Life in progress

Monthly Archives: January 2015


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One-Liner Wednesday – What a Tired Brain Can Get Up To

My best friend John and I were born one day apart – I’m a day older. This is a conversation we had this morning (after he got here for breakfast following a 12 hour shift, shunting transport trailers around a yard):

John: Do you realize next week we turn 51 and it’s 2015? The next time the numbers of our age and the year is inverted is 2026, when we’ll start off the year being 62.

Me: Do you realize you have waaaay too much time on your hands?

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Anyone who would like to try it out, feel free to use the “One-Liner Wednesday” title in your post, and if you do, you can ping back here to help your blog get more exposure. To execute a ping back, just copy the URL in the address bar on this post and paste it somewhere in the body of your post. Your link will show up in the comments below.

As with Stream of Consciousness Saturday, if you see a ping back from someone else in my comment section, click and have a read. It’s bound to be short and sweet.

The rules that I’ve made for myself (but don’t always follow) for “One-Liner Wednesday” are:

1. Make it one sentence.

2. Make it either funny or inspirational.

Have fun!


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JusJoJan 13 – On the Buses, part deux

Just a short jot today. One of my youngest son’s favourite past times, for reasons known only to him, is riding on the city bus. And so almost weekly we go on a rather useless trip in the car to the bus station, board a bus and for $8.40 take a return trip to the mall – a trip that if I were to drive my car would cost around 1/10th of that. But whatever. It occasionally gives me ideas for my “Second Seat on the Right” series (which you can find on my fiction blog), it amuses Alex, and once in a while I get an interesting picture.

I wrote a while back about the politeness of the people in my town and that even the graffiti is “nice.” Here’s the latest:

Much love

Much love

I swear I didn’t write (nor jot) this myself.

This post is part of Just Jot It January. Click here and add your own jottings today! https://lindaghill.com/2015/01/01/just-jot-it-january-pingback-post-and-rules/

JJJ 2015


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Je suis Charlie

Indeed.

dieterrogiers's avatar300 stories

Been thinking a while now about how to honour the victims of the Paris attacks last week. I started writing a flash fiction story, but that didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to. So I decided to pick up my drawing pencil voor the first time in a long time.

For those not well-versed in the language of Molière: ‘je suis’ in French can mean both ‘I am’ and ‘I follow’.

Je suis charlie

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JusJoJan 12 – Yokohama, Japan

After my horrotacular first evening in Tokyo which you can read about here, I rose early the next morning, got my shit together, and headed off to the train station. Fortunately it wasn’t the same station from which I’d wandered the night I arrived; it was much easier to find. You can bet I asked for detailed directions from the hotel staff when I checked out though.

I was on my way to Kamakura, but the plan was to stop at Yokohama Station to meet Jay Dee, most famous from here on WordPress at I Read Encyclopedias for Fun. Here’s a link to his latest post. Fortunately our meeting went as planned, and we had a lovely chat over coffee (for me) and cocoa (for Jay). After that I hung out at the station for a while. Here’s what I wrote afterward, and a picture I took from inside the station:

Having a couple of hours to kill before I was due at my next hotel, I found a nice pillar to lean against and I just stood there for about twenty minutes, enjoying the mild temperature blowing in from outside. In the air was the aroma of cocoa and as I watched the people walking by I felt as though I was floating comfortably in a sea of humanity. It struck me how incredibly safe it is here — children as young as perhaps seven years old, one with a four year-old trailing after her, passed by unaccompanied by an adult.

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Yokohama Station, from my pillar

 

Eventually I left my post and went to speak to an information clerk who told me how to use one of the ghastly train ticket machines. I did so with no problem though. I wouldn’t have had any idea had I not been given instructions.

So off to Kamakura I went. It’s a wonderful little town south of Tokyo and I’m so glad I decided to spend the next four days there. I’ll write more about it next time.

This post is part of Just Jot It January. Please join in! You can find everything you need here: https://lindaghill.com/2015/01/01/just-jot-it-january-pingback-post-and-rules/

JJJ 2015


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Reasons why I should not work remotely

Such an entertaining read. I had to share it. I think we’ve all been there.

isms's avatarBecause reasons

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Nothing makes you feel more like a grown up than doing more than one load of laundry.

And not because there was too much of it, like when you turn your laziness into an experiment to see how much underwear you actually have.

(2 weeks’ worth.)

I separated, that’s right, SEPARATED my laundry into colours, black & white and other things that are too high maintenance for a washing machine. I read the little labels that come on clothes. Apparently those annoying scratchy tags of Itch have a lot of information – I did not realise that when I buy a shirt it actually comes with instructions on the maintenance of it. Like I’ve just bought a cat or microwave.

There are temperatures and not all of them can even go in a washing machine – this was a revelation to me. This from a person who buys clothes that…

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JusJoJan 11 – Just Random

Remember last week when I tripped over the suitcase in the dark? I have the weirdest injury from that. There’s a spot on the outside of my knee that’s numb except when I touch the front of my knee. If I touch it lightly it feels as though someone is rubbing their fingernail down the numb spot. If I forget about it and kneel on it, it hurts like hell. Nerve damage anyone?

I spent twenty minutes this afternoon looking for an excuse to have a glass of red wine. I finally found one. I shared it on my Facebook page, which, if you’re not following you should be. Here, I’ll make it easy for you to find it. https://www.facebook.com/lindaghill.fiction Cheers!

I’m absolutely dying to get to my notes from Japan and share them with the world. Alex is better today again, (yesterday was horrible but that seems to have passed) so with any luck he’ll be back at school tomorrow. 😀 I’m also hoping that the urge I’ve been feeling today to be more creatively sociable will remain with me. I want to start interacting more on Twitter and Facebook. It’ll be a challenge, but I think I’m up to it.

I have to admit I’m getting a little antsy over my novel’s beta readers. The only feedback I’ve had so far is that the first 20 or so pages weren’t that interesting. I know I can improve them. What I don’t know is if anyone got past them… *bites nails*

We haven’t had much snow here but it’s freakin’ cold. Here’s a picture of me in a 20km/hr, -26°C head wind:

CAM00546

In other news, we have a temporary cat. Actually, two of them. They go with the temporary cave dweller in my basement, also known as my eldest son. The good news is, the more sociable of the cats is keeping Alex busy. I’ll get pictures soon. Right now I believe Alex is trying to pry the cat out of a box…

Gotta go.

JJJ 2015Join in! https://lindaghill.com/2015/01/01/just-jot-it-january-pingback-post-and-rules/ It’s never too late!

(meow, smash, ahhh!)

 


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JusJoJan Day 11-20 Prompt

And now for something not completely different… I was originally going to make the three prompts for Just Jot It January 2015 Reading, Writing, and ‘Rithmatic, however, Writing has been covered in many of the prompts that fell under the Reading category which makes it seem a little–get ready for another “r” word–redundant. So for the second prompt I’ll skip straight on to ‘Rithmatic and make the third prompt something truly different.

Here are some ideas on what you can do with the prompt, “‘Rithmatic”:

1. Write something on adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, fractions… you get the idea.

2. Choose a number to write about. Any number.

3. Got a magic 8 ball at home? Roll it and see what comes up.

4. Don’t use the prompt at all! It’s not mandatory – it’s only if you get stuck. Alternatively, use the prompt every day for 10 days. It’s up to you!

Your next prompt will be posted on January 20th, to cover the dates from the 21st to the 30th.

I hope to be able to read more of your upcoming JusJoJan posts, but it seems Alex might still not be attending school next week at the rate he’s going, so it may be hit and miss. So I’m counting on you. Please make sure you check back to the prompt page and see who has posted – it’s a great way to build your blogging community and reciprocate. And don’t forget the most important part – have fun!!

This post is part of JusJoJan: https://lindaghill.com/2015/01/01/just-jot-it-january-pingback-post-and-rules/ Anyone can join in!


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SoCS – Poles and Double Negatives

Maybe I was dreaming of my prompt this morning but when I dreamed this morning it was of the poles changing direction. I dreamed of the end of the world. The water in my house didn’t work, the sewers were running backwards as was a natural spring in my house that reversed and became muddy and the electricity went out. Several times I think I woke a little (because Alex was coughing) but I drifted back each time into the dream, knowing I was dreaming but unable to stop it. I don’t remember if I was awake to imagine the end of the world but I stood with my children and told them I loved them as the world imploded…

And so then I was thinking I should tell Alex’s dad that he’s still sick but I may send him to school on Monday regardless since he doesn’t seem contagious, which led me to think of the word “irregardless” which shouldn’t be a word. Should it? Spell check likes it. But it makes no sense. To “irregard,” one would think, would be a negative meaning “not to regard” and so putting a “less” on the end turns “irregardless” into a double negative meaning to regard. So sending Alex to school regarding his cough would be senseless… (Yes, Doobster, I looked up the Webster’s definition of “irregardless” but the looking up of it was ruining the flow of my writing which is why I didn’t copy and paste it.)

And so this is an account, really, of my morning so far. Not really stream of consciousness thought (though it was at the time) but I have written this unedited and as it came back to me, which is kind of a double negative in and of itself.

The good news is, if you have made it to the end of this post, at least the world hasn’t ended yet. Hooray!

This post is part of SoCS. Join in today! https://lindaghill.com/2015/01/09/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-january-1015/

Badge by: Doobster at Mindful Digressions

Badge by: Doobster at Mindful Digressions


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JusJoJan 9 – Ode to a Computer

I’m sitting in bed with twenty minutes left to get my jotting done before today changes to tomorrow. I have a glass of wine by my side and the world at my very fingertips and I’m kind of marveling, as I sometimes do, at how much the world has changed since I learned to type.

I started on my mother’s 80lb cast iron Underwood. I remember being determined to learn to touchtype even as my fingers missed the keys (which had to be punched as hard as I could muster) and got jammed painfully between them and the hammers (is that what they were called?) got stuck together whenever I hit two keys too close together and the bell dinged when I reached the end of the line. My idea of a computer was the monster at my school which took up an entire room and ate punch cards by the hundreds every minute.

And how many years later? Thirty five very short ones when you consider how long the earth has been around – I’m sitting in bed with a computer on my lap, a tablet and a phone by my side which are all capable of reaching almost any given place on the planet in an instant. Think about it. Seriously, think about it.

Ten minutes to go.

An instant.

Me, 4 minutes to midnight

Me, 4 minutes to midnight

This post is part of Just Jot It January. Join in today! https://lindaghill.com/2015/01/01/just-jot-it-january-pingback-post-and-rules/

 

JJJ 2015


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Pingbacks – An Update

Having problems with pingbacks? Please read this post. It may be the solution to all your woes.

KG's avatarBooks, Music, Photography, & Movies

I did rant a bit on my blog when things weren’t working. So it is only fair that I update it now that it is fixed.

So yeah, pingbacks did start working for me since Saturday morning. Yay!!! For some reason, when I did post my WPC challenge post on Friday night, the pingback failed to show up in the Daily Post (DP) page. So I went back to this forum topic and updated the same. One staff from WP (I did get her name wrong in that topic. Very bad of me, but in my defense I was sleep deprived and was woken up by a bad dream just a few minutes ago and couldn’t get back to sleep) helped me check it out. So I tried it on my other blog post and in the second try (because I made my first post private) it appeared in the DP page. Hurray!!!…

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