Day: February 24, 2022

Throwback Thursday — Career Dreams

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Maggie, at From Cave Walls, and Lauren, at LSS Attitude of Gratitude, alternate hosting Throwback Thursday. The idea of the prompt is for them to give us a topic and for us to write a post in which we share our own memories or experiences about the given topic. This week, Maggie chose the topic of “career dreams.” She wants to know…

  1. Do you remember what you first wanted ‘to be’ when you grew up? I wanted to be an “army man” or a cowboy. When I got older (a teenager), I wanted to be a disc jockey.
  2. Any idea what inspired that dream? Watching too many John Wayne movies on TV and listening to a lot of AM top 40 radio stations.
  3. What ‘job’ did you most emulate in play? Army: the hard nosed sergeant; cowboy: the trail driver; disc jockey: Cousin Brucie.
  4. Did you have any idea what salary or pay you thought you would have? None whatsoever.
  5. Were there careers you knew you did NOT want to do? Doctor, dentist, politician, undertaker, car salesman.
  6. Were you ever encouraged to follow in the footsteps of a family member? Nope.
  7. Were you ever urged to join a family business? There wasn’t a “family business” to join. Not in my family, anyway.
  8. Were you ever discouraged from a particular field? If so, why? No. I was always encouraged to do whatever I wanted to do.
  9. Did you have a Career Fair at school? I don’t specifically remember, but I’m sure we must have had them in high school and college.
  10. As an adult looking back, do you ever wish you had taken the direction of your childhood dreams? I actually did pursue being a disc jockey. I got what used to be called an FCC Class 3 commercial radio operator license and then got a job at a small-town, rural AM radio station in Maryland. I was assigned to the midnight to 6 am show five nights a week. It was a very lonely job. Imagine being a blogger and no one ever reads your blog. Well, that’s what it was like being a DJ in a mostly rural farming community. No one was listening to radio between midnight and 6 am. I used to try to have call-in contests where I would offer things like a voucher for a free meal at a local restaurant or a ticket to a movie at the local theater. No one ever called. No one! And after four months of spinning records and talking to myself for six hours a night, I quit. This was in 1968, during the height of the Vietnam war and I ended up enlisting in the Army Reserves to avoid being drafted. So I suppose I actually did achieve my childhood ambition to be an “army man.”

Any Given Sunday

Fandango12 Comments

“I so wish the outcome of the football game had been different,” Leroy lamented. “My guys were the favorites, magnifying the disappointment of their loss.”

“Chill out, dude,” Dwight said. “You know what they say about any given Sunday. My team beat your team fair and square. And you know what? That made my day.”

“Yeah, you’re right, Dwight,” Leroy admitted. “My team looked soft out there on the gridiron, while your guys had a hard edge to the way they played.

“You got that right, Leroy,” Dwight said. “My offensive line protected our quarterback like the casing of a hot dog protects whatever crap that’s inside of those wieners.”

“Speaking about wieners,” Leroy said, “how about I grill up some hot dogs while you grab us a couple of beers.

“No problem, Leroy,” Dwight said. “I wouldn’t mind that at all.”

Written for these daily prompts: Your Daily Word Prompt (wish), The Daily Spur (football), Word of the Day Challenge (magnify), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (beat), Ragtag Daily Prompt (hard edge), E.M.’ Random Word Prompt (casing), and My Vivid Blog (mind).

One-Minute Fiction — Teppanyaki

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George had never been to a Japanese steak house before and he’d always wanted to go to one. He thought it would be exciting to sit at a teppanyaki table and watch a skilled Japanese chef dazzle the guests with his skills.

Sadly, the only such restaurant in his small town had been closed since March of 2020 due to the pandemic lockdown. But he read in the local paper that the town’s Japanese steak house had just reopened after his local town council had lifted restrictions on the wearing of face masks at restaurants and other indoor venues. George decided that this was his chance to get the full experience.

He arrived at the restaurant and was surprised that it was close to empty. There was only one other party there, a young couple and their six year old son. For safety reasons, George was seated at one end of the large table and the small family at the other end.

The chef came out and began doing his thing and the young boy was squealing with delight, while his parents were encouraging him with their fake, exaggerated excitement.

George, however, sat at the end of the table with a totally bored expression on his face. He hadn’t had even a morsel of food yet, but he couldn’t hide his disappointment at what was happening. This guy must be an apprentice chef, he thought. But George was here, so he might as well stay and experience his first — and probably his last — meal at teppanyaki restaurant.

Written for Cyranny’s One-Minute Fiction prompt. Photo credit: Cyranny. Also for Ragtag Daily Prompt (apprentice).

Confession: it took me about eight minutes to write and post this. I’m using an iPhone, for crissake. It takes a lot longer to tap out a post on an iPhone than it does typing one on a full-sized keyboard. But I’m still in bed, so cut me some slack. And, for what it’s worth, I enjoy dining at Japanese steak houses, even though it’s probably been five or so years since I was last at one.

FOWC with Fandango — Beat

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FOWC

It’s February 24, 2022. Welcome 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 “beat.”

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.