Blog

SoCS — Not Very Creative

Fandango15 Comments

When I was a kid I used to love to draw. I’d draw Disney characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. I’d draw characters from the daily funny pages, like Dick Tracy, Li’l Abner, and Charlie Brown. I’d draw comic book characters like Superman, Batman, and Spiderman. I could even take a look at a photo of a person and draw a reasonable likeness of that person.

I was really good at drawing and I drew so much that I earned the nickname “Doodles” because I was always doodling in my school notebooks.

However, there was a limitation to my skills as a drawer, a doodle, and a wannabe artist. I wasn’t very creative. Oh, I could see something and close to perfectly replicate whatever it was that I was copying. But to come up with something original? Fuhgeddboudit.

In the ninth grade, I had an art teacher who took a special interest in me and told me that he thought I had some real potential as an artist. But by the end of the school year, he took me aside and said, “Fandango, you are very good at drawing and you can copy art with the best of them. But so can a Xerox machine. Unfortunately, your art lacks imagination and creativity. Best of luck, kid.”

I was disappointed that my livelihood as an artist came to an abrupt end. However, I discovered that while I lacked creativity in my artistic skills, I apparently had some redeeming skills when it came to creative writing. My tenth-grade English teacher read my first creative writing assignment and I was flabbergasted when he called me up to the front of the class one afternoon and had me read my assignment aloud.

He later told me that I demonstrated a lot of creativity and imagination in my creative writing assignments and encouraged me to keep it up. And thanks to this English teacher, who saw this creative spark in my writing, I grew up to be a best-selling author.

Okay, I may have taken some creative license there, as I’m not a best-selling author. In fact, despite several genuine attempts to write a bestseller, I have not even come close.

But you know what? I’m fine with that. Every day I create posts that I publish on my blog and I have a bunch of readers from all around the globe who seem to enjoy my writing skills and appreciate my creativity.

So here’s to all of you for keeping me motivated to create and publish post on my blog every day.

Written for Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, where the word is “create.”

WDP — How I’m Feeling

Fandango21 Comments
Daily writing prompt
How are you feeling right now?
View all responses

The physical therapy facility I go to 3X a week

I woke up at around 7 am. Like every morning these days, when I first wake up, my injured right arm and shoulder are achy and stiff, as is my injured left hip. I hobbled to the bathroom, peed, washed my face, and brushed my teeth. Then I got dressed, grabbed my cane, and went to the kitchen. I took three Advil capsules, as I do every morning, to combat the pain and stiffness.

I spent the next half hour reading the newspaper, drinking coffee, and waiting for the Advil to kick in. Now I’m finishing up my breakfast, after which I’ll do about an hour’s worth of rehab exercises for my hip and shoulder. Then I’ll take a shower.

At noon I have my third outpatient PT session of the week (see photo above). I’ll came back, have lunch, and probably read and write some posts on my blog. At around 3:00, I’ll do another hour’s worth of rehab exercises for my hip and shoulder.

Then I’ll chill in front of the TV binge-watching some show until dinner.

So that’s how I feel now and how I’ll be spending the first day of September 2023. Don’t you wish your life could be as exciting as mine is?

Fandango’s Flashback Friday — March 31st

Fandango5 Comments

Wouldn’t you like to expose your newer readers to some of your earlier posts that they might never have seen? Or remind your long term followers of posts that they might not remember? Each Friday I will publish a post I wrote on this exact date in a previous year.

How about you? Why don’t you reach back into your own archives and highlight a post that you wrote on this very date in a previous year? You can repost your Flashback Friday post on your blog and pingback to this post. Or you can just write a comment below with a link to the post you selected.

If you’ve been blogging for less than a year, go ahead and choose a post that you previously published on this day (the 31st) of any month within the past year and link to that post in a comment.

This was originally posted on March 31, 2018.

Time to Write — Baby It’s Cold Outside

8033D4CA-A8FE-434D-B22C-7379C44A330B

“Come on, hurry,” Veronica called out to her husband.

“Why, again, are we doing this?” Tim asked.

“I told you. It’s for my blog,” Veronica said. “Do you ever listen when I’m talking to you?”

“Yes, I listen. I just forgot what you said.”

“But you just asked me why I needed my camera,” Veronica said, “and I told you I have to get some pictures for my blog.”

“So what is your post about that we need to go out in the freezing cold?” Tim wanted to know.

“It’s in response to a photography challenge,” Veronica explained. “We’re supposed to post pictures that reflect all four seasons. I already have some that I took when we were at Virginia Beach last summer. And remember when we were in New Hampshire last fall and I took those stunning pictures of the autum leaves?”

“Yeah,” said Tim.

“And for spring I’m going to use one of the pictures I took of the cherry blossoms on the Potomac during our trip to DC a few years back,” Veronica said.

“So now you need a shot to show a wintry scene,” Tim said.

“Exactly,” said Veronica. “I was thinking of something artistic, like bare, snow-covered branches contrasting against the deep, blue sky. That would really depict winter well, don’t you think!”

“Can’t you just use one of the pictures from that week we spent skiing at Taos? I know you have pictures from that trip.”

“Yes, but I just wanted something unusual, unique, and interesting,” Veronica said. “And we are here in Montreal, aren’t we?”

“Fine,” Tim said. “But let’s make it quick, okay? Because baby it’s cold outside.”

Written for Rachel Poli’s Time To Write prompt, which is no longer around, although Rachel has a different blog these days.

Rory’s Morning Dawdler — 02/15/23

Fandango8 Comments

Rory, the king of questions, also known as the Autistic Composter, has come up with a new series of questions that he calls “The Morning Dawdler.” He poses four questions three times a week, questions he says are “inspired by life, humor, conversations and observations, town life, blog posts, writers, gardening, news stories, television, entertainment, and human curiosity, and so on.”

Here are Rory’s four morning dawdler questions today.

If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be and why?

I’d be a giant Redwood tree. Why? Because Redwoods are the tallest trees on earth, reaching more than 350 feet high. Nice view, huh? And Redwoods can also live for thousands of years.

Name 5 uses for a stapler other than stapling.

  1. Paperweight
  2. Weapon to throw at a coworker who is annoying you
  3. Musical instrument in the percussion family
  4. To attach things to walls or bulletin boards
  5. In a surgical setting, to join tissue together to close a surgical wound.

Do you believe in tipping for good service received and do you think that tipping makes for a better service?

I assume this question is about financial gratuities and not a tip of the hat or which horse to bet on in the fifth race at the track. In that context, yes, I do tip for good service and I believe that the prospect of a tip can lead to better service.

Do you have a blog to write or do you have a blog to socialize only and which one could you survive without if one was taken away?

I have a blog to write. The socialization aspect of blogging is icing on the cake. I started my first blog in 2005 and until I migrated it over to WordPress and discovered a vibrant community of bloggers, my posts generated minimal social interactions.

As to Rory’s question about one being taken away, I’m not sure how to answer it. If the socialization aspect of blogger were taken away, I would still write blog post with no or limited socialization, just as I did for nine years between 2005 and 2014. But if the writing aspect of blogging were taken away, what’s left? No writing, no blogging, right? Maybe I’m not understanding the question correctly.