Day: September 25, 2021

Don’t Hold Your Breath

Fandango10 Comments

“Did you get your invitation to the Cloudscape Conference in Austin?” Brad asked Jim.

“Yeah, but I don’t think I’m going to attend this year,” Jim answered.

“Why not? You always attend,” Brad said. “And last year’s conference was held over Zoom due to COVID. This year’s conference will be live again, and I heard it’s going to be quite the spectacle.”

“Maybe so,” Jim said, “but I don’t yet feel comfortable getting on a plane and being inside a convention center crowded with people, especially in Texas where all those assholes are refusing to get vaccinated or even to wear face masks.”

“I hear you, buddy,” Brad said, “but the conference isn’t until December and maybe by then, the virus will be gone.”

“Now you’re sounding like Trump back in early 2020 when he claimed the virus would miraculously disappear,” Jim said.

“Whatever,” Brad said. “But you have until early November to register, so we should keep checking. Maybe by then the virus will actually dissipate and you’ll be able to go.”

Jim shook his head. “Don’t hold your breath, my friend.”

Written for these daily prompts: Ragtag Daily Prompt (cloudscape), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (attend), Word of the Day Challenge (spectacle), The Daily Spur (comfortable), and My Vivid Blog (check).

Weekend Writing Prompt — Informed and Entertained

Fandango14 Comments

Portmanteau. An interesting word. It is trunk that opens into two halves to carry clothing in while traveling.

But it’s also a word that combines the form and meaning of two or more other words

For example, “blog” is a portmanteau, a combination of “web” and “log.” And what is a blog if not a form of fascinating infotainment?

(59 words exactly)

Written for Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt, where the word is “portmanteau.”

SoCS — Near and Far

Fandango21 Comments

Am I the only one who thinks it is strange that being nearsighted means you can’t clearly see things that are far away and that being farsighted means you can’t clearly see things that are very near? Well, now that I’ve read what I just wrote, it doesn’t seem strange at all, does it?

Are you nearsighted or farsighted? I am both, actually. When I was younger, I used to wear contact lenses for distance vision, and reading glasses (aka cheaters) for close reading. But these days, I wear glasses with “progressive” lenses.

Back in the day people like me, who are both nearsighted and farsighted would have to wear bifocals. These had a very visible line that showed up about two-thirds of the way down the lenses.

The top two-thirds of the lenses were to correct for nearsightedness and the bottom third was to correct for farsightedness.

But modern progressive lenses correct for nearsightedness, farsightedness, and just about everything in between. And with no visible line!

I do have a confession to make. While my progressive lenses are great for my nearsightedness, they’re not as effective when it comes to addressing my farsightedness. So, when I need to read something near, whether it’s a newspaper, a magazine, a book, or my iPhone, I can see it better when I remove my glasses completely than when I leave them on and try to read through that “sweet spot” that is supposed to correct for reading things up close.

Anyway, if you’ve read this far, I hope you will forgive me for having written one of my most boring posts ever.

Written for Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, where we are asked to use “near,” use “far,” or use them both in our response.

FOWC with Fandango — Attend

Fandango15 Comments
FOWC

Welcome to September 25, 2021 and to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (U.S.).

Today’s word is “attend.”

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.