Monopoly

SoCS — Game Night

Fandango4 Comments

I told the guys how much I missed spending game nights with them when I was down and out with infectious mononucleosis. They asked me what it was like being isolated for a few months until I was well enough to be around other people.

I told them how rotten I was feeling and how difficult is was for me to be all alone with no one to talk to. I said it was like my colorful life had suddenly turned monochrome. They were sympathetic, but I soon realized that I was monopolizing the conversation and how monotonous my monologue must have been for them.

They were good guys, though, and were happy that I was doing better and able to spend time with them again. Then one of them opened up the board game and said, “How about some high-stakes Monopoly tonight?”

Written for Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. Linda has asked us to find a word that starts with “mono” and use it in our post. Above image credit created by Midjourney text to AI-Art.

SoCS — Playing Cards

Fandango12 Comments

6A3F2341-4B5B-44FB-B384-8223D0163336When I saw that the challenge from Linda G. Hill for this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt was to use the word “card,” the first thing that popped into my head was the dreaded Monopoly card, the one that tells you to go directly to jail, do not pass Go, and do not collect $200. And then, being the optimist that I am, I thought of the get out of jail free card.

Then I thought of how the word “card” can be used to describe certain types of people. Like a “card shark” (or “card sharp” if you’re British) as someone who cheats at cards. Or when you refer to someone who is an amusing or odd person as a card, like in “that guy Paul is a real card.”

And then I thought about a card as a list of acts at a club, festival, or similar event, where you might want to know “who’s on the card at the comedy club tonight?”

Of course, there are card games, like poker, gin rummy, hearts, or solitaire. And greeting cards for birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, and all kinds of holidays.

But finally I started thinking about life, as in the cards you’re dealt. I’ve actually heard two variations on the “cards you’re dealt” theme. One is kind of fatalistic. It says that, “You gotta play the game with the cards you’ve been dealt.”

03ED6BA6-D257-47AB-BFC3-105DCCAF5DE6Personally, though, I prefer the other variation, the one that promotes being more proactive and taking greater responsibility for how you live your life. It says, “It’s not about the cards you’ve been dealt, it’s about how you play the hand.”