Day: November 29, 2022

Nothing Is Easy

Fandango17 Comments

Our electric company’s fee structure is one convoluted mess.

They have time-of-day plans that offer peak and off-peak hours, but one plan has peak hours (i.e., higher rate per kilowatt hour) from 4 pm to 9 pm every day while the other plan’s peak hours are from 5 pm to 8 pm, but only on weekdays. And one plan has tiered pricing based upon whether or not you use over or under 100% of some undefined baseline, while the other plan does not.

And both plans, on top of all that, have seasonal rates, one for summer (June 1 through September 30) and one for winter (October 1 through May 31). Summer rates are, of course, significantly higher than winter rates. And there are apparently special plans available for owners of electric vehicles. Who knew?

I tried calling to see if someone could talk to me about which plan would be best for me, but I kept getting a recorded message telling me how important my call was. After more than an hour on hold, I got tired and hung up.

Given how much I’m paying for electricity, there’s simply no defense for poor customer service. Trying to get a human being to answer the phone, much less to find someone knowledgeable to help, is like trying to go on a barefoot hiking expedition through a field covered in bramble bushes and lichen.

I’ve had it. I’m going to look into converting to solar power and go off grid with my electric company. I just hope I can find a knowledgeable person to help me zen my way through the maze of solar options.

Nothing is easy anymore, is it?

Written for these daily prompts: The Daily Spur (fee), Fandango’s One Word Challenge (convoluted), My Vivid Blog (tired), Word of the Day Challenge (defense), Your Daily Word Prompt (expedition), and Ragtag Daily Prompt (lichen).

Truthful Tuesday — Do You Believe in Magic?

Fandango18 Comments

Di, of Pensitivity101, is our host for Truthful Tuesday. This week, Di asks us:

Do you believe in magic?

An interesting question. In my book, there are three types of magic.

The first type is producing a desired effect or result through the use of incantations or various other techniques that presumably assure human control of supernatural agencies or the forces of nature. I absolutely do not believe in supernatural magic.

The second type is the art of producing illusions as entertainment by the use of sleight of hand, deceptive devices, etc. Like pulling a rabbit out of a hat. This is practiced by entertainers calling themselves magicians, and I do enjoy watching the illusions skillful magicians can create. But I don’t believe that there’s anything supernatural about what they’re doing in their acts.

Finally, there is what I call emotional magic. I’ve personally experienced this kind of magic the night I met my future wife, the day we got married, the day my daughter was born, and the day my son was born.

And I also believe in…

magic in a young girl’s heart
How the music can free her, whenever it starts
And it’s magic, if the music is groovy
It makes you feel happy like an old-time movie
I’ll tell you about the magic, and it’ll free your soul
But it’s like trying to tell a stranger ’bout rock and roll

Streak

Fandango35 Comments

I woke up this morning to see in my notifications that I have reached a significant, in my opinion, milestone here on WordPress. Today marks two-thousandth straight day that I have posted at least one post on my blog. Pretty impressive, if I do say so myself.

I was thinking that maybe I should take tomorrow off and start a new consecutive days streak on Thursday. But I can’t because I already have three post scheduled to be published tomorrow.

Well, maybe I’ll try for 3,000 straight days…if I live that long.

Fandango’s Story Starter #74

Fandango12 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 a “teaser” sentence and your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to build a story (prose or poetry) around that 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:

He couldn’t believe that she was dumping him just because she found out…

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 — Convoluted

Fandango19 Comments
FOWC

It’s November 29, 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 “convoluted.”

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.