As the last door I went through that wasn’t mine was my son’s school door, it got me to thinking about my own school. I refer to it as mine loosely, for two reasons. One is I haven’t taken a course in almost a year–I’ve either been too busy making money to afford one, or too broke to afford one. There has to be a solution there somewhere … Save the money? Yeah. But I keep spending it on stupid things like hydro and gas.
The other reason I hesitate to call it my school is I’ll probably never walk through the front door of it. According to Google maps, it’s about 4,600km (2,858 miles) away, which is apparently a 42-hour drive. That’s one hell of a commute every day … or every four days if I don’t sleep. It really looks like a lovely place though. https://www.sfu.ca/ Lovely enough that I’ll try to visit one day.
Weird that we now have the technology and means to go anywhere in the world, but we rarely do. I imagine if I cut off my Internet and saved the money instead to fly around the world, I’d get out a lot more. But then, how would I know where to go without the Internet to show me the great places I could visit? Sure, I could go to restaurants and use their Internet, but that would result in spending my money again. Especially if I have to drag the kids along so they could get their Internet fixes. Yeah, bad idea.
Friday, February 23rd, 7:00 10:10pm
Maurice and Stuart
Maurice sits at the window. Stuart takes the seat beside him.
Maurice: Hey! What happened to you? You’re really late tonight.
Stuart: (nods) You remember that old lady who lives with me?
Maurice: Yeah. Is she okay?
Stuart: Oh yeah. We got into a rousing game of Monopoly.
Maurice: I don’t think I’ve ever heard the words “rousing” and “Monopoly” used in the same sentence before.
Stuart: You haven’t met this lady. It all came down to her having hotels on Park Place and Boardwalk, and me with hotels on everything else, and she still won.
Maurice: Wow. The odds are incredible.
Stuart: Not really. Just as I was about to win, the dog and the cat flew across the board, chasing each other, and we lost everything. Had to start over again.
Maurice: Seriously? You must have already been playing for a while if you had all those properties. No wonder you’re late.
Stuart: Oh, no. That’s not why I’m late. The cat got out as I was walking out the door. I had to chase it around the neighbourhood.
Maurice: Oh man. How did you catch it?
Stuart: It got wet.
Maurice: Outside? In this weather?
Stuart: Kid saw me chasing it and squirted the thing with a squirt gun, thinking it was a rat.
Maurice: That’s right. It’s bald on account of the old lady’s allergies. But that doesn’t explain how you caught it.
Stuart: Sure it does. It brushed up against a fence post and got stuck. I’ve spent the last two hours figuring out how to heat up a fence post to get the cat off it.
Maurice: (looking confused) So, how does that have anything to do with the Monopoly game?
Friday is here and that means it’s time for your Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. It’s a cold one here again this morning, but they’re promising above freezing temps for the next week. What’s with the weather these days? We should be in a deep freeze still. It’s a crazy winter! Here’s your prompt:
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “door.” Write about a door you walked through this week that wasn’t your own. Enjoy!
After you’ve written your Saturday post tomorrow, please link it here at this week’s prompt page and check to make sure it’s here in the comments so others can find it and see your awesome Stream of Consciousness post. Anyone can join in!
To make your post more visible, use our new SoCS badge! Just paste it in your Saturday post so people browsing the reader will immediately know your post is stream of consciousness and/or pin it as a widget to your site to show you’re a participant. Wear it with pride!!
1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.
2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.
3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The’,” or simply a single word to get your started.
4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours. Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.
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Colm:(exhales deeply) Good. To be honest, I was getting tired of putting on makeup and prancing around the living room until the neighbours called the cops.
Harvey:(stares) I thought you meant taking the bus!
My best friend, John, found the perfect toy for Winston, my beagle-bassett cross.
Toy bottles of wine, just like Mommy loves (though Mommy’s wine isn’t a toy … don’t touch Mommy’s wine!!)
With a picture of a Winston-like dog, with Winston’s name
Winston loves his wine!! (And Mommy loves hers too.)
If you would like to participate in this prompt, 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 pingback, 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. Please ensure that the One-Liner Wednesday you’re pinging back to is this week’s! Otherwise, no one will likely see it but me.
NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, like Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.
As with Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS), if you see a pingback from someone else in my comment section, click and have a read. It’s bound to be short and sweet.
Unlike SoCS, this is not a prompt so there’s no need to stick to the same “theme.”
The rules that I’ve made for myself (but don’t always follow) for “One-Liner Wednesday” are:
1. Make it one sentence.
2. Try to make it either funny or inspirational.
3. Use our unique tag #1linerWeds.
4. Add our very cool badge to your post for extra exposure!
Monday, February 19th, 8:00am
Michael (and DeeDee)
Michael sits at the window, reading. DeeDee takes the seat beside him.
DeeDee: (clears throat) Excuse me, sir?
Michael: I’m reading.
DeeDee: (shifts nervously in the seat) I’d like to interrupt you, if I may.
Michael:(looks up for the first time and does a double take) What for?
DeeDee: I’m sorry, but I’d like to ask you to help me. I’m doing a project for college, and I need to interview someone on the bus.
Michael: (smiles and closes his book on his lap) I’d be pleased to help out.
DeeDee:(exhales deeply) Thank you!
Michael observes her as she bends to pull a notepad out of her back pack.
DeeDee: (holds up finger) I’m almost ready.
Michael: Take your time.
DeeDee: Here we go. (straightens and holds a banana up to her mouth) First question: What would you say is the strangest thing you’ve ever seen on the bus? (moves the banana in Michael’s direction)
Michael: (hesitates) You’re … joking, right?
DeeDee:(brings the banana back) About what? (moves the banana out)
Michael: You’re interviewing me with a banana.
DeeDee: (brings the banana back) No I’m not. (holds up notepad) It’s a notepad.
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