Life in progress

Category Archives: Opinion


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One-Liner Wednesday – Thought of the Day

Thought of the day:

One doesn’t appreciate the ability to breathe through one’s nostrils, until one has a rotten cold. Or allergies.

Linda G. Hill

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!

5. Have fun!

#1linerWeds badge by Dan Antion

 

 


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Killing Time

Do we kill time? Or does time kill itself?

Think about it. A moment only goes by because another moment has taken its place.

Like time is stomping on itself

stomping itself out

to get to the next and the next.

“Ticking” is just a less scary way of perceiving it.

 

Sweet dreams.  🙂


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Holy Shamoly, It’s About Time!

Finally! Green tea KitKat has made it to Canada!

I had to buy two one just to give it a try. You know, to make sure they taste the same as the heavenly ones I bought in Japan.

Aaaand, they’re different. Not as sweet, and heavier on the green tea flavour. At least I think they are.

Of course, the only way to be sure is to go back to Japan …


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Good Riddance

Yes, I’m posting my illegal A to Z Challenge “G” post a day late, and on Sunday, which is supposed to be a day off. If this were baseball, it would either be a triple play or a strike out. Since it’s all contraband posting, my guess is a strike out. But I’m doing it anyway, so that’s four strikes. I’m definitely going to blogger hell.

Anyway, I’d better make this good.

My first online deed this morning was to post something like this on Facebook (“something” meaning I wish I’d made it pretty):

Text reads: Fun game: 1. Make a list of all the things you don’t have time to do in a day. 2. Open the stopwatch on your phone and start it every time you go on Facebook. START NOW

My following Facebook post was something to the effect of “I’m leaving Facebook for a week. Just so you know I’m not ignoring you. Cheers!”

In other words, I’m skipping the “Fun game” and going straight for the stuff I don’t have time for. Feel free to share.

And good riddance, Facebook!


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#SoCS – Lego

Have you seen how many shapes Lego comes in these days? When I was a young whippersnapper … I just love it when my stream of consciousness goes into character. I’d have been an actress if I could actually act. Where was I? Oh yeah. When I was a kid, Lego came in about a dozen different shapes and sizes, and I had to figure out what to do with it myself. Which was usually a boring old tower. None of these strange shapes with complex patterns existed.

But you know what? It has become a brilliant teaching tool. A kid who can follow the instructions on a Lego set will have no problems building his or her Ikea furniture! Or wouldn’t if the instructions were as easy to follow as a Lego set. But hey, it’s a start! Following instructions is a skill. And one that you have to be in the mindset to do. When I say this, I think back to so many people (mostly men: sorry, men) who refused to follow directions or even GET them whilst driving somewhere. You know the type. You may even BE the type. If you are, don’t deny it.

Lego though. Lego teaches that if you follow the instructions carefully, you’ll be successful. Is it some kind of mind control thing, teaching our kids that they’d better follow the rules or else? (Hey, good conspiracy theory, eh?) That would be an interesting theory if it weren’t for the The Lego Movie, in which they encouraged kids to do whatever they wanted with their Lego sets. (Didn’t they? I didn’t see it, but that’s what I heard.) Which, let’s face it, is that much more difficult when you’ve got crazy shapes to deal with.

In the end it’s all about imagination though. And the power of creating. Whether you’re creating a sweater from a pattern, an embroidered picture, or a toy; a blog post, a colouring project, a painting, a poem, a novel … it’s all about the escapism that comes from concentration and the satisfaction of being able to sit back and say “I created something where before there was nothing.” It’s liberating. It’s self-affirming. And I believe it’s what gets us through life with a degree of the sense of accomplishment. It gives us hope.

Lego gives us hope!

Thank you, Lego.

This (unintentionally) inspirational post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click the link to find all the other participating blogs in the comment section, and join in yourself. Be inspired! https://lindaghill.com/2018/03/23/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-march-24-18/


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#SoCS – Doors we don’t go through

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.

This post is brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Click the link to read all the other entries, which you’ll find in the comments, and join in yourself. It’s fun! https://lindaghill.com/2018/02/23/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-feb-24-18/


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Fill Out the A to Z Challenge Survey to Win

Many of you are familiar with the A to Z Challenge held every April. It was organized a little differently last year–a lot of people loved it, and a lot didn’t. Here’s your chance to weigh in and let the organizers know what worked for you!

There’s a survey to fill out here: https://goo.gl/forms/jXMnJKkwrdUt3y0o1

And you can find the original post here: http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/2018/02/2018-pre-challenge-blogging-from-to-z.html

Click on the link for the original post to see what you could win by filling out the survey and sharing the post, and to get all the details for this year’s challenge!

Best of luck, and happy blogging in April!


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#LOVEISINDABLOG2018 – Devotion

I was both surprised and happy to find that my friend Bee is hosting her February prompt, Love Is In Da Blog again this year! If you’re looking for prompts, check out her blog here!

When I think about the word “devotion,” my mind immediately goes to single-minded love and romance. But then, Merriam-Webster dictionary actually states this:

obsolete : the object of one’s devotion

Who knew this definition was obsolete?

Yet it’s true, the term is much broader than that. I’m devoted to my kids–all three of them. I’m devoted to my friends, both offline and on. I’m devoted to my writing, my career in editing, and my blog. I’m devoted to caring for my dog … the cat slightly less, because perhaps he’s less devoted to me. That, and he’s not my cat. He’s my son’s and will move with him if he ever moves out.

Which begs the question is it possible to be devoted to someone (or something) that’s not devoted back? Absolutely. That can get rather frustrating, though, in a “but why are you leaving me” sort of way. In the case of the kids, that’s usually inevitable.

Do we throw the word devotion around too liberally? Perhaps. Makes you think about what you’re truly devoted to though, doesn’t it?

Be sure to check out Bee’s prompt a the following link, and join in today! https://beehalton.com/abc-of-love-prompt-5-devotion-loveisindablog2018/writing/blog-events/love-is-in-da-blog/love-is-in-da-blog-2018


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#JusJoJan 2018, the 30th – Scrumptious

I consider myself lucky that I don’t enjoy baking; I love eating sweets so much, I’d weigh a thousand pounds if I baked them. So I put up with the fact that if I really want to eat sweets, I have to go to the store and buy them pre-made. Which I do. And I’ve found some delicious food as a result.

You know what’s really scrumptious in particular? This is:

Häagen-Dazs Spirits Rum Vanilla Caramel Blondie ice cream. I’m not sure if the Spirits series is still only available in Canada, but if so, it’s just one more great reason to visit. There are also Rum Ginger Cookie, Vodka Key Lime Pie (my favourite), Irish Cream Coffee and Biscotti, Whiskey Chocolate Truffle, and White Russian.  Here’s the website. Enjoy. I know I will be.

This delicious post is brought to you by Just Jot it January, and in particular, prompted by the word “scrumptious,” provided by Judy! Thank you so much, Judy! You can find her JusJoJan post by clicking right here. Please go and say hi! To participate in the prompt, please visit this post, where you’ll find the rules and you can leave your link in the comments.


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#JusJoJan 2018, the 29th – Fantastic

“Fantastic” is one of my go-to words when I’m describing something that I think is great. I think there should be more synonyms for fantastic, though.

I’m not worried about not having enough ways to talk about how miserable I am, when I am. And there are SO many ways to describe something that’s bad. I can get downright creative, in fact, when something angers me. So why are there so few ways to say how wonderful something is? After all, we NEED words to show our enthusiasm! I don’t understand why it’s not easier to say how delighted I am with something than how stinky I find something to be.

Have you ever been bothered by this? I am, constantly.

This slightly annoyed-sounding post is in direct opposition to how happy I am that the prompt is brought to you by Just Jot it January, and in particular, by the word “fantastic,” provided by Jill! Thank you so much, Jill! You can find her JusJoJan post by clicking right here. Please go and say hi! To participate in the prompt, please visit this post, where you’ll find the rules and you can leave your link in the comments.