one-word prompt

Fandango’s Flashback Friday — May 19th

Fandango8 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 (19th) of any month within the past year and link to that post in a comment.

This was originally posted on May 19, 2018.

Simple Instructions

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“There’s been a complication,” Larry said. “I’ve got a few leftover peg thingies, and I’m short a few of these screw thingies. And I can’t get this last piece to fit properly.”

“There’s nothing complicated about this,” Anita said. “You just have to follow the instructions, step by step. Can’t you follow simple instructions?”

“I have been following the ‘simple’ instructions and I’ve been at this for three hours and now I’m going to have to go back and start from scratch,” Larry groused.

“Seriously?” Anita said. “It looks like you’ve got most of it put together.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” said Larry, “but I messed up somewhere.”

“Should I call my father?” Anita asked. “He’s a mechanical engineer.”

“No way,” insisted Larry. “I’ll figure out how to put this damn crib together without help from your father. But I tell you what. We’re never buying another piece of furniture from IKEA ever again.”

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Written for today’s one-word prompt, “complication.”

Fandango’s Flashback Friday — February 3rd

Fandango13 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 3rd) of any month within the past year and link to that post in a comment.

This was originally posted on February 3, 2018. Before I get into my Flashback Friday post, I discovered, as I was looking through my archives yesterday, that almost five years ago to the day, I posted this post, which featured the same two words, sympathy and empathy, that today’s Flashback post features. This is really quite coincidental and unintentional, I promise.

Word Play Gone Astray

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“I really empathize with that poor man over there,” Jessica said, looking at the homeless man sleeping beneath a tree in the park.

“No, Jessica, you don’t empathize with him,” Mitch said. “How could you? You’ve never been homeless and had to sleep on the street.”

“You know what I mean,” responded Jessica. “I feel bad for him, sorry for him.”

“I know you do,” said Mitch. “But that’s not empathy, that’s sympathy.”

“Same difference,” Jessica said.

“No, empathy and sympathy are not the same,” Mitch said. “When you empathize with someone, you can put yourself in that person’s shoes. When you sympathize with someone, you feel compassion or pity toward that person.”

“Fine, whatever,” Jessica said. “It’s six of one, half a dozen of another.”

“Jessica,” Mitch said, “the two words are not synonymous.”

“Stop being such a grammar nerd, Mitch,” Jessica insisted. “I could care less if there is a slight difference between ‘empathize’ and ‘sympathize.’ You knew very well what I meant.”

“You mean you couldn’t care less,” Mitch said, a smile on his face.

“You’re an asshole,” Jessica said, as she stormed away.

Written for today’s one-word prompt, “sympathize.”

Fandango’s Flashback Friday — January 20th

Fandango17 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 Friday Flashback 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 20th) of any month within the past year and link to that post in a comment.

This was originally posted on January 20, 2018.

The Earth is Flat

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When I was still working, I used to have to fly a lot for my job. When the plane I was flying in was five or six miles above the planet, it was pretty obvious, looking out at the visible horizon, that the Earth is not flat.

And yet there is something called the Flat Earth Society, whose members claim to believe that the Earth is flat. To these idiots, the planet’s surface looks and feels flat, so it must, therefore, be flat. They deem all evidence to the contrary, such as satellite photos of Earth as a sphere, to be fabrications of a “round Earth conspiracy” orchestrated by NASA and other government agencies.

Seriously, I’m not making this up. According to the Flat Earth Society’s official website, “The evidence for a flat earth is derived from many different facets of science and philosophy. The simplest is by relying on one’s own senses to discern the true nature of the world around us. The world looks flat, the bottoms of clouds are flat, the movement of the sun; these are all examples of your senses telling you that we do not live on a spherical, heliocentric world.”

Flat Earthers believe that the Earth is in the form of a disk with the North Pole in the center and Antarctica as a wall around the edge. The Earth, they say, is surrounded on all sides by an ice wall that holds the oceans back. This ice wall is what explorers named Antarctica.

What is beyond the ice wall? Well, according to the Flat Earth Society, no one has been very far past the ice wall and returned to tell of their journey. “What we do know, the official website says, “is that it [the ice wall] encircles the earth and serves to hold in our oceans and helps protect us from whatever lies beyond.”

How much do you want to bet that members of the Flat Earth Society voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump in 2016?

Written for today’s one-word prompt, “horizon.”

Fandango’s Flashback Friday — December 30th

Fandango18 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 Friday Flashback 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 30th) of any month within the past year and link to that post in a comment.

This was originally posted on December 30, 2017.

Almost Over

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The year 2017 is almost over and many of us are quite happy about that. It was, in the macro sense, a pretty shitty year. Can the upcoming year be any worse?

Personally speaking, though, 2017 wasn’t a bad year. I retired at the end of last year and managed to survive. Someone once told me that fifty percent of men die within their first year of retirement. I don’t know if that’s true, but if it is, I’m happy to still be among the living.

No one I personally know died in 2017, which is a good thing. And my wife and I remain relatively heathy for aging Baby Boomers, so there’s that, as well.

I also started this blog in May of 2017, and I consider that to be an accomplishment. My wife is happy about it because it keeps me occupied and out of her hair.

So while 2017 saw the world cratering, I’m doing okay. I just hope that next year at this time, when 2018 is almost over, I will not be calling it yet another truly shitty year.

Assuming, of course, the world doesn’t end and I live through my second year of retirement.

Written for today’s one-word prompt, “almost.”

Fandango’s Flashback Friday — November 18th

Fandango15 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 Friday Flashback 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 18th) of any month within the past year and link to that post in a comment.

This was originally posted on November 18, 2017.

New Speak

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“That’s totally atmospheric,” the teenage daughter said to her father.

“Yeah,” said her brother. “I’m totally down with that.”

“I’m gonna be throwing some kinda shade at my squad once they find out we scored those tiks,” the girl said.

“That arena’s gonna be totally lit,” the boy said.

The father had been listening to this back and forth between his son and daughter and was scratching his head. “Excuse me,” he said. “But are you happy I was able to get you two tickets for that concert or not?”

“No, Dad, it’s super Gucci,” the boy said.

“Hundo P, bruh,” the girl said. “Totally goat.”

“Definitely dope,” the boy said.

“What language are you two speaking?” the father said. “It’s certainly not the English I know.”

“You need to get woke, Dad,” the boy said.

“Yeah, Dad,” the girl said. “I can’t even!”

The father sighed. “Whatever happened to a simple thank you?” he asked.

Finally his daughter came up to him, put her arms around his neck, and said, “Chillax, Dad. We’re totally turnt.”

“Totally,” he said, and smiled at her.

Written for today’s one-word prompt, “atmospheric.”