Day: October 2, 2019

#100WW — The Pool Party

Fandango11 Comments

Empty pool chairs“Everything for tonight’s pool party is set.” Harry said. “The caterer is on the way, the bar has been stocked with plenty of beer, wine, and liquor.”

“I’ve set up all of the deck chairs,” Harry’s wife, Donna, said, “and the DJ has confirmed that he’ll be arriving no later than seven this evening.”

“Great,” Harry said. “Now all we have to do is relax and wait until our guests start to arrive.”

Suddenly a look of panic flashed across Donna’s face. “Harry, you did remember to send out the invitations, right?”

“Me? I thought you sent them out, Donna!”

(100 words)

Written for today’s 100 Word Wednesday prompt from Bikurgurl. Photo credit: Bikurgurl.

Our Little Secret

Fandango9 Comments

82C4CE74-4626-4F4D-A6A6-9641E8F042E3“Face it, Jack,” his mother admonished, “what you said is indefensible. And the language you used, oh my God, where did you learn those words? I’m tempted to wash your mouth out with soap.”

“I’m sorry, Mom,” Jack said. “I’m feeling a little grumpy lately. But I thought Uncle Arnold was jumping through hoops to be sickeningly patronizing toward Dad, and that really pissed me off.”

“Well, between you and me, he did seem to be blowing a lot smoke up your father’s ass as we walked through his gallery,” Jack’s mother said. Your uncle does have the ability to be rather unctuous at times, especially when he’s trying to milk your father for some money. Still, that’s no excuse for what you said.”

“How about, Mom, if we let that be our little secret.”

Written for Di’s Three Things Challenge, where the three things are “secret,“ “face,” and “soap.” Also for these daily prompts: Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (grumpy), Daily Addictions (jump), Word of the Day Challenge (gallery), The Daily Spur (ability), and Ragtag Daily Prompt (unctuous).

I’m So Confused — 3-2-1 Quote Me!

Fandango3 Comments

719FF11B-E56A-4B4E-AC3A-4878BBBB81AARory has another round of his 3-2-1 Quote Me! prompt, and this time the topic is “confusion.” And then Sadje tagged me to play along.

The 3-2-1 Quote Me! rules are:

  • Thank the person who tagged you — thank you, Sadje.
  • Post two quotes for the dedicated Topic of the Day: Confusion.
  • Select three bloggers to take part in ‘3-2-1 Quote Me!’

Alrighty then, let’s do this. First the two quotes.

This first quote is unattributed.B7889397-BCB6-4E4B-A1D2-9CDA5994B4A2 This next quote is from American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor, William Castle.A4AA7DB9-AC41-408A-99E7-EE6E60CF685B I’m never good at tagging, so I’m just going to tag anyone who wants to play along.

One-Liner Wednesday — Someplace Else

Fandango19 Comments

8654D7AA-91B8-4BD8-91C8-6068B9B957F1

“If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.”

American baseball player, manager, and coach Yogi Berra

This classic quote from that great American philosopher, Yogi Berra, resonates with me because, for the longest time, as I was transitioning from childhood to young adulthood, I had no clear idea what I wanted to do with my life. Even in college, I didn’t know where I was heading.

And so, as I reflect back on my life, I did end up “someplace else” — someplace I never anticipated I would end up. That said, I’ve lived a relatively happy and productive life, so I suppose ending up “someplace else” ain’t that bad.

Written for this week’s One-Liner Wednesday prompt from Linda G. Hill.

Fandango’s Provocative Question #43

Fandango35 Comments

FPQWelcome once again to Fandango’s Provocative Question. Each week I will pose what I think is a provocative question for your consideration. By provocative, I don’t mean a question that will cause annoyance or anger. Nor do I mean a question intended to arouse sexual desire or interest.

What I do mean is a question that is likely to get you to think, to be creative, and to provoke a response. Hopefully a positive response.

I have two children (now fully grown adults). Their DNA comes from their mother and me. They were raised in the same household by their mother and me. And yet their personalities couldn’t be more different.

A while back, we got two dogs, Labrador retrievers, from the same litter when they were seven weeks old. And yet their personalities (or doggy natures) couldn’t have been more different.

So I often wonder about the “nature versus nurture” conundrum. The debate involves whether human (or canine?) behavior is determined by the environment, either prenatal or during a person’s life, or by a person’s genes.

“Nature” refers to all of the genes and hereditary factors that influence who we are — from our physical appearance to our personality characteristics.

”Nurture” refers to all the environmental variables that affect who we are, including our early childhood experiences, how we were raised, our social relationships, and our surrounding culture.

Now I’m interested in what you think. So my question is this:

What do you believe, when it comes to people’s traits and personalities? Are they primarily formed and shaped by nature or by nurture, as defined above? What about your personality? Nature or nurture? Please elaborate.

If you choose to participate, write a post with your response to the question. Once you are done, tag your post with #FPQ 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.

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