Day: January 11, 2021

Three Line Tales — The Last Chance

Fandango11 Comments

Alec’s last chance to achieve his lifelong dream of becoming a successful commercial artist was on the line.

His assignment was simply to create an illustration for the cover of a book, and he knew what he had to do, but as he sat at his desk, his father’s words kept echoing inside his head and paralyzed him.

“I’m getting older son and will soon retire,” Alec’s father had said, “and since you have no marketable artistic talent, I implore you to give up your silly dream and take over running the family’s money laundering business.”

Written for Sonya’s Three Line Tales prompt. Photo credit: Thomas Franke at Unsplash.

Post-Surgery Instructions

Fandango8 Comments

The veterinarian told us to be sure to keep the protective cone collar on our dog for two weeks after the operation in order to prevent her from gnawing and picking at the area where the surgery had been done. He said that no matter how eager we might be to take the collar off, we should exercise patience and abide by his instructions to not remove the collar for the full two weeks.

It was hard to keep the cone collar on our dear dog, especially at night when she couldn’t get comfortable. We figured at night she’d mostly be sleeping anyway, so we decided to remove the collar in the hope that she…and we…could get some sleep.

Fast-forward one week, when we were back at the vets so he could treat the infection around the surgical site. He looked at and chastised us for not following his instructions to the letter.

Written for Linda G. Hill’s Just Jot It January prompt, where the word is “letter.” Also for these daily prompts: Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (operation), Ragtag Daily Prompt (gnaw), Word of the Day Challenge (picking), Your Daily Word Prompt (eager), The Daily Spur (patience), and MMA Storytime (fast-forward).

Share Your World — On a Scale of 1 to 10

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Share Your WorldIt’s Monday and that means that Melanie is back wanting us to participate in her Share Your World prompt, which is always a fun prompt to participate in. This week, Melanie wants to know…

What should you get rid of, that would make your new year better, and why? (Don’t say Covid-19, we all want to get rid of the dang virus.)

Having just moved to a new home less than a year ago, and having purged most of the stuff that we didn’t truly need, I am not sure there are any things left to get rid of now that we haven’t already gotten rid of.

Wait. Check that. Maybe I should make an effort to get rid of the very negative feelings that I have toward anyone who, in any way, shape, or form, still supports Donald Trump.

Nah, they’re all a bunch of gullible, ignorant lemmings.

What’s the most daring thing you’ve ever done?

I took a cross-country motorcycle camping trip with my then-girlfriend. We were on a Kawasaki KZ400 cycle, which is not exactly a touring motorcycle, so it was quite an adventure. I’m surprised, after that trip, that my then-girlfriend actually agreed to marry me.

Does your family have a “motto” – spoken or unspoken?

Well, I’m not sure it’s a family motto per se, but it’s generally my motto: “Whatever floats your boat.” (Unless you’re a Trump supporter, in which case I hope your fucking boat sinks.)

On a scale of 1-10 how funny would you say you are?

I’m not sure I’d call myself funny, but I like to think that I’m witty. If I had to put it on a scale, I’d probably go with a seven, as I do consider myself to be quite a wit. My wife, on the other hand, would probably rate me as a 3.5 because she considers me to be a halfwit.

Tell everyone something that you found personally lifted your spirits!

The fact that, one way or the other, Donald Trump will no longer be President of the United States as of next week at this time.

Blogging Insights — Reading Prompt Posts

Fandango8 Comments

Blogging insightsFor this week’s edition of Blogging Insights, Dr. Tanya wants to know about our reading habits vis-a-vis prompt posts. She asks:

Do you like reading posts written for prompts? If so, what kind?

Yes, I do. I host a number of prompt posts and I read every post from those who respond to my prompts when they link back to my prompt post. I am fascinated by the variety and range of responses.

When you publish a piece in answer to a prompt, do you read entries by other bloggers? If so, do you read them before or after you have written your own?

Most of the time, I don’t read other bloggers’ posted answers to prompts before I post my own, as I don’t want how others responded to the prompts to influence how I will respond. But it also depends upon timing. For example, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields publishes her Friday Fictioneers prompt on Wednesdays. I never post my response to it until Friday because, well, it’s called Friday Fictioneers. But a number of bloggers I follow also respond to Rochelle’s prompt, often starting on Wednesday. Since their posts show up in my Reader on Wednesdays and Thursdays, I can’t help but read what they’ve posted in response to Rochelle’s prompt before I begin to compose my own response on Thursday night or Friday morning. The good news is that my memory is so bad that by the time I start to write my own Friday Fictioneers response post, I usually can’t remember what others have posted in their responses.

Also, I schedule my daily one-word prompt for midnight my time and most of my other prompts for 3 a.m. my time. By the time I wake up in the morning, some bloggers have already posted their responses to my prompts and they’re in my Reader. But other than including my own one-word prompt, along with those of other daily, one-word prompters, in my some of my posts, I don’t often respond to my own prompts, anyway.

Bottom line, for the most part, I try not to read responses to prompts I’m participating in before I’ve written my own response. And, time permitting, I do try to read the responses to those prompts from other bloggers.

TMP — Euphemistically Speaking

Fandango12 Comments

Every Monday, Paula Light, with her The Monday Peeve prompt, gives us an opportunity to vent or rant about something that pisses us off. Today my beef is about politically motivated whitewashing.

You all know what a euphemism is, right? A euphemism is the substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt.

Personally I’m not fond of euphemisms. I’m more of a tell it like it is kind of a guy. But in political circles these days, particularly by Republicans, there is a tendency to use euphemistic language to soften the negative impact of Donald Trump’s words or action.

The most recent example of such euphemistic language comes from the Department of Defense. On Friday, the Pentagon released a timeline of how the National Guard was activated for and responded to the January 6th storming of the Capitol building by pro-Trump activists. The DOD labeled what took place in Washington on that date as “A First Amendment Protest.”

Let’s make one thing clear. What happened last Wednesday was not a peaceful protest about Americans’ First Amendment rights. Let’s call it what it was — an insurrection and coup attempt by a large group of far-right Trump supporters. It was instigated and promoted by Trump, himself. It was a seditious act and one for which Donald Trump is about to face an unprecedented second impeachment of his first (and only) term.

So, yeah, it pisses me off to refer to what happened last week in Washington, DC as a “First Amendment Protest,” when it was, in fact, a politically motivated attempt to overturn the results of a free and fair election through a violent attack on the seat of our federal government by pro-Trump thugs.

Okay, I feel a little better now.