Write on Wednesday: I Thought I Saw...

I thought I saw...

you the other day. Your dark curly hair that you always hated, straightened to perfection. Your magnificently sparkling green eyes, the ones that always made me jealous of your beauty.

You were wearing jeans with a slight flare, held up by your studded belt, with a bright pink long-sleeved tee... one of your favorite colors.

My heart nearly stopped mid-beat. It couldn't possibly be you, and yet, the resemblance was uncanny. Her appearance, her style, her posture, even her mannerisms all reminded me of you. She was with her friends, talking and laughing, just as you loved to do.

"Hey, are you okay?" His voice interrupted my daydreaming, noticing the watery redness in my unwavering stare. The question snapped me back to reality and I blinked, and you were gone.

Write On Wednesdays Exercise 20 - Write the words " I thought I saw" at the top of your page. Set a timer for 5 minutes. Write the first words that come into your head after the prompt. Don't take you pen off the page (or fingers off the keyboard). Stop only when the buzzer rings! Do this exercise over and over if you wish. Write beyond 5 minutes if you like, you can link it up as an extra post.

Hop on over to inkpaperpen to read others and post your own!

Also submitted for lovelinks #28!

Write on Wednesday: Sunshine in a Cup

Bring me sunshine in a cup.


Katie waited, sitting on the cotton, yellow blanket they had laid over the grass, both legs bent to her right side. The heat of the sun's rays emanated in full force on her blue, flowing skirt and plain, black blouse. She pulled her curly hair away from her face, holding it in her hands at the back of her head as she observed the nature surrounding her at the park.

I'm such a spaz! she thought to herself, patiently awaiting Robert's return. I've been an athlete all my life, and I pick now to trip and twist my ankle. Idiot. She pulled off her sandals and examined her foot, comparing one leg to the other. It's already swelling. Sigh.

Robert came into view then, his red shirt bobbing into focus as he jogged toward her from the parking lot. She watched as she took notice of his strong shoulders, how his T-shirt fit just perfectly snug on his arms and across his chest, how perfect his lean legs looked in dark blue jeans...

"This is the best I could find in my truck," he said as he began wrapping an orange handkerchief tightly around her swelling ankle, concern clearly displaying in his eyes. "Tell me if it's too tight."

"No, that feels just fine..." Katie sighed, wishing with all her might that she could just dig deep enough to find the courage to say...

"Okay, let's get you home to ice that ankle," Robert interrupted her thoughts. He helped her stand up, quickly rolled up the blanket and draped it over his left arm, and swiftly swooped Katie up, holding her against his chest. She rested her head on his muscular shoulder, shielding her eyes from the sun as he walked toward the truck.

The full prompt: Sunshine in a cup. Write the words of Emily Dickinson: "Bring me sunshine in a cup" at the top of your page. Set a timer for 5 minutes. Write the first words that come into your head after the prompt. Don't take you pen off the page (or fingers off the keyboard). Stop only when the buzzer rings!

 

Okay, I confess. I used just a little more time than five minutes. I just had to finish my thoughts ;-) Although I didn't get to where I wanted the ending to land just yet. Maybe I'll continue this story in other posts. Jump on over to inkpaperpen to read the rest of the posts and add your own!

Write on Wednesdays: Status Anxiety

Ha!


How ridiculous. She sipped her morning coffee as she recalled the events of the preceding night. You can't pull one over on me, you weasel, she thought. Good luck with your new life.

Pulling her pink cotton robe closer over her chest, she leaned forward to read the comics in the newspaper. Maybe fictional cartoons will make her feel better.

But she couldn't focus on the words and pictures in front of her. All that loomed in her mind was the darkness. The lack of light, the color of her shoes on the floor, his hair, and the sinking feeling in her heart as she pushed the door open, bottle of wine in hand for the two of them to share.

Today's prompt was to go back through the previous weeks of WoW  at inkpaperpen and choose one to try that we haven't done before, or one we wanted to try again. It was also my first week with the five minute time limit, as the ones I have done before had abandoned that rule, and I found it a little difficult for my first attempt. I chose one that occurred before I found WoW, from week 6: Log onto your Facebook/Twitter page and write down the first status update you see.  Set a timer for 5 minutes. Write the first words that come into your head after your prompt. Stop when the buzzer rings.




Also submitted for lovelinks #27

Write on Wednesdays: The Crazies - No, Not The Movie

This week's prompt is (a little late) about people-watching, and telling the story of a stranger, like another customer in the supermarket, or a neighbor. See the full prompt here at inkpaperpen.

I chose neighbor, because they are completely insane. They must have something wrong with them to act the way that they do. I cannot create a conflict for them simply because I cannot begin to fathom what actually rattles around in those hollow skulls. Here is just a snippet of their cuckoo antics...

Oh, and side note: I wanted to get some pictures, but my camera battery is dead and it's currently raining.

We live in a court; an odd-shaped, half cul-de-sac, and our house is the last one on the block. The Crazies, "Aaron" and "Amy" live right next door. Our driveway is long and winding, and their driveway is one of the half-circle types, which just happens to connect to the bottom of ours.

(Imagine a driveway picture!)

Right adjacent to the driveways is a telephone pole, complete with the usual wires. (Imagine a telephone pole picture!) One day a few months ago, A and A decided they needed some work done on their "Private Property." Yes, they think that because they own the house that they live on "Private Property," complete with at least two signs claiming so -- one so passive-aggressively pointing directly at our house, where it is only visible by us as we leave the driveway. (Imagine a "Private Property" sign picture!) Unbeknownst to us, whatever they decided to do included messing with the wires, as our cable was almost entirely cut out, with only a few channels continuing to work properly.

Of course, this resulted in a phone call from us to the cable company, asking them to come out and inspect our lines, as at this point we were unaware of the cause. Some guys drove out, and apparently this is where all hell broke loose for the Crazies.

The workers were simply doing their jobs and performing their normal job duties, but A and A seemed to think the opposite. The guys were up on the pole, checking things out, when one A (or both As, I don't even remember at this point) barreled out of the house, yelling at the workers to get off their property.

"You can't do this! You can't be here! This is private property; you need to leave!"

I'm not kidding. They think the freakin' telephone pole on the street is their property. Not only that, but they are still claiming that they live on private property - which they do not. Even if they did, the poles on the street do not belong to them. Ummm.. HELLO??!

The workers - tons of sympathy for them for dealing with these maniacs - calmly attempted to explain to the Crazies that it was not private property, that they had every right to be there, and that the Crazies did not in fact, own the telephone pole or anything else on the street. The Crazies of course had no intention of buying these ridiculous words as fact, and continued on screaming like banshees. Poor guys. My heart goes out to them.

My stepfather, Lee, who is 6'1" and nearly 300 pounds of muscle, had no choice but to come outside to diffuse the madness. The Crazies were still yelling, but Lee eventually coaxed (or possibly forced, who knows) them back inside and apologized to the innocent workers.

This is just a small chapter in the novel of dealing with the Crazies. Many other stories exist. Hmm, I should write a book.

Things I Am Currently Sick Of

This prompt comes from Mama Kat's writing prompts. For some reason I can't get the button to work, but you can check out her blog here.

Prompt: List ten things you are currently sick of.

Oh, no problem! I may get hell for some of this, but, oh well!

In no particular order:

1) JERSEY *&%#! SHORE!

2) Smokers complaining about price of cigarettes, having to smoke outside in the cold/rain/snow/heat, not being able to breathe, coughing all the time, smelling like smoke, fingernails/hair/teeth turning yellow and/or brittle, skin turning leathery, and whatever else they complain about DUE TO smoking. Easy solution, people. STOP SMOKING!

3) People thinking they are funny when making Deaf jokes or jokes about ASL. Especially: "Oh, you know sign language? Yeah, I do, too," and promptly give me the finger. Oh, my goodness, you are so hilarious, I've never heard that before in my life... Guess what? You're not cute. You're not funny. You're not original.

4) Inconsiderate, lazy, rude, messy, dirty, disgusting shoppers. Even before I worked in retail, I was NEVER one of these people. I always put things back where I found them, and if I can't remember where it was, I give it to a salesperson rather than leave it in some random place. If I drop something, I pick it up. I hold my trash until I find a garbage can rather than leaving it under a rack of clothes, on top of a rack of clothes, on the floor of the fitting room, on a stool outside the fitting room, in the fitting room rack outside the doors, under a pile of clothes, between stacks of folded shirts, in a pocket of jeans, or inside boxes of merchandise. And yes, that has ALL happened to me while working. Why are people so damn rude and lazy? How freaking difficult is it to just take your merchandise out of the fitting room (YES, BACK ON HANGERS, AND NOT INSIDE-OUT) when you're done trying it on? What makes people think that the fitting rooms are an effing BATHROOM? Do you see a toilet? A sink? No? Then don't leave your bodily fluids and baby's dirty diapers wherever you damn well please. Why do people walk up to a poor retail slave and demand service like the self-entitled prissy princesses they act to be? Chances are if you are rude to an employee for no good reason, he or she will either a) be rude to you right back; b) ignore you and continue working; or c) simply not give you what you want due to your condescending attitude. Just because a person works in a retail store, that does not make you any better than he or she is. He or she is probably working for a damn good reason, such as to make an income while going to school to do something better with their lives, or feed their family, or help their family because someone else lost their job, became injured or disabled, etc. etc. etc. Get over yourself.

5) Anything done by, worn by, said by, or remotely related to the following people and/or things: Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana, The Jonas Brothers, Justin Bieber, Chris Brown, Selena Gomez, Pretty Little Liars, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, vampire movies/TV shows, Will Ferrell, Rebecca Black, Charlie Sheen, Ke$ha, Lindsay Lohan, Royal Wedding BS, any reality show except Hell's Kitchen, Megan Fox, Nicolas Cage, Michael Vick...

6) People doing stupid, reckless things to get attention, and bragging about it. Things such as: Getting into a fight with someone, sleeping with a million people, smoking (anything), drinking themselves into oblivion, doing any illegal drug, getting into trouble with law enforcement, driving recklessly, etc. I'm not impressed. You sound like a moron. You're not cool. Let's see how cool you think you are when driving recklessly at 732894mph causes you to crash into a tree, hit and kill someone, or kill an entire family in one car all because you thought you were a hotshot. Let's see how cool you think you are when sleeping with every person you possibly can gets you one or more incurable STDs or an unwanted pregnancy. Let's see how cool you think you are when run-ins with the police land you in prison because you wanted to boast about your "world against authority" attitude. Let's see how cool you think you are when you are fighting for your life in the hospital due to severe alcohol poisoning simply because you had to prove to everyone at the party how cool and edgy you were for drinking 47 shots of tequila in a row. Yeah, real awesome of you.

7) PLANKING. And whatever other stupid words are now associated with this moronic act.

8) Ridiculous spelling and grammar mistakes. Your = possessive. You're = You are. It's not that difficult.

9) Ridiculous and absurd baby names. Kal-El, Pilot Inspektor, Apple, Blanket, Coco, Kyd, Suri, Sage Moonblood, Maddox, Memphis Eve, Ocean, Rocket Valentino, Racer Maximilliano, Rebel Antonio, Rogue Jaoquin, Rhiannan Elizabeth, Blue Angel, Audio Science, Moon Unit, Diva Thin Muffin, Moxie Crimefighter, Tu Morrow, Jermajesty, Bronx Mowgli (yes, from the damn Jungle Book), Reignbeau, Freedom, Zuma Nesta Rock, Romeo, Brooklyn, Cruz, Seven Sirius, Puma Rose Sabti, Mars Merkaba, Poppy Honey Rosie, Daisy Boo Pamela, Petal Blossom Rainbow, Atlas, Bandit Lee, Denim Cole, Diezel Ky, Nakoa-Wolf Manakauapo Namakaeha Momoa (no, I didn't make that up. How could I?!), Bluebell Madonna, Calico, Dashiell, Sonora Rose, Magnus, Mattias, Banjo, Speck Wildhorse, Bamboo, Indio Falconer, Elijah Bob Patricius Guggi Q, and dear GOD the list goes on forever! WTF were they thinking?! I can't decide which one is the most idiotic.

10) Pe0plE Wh0 WriTe L1k3 Th1s. And "Dis." And who use no punctuation whatsoever so their paragraph is one gigantic long sentence and keeps running on and on forever and you can't tell where one thought ends and one begins because it's all jumbledtogetherinonebiggiantmessofwords.

Sadly, I could only limit this to ten. What about you? What are some things that you are sick of?

Write on Wednesdays: One Liner

This is my third week with Write on Wednesdays. Today is about a great one liner that describes a part of my day. Click the button above to read the full prompt. Here is my line:

And as we lay together, listening to the rhythmic drumming of his heart, fingers laced and legs intertwined, I knew I had found my treasure.

Hop on over to InkPaperPen at the button above to read others' posts for this week!

Scars

Writing prompt from Mama Kat's.


I found another fun little writing prompt exercise through InkPaperPen. Click the link above to check it out. Today: "Tell us about that scar."


Oh, so many to choose from.


As I have stated before, I am a klutz. This has therefore resulted in many, many scars across my body. Today, I will tell you about the two times my klutziness has resulted in stitches: once in my face, and once in my finger.


The first occurred when I was about eight years old. At that time, my mother, older brother, and I lived in a tiny apartment in my grandmother's house with a small kitchen, a smaller living room, and an even smaller bathroom. A minuscule bedroom was built for my brother and I to share, while my mom used the living room as hers. 


One afternoon, my brother and I decided to play catch in the backyard. Things were going fine, the natural back-and-forth progression that involves a simple game of catch. Suddenly, my brother threw the ball quite a bit further than I could reach, so I ran for it. This, consequently, made me look up at the hurdling ball in the sky rather than where my feet were landing. My grandmother had apparently just cut down a tree, because that's when I tripped over a stump and landed face-first in a giant pile of sticks, cutting and puncturing my face and neck. With blood streaming down my face and neck, staining my shirt, I screamed and cried, and cried and screamed. Mom snatched a towel to hold to my crimson wounds, most worried about my neck, and we were off to the hospital. The end result? Two stitches in my chin, leaving no visible scar, and bandaids for the rest of the cuts.


The second sewing incident to my body happened my senior year of high school, during second period art class. I can't describe the project very well, but we were required to draw a self-portrait, and cut it out onto linoleum using a tool something like an Exact-o Knife. My first attempt at cutting, I held the project at the top, and slowly but firmly slid the knife across the board. Of course, immediately after, I slipped, and sliced my left index finger open, which instantaneously gushed blood onto the table and my project. I ran to the counter next to my table for paper towels, dripping blood on the floor on the way there. Pressing the towels to my finger did nothing to stop it, and so I asked a friend to tell our teacher that I was running to the nurse.


At the nurse's office, she did her best to patch up the wound, but it wouldn't stop bleeding and suggested I go to the hospital to get stitches. Despite my protesting, she called my mom at home, who of course didn't answer. She called the next two people on my emergency contact list, who of course didn't answer either. Finally the last person on the list, my stepfather's mother, answered and came to pick me up. She drove me home, and it turns out my mom didn't answer simply because she was outside with the dogs and didn't hear the phone ring. 


We drove to the hospital, as regular doctor's offices don't handle stitches. The doctor numbed my finger, sewed up two or three stitches, wrapped up my finger, and we were done. Most kids would have been happy to get out of school for a day, but I was pissed that I had to miss the entire rest of my day due to a stupid cut on my finger. I couldn't just slap a bandaid on it and be done with it?! Jeez.


How did you get some of your scars?

Write on Wednesdays: Let's Take a Stroll

I have stumbled upon something in the blogosphere at Ink Paper Pen, through Writing Out Loud, called Write on Wednesdays. See Ink Paper Pen above to see the full prompt and find out what this is all about. This week is about going for a walk and writing down your thoughts and what you see. This is my first attempt at Write on Wednesdays.

I change into comfortable black sweat pants, branding my alumni status from my graduate school down the left leg in blue capital letters; "COLUMBIA." Something I can actually be proud of. I slip into my exercise sneakers, Nike, black and teal, and stylish if I do say so myself. I call to my Husky/Greyhound mixed dog, Nikki, who is enjoying her safe haven under my bed. "Nikki, wanna go out?" usually perks her right up enough to crawl out and run downstairs. This time, she doesn't want to move. I change my tactics. "Nikki, walk?" She immediately peeks her head out. I repeat the question. She sprints out of my room and down the thirteen steps to the landing.

I fasten red leashes onto both dogs, and we're off... out the garage door, down the driveway and out of our little half cul-de-sac/court/dead-end street. I worry how long of a walk Floppy can handle, as he is fifteen and has arthritis in his hips. At the end of the court, I ask the mutts which way we should go. They both start walking left, so I follow.


The air is warm, but not too warm. The sun peeks through clouds and various trees along the streets. The area is quiet, with only the sound of my sneakers pounding and the dogs' paws clicking on the pavement. Occasionally, a car or truck drives by.

My neighborhood isn't much to look at, so my mind wanders. Watching the simple life of my dogs, I start to wonder what the minds of dogs look like, and what their thoughts might be.

Sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff. What's that bush smell like? What's that tree smell like? What's that grass smell like? Sniff, sniff. Another dog's urine! Jackpot! I must steal this territory as my own!

No, that's poison ivy. You're not going anywhere near that. Sorry, pup.

Why are you pulling me away?! This is mine! 
...

What's that? Another dog barking? I must bark louder! 

He's behind a fence. You can't even see him.

Stop pulling me away! I must bark with that dog! Collar... choking... don't care... must... continue... must... bark.... with... dog...
...

How are you doing, Floppy? 

Thirsty. Water! What's that? Sniff sniff... SQUIRREL! Chase, chase! Stupid leash! Great, it went up a tree! I could have caught it if you let me go!
...

Oh, that's a cute house. I like the bench outside and the stone walkway.

Sniff, sniff. Who else has been here? What other dogs have been stealing my territory? Sniff, sniff.
...

Time to go home, guys.

Sniff, sniff, sniff.
...

Home, sweet home!

Thirsty. Water! Drink drink drink...

Freeky Friday: Shiny Happy People

It's Freeky Friday once again! This week, Freekware wants to know:

When are you most happy?

Oh, so many different answers.

I shall make this easy on myself, and copy what I wrote on Freekware's Facebook page (click the badge above!) to this question. But, I will add pictures! Yay, visuals!

I am most happy:

When I'm with my amazing boyfriend

my crazy ass family (there are way more of us, but I have no good pictures),

my friends, 

when my best friend comes home from school to visit (even though I look demonic in this picture. Miss you Roger!)

when I'm having a conversation in ASL (and I apparently have no picture of an actual conversation with it),

when I'm reading one of my thousands of books (and this MIGHT be what my bookshelf may actually look like some day, if I ever have enough room to put them somewhere other than in and on top of one tiny bookshelf, in the trunk at the foot of my bed, behind all of my DVDs, and stacked on the floor next to the original tiny bookshelf) [Source],

when I am teaching, 

when I'm belting out songs to myself even though I can't sing, 

when I'm watching whatever I want on Netflix, 

when I'm watching my box set DVDs of Gilmore Girls [Source],

when I try something I haven't done before and accomplish it (like cooking something!)

when I am at concerts of my favorite bands (like Disturbed!)

(and Blink 182!)

or when I'm MEETING THEM! (Chester and Phoenix from Linkin Park!),

when I am writing (hence this blog, and my contributions to Retail Hell Underground), 

when I am hanging out or playing with my dogs, (or when I'm playing with any puppy or dog) 

when I am on vacation, 

when I am helping others to achieve their fitness goals (My Beachbody Coaching Page), 

when I am drinking Shakeology (My Shakeology Page), 

when I am cuddled up having a movie night with the boy, 

when I am walking around Manhattan [Source]

when I pamper myself for once, 

and before this post becomes any longer, I'll stop it there, though I'm sure I could go on forever! =)

So, how about you?

When are you most happy?

You can participate in three ways! Head over to Concrete Jane to see how, be entered to win this month's prize of yummy Reverse Chocolate Chip Cookies, and have a donation made in your name to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society! Get on this!