Day: June 4, 2021

First Line Friday — Reality Notwithstanding

Fandango18 Comments

“People see what makes sense to them, reality notwithstanding,” my wife said to me.

“But that’s just it,” I said. “None of it makes sense. How can it make sense to anyone?”

“He’s like Svengali to his supporters,” she said. “He has them under his spell and they believe his Big Lie.”

“And it doesn’t help that right-wing media outlets like Fox News continue to spew his lies,” I said, “How can entire community of seemingly ordinary people be bamboozled like that?”

“Well that’s the thing,” my wife said. “It’s not like he’s solely responsible. Republicans all across the country have enabled him and are buying into his whole kit and caboodle. It’s like they are stuck on some kind of funhouse carousel ride going round and round at dizzying speeds that makes them believe that he actually won the election and will be reinstated as president.”

“But that’s just not reality,” I insisted.

“I know, but as I said, people believe what they want to believe, even if it’s an alternate reality,” she said. “Just don’t allow yourself to be drawn into the fray.”

Written for the Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie First Line Friday prompt, where the first line is “People see what makes sense to them, reality notwithstanding.” Also for these daily prompts: The Daily Spur (community), Word of the Day Challenge (ordinary), Your Daily Word Prompt (solely), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (kit), Ragtag Daily Prompt (carousel), and MMA Storytime (fray).

Fibbing Friday — Old Sayings

Fandango16 Comments

Frank (aka PCGuy) and Di (aka Pensitivity101) alternate as hosts for Fibbing Friday, a silly little exercise where we are to write a post with our answers to the ten questions below. But as the title suggests, truth is not an option. The idea is to fib a little, a lot, tell whoppers, be inventive, silly, or even outrageous, in our responses. Today is Di’s turn to host and she is presenting us the first parts of ten old sayings and asking us to finish them off.

1. A stitch in time saves…

an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction later.

2. Too many cooks…

lost their jobs when their restaurants closed due to the pandemic.

3. Many hands make…

many mistakes.

4. A bird in the hand…

will likely poop in the hand.

5. Actions speak louder…

when performed in an echo chamber.

6. All that glitters…

ends up as litter.

7. People in glass houses…

should remember to draw the curtains at night.

8. Fools rush in ……

to fill a void.

9. Don’t count your chickens …

except when you’re taking inventory.

10. Give them an inch…

instead of 2.54 centimeters if you’re in the U.S.

Friday Fictioneers — The Accident

Fandango20 Comments

“Well, your honor….”

“I’m not a judge,” the cop said. “I’m a police officer.”

“I knew that, ociffer — hic,” Barney said.

“How did this happen?”

“You see, ociffer — burp — I sometimes mix up which is the brake pedal and which is the, you know, gas pedal,” Barney explained. “That’s because I’m diabetic.”

“Diabetic?”

“You know,” Barney said, “when you have trouble reading because the letters are all jumbled up.”

“You mean dyslexic,” the officer said.

“Whatever,” Barney said.

“I’m arresting you, Barney, for driving under the influence.”

“Wait, I’m not drunk, I’m dyslexic.”

“Tell it to the judge, Barney.”

(100 words)

Written for the Friday Fictioneers prompt from Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. Photo credit: Liz Young.

Fandango’s Flashback Friday — June 4th

Fandango13 Comments

Wouldn’t you like to expose your newer readers to some of your earlier posts that they might never have seen? Or remind your long term followers of posts that they might not remember? Each Friday I will publish a post I wrote on this exact date in a previous year.

How about you? 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 4th) of any month within the past year and link to that post in a comment.

This was originally posted on June 4, 2018.

Ten Questions

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So Teresa over at The Haunted Wordsmith (who has since removed this blog but can now be found here) was nominated for the Liebster award. Good for her. It’s well-deserved. Then Teresa apparently drew my name out of a hat when following the rules that required her to nominate 5-11 other bloggers with fewer than 1,000 followers for the award.

Now some may consider this to be primitive of me, but my blog is an award-free blog. So while I can’t accept Teresa’s very kind nomination for the Liebster award, I can answer the ten questions she asked of those she nominated.

Here goes.

  1. If you could be any animal, what would it be? A werewolf. I’m already hairy and I love howling at the moon.
  2. Do you believe in fairy tales? No. I’m an atheist.
  3. What is your favorite movie/tv show? The Rachel Maddow Show. And don’t you dare judge me.
  4. What are you reading right now? This post.
  5. What is one movie people would be surprised to learn you like? My all-time favorite movie is Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein,” but that wouldn’t surprise anyone who knows me.
  6. If you could trade places with anyone for a day, who would it be? Donald Trump. I’d fire my cabinet and resign before the end of the day.
  7. What advice would you give your younger self? Grow up!
  8. If you could swap blogs with someone, who would it be? Why would I wanna do that? My blog is da best. 🤪
  9. Name three places anywhere in the Universe that you would like to see up close. Uranus! No, I’m just kidding. I have no interest in seeing Uranus. What do you think I am — a proctologist? As to two other places, I dunno. Krypton and Dune.
  10. Dog, cat, fish, bird, reptile, small mammal, or no pet at all? A dog and a cat.

FOWC with Fandango — Kit

Fandango19 Comments

FOWCWelcome to June 4, 2021 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 three years ago.

I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (US).

Today’s word is “kit.”

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. Please 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.