My report on current events

I am trying to find a fall-back position.  Something I can write about even when I don't feel overly inspired.

I actually write every day.  There is a contest I enter on www.writing.com.  It is called The Daily Flash Fiction Challenge.  In this contest, you are given a prompt and must write a story that includes the prompt but is no longer than 300 words.

Today's prompt is that the story must include the words: bridge, cloud and flower.  So far, I have written the first line - "Of course the bridge was the first thing to go."  I don't know what will happen next.  It comes to me in bits and pieces.  I never know what will happen until I write it.  I suppose this will be about war or something.  We'll see.

On to current events.  I flew to Budapest yesterday from Kentucky.  I stopped in Paris along the way.  Budapest is a surprisingly small airport.  There are no direct flights to here from anywhere.  Anyway, I am watching CNN Europe, one of the only English speaking channels here, and I see that the Paris airport is closed.  A volcano in Iceland is the culprit.  Apparently, jet engines don't operate well in dense clouds of ash.  Imagine that.  I am lucky that I made it through.  I had no idea at the time that a cloud was chasing me.

I saw that Obama and friends have decided to collect all nuclear material and put it in a safe place.  This will keep terrorists from using it, unless they find a way to make their own (i.e. Iran's department of nuclear proliferation).  Here is the thing.  This group has given themselves 4 years to collect all of this stuff.  It kind of feels like it must be littering the landscape everywhere.  I half expect to see a barrel labeled Uranium 238 sitting out behind a gas station or something.  Before this announcement, I would have thought collecting all of this together would have taken a phone call and about an hour to load it onto the truck.  Now, it feels like they said to each other, "That sounds like a good idea.  Let's see if anyone knows where we left that stuff."

Onward.

The Catholic Church (don't wish to offend you Catholics but this is too big a target to miss), has announced new tighter rules for pedophiles.  They are going to use extreme measures from now on.  If a priest gets caught, the new policy is to turn him into the police.  This is a big change in direction from the old policy of wagging a finger in his direction, often with a disapproving scowl.

Is it just me or is the world coming to an end?  For the last year, I have scoffed at my mom's insistence that 2012 means more than, I turn 54 that year.  She has been predicting earthquakes and such and now it all seems to be happening.  What surprises me is that I am finding this...interesting.  I am not afraid of an 8.0+ earthquake.  Why should I be?  Those things always happen somewhere else.  It's just that when nature demonstrates its power, I get excited.  I don't like it when it rains, generally.  But I love it when it storms.

Hockey and basketball are starting their playoffs.  I only mention that in case no one else noticed.


Time for me to get back to my story.  I want to see where that bridge went.


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j

An adjustment of expectations

It has come to my attention that people are actually reading this blog.

Hmmm.

I have mixed feelings about this.  As an aspiring writer, I am encouraged by the idea that someone would actually want to read something I wrote.  On the other hand, I am writing this more for me than for anyone else. I am basically talking to myself - a condition where low expectations are often the order of the day.

So, if you are peeking over my shoulder, and you are more than welcome to do so, be prepared for some sub-Hemingway output.

Several people commented on my last blog as being "deep."  I took this as a compliment although it would have meant more to me had I actually noticed it was getting "deep."  I just ramble.

Today, I will be shallow or less deep.  The hope is that I don't come to be known as "deep Jim"; the clueless guy that dispenses wisdom in spite of his lack of same.

So I will tell stories of pets that I have owned.

Bear was a dog I once had.  He was huge, about 125 lbs.  He one time ate an entire London Broil without breaking stride as he casually meandered through the kitchen.  Another time, he went into this "pre-barf" heaving that dogs do from time to time.  I glance over just in time to see an entire block of cheddar cheese pop out.  He looked a little embarrassed and tried to act as if it was already there when he walked into the room.  I now have Bozley, same breed as Bear and proof that, at least for dogs, reincarnation exists.

I had a pot bellied pig named Sweet Pea.  She was a good girl who was fairly certain she was a dog, just a lot smarter than most other dogs (i.e. Bear).  She loved to eat.  I once put the dog food up on a small platform so the dogs could eat it without the pig pushing them out of the way.  I popped into the garage unexpectedly to find the pig had pushed a "step" over to the platform and was in the process of climbing up to claim her prize.  When she heard the door opened, she froze in place under the false assumption that I might not have noticed her.  I could tell she was trying not to even breathe as she looked at me out of the corner of her eye.  Another time, I found her passed out with only her feet showing from the open end of a 50 pound bag of dog food.  I nudged her awake.  She took a couple of bites from the food pile her head was in and passed out again; without even opening her eyes.

I (we) once had an African Grey.  These are really smart birds with an intellect comparable to a high school freshman.  Anyway, he could make any sound he wanted.  He liked to bark like a dog and then watch as the dogs ran around the house looking for the other dog.  Many a time I would put something in the microwave and then hear a "ding" way earlier than I expected.  I would check to find the microwave still running and the bird pretending to be watching something out the window.  If you picked up the telephone, he would start in with, "Yes, uh-hu, okay."

I (we) had a Moluccan Cockatoo and a Cocker Spaniel.  The bird would walk around on the floor and the dog would try to get the bird to play with it. One time it took a ball and set in on the bird's back, hoping for a game of fetch.  The bird just looked back at the dog.  You could see it was thinking, "What a dumb dog."

Okay, there you have it.  Jim-light.

I may not post tomorrow as I have an 18-hour travel day ahead of me.

I would love to hear your stories about pets that you have owned.  Feel free to post them as comments to this blog so that others can read them as well.


http://www.worldgratitudelist.com     Leave a list.  Read a list.  Be happy.

j