Day: July 26, 2022

A Stick in the Mud

Fandango7 Comments

“That Alex is a real live wire, don’t you think?” Alyse asked her husband on their way home from the party.

“I didn’t care for him,” Sean said. “You think he’s a live wire, I think he’s an overcharged egomaniac. I got vertigo watching him flit around the room.”

“Oh you’re just jealous of Alex’s energy and charisma,” Alyse said. “You’re so conservative and sometimes you can be like a stick in the mud.”

“That’s pretty brutal, Alyse,” Sean said. “Yeah, I’m a laidback, easygoing guy, but that guy Alex is so full of himself and I find that to be incredibly annoying.”

“You just met him tonight, Sean,” Alyse said. “You spent approximately an hour observing him and now you’ve formed this unwavering opinion that he’s an obnoxious asshole?”

“I call ‘em as I see ‘em, Alyse,” Sean said.

“And sometimes you see ‘em wrong,” Alyse said. “But in this case, I have to admit, you’re probably right about Alex. And I like your laidback, easygoing nature.”

Written for these daily prompts: Ragtag Daily Prompt (live wire), The Daily Spur (overcharge), My Vivid (vertigo), Word of the Day Challenge (brutal), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (approximately), and E.M.’s Random Word Prompt (unwavering).

Truthful Tuesday — Whitest, Brightest

Fandango16 Comments

Melanie, of Sparks from a Combustible Mind, is still filling in for Frank, aka PCGuy, who is taking a temporary (?) hiatus from his Truthful Tuesday prompt. This week Melanie asks…

Is there too much emphasis on having the “whitest, brightest smile”? Is that a mainly American thing or has it caught on globally?

Alas, I was a cigarette smoker for about 30 years and I’ve been a coffee drinker my whole adult life. Hence, my teeth are, regrettably, anything but white and bright. And yes, that’s my mouth and my teeth you’re seeing in the photo above.

Were I a movie star or a model or engaged in some other activity that required really white teeth, then perhaps it would be important for my teeth to be their whitest and brightest. But I’m just an everyday, ordinary guy who is retired. I’m just happy that the teeth in my mouth are my real teeth and that they are in good shape. I haven’t had a cavity since I was a teenager, so I’m happy about that too.

To answer Melanie’s question, despite the fact that my smile could probably be the before picture in an ad for tooth whitening procedures, yes, I think there is too much of an emphasis on having a white, bright smile and not enough on having a healthy smile.

It’s in the Bag

Fandango14 Comments

“Sir, I know you are infatuated with the leaders of the Christian Nationalist movement, like the GOP candidate for governor of Pennsylvania, but I think it would be highly counterproductive, when it comes to your re-election campaign, to overtly align yourself with that group,” the campaign manager said. “You know what those on the left will do if you display even a hint of approval for such a racist, antisemitic group. It would be sheer madness to seek that group’s endorsement.”

“Steve,” the former president said, “you know that these are my people and they love me. When I throw my support behind these white Christian Nationalist groups, I’ll get every damn one of them to vote for me and I’ll win by a landslide.”

“But hypothetically speaking, sir,” the campaign manager said, “coming out in support of white Christian Nationalists could cost you the Jewish, black, and Hispanic vote.”

“Don’t worry about it, Steve,” the former president said. “The Party loyalists in the swing states have made sure that in the next election, between gerrymandering, voter suppression, and taking over the vote counting, the only votes that will count and be counted will be those of white Christians. It’s in the bag. All you gotta do as my campaign manager, is make sure I get the Party’s nomination. My people will take it from there. And Steve, go shave, take a shower, and wash that greasy head of hair. You’re looking awfully frowzy these days.”

Written for these daily prompts from yesterday: My Vivid Blog (infatuated), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (counterproductive), The Daily Spur (left), Word of the Day Challenge (display), Ragtag Daily Prompt (sheer), E.M.’s Random Word Prompt (hypothetical, and Your Daily Word Prompt (frowzy).

Fandango’s Story Starter #56

Fandango17 Comments

It’s time for my weekly Story Starter prompt. Here’s how it works. Every Tuesday morning (my time), I’m going to give you an incomplete “teaser” sentence and your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to build a story (prose or poetry) around that partial sentence. It doesn’t have to be the first sentence in your story, and you don’t even have to use it in your post at all if you don’t want to. The purpose of the teaser is simply to spark your imagination and to get your storytelling juices flowing.

This week’s Story Starter teaser is:

She had been watching her neighbor’s house for weeks, but she saw something today that made her…

If you care to write and post a story built from this teaser, be sure to link back to this post and to tag your post with #FSS. I would also encourage you to read and enjoy what your fellow bloggers do with their stories.

And most of all, have fun.

FOWC with Fandango — Approximately

Fandango18 Comments
FOWC

It’s July 26, 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 “approximately.”

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. Show them some love.