time

One-Liner Wednesday — It’s About Time

Fandango14 Comments

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“When people look at their watches, more often than not, they’re checking to see what time it’s not, rather than what time it is.”

This was another original quotation from yours truly, although I’m sure I’m not the only one who has expressed this sentiment.

I know that I’ll often look at my watch when I need to be someplace at a certain time and, in order to get there, I have to leave for wherever it is that I’m supposed to be “X” minutes in advance.

Say, for example, I offered to pick up a friend at the airport and his flight is scheduled to land at 2:40 pm. And let’s say it takes me 45 minutes to get from where I am to the airport.

Are you still with me? Anyway, in order to get to the airport by 2:40, I need to leave no later than 1:55, right? So when I look at my watch, I’m checking to make sure that it’s not yet 1:55, rather than what time it actually is.

You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? You’re the same way, right?

Of course, the exception is when somebody directly asks you what time it is. Then you look at your watch and say, “Oh jeez, it’s 2:10. I shoulda left for the airport 15 minutes ago.”

P.S. Have you noticed that almost all pictures of watches or clocks in advertisements and commercials show the time as 10:10? Why is that?

Written for this week’s One-Liner Wednesday prompt from Linda G. Hill.

The Horns of a Dilemma

Fandango58 Comments

A229D0F7-A122-45A0-8B9A-EA4980863545Yesterday I read a very good, witty, and entertaining post from a blogger I follow. I so enjoyed the post that I “liked” it and I wanted to write a comment complimenting the blogger.

But I didn’t write that complimentary comment because throughout the otherwise excellent post, the blogger used the word “than” when the correct word would have been “then.”

The blogger would write something like “But than…” or “And than…” and proceed to say what happened next.

I so wanted to post a comment that said something like this:

I really enjoyed you post, but you need to understand the difference between “than” and “then” and use them correctly. “Than” is used to form comparisons between two things, as in “I’d rather have a slice of pie than a salad.”

“Then” is used to express a sense of time or what comes next or used to be, as in “First I’ll have a salad and then I’ll have a slice of pie.” Thus, to write “And than I sat down to watch TV” is wrong. It should be “And then I sat down to watch TV.”

As I said, I never posted a comment because I didn’t want to sound like a pedantic asshole, even though I probably am one. And I didn’t want to make the blogger feel bad.

On the other hand, I felt as if I was depriving the blogger of a “teachable moment.” Wouldn’t it have been beneficial to that blogger to point out that he or she used the wrong word multiple times in an otherwise great post?

The post received a lot of love. Plenty of likes and more than three dozen comments. But not one comment mentioned the “than/then” issue.

What would you do? Would you bite your tongue and let the blogger continue to potentially misuse the word “than” in future posts? Or would you have let the blogger know so that he/she wouldn’t keep making that same mistake?

Q of Q — It’s a Matter of Time

Fandango9 Comments

It’s been a while since I’ve responded to one of the Queen of Questions, aka The Haunted Wordsmith’s, Q&A posts. But this one is about time, and I’ve got some time on my hands, so why not?

    1. What is something you always put off for as long as you can? Filing my taxes.037BD8AF-4CEB-4D6D-BA92-F168DA645136
    2. Has time sped up or slowed down for you as you have aged? Oh my, how time has sped up!4AD5848A-518C-48DD-8000-C0EAC8F4ACA0
    3. What time period do you think you most belong in? This time period.
    4. What book would have a completely different feel if it was set in a different time period? “Lord of the Rings” set in modern times.
    5. How do you like to waste time? Some (e.g., my wife) might say that the time I spend writing and reading posts is a waste of time.
    6. Have you ever killed time since reading or watching The Phantom Tollbooth? WTF is the Phantom Tollbooth?
    7. You have two hours to yourself…how do you spend it? Blogging.
    8. How often do you think about the Doomsday Clock? Never.02C8AF67-4B51-46E7-B54B-9C97E91F8113.jpeg
    9. Do you think we are nearing the end of times (for those who believe in it)? I don’t believe in the religious notion of End Times, but I have to admit that since the election of Donald Trump, we may be nearing the end of rational times.
    10. Armageddon is upon us…do humans survive? Sure. We’re a hardy bunch.
    11. How will human’s time on Earth be up? The planet will cease to be able to support life due to inaction on climate change. There, I said it.
    12. What is your favorite quote about time? “Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.”
    13. What is one song that makes you time travel? “Cat’s in the Cradle.
    14. Speaking of Time Travelers… The Doctor (Dr. Who), Time Traveller (H.G.Wells, The Time Machine), Phineas Bogg (Voyagers!), or The Traveler (Star Trek: TNG): Who would make the better traveling companion? I only time travel solo.

Time Is Not On My Side

Fandango43 Comments

3523B7DA-8078-42B3-B329-F067DDAFFAF7.jpegI wonder if I will be able to keep this pace up much longer. Blogging has become very special to me. Dare I say sacred?

What started out as a little ripple has now has turned into a flood. Just this month I’ve averaged 572 views, 175 likes, and 75 comments per day. Woo hoo! I am totally enraptured by those stats. And thank you all very much for your support and positive response to my blog.

But — and you knew there would be a but — there is a problem. You see, I want to be able to read and respond to all of the comments others have taken the time to make on my posts. And I’m now following 176 great bloggers, most of whom post daily and some of whom post multiple times a day. I want to read everything that all of you post, the operative word being “want.”

And then, of course, there is posting what I write, which is generally between three to five posts a day. I write flash fiction, I rant about politics and society (e.g., Donald Trump), and I respond to multiple daily prompts.

But the bottom line is that there is just not enough time to do it all. To read each and every comment and respond to each. To read each and every post that the bloggers I follow post and to comment on them. And to write three to five of my own posts each day. Something’s gotta give.

But what? Well, unless I can figure out how to add more hours to each day, or to get by with zero hours of sleep, I am going to have to cut back on the number of posts I write each day, including the number of prompts and challenges I respond to, and to probably pare down the number of bloggers I follow.

I really hate to take any of those steps, but I don’t think I have a choice. At least not if I want to stay married and relate to my kids. So I hope you’ll understand if I can’t reply to every comment you make and I can’t read every post you write and if I can’t respond to as many daily prompts.

Someone once said something about life getting in the way of blogging, but I can’t let blogging get in the way of life. I’ll try to keep up as best I can, but you might start to see and hear a little less from me as the year draws to a close. Still, I hope you’ll stick around.

Written for these one-word prompts: Scotts Daily Prompt (keep), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (special), Your Daily Word Prompt (sacred), Ragtag Daily Prompt (ripple), and Word of the Day Challenge (enrapture).