look up she said, “Huh?”

“What is the meaning of life?” I asked again.

“I don’t know,” she said, clearly disinterested. “Why don’t you ask Siri?”

So I picked up my iPhone, pressed the home button and said, “Siri, what is the meaning of life?”

This was Siri’s one-line answer:

IMG_0908

That works for me!

FOWC with Fandango — News

Fandango31 Comments

FOWCWelcome to July 19, 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 “news.”

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.

The issue with pingbacks not showing up seems to have been resolved, but you might check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

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