better

SoCS — Icing on the Cake

Fandango17 Comments

For this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, Linda G. Hill has asked us to write about the first thing that comes to mind when we think of the phrase “icing on the cake.”

“Icing on the cake” is an interesting phrase. It can be used literally to mean what is pictured above. It’s the sweet concoction you put on top of and around a cake to make it taste better. Cake is pretty good on its own. But then you put icing on it, and it’s even better.

Or, it can be used figuratively or metaphorically to refer to something extra that makes a good thing even better. For example:

Trump, having been arrested and tried for his criminal conduct was good. The fact that he was convicted and thrown in prison for the rest of his life was icing on the cake.

Occasionally, though, “icing on the cake” may be used in a negative way, meaning something added to a bad situation that is not essential but makes that situation even worse. In most cases, when used this way, it’s in a sarcastic or ironic way. For example:

My wife got half of my money after the divorce, but, dammit, her getting possession of my beloved Porsche was just icing on the cake.

Personally, I like cake with or without the icing, although I have to admit that carrot cake wouldn’t be nearly as good without the cream cheese icing. Am I right or what?

Blogging Insights — Good, Better, Best

Fandango13 Comments

For her weekly Blogging Insights prompts, Dr. Tanya provides us with a quote about blogging or writing and asks us to express our opinion about said quote.

This week’s quote, like last week’s, is unattributed.

“Don’t be the same, be better.”

And, like last week’s, this trite quote also sounds like something you might find inside a fortune cookie.

I know that the message is attempting to motivate the writer to change things up, to dare to be different, or to at least try something different. The quote honestly reminded me of the almost meaningless slogan that Melania Trump came up with when she was the First Lady:

I’m going to suggest three alternative quotes that I think offer the same essential message but in more provocative ways. This first one is from Ralph Waldo Emerson:

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”

This next quote that is often mistakenly attributed to Albert Einstein:

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

And this last quote is attributed to Henry Ford:

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”

I think any one of these quotes says it better than “Don’t be the same, be different.” Don’t you agree? Which one is your favorite?

FOWC with Fandango — Better

Fandango23 Comments
FOWC

Welcome to October 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 “better.”

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.

Share Your World — 8/30/2021

Fandango17 Comments

For this week’s Share Your World, Melanie is going deep. She wants to know…

Are human beings required to better themselves and will doing that make them happier?

“Required” to better themselves? What happens if they don’t comply? Is it noted on their permanent record? No, humans are not “required” to better themselves. Will it make them happier if they do? I guess that depends upon how motivated they are to better themselves.

Is it easier to love or to be loved?

That depends upon how much of a control freak you are. If you like to be in control, then it’s easier to love, since you’re in charge of your own feelings and emotions. As to being loved by someone else, that other person is in control over how they feel about you and all you can do is react to it.

Also, it depends on whether you’re the assertive type or the passive type. I think for the passive type, it’s easier to be loved, while for the assertive type, it’s easier to love.

Outside traumatic brain injury, can memories be completely erased?

I think that those suffering from dementia or from Alzheimer’s may have significant memory loss. Are those memories “completely erased” or are they just irretrievable? And is there really a difference? I don’t know.

Is there such a thing as a good death?

I’d say that dying peacefully and painlessly in your sleep would be a “good” death.

And one ‘silly’ one because the former questions were fairly serious: What do you imagine is inside a baseball?

Pick me! Pick me! I know!

Wanted Dead or Alive

Fandango13 Comments

Rory, a Guy Called Bloke, wants to know if being alive is better than being dead.

I’ve been alive ever since I was born, but I’ve never been dead. So, since the only thing I know about is being alive, I’m going with it’s better being alive.

Rory also asks if there are more reasons to be alive than there are to being dead.

I believe that when you’re dead, you’re dead. There is no afterlife. No heaven, no hell. Just a whole lotta nothing. So of course there are more reasons to be alive than to be dead. Being alive is something. And isn’t something always better than nothing?

And finally Rory asks how we define our purpose to being alive or what gives us purpose.

My primary purpose for being alive is to post answers on my blog to deep, philosophical questions like, “Is being alive is better than being dead?”