time

WDP — Time Is On My Side

Fandango10 Comments

Do you need time?

Interesting question. But what the hell does it mean? Is it a deeply philosophical question about whether or not human beings need time in order to function? In order to survive?

Or is the question asking me, personally, if I need time? Time for what? Time to learn all of the features and functionality of my new iPhone? Yes, I do. But usually one would ask if I need more time or less time, not just time.

So I’m not sure how to answer this daily prompt question. I suppose the answer is yes, I need time.

But having said that, I need only one time, not two times. So pick one time — I don’t care if it’s standard time or daylight saving time. Just pick one or the other and keep it year-round. I don’t need time to change twice a year, year in and year out. That’s just stupid.

Share Your World — 10/23/2023

Fandango4 Comments
Share Your World

Di, at Pensitivity101, is our host for Share Your World each week. Here are her SYW questions for today.

1. When food shopping, do you prefer to shop online or in person?

It depends upon what we need. For packaged goods, like cereals, milk, eggs, breads, soda, paper products, and sundries, I prefer online shopping and delivery. For fresh veggies, fruits, and meat/poultry/fish, I prefer in-person shopping.

2. Do you take/stick to a shopping list?

I put together a list I have prepared on my iPhone and pretty much go by that list. I try to keep my impulse purchases to a minimum.

3. Do you shop around or are you store loyal for convenience?

There are primarily two stores I shop at: Safeway and Whole Foods Market. I get most of my packaged goods at Safeway and most of my meat/poultry/fish and fresh organic produce at Whole Foods Market.

4. Roughly how long does it take you to do a weekly shop?

Between Safeway and Whole Foods Market, and between ordering online and shopping in person, I’d estimate three hours a week.

SoCS — Prime Time

Fandango10 Comments

Linda G. Hill has given us the word “prime” for today’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt and has instructed us to use it as an adjective or a verb, use it any way we’d like.

“Prime” is a very popular word in the English language. For television viewing, prime time in most places is defined as the three hour viewing time between the hours of 8 pm up to 11 pm.

And then there’s the job of prime minister, who is the leader of the government of a country with a parliamentary system of government.

Prime can be used to describe cuts of meat, like prime rib, or the quality of a cut of meat, like prime vs. choice.

And we can’t forget about prime numbers, which are whole numbers greater than 1 that cannot be exactly divided by any whole number other than itself and 1. I have no idea why that’s important, but apparently it is to mathematicians.

Speaking about numbers, there’s something called the prime interest rate, which is the interest rate that financial institutions in the U.S. charge their very best customers.

Prime can also be defined as the period of greatest physical and mental robustness, as in he’s in the prime of his life. Unlike me. I’m way past my prime.

That said, I’ve been a member of Amazon Prime, which entitles me to free shipping and often next day delivery on anything I buy from Amazon. I’m also subscriber to Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service.

But my favorite “prime” is The Prime Directive. Those of you who are Trekkies know what I’m talking about. The Prime Directive is Starfleet’s Non-Interference Principle. As Starfleet began sending fleets of ships deep into the unexplored regions of the galaxy it soon became clear that first contact in Star Trek was an important and delicate procedure.

The Prime Directive was devised to protect underdeveloped alien civilizations from interference by Starfleet, their crew, and the abundance of advanced technology that they possess. It prohibits Starfleet personnel from interfering with the natural development of a society for good or bad, and that has often meant that crews had to stand by as an entire civilization is wiped away by natural disasters or technological folly.

And on that positive note, I’m done.

Ch-ch-ch-Changes

Fandango46 Comments

September is less than a week away, and starting in September, I’m going to be making some changes to my blog. Nothing major, but I will be cutting back on the number of prompts I host. This is subject to change, but at this point, here’s the lowdown:

Prompts I will continue to host:

  • Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (FOWC With Fandango): posted just after midnight PT every night of the week.
  • Fandango’s Flashback Friday: posted at 3:00 am PT every Friday morning.

On the cusp:

  • Fandango’s Story Stater: posted at 3:00 am PT every Tuesday morning — I may continue this for a while longer.

Prompts I will definitely be dropping:

  • Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge: posted at 3:00 am PT every Monday morning — There already are plenty of other photo prompts out their in Bloglandia.
  • Fandango’s Provocative Question: posted at 3:00 am PT every Wednesday morning — I’ve been doing this for more than 4 1/2 years and I’ve run out of steam.
  • Fandango’s Spam Comment of the Week: posted every Sunday morning — Between Pomeranian puppies, the Keto diet, RV repairs, unnamed but fantastic movies, spammers hawking Amazingness (whatever that is), and 40 year old mothers who want to talk and/or show me their naked bodies, it’s pretty much the same thing every week. If something really different, unique, or funny shows up in my spam folder, I’ll post it on an ad hoc basis.

Why am I doing this? Almost nine months after fracturing my hip, undergoing emergency partial hip replacement surgery, and fracturing the humerus in my right arm at the shoulder, I’m still going to outpatient physical therapy three times a week, plus spending two hours on other days doing my at home exercises. It’s eating up both time and energy and it’s a little depressing to still be somewhat disabled after all these months.

Also, I would like to get back to writing more flash fiction and to posting political rants when the mood strikes me. If I drop some of these scheduled prompts I may have more time for that.

If any of you want to pick up the gauntlet for the weekly Flash Fiction Challenge or the Provocative Question prompt stating in September, please feel free to do so.

WDP — Blogging

Fandango10 Comments
Daily writing prompt
Which activities make you lose track of time?
View all responses

These are the activities that cause me to lose track of time.

  • Thinking about topics about which to post, creating drafts, previewing them, editing them, and posting them
  • Reading comments others have made on my posts and responding to them
  • Reading other bloggers’ posts and commenting on them

Oh wait. I almost forgot. Binge watching British detective series also make me lose track of time.