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About This Author
My name is Joy, and I love to write.
Why poetry, here? Because poetry uplifts its writer, and if she is lucky enough, her readers, too. Around us, so many objects abound to write about. Once a poet starts with a smallest, most trivial object, he shall discover that his pen will spill out what is most delicate or most majestic hidden inside him. Since the classics sometimes dealt with lofty subjects with a lofty language, a person with poetry in his soul may incline to emulate that. That is understandable. Poetry does that to a person: it enlarges the soul and gives it wings. Yet, to really soar, a poet needs to take off from the ground.
 
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Everyday Canvas
"Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself."
CHARLIE CHAPLIN
Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet
confinement of your aloneness
to learn
anything or anyone
that does not bring you alive
is too small for you.
David Whyte
This is my supplementary blog in which I will post entries written for prompts.
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Prompt: If you could spend happy hours looking at a person's bookcase and their grocery cart, you would get a good idea of who they are. Do you agree? Write what you want about this.
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Not really. Some of the books might be given as gifts by people who don’t know or understand the reading habits and likes and dislikes of the person. As to the grocery cart, it depends. Mine has to do with who is visiting and which foods they might prefer; also, my husband and I have very different tastes and choices both in food and books, and I shop for both of us.
Going back to the books, I have books from years ago, some are the ones I read or have read, others I keep for reference, and still others that are rare or out of print. Add to these hubby’s books on totally different subjects, and you’ll see an eclectic and quite weird combination.
Prompt “It is so hard to leave—until you leave. And then it is the easiest goddamned thing in the world.” John Green, Paper Towns
What were some of the things or people that were difficult to leave for you, for someone you know, or for a character in your story, and what were the results of leaving those things?
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The most difficult leaving has to do with people for me. The people I have left behind a long time ago, the images of my family members--grandparents, mother, uncles, aunts, cousins, etc.--in airports, train stations, or while I took off in a car still haunt my memory. Some of them, when I returned, weren’t there, in this life, anymore. This includes a couple of pets, too.
In addition, I left some hobbies and things I liked to do because they didn’t fit in well with my life at that moment. Some of those, I still yearn for, but one lifetime is not enough for everything and everyone we love. I also changed two careers in their middle just when I was getting somewhere. I am annoyed with that. Then places, like states and countries where I lived in for a while and made friends were also very difficult to leave.
It wasn’t so bad leaving my childhood home, but I felt shaken up leaving the place where I raised my children and where I had close friends, after several decades of living there. That taught me one thing. I am trying not to get emotionally involved with the house I am living in now, in spite of the fact that we have been living here since 1993.
As to my characters, in one of my NaNo novels, the main character leaves the woman he loves, although the woman loved him, too, because his best friend also loves her and she was the friends’ fiancée to begin with. I felt for my main character when I wrote the last chapters of that novel. I imagine he felt a deep hole opening up right in the middle of his chest.
I don’t think leaving behind what or who one loves is “the easiest goddamned thing in the world” as John Green claims. This might be true only if the person leaving didn’t fit in or was abused in some way.
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Prompt: “A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself” --Joseph Campbell
What is the difference between everyday heroes and heroes who gain fame? What are your thoughts on being a hero?
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Heroism, to some, can be the understanding of the fight against evil according to mythic and narrative psychology. The quote in the prompt addresses such an understanding.
The way I see it, however, heroism is adhering to principles that are moral, ethical, and psychologically doable when a crisis occurs, regardless of the fear of personal loss.
We all applaud people who go fight with things bigger than themselves, similar to the David and Goliath story, but then, I tend to believe there is also some good hiding in each human being. That good in people creates everyday heroes who act in sudden crisis situations. One recent example was the homeless man in Manchester who ran to help the concert goers, disregarding his own safety, when an ISIS follower set off a bomb.
Standing against evil is heroism, too. Such heroes, sometimes called dissidents, stand and speak up because it is right to do so, which is even more honorable when they don’t even know whether they can defeat a certain evil or not.
Heroism is also spending time and effort for making oneself ready to act in the face of disaster without caring for fame or personal safety. From that point of view, everyone in all the armed forces, border patrol people, police, Coast Guard, EMTs, Emergency Room personnel, firemen, and all first responders are heroes because they know they can save lives and help others even if their own lives may be in danger.
Aren’t those people scared for themselves? Surely, they must be, but in spite of being terrified, they go ahead and do what must be done. Now, that’s courage; that’s true heroism.
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PROMPT: How do you feel when someone you otherwise enjoy talking to starts quoting from a questionable non-"tv talking head" news source? I don't mean a source with a slant you may disagree with perhaps, but (for example) a study done with an obvious bend meant to prove a certain political or religious point of view? How do you inform your friend that the information they may have received could be tainted with half-truths and outright misinformation while maintaining positive discourse?
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My simplest straight answer: “First, I don’t know what you are talking about. Second, I am not sure of the validity of the source you are referring to.”
My best method: I usually try to change the subject, which may help, but it may or may not work.
Then, sometimes, I tell people I am not discussing politics (religion, or whatever) at all, especially if I haven’t discussed such stuff with this person earlier. In general, I stay away from the discussions of politics and religion, anyhow.
Prompt: Have fun with these random words: lonely, hate, narrow, fear, cobweb, silly and evanescent
Watch out for
those cobwebs of hate,
narrowing the hearts with fear…
Is it a storm
trudging on our path
or is it a wild wind
that worsens
the way we fumble
in silly missteps,
disregarding
life’s evanescent clemency?
Prompt: Choose a local celebrity from your city, region, or state, and explore the intersection of the pop icon’s cultural context and your own memories of time spent in this locale.
Thank God, no local celebrities live in my town, except for the tax collector and a now-defunct crooked mayor. Anyway, those two I don’t consider as celebrities at all, even if they have touched my present life more than any other celebrity.
In close proximity to our not-too-noted town, however, in West Palm Beach, the current USA President Trump has a place called Mar-a-Lago. Then, Celine Dion had a mansion on Jupiter Island, which was on sale for 72 million. I am not too sure if it is sold or what. Also, the actor Burt Reynolds has lived in Tequesta for more than 30 years, whose place is in foreclosure. The outcome with that place I am not sure of either.
Now, I am going to name drop. Those who own a home or property within 40 miles of our town are: Golfer Tiger Woods, Golfer Rory McIlroy, Cardinals’ catcher Yedier Molina, Joe Namath, Olivia Newton-John, Kid Rock, Johnny Bench, Bryant Gumbel, Michael Jordan, Serena and Venus Williams, Dr. Ben Carson, Rush Limbaugh, Rosie O’Donnel, Howard Stern, Dr. Oz, Rudy Giuliani, Ann Coulter, Bill Gates, Tommy Lee Jones, Tony Robbins, and Stockard Channing ( sorry for leaving out some).
Additionally, in our town, NY Mets have their spring training. If it were 35 years or so ago, my kids would be there at the stadium, and I would be forced to watch with them all that training. Luckily, at that time, we lived in NY and went to the Yankees and Mets games instead. So, I can truthfully say, those nice newer players, I have no memory or impression of, unlike the ones in the time of Reggie Jackson and company.
Sorry for not even touching who, as a celebrity, lives or has a place in my state. If I tried that, I would have to write tomes. 
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Prompt: "Living is like touring through a museum. Not until later do you really start absorbing what you saw, thinking about it, looking it up in a book and remembering because you can't take it all in at once." Audrey Hepburn
Have you felt like this? Write your thoughts on this.
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I feel like that now and I ask myself, what was all that about?
Looking back is unexpectedly riveting, although I did all I could. Cynically speaking, I come off to myself as a major piece of weird work and a somewhat crazy one for I keep doggedly pursuing anything that pops up in my way, after a fashion, but that fashion has mostly to do with the arts, all arts. The good thing about it has been that I kept moving, no matter what.
And, no matter what, living is such a complex edifice that in it, we mess up sometimes or even if what we come up with is not a mess, it isn’t exactly what we imagined it could have been, just like the museum pieces. We may not feel close to or appreciate every single piece in a museum and appreciate it, but we may enjoy touring the museum, in general. During such a tour, as we move on, we may not even recall exactly what we have seen and left behind. Still, we continue moving on, smiling with our chin up, and keeping our hands clean because life is, in its essence, a beautiful thing, despite its blunders and absurdities.
Prompt: "Pick the day. Enjoy it to the hilt. The day as it comes, people as they come." Audrey Hepburn
Does this sound like words to live by? Write anything you want about this.
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This quote seems to be another way of saying carpe diem. The purpose of life is to accept it and taste everything, bitter, sweet, or sour, that pops up on our way. Most of all, we need to be awake to the present to find the joy of eternity in it because there is no other life but this.
As an aside (because I have to get something off my chest) although I like Audrey Hepburn a lot, I resent film people and others who have found fame through their looks and discountable abilities giving advice to the rest of us. I resent it especially when they word it in a command, “do this, do that” sort of thing. If it were a personal opinion or musing I would gladly take to it, such as ‘I pick my day and enjoy it to the hilt…etc.’
So, movie stars should know their place; it is on the movie screen. I do like to read their autobiographies, though. After all, there are things in each life foreign to my experiences. 
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Prompt: "When we think that we are automatically entitled to something, that is when we start walking all over others to get it."
Criss Jami, Diotima, Battery, Electric Personality
What is your opinion on entitlement? Are we systematically entitled to some things we haven’t worked for, and what do you think about people who feel they are entitled to stuff automatically?
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There are a few things we are all entitled to, such as unpolluted air, clean water, the solidity of the earth we walk on, and respect by those close to us. From this point of view, yes, we are entitled to some things.
As an aside, why is it that we are destroying those excellent things and messing up the earth?
Then, there are the other so-called entitlements. First, no one is entitled to anything, they haven’t worked for. Those people, who are indigent, sick, or helpless, are given or granted stuff out of the goodness of other people’s hearts. This, in actuality, is called alms, not entitlements. Even what the government hands out as help to its citizens is alms, no matter what they call it.
When people are entitled, the word means they deserve it; in other words, they earned it.
For the so-called entitlements or rather alms, people should be grateful and not walk all over others or claim that those things are their rights in order to get them when those claimants have done nothing to deserve them. Not only that, but showing bad behavior, breaking stuff, and vandalizing streets and buildings because a person or groups are entitled to stuff is not a right; moreover, it is criminal behavior. And no one on earth is entitled to criminal behavior.
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Prompt: “Burnout isn't being overworked or not getting enough rest. Burnout is job-induced depression.”
Eric Barker, Barking up the Wrong Tree
What does job-burnout mean to you? How can a person deal with it?
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A study shows teachers and housewives with small children and no help are among the highest risk groups that suffer from a job burnout. I think, however, people of all vocations are subjected to this unsavory discomfort or disease.
When we are stuck in a tight space physically or mentally, it is normal to feel the effects of a burnout. Dissatisfaction in one’s job or the conditions of it, marriage, or life can make a person pull into his shell and avoid social contracts as much as possible. When time is constricted and the expectations from the outside or the inside of the person exceed the capability of that person, why wouldn’t he feel sick, depressed, or desperate?
Dealing with a burnout depends on the person and the situation. Some may benefit from taking a time off, but what happens when they return to the same situation? The same cycle begins all over again. Then, what if the job is so that one cannot take a time-off?
I think lowering one’s expectations of oneself is the first step in dealing with the job stress, even if lowering others’ expectations may not be possible. Then, if the job situation isn’t eased and extra help isn’t employed by the employer, it could be a good solution to change jobs, if at all possible.
None of us are free of the symptoms of a job-related burnout. It could help if we become savvy about how and what we feel and realize the dawning of a job-related depression. We need to recognize any negative feelings, cynicism, frustration, interpersonal problems, and emotional fatigue inside us for fighting or dealing with this malady. Then we should try not to expect too much from ourselves, first, and afterward, we should take small breaks during the working hours to cut ourselves some slack. Most importantly, we should face the situation and try to ask for help in handling a dreary and difficult job.
Even so, I believe the employers should be the ones to shoulder most of the burden of dealing with job burnout in their employees. Even the most boring jobs can be made meaningful and enthusiasm can replace meaningless or declining performance. Burnout drains employee motivation and efficiency. Too often, employers find out too late when the burnout hits a good employee. So, isn’t it a better idea to not expect too much from any one person and provide extra help such as part-time workers to ease the load on the overworked employees?
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Prompt: Let's talk fashion trends
When you were 20, you wore what? When you were 30 you wore what? 40? 50? 60? 70?
Was it because it was popular or comfortable? What about right now, what are you wearing while writing today?
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Before Christ, Egyptian women wore cones on top of their heads with air fresheners inside them. Today we wear invisible fresheners applied by deodorants some of which may be considered as flattened cones. Not much has changed, has it!
Fashion is a fickle animal, but I never spoiled it by giving in to its whims. My mother, on the other hand, was so fashion-conscious that she made me wear gloves and hats when I was under the age of six. No wonder in my earlier photos you cannot see a smile on my face, but frustration.
Once I found out that savage rebellion worked, I got my way. Well, to a degree, anyway. After I left home and was on my own, I wore pretty much what I wanted to wear. It might have been something in fashion or not.
I can’t actually recall what I wore at what age, but I do remember large pads on shoulders after women’s lib surged into fashion’s consciousness. I recall reading an article by a designer who, then, said that the fashion industry brought those pads into the forefront to give women self-confidence, so they see themselves as large and powerful as men. In fact, those things were cumbersome instead of making women feel powerful, and they added an extra load on their shoulders. The only positive about those pads was making the shoulders appear larger and the torso slimmer. Leave it to the media and the industry to exploit and manipulate women for their own gain.
Since I have just stabbed the fashion industry, I have to admit to my shortcomings, too. I did wear stilettos in my younger years, at least once in a while, but I also wore short thin-heeled shoes, too. I used to like cowl necks and hooded long winter coats and fake furs, especially zebra because they were black and white, my favorite combination. I have also liked to match colors with whatever I wore. I still do.
Since we have moved to Florida, due to the change in weather, I totally did away with what’s in fashion. It is now shorts and tees and sandals and more cottons than any other textile. Recently I bought yoga sandals and I think I have discovered heaven on earth. They are like walking barefoot. My other preferences are V-neck sleeveless tees with pockets and Capri pants, which is what I am wearing right this minute, with flipflops, all in blues. In cooler weather, I use long pants and short-sleeved tees with a sweater on top. I think this will be my fashion as long as I stay in this climate and not bother with what the tyrant designers push on us, women.
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Prompt by Lyn: I was playing with random sentence generator this evening... create something with these sentences. Have fun!
"When the night influences the approval, the exchange details the color. How does the secretary communicate the helpless night? When does the motion calculate the equal observation?"
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Annihilation
“When the night influences the approval, the exchange details the color.” Saying that, he waltzes down on a beam of light that shot down from the night sky. He should be an actor, I think, feeling good about why I had to bring my wife here to meet him.
How more than a human he looks! Delicate bones, elongated skull, royal blue outfit that flows about him, giving the feeling of a cascading waterfall. He bows in front of my wife, Olisevelt. “Madam!”
“Monseur Kewango!” Olise bends her head in greeting. Then she surprises me as she usually does. “How does the secretary communicate the helpless night?”
Now, what is that! I expected myself to be better at this, the way they communicated, but what use of the language! English for my sake, but they stretch it like taffy and torture it. I’d rather they used ray guns or telepathy or something. God, I am not getting what they mean!
Kewango, eyes me, then says, a little tentatively, “When does the motion calculate the equal observation?”
“At the dominance of symmetry from the offworlders,” says my wife, her burgundy lips parting into a crescent.
“Now, then,” says Kewango.
My wife reaches for my arm, wrapping her nine-fingered hand around it, and I suddenly feel frozen. I can’t move, but I can still think. I married her, she who came from the deep space, for the sake of peace, and she is now betraying me.
Kewango harrumphs. “For the sake of peace…You idiot earthlings! There’s no such thing as peace. We told you we would come. Our messages were precise.”
Olisevelt’s chiseled features move with the sneer in her voice, as she utters, “You don’t marry a she-creature for the sake of this or that. She-creatures are only loyal when you appreciate them for themselves. You, knucklehead!”
Kewango takes a few steps to stand at my other side. “Now, the annihilation begins…”
Who was it that said you never see the ones that kill you? I see them both, together with all those billions of offworlders sliding down on beams of light.
I am only hoping that the human conclaves we had established back in year 4932 on hidden corners of the universe will be able to survive. Ooops, what have I just done! I shouldn't think about them like I am doing now, as both Kewango and Olisevelt can read minds. Instead, I think I'll recite ancient poetry to myself.
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
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"If one good thing has happened in America this year, it's that artists and the public have warmed up to art as a mode of resisting immoral authority." Barbara Kingsolver
Do you agree or disagree with Ms. Kingsolver? Do you believe writers have been the force behind resistance throughout history?
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I like Barbara Kingsolver just fine as I have read many of her books, but I think any art has no business to resist anything unless all the facts are available to the artists. The same goes for calling any authority immoral, especially when the authority, or rather politics, has always been a dirty business, as all players may be immoral.
As to writers being a force, this question brings to mind the writers of the French revolution, specifically Rabelais, a Franciscan monk and author who may have started the ball rolling with his Gargantua and Pantagruel series. Rabelais's books were banned partly because they were ahead of their time and they were satirical.
French Revolution also brings to mind the authors like Montesquieu, Robespierre, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Disgusted with the French Monarchy, they rooted for a constitutional monarchy, which led to French Revolution, and then, Napoleon. Those authors I admire a lot. Their writing, however, has been the result of the earlier philosophical stance that the consciences of the masses together with the use of the state powers could suppress immorality and crime.
This means even the strongest writing has to have a solid viewpoint based on facts. Yes, I believe, the authors have a lot to say about the goings on in any country, but I think what they say and write has to have a solid basis. If writers are encouraged and instigated to resist any authority by disgruntled political figures, they should be very careful who or what they resist because politics is an ugly business and any politician who instigates people to “resist” may not be doing the right thing for his country.
As a writer, I would be very careful not to get caught in the net of the words of someone who may be doing what he is doing out of revenge or some future political gain.
It is always easy to scream, “Off with their heads.” Even if those heads deserve it, we must also take into account what replaces them.
As a last word, I wrote this entry because of the prompt. Usually, I refrain from touching anything political because I refuse to be made a puppet in the hands of one political group or another unless I have all the facts for sure and what I write won't hurt anyone.
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Prompt: "Happiness flutters in the air whilst we rest among the breaths of nature." Kelly Sheaffer Write anything you want about this.
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Nature is a healer when we pay attention to it. Through its rhythms and myriad of forms, it breathes happiness into our souls. As it cheers and inspires our senses, it shifts our focus from our egos and lets us recognize that we are part of the universe. This may be why small children are more curious about and more connected to the universe.
One of my sons once asked me, “If the world is round and curved, how come it looks so flat?” I think in his question, lies the truth of the way we assess our presence. Life looks flat when we look at it from a diminished angle. In fact, when we rise above where we stand, the world curves around us as if to embrace everyone and everything.
When we go outdoors and open our senses to nature, we understand and appreciate it better. That discovery leads to the feelings of awe and contentment, and we may even appreciate our own simplistic lives. No wonder some healers and gurus encourage people to practice meditation outdoors and contemplate on nature by using their senses…
I think Sylvia Plath puts this into words the best in Bell Jar: “I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery—air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, "This is what it is to be happy.” I agree.
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Prompt: What does it mean to against the odds and to beat them? Write anything you want about this.
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I heard of against all odds and I know of beating all odds, but I haven’t come across the way these two idioms are combined. Thus, I’ll take those one by one.
Against all odds means in spite of seeming very unlikely or with very low to almost non-existent probability.
Beating all odds is when a person succeeds at something that is impossible to accomplish.
In racing, the racers are given odds, especially where horse racing is concerned. These odds are calculated depending on the horse’s physical condition and previous wins.
When applied to people, it is when a hindrance or a problem is too difficult to overcome, but someone overcomes that obstacle and accomplishes what was deemed impossible. For example, the statistics say that people who are raised in slums are more likely to go to prison than college, but luckily, many have been overcoming those dreadful socioeconomic barriers, which are the odds behind the numbers those statistics show.
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In Addition:
My great grandfather kept notebooks; in those notebooks, he noted, among other things, important lessons to be taught to his offspring. Although I never met him, I heard about him from my grandmother.
Yesterday, I decided to write notes in my blog on some of those lessons in that notebook, just maybe and once in a while.
Here’s one that I like:
“Do good to people who have caused you hurt or have done bad things to you. Causing or doing evil deeds to bad people is the work of the lowly. Defend yourself if you must, but don’t do anything violent on purpose or for revenge.
Good people only see what’s bad or shameful about themselves. They don’t shame or hurt others. Those who see the negatives in themselves and try to correct them are the receivers of grace.”
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Prompt: “There are moments when history and memory seem like a mist, as if what really happened matters less than what should have happened.”
Karen Joy Fowler, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
What are your thoughts on this and do you believe what really happened is more or less important than what we think should have happened?
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I think what happened is more important, most of the time; that is, if we can really validate what really happened. As human memory is faulty and the brain tends to create its own version of reality, what really happened is never too clear, unless it is copied or filmed by a machine, and then, even machines or cameras can distort what is in their sight. Historians also distort the history, no matter how they try.
As to what should have happened, we might say that, for example, instead of the Civil War, peace between North and South should have happened, but this is after the fact and amounts to zilch. The only thing that may be beneficial about the what-should-have-happened is that we can learn from it and try not to separate our nation in two, no matter what takes place.
The same goes for people, for what happens to them, among them. If parents constantly fight and do not try to find a common ground, the family and especially the children will suffer. When families suffer, the neighborhoods, and eventually, the nation may suffer.
In such instances, to focus on and study what should have happened can be more advantageous than repeating or reliving what already occurred.
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Prompt: They say when a computer does something wrong, it blames another computer. Isn’t it the same with people? Do animals blame others, too? Isn’t blaming someone else an act of refusing to take responsibility? What are your thoughts on the subject?
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Computers work in conjunction with one another, so it is natural for them to look for blame in other computers. As to animals, I am not an expert on animal behavior and I wouldn’t know if they blame one another, although as an animal lover, I think they may have some of our inherited traits. The only example I have about animals blaming others is our dog Joe’s (RIP) acting hurt with me and sitting with his butt turned at me after I’ve taken him to his vet. Thus, I conclude, animal blaming does exist.
As to us, biped homo sapiens, we love the blame game especially when something goes wrong or misfortunes take place. There are reasons for doing that, in addition to our refusal of taking responsibility.
We use blaming as a defense mechanism to protect our self-esteem. Our own flaws should be avoided at all costs so we can go on being our perfect, haughty selves. After all, who wants to see herself or himself as foolish, irresponsible, or inept? This even goes on not only in individual instances but also in politics between parties, but I digress…
Blaming is also a tool to be used when attacking, especially if we haven’t learned how to resolve conflicts constructively. Also projecting the bad feelings about ourselves unto someone else may make us feel better, working as a kind of self-defense.
Then, it is easy to blame someone known to be bad or someone who steps on society’s values time and time again. This type of blaming can be the result of a warped idea of social status or the caste system. Some unsavory police work comes to mind, where the police first check the known criminals before concentrating on the evidence.
Another reason for blaming can be because we don’t know much about human behavior; we even distort the way we look at our very own actions because it may take less effort to blame someone else than see our own flaws.
Then, there’s the opposite of the blame game, too. Some people blame themselves for everything, even the World Wars that happened before their time. Believe it or not, such people do exist. I am not exactly sure why this happens, but I think overpowering, controlling parents or guardians might have instilled such a guilty feeling or low self-esteem inside children that, if not always but at least from time to time, it shows up in adulthood as self-blaming.
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PROMPT: Tell us about a time when someone said "I told you so!" in a positive manner.
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I have heard many “I-told-you-so”s many a time directed at me, but I cannot recall any one of them having been said in a positive manner. Jokingly? yes; in a positive manner? no.
I try not to say “I told you so,” even though I could, especially where the ones close to me are concerned. Instead, I wait for them to tell me: “You told me so.”
I am still waiting! 
Prompt: Mother's Day is tomorrow. Let's recognize our Mom's by writing a recipe for Motherhood. Share with us what makes a great mom by examples of your experiences.
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Motherhood: Personalized Recipe
Ingredients:
Love
pain
more love
being there with TLC
Letting the kids make their own decisions
listening and hearing
Still more love
trying not to correct too much
holding your tongue and not meddling once they’ve grown up
Lots more love
Directions:
Each mother decides for herself on the amounts and mixing of the ingredients.
At the end, all may sprinkle the top with more love and decorate with a dollop of understanding.
Prompt: X-- marked the spot. It's fun fact or fictional Friday, so mark your spot and tell us something factual or fictional about that spot. Have fun.
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It was our second or third visit to Las Vegas. On some intersections, we saw the x signs painted in white on the ground, with each of the intersecting lines measuring about five to six feet, which some were fading.
One of us said, “It must be the spots for new casinos.”
“Don’t they have enough casinos? And why make them at intersections?” I asked.
Another friend said, “You’re right. Probably they’ll be making traffic circles at those intersections.”
“No,” Hubby grinned. “They are for UFO landings.”
That sounded reasonable, being that we were in Las Vegas, as who’d want to land there except the UFOs!
We later found out from a croupier that the Xs marked the spots for the purpose of aerial photography for land-use planning, development, surveillance, environmental studies, commercial advertising, and topographic maps.
I still think the croupier was mistaken and hubby was on to them. Those Xs had to have something to do with the UFO landings. Hubby should know! He is usually on to something.
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Prompt: What does it mean to become Full Circle? Write your thoughts on this.
Full circle means completing a cycle. Some novel plots, for example begin at one place and after a long series of scenes, they arrive at their ending where the beginning situation although changed, for better or worse, still exists.
In a person’s life, people, places, and events come and go, and at the end, they may still be around the same person, after being somewhat changed but also having contributed to his growth.
Prompt: "There's nothing more tiring then waiting for something to happen." Cora Downton Abbey
Do you agree? What are your thoughts on this?
If one knows when the waiting will be over, it should not be too much of a problem. One can pass the time doing what needs to be done or whatever he or she can do during the waiting period. The ability to wait has to do with patience. That is why developing one’s capacity to be patient is a good idea.
The worst kind of waiting is in the unknowing, especially while dealing with fears and anxieties serious life changes bring. Then the emotional strain takes its toll. This kind of waiting is painful, but not knowing how to handle the waiting can be the worst kind of suffering. Then, instead of waiting, taking some kind of an action can be the way to go. For example, instead of waiting for a lotto winning, starting a business or any type of a production that can bring monetary results can be more practical.
Today’s on-the-road observation:
This afternoon, we had to follow a truck on a busy road. The writing in the back of the truck made me grin.
“LA- Z- BOY- Truck
Caution:
This truck contains extremely comfortable material.”
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Prompt: “You don't pity a warrior for her scars, because scars are proof of survival and victory.”
Chloe Jacobs, Greta and the Lost Army
What do you think scars are and how many kinds of them exist?
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A physical scar is the residue of an injury or an operation that stays on the skin, sometimes forever, although it may fade in time. According to medical people, there are different kinds of scars and their visual effects can be minimalized in time.
What is difficult to minimalize or make it fade are the emotional and psychological scars. A psychological scar is the result of a traumatic damage to the mind. This type of scar happens when a severely troubling event causes people a devastating stress, which they are unable to cope with, leading to disturbing long-term consequences.
These consequences show up in different forms depending on the person and the severity of the trauma they have experienced. Some people relive that trauma almost physically and cannot help their reactions, feeling they are in that very situation. PTSD that the soldiers experience after the wars is a good example for that.
Another way could be the anxiety and negative emotions, prompted by cues and triggers as reminders of a trauma. A person with such a scar may not even catch on to the fact that his or her actions are the results of a certain bygone trauma, as they may have consciously forgotten the trauma itself. As the result of their own actions, that person may feel bad about his or her self and those bad feelings can lead to depression. I think this is the worst kind of scar, since it is difficult to see or find out about, unless by serious intervention by a knowledgeable therapist.
Psychological scars can be the results of a war, hurting and displacing groups, or the mistreatments by the people closest to the scarred person. Those people can be the parents or teachers in the childhood, school or work bullies, or partners that inflict domestic violence.
Getting back to the quote, I think nobody should feel disgraced by his or her scars because those scars show that they went through a battle, be it a physical or a psychological one, and they survived it. The way I look at it, they are heroes and warriors in some form, and they have nothing to be ashamed about.
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“What are some of the things they told you at home and at school that sounded good and wholesome when you were growing up, but you found out they didn’t really work for you in your life?”
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Since it has been so long a time, this difficult to recall, but I’ll start with my wedding vows and go backward, if I can. I know there was a clause in the vow that said “obey” for women taking the oath. I told someone to tell the person marrying us to not say it or else I would say no at the wedding. I guess my warning was successful and I vowed to “respect” instead. This was 51 years ago.
Another thing was “You can be anything you want to be” or in the same vein “The road is open in front of you, waiting for you.” Not true. We can only be what we want to be after jumping over a few hurdles, and even that is not easy and, for what I have experienced, not everyone can be what they want to be for many different reasons.
Going further back, “Obey your parents. They know what’s best for you.” No, they didn’t. They knew what was best for them where I was concerned. So, I half obeyed until I was out of the woods. Luckily, I was part of a wonderful extended family whose members helped me unbelievably.
Then, all the subjects we took in school were supposed to help us think. Sure, I wonder how the details of Jenghiz Khan’s invading India or Algebra two, Calculus, and Theoretical Mathematics helped me learn what I really wanted to learn, which was/is Literature and Poetry.
Going back still, I recall the health warning. “Don’t stand in cross airs. You’ll catch cold,” which pointed to standing between an open window and a door or two open windows or wind coming from opposite sides of me. Medical science says one only gets a cold if one gets the virus.
Another one, “Don’t play with mud; your fingernails will be crooked.” I still did and my fingernails were never crooked, at least when I was younger.
I am sure I’ll remember a lot more if I force myself to look back, but this is all at this time.
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PROMPT: What fashion trend from your past do you wish would come back in style? What did you like about it? How do you think it would fit in with whatever's popular today?
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Mood rings, love beads, the twist, drive-ins, tie-dyed shirts and skirts…although I wouldn’t be able to use any of them because, for me, the past is past. I don’t know how it would fit in with today’s stuff, either. Mood rings, maybe. Doing the twist, possible. Tie-dyed stuff… well, the other day, I found something like it, one of kind, but I am hesitant to wear it outside. My neighbors could think, the woman went nuts in old age. 
On the other hand, some nostalgia makes me happy. The other day, hubby and had lunch in the mall in HWY 55, where the décor is the fifties drugstore and they served old fashioned fries, burgers, and soda, and the walls were covered with Marilyn Monroe and Elvis photos, and they played the music of the fifties. We felt so happy; almost as if someone took us back into our early teen years. I was surprised I could recall all the words to the songs. My husband could recognize all the actors and actresses from their photos and paintings on the walls. We came home feeling very happy.
Now, I am not even supposed to eat greasy food, but it didn’t matter. Just for one day, it was great to feel ourselves living back in the day and we both felt much younger, again.
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Prompt: "I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it's always June." Lucy Maud Montgomery
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Anne of Green Gables is a book or rather series of books I didn’t read when I was young because everybody was reading it and it felt like “so commonplace” since I was a teen with an attitude . Instead, I read it after I turned 70. Go figure!
This quote is from Anne of the Island when Anne is in college. Being that she always had a straight head on her shoulders and she saw life from a fair but positive stance, this quote might mean a poignant wish to have everything perfect in life, which isn’t logical. In the love department, during her young adult years, Anne wasn't so great as she was in childhood, I thought, and this wish might have been the result of that.
If everything was like a day in June, being human, we would get tired of it in a few days. Even in a decent fictional story, a good conflict makes the story. Because of that conflict, people learn about themselves and about life and the goals they reach, and the experiences they go through give them a deeper insight.
Would I like to be in a world where everything is like a June day, always? No; however, I would like to live in a world where there are no wars or the threat of them between countries, so the people can focus on loving and living with each other and dealing with, enjoying, and nurturing nature, as there is enough conflict in nature to spice up our everyday lives.
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Prompt: How important is a name to you? Did you know there are foods that have been renamed so you will purchase them? Can you think of other things that have been renamed to produce the same likeability affect?
https://www.thefactsite.com/2016/08/foods-that-have-been-renamed-infographic.htm...
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Names are important as they can influence thoughts, sales, and likability. This must be why the publishing houses had the habit of changing authors' book titles. For example, Ayn Rand’s The Strike became Atlas Shrugged. Hemingway’s Fiesta became The Sun Also Rises. Jane Austen’s First Impressions became Pride and Prejudice. James Joyce’s Ulysses in Dublin became Dubliners.
About the foods in the link, yes, I knew about the Dolphinfish that turned into Mahi Mahi because about 30 years ago I refused to eat it when a local restaurant was serving under the name Dolphin steaks. After the fish became Mahi Mahi, I’ve had no problem with it. I guess I wasn’t the only one to refuse eating dolphin, thus the name change.
As I always say, the only problem I find with nature is living things eating other living things. It doesn’t matter whether it is a tomato or a cow, but the nearer an animal is to our hearts, the more we are upset about eating it.
The other food name changes I can think of are: bait  sushi, Oleo margarine, coriander cilantro, rapeseed oil canola oil,
Aside from the food business, a few decades ago, a storm of short shorts for women took over the fashion industry. Short shorts weren’t called short shorts anymore; they were hot pants. I remember that because I had a red pair. Then, who can forget how the Tokyo sandals turned into flip flops!
Even some places have changed names, for whatever reason: Upper Peru to Bolivia; New Connecticut to Vermont; New Caledonia to British Columbia; Peking to Beijing; Ceylon to Sri Lanka; Burma to Myanmar; Siam to Thailand; Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City; Gold Coast to Ghana, etc.
Then we have the movie industry, too. Remember Norma Jeane Mortenson? Well, she became Marilyn Monroe. I guess alliteration worked there, too. How about Allan Stewart Konigsberg? He is Woody Allen for you. Who knows Natalie Weinstein-Bacal? Doesn’t Lauren Bacall ring a bell instead? Most us really like Margaret Mary Emily Hyra, but only as Meg Ryan.
So, there you go. Changing names is a human trait, like calling a messy house, a lived-in, cozy place, which I certainly approve and relate to very well. 
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