reality

Sunday Poser — Superstitious

Fandango2 Comments

For today’s Sunday Poser, Sadje wants to know…

Are you superstitious?

I may tell someone to keep their fingers crossed or not to walk under a ladder or to avoid black cats, but I don’t actually believe that crossing fingers, going around a ladder, or turning around upon seeing a black cat will have any impact on a person’s luck — good, bad, or otherwise. They are just sayings to essentially express to someone that you wish them well or no harm.

I’m not a superstitious person. People who are superstitious believe in superstitions, which are essentially beliefs based on old ideas about luck and magic rather than science or reason.

I am a pragmatic person. That means I am concerned with facts or actual occurrences (i.e., reality). I think of myself as practical and realistic, and not as someone who believes in the supernatural or in old wives’ tales and superstitions.

But that’s me. If you are superstitious or believe in superstitions, well hey, whatever floats your boat.

WDP — Getting Lost

Fandango7 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What activities do you lose yourself in?
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As a retiree, my primary avocation these days is blogging. As a blogger, I am often lost in thought about what topics I might want to write about and post on my blog. And yes, when I’m pondering what to post, I do often lose myself in those thoughts.

I spend most days in the company of my wife, herself lost in her crossword and Sudoku puzzles in the daily newspaper. Or reading a novel. Or watching one of her favorite HGTV fixer-upper/home remodeling shows on TV.

Then I’ll hear my wife suddenly say, “Hey, I asked you a question. You’re not even listening to me, are you?” And she’s right. Physically, I was right there with her, but mentally I was lost in thought, trying to craft my next blog post.

I don’t think I’m unusual, though. I think most of us who blog can easily get lost inside our own heads as we contemplate our next post. And quite honestly, if I had to lose myself someplace, getting lost in my own thoughts is not such a bad place to get lost.

Besides, at my age, it’s good practice to lose myself inside my own head. Ultimately, that may become the only reality I’ll be aware of.

Image credit: Bing Image Creator.

Weekend Writing Prompt — The Man in the Mirror

Fandango15 Comments

I woke up early this morning, even for me.
I get up to go to the bathroom
Because I have to pee.
I look in the mirror and
I’m shocked by what I see.
The closer I look, the more I wonder
How this can be?
I see a reflection in the mirror,
But surely it’s not me.
There is a wrinkled, weathered face that I see.
There is a very old man
Who is staring right back at me.
And I have to wonder whether
It is him or me who is the reality.

(Exactly 95 words)

Written for Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt, where the word is “mirror” in exactly 95 words.

#WDYS — The Buccaneer

Fandango16 Comments

It was a tradition in Roland’s family to read books and he embrace that tradition with gusto. He always thought of books as a conduit that connected his very pragmatic brain to the luminosity of his vivid imagination.

Roland was driven to read as if reading was his mistress who he found irresistible. But poor Roland soon found that he was having trouble distinguishing between reality and the world he experienced from within the pages of his books.

Suddenly he was a buccaneer standing on the seashore of a deserted, tropical island. He was guarding a chest full of treasure from a pirate ship anchored just off shore.

Roland heard an eerie, far off voice seemingly carried by the breezes. “Close the book, Roland, while you still can. Close it before it’s too late.”

Roland saw pirates leaving the ships in row boats, heading in his direction. “No, I cannot close the book. I am the protector of the chest,” he said to the strange, far off voice. “It is my duty, as the King’s buccaneer, to defend his royal treasure, even if it portends my end.

“Close the book,” the voice insisted. “It’s not real. It’s your imagination. But if you don’t close the book, you will never escape.”

Roland sighed. “I’d rather remain locked within my imagination than return to a depressing reality.”

And with that, the book slammed shut. So, too, closed the book on the reality of the young man once known as Roland.

Written for Sadje’s What Do You See? prompt. Photo credit: Tumisu @ Pixabay. Also for these daily prompts: The Daily Spur (tradition), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (gusto), Your Daily Word Prompt (conduit/portend), Word of the Day Challenge (driven), Ragtag Daily Prompt (luminosity/mistress), and My Vivid Blog (seashore).