Day: September 2, 2020

Three Rhetorical Questions

Fandango37 Comments

I found this post that I had originally drafted on January 6, 2019 in my drafts folder when I was responding to the latest Blogging Insights post from Dr. Tanya, where she asked us how many posts we had in our drafts folder.

In my response, I said that I had six posts in my drafts folder and admitted that five were trashworthy. But I wrote, “One was from January 2019 where I posed three rhetorical questions. I forgot about that draft and might go back, reread it, and perhaps post it.”

Well, here it is. Let me know if you think this draft post was, indeed, trashworthy or if it was good enough to see the light of day.

Three very important questions occurred to me last night as I was trying, unsuccessfully, to fall asleep.

The first question relates to cat behavior.

Why, when we have all kinds of cat scratching posts and cat scratching toys, does our cat prefer to scratch our furniture?

Seriously, I don’t get it. We have four different types of cat scratching stations around our house and he basically ignores them all. He doesn’t mind perching himself atop any of the scratching posts, but he doesn’t seem to want to actually scratch the posts, which are designed to encourage cat scratching.

Instead, he loves scratching the shit out of our dining room chairs. And when it comes to rugs, fuhgeddaboudit. We do not have a single area rug left that is not full of pulls and snags.

The second question is about microwave ovens and WiFi.

Why, when I turn on my microwave oven to heat up some coffee or to warm up something to eat, does it always interfere with the WiFi signal from the modem/router to my laptop?

As soon as I press the start button on the microwave oven, I get disconnected from the internet. Every time.

And there doesn’t seem to be a damn thing I can do about it.

I’ve tried everything, including putting my microwave oven inside a cabinet and taping aluminum foil to the inside of the cabinet door. No help at all.

[FYI, I moved to a new house this past February, a year to the day after I saved this draft post, and I’m happy to say that my microwave oven no longer interferes with my WiFi signal. Yay!]

The third question deals with Chinese fortune cookies.

I was having dinner at a local Chinese restaurant with my daughter the other night. When the waitress brought the check at the end of our meal, it was accompanied by two fortune cookies.

My daughter opened hers first and laughed when she read it. It said, “You will inherit an unexpected sum of money within a year.”

I wished her luck with that and then opened up my fortune cookie and read my “fortune” aloud. It said, “The wise thing to do is to prepare for the unexpected.”

My daughter cracked up and said, “Dad, please don’t think that I’m wishing for you to die within the year, but I would encourage you to make sure your will is up to date. You know, in case of the unexpected.”

Was this part of some kind of vast Chinese fortune cookie conspiracy?

These questions are rhetorical. That means I’m not looking for answers from any of you. I’m just wondering out loud.

So go ahead and go about your business.

The Happy Couple

Fandango12 Comments

“I’ve got a bone to pick with you,” Harriet said to her husband.

“What’s new?” Dick said. “You always find something to criticize me about. What petty little thing is it this time?”

“This is not some inconsequential gripe,” Harriet said. “Frankly, Dick, I think our marriage is going down the drain.

“Yeah, well you’re no prize yourself, Harriet,” Dick said, emphatically.

“Fine,” Harriet said, throwing her arms into the air in a gesture of resignation. “Then let’s go to the bedroom and screw our brains out. That’s about the only thing you’re actually good for, you know.”

Written for these daily prompts: The Daily Spur (bone), Your Daily Word Prompt (inconsequential), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (drain), Ragtag Daily Prompt (prize), and Word of the Day Challenge (emphatic). There are only five words prompts today as Sue has ended her several months of giving us her Jibber Jabber word prompts for inspiration.

#100WW — Do What You Do

Fandango8 Comments

“I’m sick and tired of meeting people and the first question out of their mouths is ‘What do you do for a living?’” Jack said. “I do what I do. That’s all they need to know.”

“I get it, Jack, but getting to know someone is often through finding out what they do, whether for a living or for fun,” Alicia said. “Besides, asking what someone does is just a first step to finding out who they really are.”

“Yeah, I know, Alica,” Jack admitted. “You’re right, of course. I’m just being overly sensitive because I’m unemployed at the moment.”

(100 words)

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

One-Liner Wednesday — Temptation

Fandango9 Comments

“I generally avoid temptation unless I can’t resist it.”

Mae West, American actress, singer, comedian, and sex symbol

Yeah, I can relate to what Mae West said, especially when it comes to Ben & Jerry’s Stephen Colbert’s Americone Dream ice cream.

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

Fandango’s Provocative Question #85

Fandango22 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 was watching a TV show the other day and one of the characters complained about a decision he had made years ago and said something like “I wish I could go back in time and make a different decision.”

Imagine that you’re standing at a crossroads and you have to choose a path. Most of us have found ourselves faced with some momentous decision, and sometimes that decision was truly life changing. I know I’ve had a few instances where I had to make such a decision and I occasionally wonder what would have happened had a made a different decision at the time.

So, my provocative questions this week is about those “woulda, shoulda, coulda” moments in our lives.

Have you ever had to make what turned out to be a life changing decision? If so, do you ever wish that you could go back in time and make a different decision? What decision was that and how do you think your life would have changed if you’d made a different one?

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. But remember to check to confirm that your pingback or your link shows up in the comments.