In my search for a different photo for Cee’s Daily Post Weekly Challenge… “reflecting” theme, and this glowing ladder basking in the sunshine beckoned.
Tag: Daily Post
What My Future Holds, In Six Words
[Daily Post Prompt for today: Write a six-word story about what you think the future holds for you, and then expand on it in a post.]
Writing at last, I’m happy now.
Expansion on the title story: “WHAT MY FUTURE HOLDS”
That short story, consisting of SIX WORDS, is self-explanatory–even if it does sound a bit like an epiteth that might be chiseled into my tombstone, IF I intended to have one. But this tiny story, consisting of just six words, a comma, and a period…is anything but maudlin, rather a declaration of a specific stage and purpose in life.
Writing has been to me like a figurative carrot-on-a-stick , promising an eventual reward for years-served. Although I have been writing all of my life, sometimes even getting paid for it, and have used writing skills in one form or another throughout my years as a news reporter, student, instructor, secretary, clerk, and so on…I always had the feeling that I was just biding my time waiting for the time when I could just Write.
All that time writing for “practical” purposes, I had a feeling of guilt…pressure and obligation to various pursuits which did not include Writing as I longed to do.
This all sounds terribly self-serving and contrite, and I confess that I would never be writing this post for a more general audience. The people that I am aiming at are other Writers. These–You are all Writers, real writers that live and breathe writing, and long to spend the most of their time at their keyboard–or with a pencil and paper. No eye-rolling here…I firmly believe I am among kindred souls.
So what my future holds is…I hope…Writing. I recently discovered poetry (again) and am absolutely in love with it! I know that when I publish a post or a photograph, there are readers out there. I’m not so vain as to believe that anyone waits anxiously every morning to see if I have produced something spectacular overnight. Hardly.
But the thing about blogging in and with a community of other bloggers, is that everyone is in the same boat. We write, and we want others to read our writing–but hey, if they don’t–well, it is Out There and available for Readers.
Once we hit the PUBLISH button, it is in the universe of myriad writers, our work there with the greatest writers who ever lived. WHO IS THAT? you ask? Well, that is subjective of course. One person’s Shakespeare is another’s Stephen King, or Dr. Suess. There is no judgemental clicking of tongues when a physicist likes to read Mickey Spillane, or when a historian (like me) really, really enjoys reading Philippa Gregory’s version of the adventures of the English royalty.
I still have a LOT to write about. Never at a loss for words, more build up inside my brain faster than it is possible to squeeze them out onto the computer screen. So my future holds more of the same, but with a concentration and preferential option for the craft of Writing. Obviously there is no time frame, my future could include twenty more years–or not.
<a href=”https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/six-of-one-half-a-dozen-of-the-other”</a href>
The Golden Age of Childhood
In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Golden Age.”
Given a choice of one stage of my lifetime to last indefinitely, I would choose to be a child in the Golden Age of childhood— which I will define roughly as the period of elementary school, ages about five to eleven. These children are interested in almost everything, and are impressed with the enormity of the world around them, whether it is the majesty of the night sky or the or raindrops on a window pane.
Many, many years from age 10 a spider web or a pebble still can capture my attention. I still rescue silly moths that have fallen into the dog’s dish, floating with legs upward and gasping for their last wisp of air. Chatting with cats is a given for a child’s agenda. Inspecting closely a pattern of Jack Frost on the winter windows…like little schematic blueprints for a plan of a new neighborhood.
To a golden-child-ager, everything is new and exciting, worthy of attention and consideration. There is no such thing as boredom…there is always fascination in one’s own fingerprint, or the way of a flower’s construction.
This quality of wonder and discovery endures in a child until someone–who is older and immune to the wonder of the world around them–interjects a snide or snarky “so what?” which effectively deflates the buoyancy of the child’s ego.
This age of childhood provides ample food for thought, and there is a constant river of new and interesting things to experience and learn. If I were to exist entirely in one stage of life, my choice would be to be a child.
In contrast to the open-minded and ever expanding intellectual repertoire of a child, other choices would be existing as an adolescent, or as an adult. Neither niche appeals to me.
The adolescent is neither child nor adult, always stuck in between, either too young or to old, unable to fully understand the implications of life.
Then there is the plight of the adult–which in my view would mean a perpetual “damned if I do, damned if I don’t” state of uncertainty… the curse of the struggle to always know what is right or wrong, and bear responsibility for consequences of all actions.
The learning curve is still present in the adult stage, but with added burden of having to live with and build upon history–good and bad, with “THE BUCK STOPS HERE” placard always nagging in the background.
Irresistible: The Flaky Croissant
[The Daily Prompt…if a restaurant named a dish after you, what would it be called?”]
Oh, that’s an easy one… it would be called The Flaky Croissant.
Probably listed under a special category on the menu, like “Build Your Own Burger” or “Breakfast Your Way.”
THE FLAKY CROISSANT $3.95 and Up
Start with … yep, a fresh baked Croissant (or any other featured Roll of the Day)
[ If this is all you want… A croissant (or Roll of the Day) — here ya go!]
If you want the whole shebang…have the Croissant (or Roll of the Day) sliced in half lengthwise, then pile up any of the following ingredients.
egg (however–we like the “official” egg version, hard-boiled and sliced)
bacon or sausage (or a Meat of the Day of your choice)
tuna salad
mac and cheese
sliced chicken (boiled or fried)
tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, lettuce (leaf or iceberg)
(other vegetables available as Veggie of the Day)
“Cheese of the Day”
Vegetables of choice–when available.
Extras include: salsa verde AND salsa piquante or regular)
(Sometimes GUACAMOLE is included in the “Relish of the Day” list).
WE MAKE IT FOR YOU or BUILD IT YOURSELF AT THE SANDWICH BAR.
Specific choices of ingredients…. ask your server. She loves to discuss The Flaky Croissant. She prefers that customers have at least some wild idea of what they want included in their sandwich…BEFORE she shows up at the table.
She likes hers plain…just the croissant (or roll of the day) on a plate.
[Don’t ask too many questions unless she is smiling. And don’t ask for “gwak.”]
List of Lists
[Day 14 Writing101, Make a List]
My son’s boss makes a list every morning of the things he has to do that day. I don’t, but I should.
Oh, I make lists … all kinds of lists. They are even arranged in outline form, with headings, sub-headings, and points– sometimes even categories under the points, and so on. Lists are good, but my problem is that usually “the list is the thing,” and it becomes it’s own goal.
A simple list is handy for a quickie plan for picking up just a few specific things in the grocery store, with no extras– rush through the store with the grocery cart, preferably alone…kids can divert one from the plan, and husbands are even worse. In theory this pick-up-a-few-things shopping trip is good: it saves money, avoids filling up the cart with spur-of-the-moment items, and saves a lot of time. In practice, however, this method can have the opposite effect–dashing around the store searching for certain things can eat up more time than a brisk-browse up and down the aisles; forgetting to buy needed supplies because they aren’t on the list; and can actually cost more per item because there is no time to comparison-shop.
Sometimes a list can actually help to remember the three items that are the reason for the trip. A simple list: (Underwear, Crescent Rolls, New Hammer) for example, can be useful if it is written on a scrap of paper and carried in a shirt pocket…and can be accomplished in one giant box store like–well, you know. These diverse items can be found in completely separate areas of the store, and there are a myriad of wally-wonders in between that are calling out shoppers’ names.
Some lists are more cryptic puzzles than actual prompts. This is especially true of lists of ideas for topics for my blog. I have flashes of brilliant insight often, which can be turned into fodder for the page–if I can remember it. My poor old brain is pretty much packed full, and it is necessary to start erasing information to make room for new.
Here is my list for today.
Write blog post. Sort out desk top. (Put away, goodwill, trash.) Call to cancel cable. Work on cleaning garage. Get ready for contractors to tear out ceilings. Call same and hassle them about schedule. Read email. Send out book orders. Read Commons blog. Read some other blogs. Write another post. Feed the cats.
.
“One for the money, 2 for the show, 3 to get ready, and 4 to GO…”
In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “The Show Must Go On.”
Today’s prompt reminds me of the old rhyme “one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, and four to go.” Although rather obscure in origin perhaps, it rings clear in meaning.
ONE can be the Producer of the show. He or she is the person, or more likely committee, that decides to put on a show. Let’s say “they.” They put up the money in various ways–through personal funds, community money in some form, investment capital, and LAWYERS who handle assorted legal matters. Without these deep-pockets players there quite possibly would not BE a show.
TWO is the Director of the show. This person hires and fires costumers, electricians and carpenters, painters, stage hands, all kinds of “go-fers” who go-for coffee, go-for needle and thread, go-for pizza. Also the Director recruits and auditions writers, and actors — without whom there would hardly BE a show. Then it is the Director who actually Directs the show, from mundane who-stands-where supervision to helping the Star to die perfectly when the murder scene happens.
THREE would be the various trouble-shooters that deal with all sorts of problems ranging from tempermental stars to malfunctioning wardrobes. These people are charged with the responsibility of dealing with The Media, making sure there is sufficient publicity…of the right kind. They get the show ready-to-go. They put out the brush fires when tempers flare and Murphy’s Law is at work–anything that can go wrong WILL go wrong, or at least someone will have to at least do the worrying about such issues.
FOUR certainly not the least of what makes the success or failure of the Show — those actresses and actors who are the STARS of the show, upon whose names and personas are the magic that makes the show a hit or .. not a hit. In this role at times a brilliant script can be tarnished by a less than stellar performance by the Stars….or on the other hand, a popular and perfect-for-the-role player can save a sub-standard plot and turn it into a huge hit show.
I would choose to be in the Three-To-Get-Ready category…which is where those involved are a variety of skills, each of them important to the end result.
Handling the Money angle would not appeal to me at all. It is not in my area of expertise, for one thing, but also I think it would be boring and frustrating, and rather snobbish.
Being The Star might sound glamorous and exciting, but to me it would actually be anything but! Working under the hot lights, dealing with The Co-Star, and trying to do exactly as Directed would not be fun. Not only the Pomposity and big-feeling bossiness of a prima-donna director would not be anything I would like to do either. I would hate being criticized, or told how to format my performance. Also as a Star it seems to me that a lot of the blame for short-comings in my ability would be unfair, and cause great resentment.
Actually I would like to be a Writer, but this task is not one of the choices for this prompt. Therefore, I’d be in one of the sub-sets of the category of Director. In that capacity I would be able to do my specific job, and make whatever difference possible to the outcome of the Show.
Last Post Forever? Thanks for everything…I’ll keep in touch.
[This is a suggestion in an assignment for TheDailyPost, at the end of a blogging101 class. Hope it isn’t really my last post, but it is not far from the truth.]
Dear Universe…I have submitted my more or less official life story through a series of blogs, similar in some ways to a written journal or diary, for only a few months. Having had enough “formal” training in setting up and maintaining a blog, it has proven to be THE best possible form of meeting my goal…which is to “tell all” to the world. To the Universe, in fact.
Yes, I do know that the actual published blog reaches a relatively few readers. The information is of genuine interest to some, to others of no consequence except as casual readers. MOST people in the world have no knowledge, interest, or concern about my life. In fact only a handful of my actual flesh-and-blood relatives, in-laws, friends…pets (theoretically?) will ever have come into any contact with me in my lifetime.
Exceptions to this rule include readers who have read my written works, such as they are, in newspapers, term papers, email messages to various lists, and now…a few bloggers, mostly people who have been my classmates in assorted WordPress courses. I have been a Tarot card reader, traveler, student, university instructor, politician, Girl Scout leader, patient. Some of the people I came in contact with in those capacities may remember me–for good or bad. Or not.
Through most of my life my single purpose, or dream, has been to write. The very best venue I have ever found is Blogging…writing my thoughts and experiences, and attempts at entertainment, onto the computer monitor.
With full knowledge that these words that I am typing and saving to the internet will become part of cyberspace, the vast network of human knowledge and experience. Out there, in theory, the things that I write and submit to the masses of the universe will go on and on…forever.
Who knows how long into the future an electronic Search will take these posts, making them available to countless potential readers.
Once the Blog posts leave me, they are thrown out into cyberspace for anyone, anywhere, any time, to read. IF they want to, if they are interested. The point I am making is that my work published on the internet wil be available indefinitely.
If no one reads it…that’s fine, no one has to read it, the point is that it will still exist at some level some time.
So anyway–thanks WordPress for the opportunity to post to infinity!
To any Martians out there… hi and good luck.
Please note: this image is from public domain files. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Space/
brianjones.com
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