The Monday Peeve 42

Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the #TMP tag, link back to me (or not), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen. I have feelings!

This week I’m continuing to rant about people on social media (don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll have another boring driving peeve soon). In particular, I have an issue with those who wish death upon people with different opinions. I know, right? But people are doing that constantly. Now, let me make clear that I am not talking about wishing death upon mass murderers or leaders whom you feel are genocidal maniacs, or whatever… I am talking about those who get so enraged that another poster/commenter disagrees with them that they hope the person dies. WTAF? I know. I know.

This is a bipartisan complaint, btw. I have learned to shrug off folks on the right who regularly wish earthquakes and tsumanis upon California. They can’t bear it that we’re a bunch of liberals out here and they wish the ocean would swallow us all up so they could be free of the burden of our opinions. I find that disgusting and horrible, but it’s old news. Newer news (for me) is the fact that some people on the left are now doing the same thing. They say they hope that supporters of the current President catch the virus and die. I have read versions of this statement countless times now and it’s just as awful each time. Since people tend to cluster with the like-minded, most of the time I see such outrageous statements pass without a peep from anyone saying hey, hold on.

Well, I’m here today to say I find these comments not only terrible but also proof that you’ve lost the argument. When you can’t muster a coherent rebuttal to whatever issue and instead resort to a 5-year-old’s “I HOPE YOU DIE” type of comment… you’ve shown that you have nothing intelligent to add to the conversation. Nanny nanny boo boo!

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Image originally found at Pixabay.

Friday Night Q’s

Lovely Di @ pensitivity101 has offered us some interesting questions…

1.  What is your first childhood memory?

Waving goodbye to someone. They were on a train and my mom held me to wave. It was probably my father’s parents. I was around 2 years old.

2.  If you dive, what was your first car?

I don’t dive… I dislike going in the water at all. 🤣 I drive though, and the first car I owned was a Renault.

3.  Do you prefer sweet or savoury foods?

4.  Before the lockdown, were you comfortable in a crowd?

I was okay with small groups of friends, 4-10 being the ideal number. I may never go to a fair or concert again because I can’t imagine ever feeling okay about a huge crowd, not that I liked them previously.

5.  Are you a night or day person?

Lately, my sleep schedule has been all messed up. I probably am most productive in the late afternoon and early evening.

6.  Favourite past time?

Writing and reading.

7.  What makes you laugh?

Wordplay mostly.

8.  What makes you cry?

Thinking about my mom…

9.  Compared to your school days, are you more or less creative now?

About the same.

10. What is you pet hate/peeve?

People! 😡

11. What kind of blogs interest you enough to follow?

I like eclectic blogs where the blogger writes poetry and/or short fiction, maybe has a prompt going on to share, and also talks about themselves a little. I don’t like blogs that link news articles (as a whole post) and/or blather endlessly about news in an impersonal way. I don’t want to read conspiracy theories nor will I tolerate even the slightest hint of racism or antisemitism. And if a blog is about selling me something, it had better be interesting and funny.

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Images from Happy Color.

The Monday Peeve 41

Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the #TMP tag, link back to me (or not), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen. I have feelings!

Look, I know we all have FEELS about things that are going on and not only that, but we are 100% convinced that our feelings/reactions/values are the true and correct ones. This isn’t something new, but it seems new. More intense because we’re online with everyone’s opinion amplified… mostly just two opinions on every topic though, not much nuance. “This is the worst thing ever!” “No, this is!” It appears that we are more dug in, more polarized, more sure that WE are right and YOU are wrong. But I assure you, this isn’t new. I was 11 years old when Nixon was up for re-election, and things were exactly like this, except no internet. People HATED him. Or they HATED his opponent. If you didn’t agree with someone’s opinion, you were an idiot. Just like now. In the 1980s, those who supported Carter were savaged by Carter haters. His daughter was cruelly mocked for her appearance. Nastiness does not have a decade; human nature is eternal. It’s just sh!t coming around once again.

What’s my peeve then? People screaming every hour of every day that nothing has ever happened like this before. Uh sorry, but read a book. We’ve had nasty neighbors, racist family members, jerks complaining over nothing, and marches and protests and riots and looting and arson and terrible, horrible, no good, corrupt politicians all along. Chill out for five freaking minutes, willya?

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Image originally found at Pixabay.

Like A Buttered Eel…

Get your mind out of the gutter! I’m talking about Monday and how it slip-slid away from me. All day I was thinking about making a post ~ there were some truly great prompt words that went together nicely (depression, zilch, connect, human, etc.). But I needed to do other things first, mainly work, but also laundry, and I’m determined to start carving out time for exercise (I did). I also cooked a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich, then had to clean up the dishes. Naturally, I made time for chatting with my family because that’s important too. Upshot is that I didn’t open up a new post until 11PM. By that time, the prompts had faded into new ones and I lost my motivation to create fiction.

Speaking of, I’ve been working a lot on Ghosted again. I’m very pleased with the progress right now. It’s always been tricky for me to get the crime just right… complex enough to be interesting, but not so ridiculous that no one can follow what’s going on. It is mainly a family drama after all. And a love story, of course. Where would we be without love stories? I’m not sure my pacing is so great, but I really need it to stay how it is. I’ll edit it at least once more though.

I do have a smile for Trent this week and I’ll write that up tomorrow. Maybe I’ll do the SYW for Melanie too. It didn’t really grab me tonight. Sadje has an interesting picture to prompt us… maybe I can do something with that. And I look forward to the FPQ on Wednesday, as always.

I have loads of books ready to read on my Kindle, but I think I’m gonna try to get a few extra ZZZ’s tonight. Catch you tomorrow!

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Image originally found at Pixabay.

The Monday Peeve 40

Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the #TMP tag, link back to me (or not), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen. I have feelings!

This week I’m all peeved about body-shaming, though this certainly is not a new peeve whatsoever. I was body-shamed as a fat little kid with glasses (was told I looked like Ben Franklin on picture day)… and I was body-shamed as a skinny teenager. I’ve been body shamed by men I’ve dated… too this, too that, not enough, blah blah. I would never dream of saying anything to them about their inadequacies. Because I know how utterly awful it feels to be humiliated in this way, I don’t do it to others. Mock people’s behaviors? Sure, not a problem. People choose their actions and those are fair game. But for the most part, you don’t choose how you look and physical mockery is a completely unfair and terrible thing to do. Not to mention the fact that no one is perfect. Who among us is so flawless that they should be shaming others for physical imperfections?

Some people though, who are otherwise kind and decent, seem to feel that if a person is a horrible monster who has body-shamed others and is an all-round creepazoid, then that makes it okay to body-shame them, even to the point of mocking possible disabilities and illnesses.

No.

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Image originally found on Pixabay.

TOOBA Time

First, I give big thanks to both Rory and Sadje for thinking of me for this award! 😍❤️😘 I really appreciate it. Next, like many here, I do not follow the rules of these award posts. I’m not posting the rules and I’m not tagging peeps or writing new questions. If you want to grab these (some or all, feel free). I consider all my readers worthy of an award for spending time on my posts. Finally, I’m not linking back to the site where this award originated because that’s just giving someone blog views when they haven’t done anything. Also, I don’t see this image anywhere on their site, so idk where it came from.

Questions from Rory:

1. Did you live an adventurous young adult life as in between your later teens to you early thirties and if you did what was your life style like …

No.

2. …… if you didn’t what was your lifestyle like?

I was boring, like now. I’ve never been particularly adventurous. My lifestyle was about working, finishing college, getting married, starting a family. Back then, I watched a lot more TV.

3. What was the riskiest date you ever went on and why?

Probably driving up to Hollywood from Irvine in freaking rush hour to meet this gross man who liked my writing and was allegedly in “the biz” and said he would help me. When he realized I wasn’t attracted to him, he became angry.

4. How big a child are you still?

Not much, though I can be silly with kids and they like me. I’m a serious person though and not very spontaneous.

5. What will you simply not do for money OR is that question easier to answer favourably reflective upon the sum of actual money offered?

How much are we talking about? 🤣

Questions from Sadje:

A. Which is your favorite dish to cook?

I like making a big mishmash of sautéed veggies with pasta.

B. What new skills you have acquired in last three months?

FaceTime and Zoom 😜

C. What scares you the most, (person or thing)?

Other drivers.

D. Are you able to fix technical problems on you devices?

Not if they go beyond restarting.

E. What is your preferred way of traveling?

Hologram.

F. If you are asked to donate on of your five senses, which one would you choose?

Smell.

G. How do you like to dress, trendy or comfy?

Like my Bitmoji!

~*~

Images from Bitmoji.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

The Monday Peeve 39

Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the #TMP tag, link back to me (or not), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen. I have feelings!

This week we’re back to shopping again, real shopping, not online. As the eagle-eyed reader has probably noted, shopping is one of the peevery themes here. Why? Because there are so many annoying components to the shopping experience! Today I’m ranting about carts. Apparently, due to the fact that people steal carts, someone decided to put “stoppers” on the wheels so that you can’t take the cart past a certain range. Great idea, right?

WRONG! First, these stupid stores are punishing the actual paying customers not the cart-stealers. How do I know this? Because I still see homeless folks wheeling carts (I will assume these are not purchased at Ye Olde Shopping Cart Emporium), and also I am one of the paying customers and am INCONVENIENCED by this IDIOCY. Gah, I almost spelled idiocy incorrectly because I am so incensed.

Second, the boundaries of the carts make no sense. Today (well, Sunday) I was at Lowes and couldn’t take their cart from the main store into the plant section. What? Why? I guess it’s because the plant section is relatively open to the parking lot and it would be easy to sneak a cart out there and spirit it away to the Stolen Cart Underground. The solution is to inconvenience me, a paying customer. That’s always the solution. Inconvenience the customer!

Third, have you ever had a cart full of groceries that you’re wheeling out to your car, but you parked a bit farther from the store than usual. Suddenly! The cart stops moving! Yep, you have reached the invisible cart boundary, the line where some genius has decided marks the point where legit cart biz ends and nefarious cart biz begins. RAWR!

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Image originally found at Pixabay.

The Monday Peeve 38

Smiles and positive posts are all well and good, but sometimes I need to vent a bit. How about you? That’s what The Monday Peeve is all about, a chance to blow off a little steam at the beginning of the week, so then we can go merrily on our way once again (hah). I’ll pick a topic that’s on my mind, but you can vent about whatever you please, here in comments or on your own blog. Grab the photo, use the #TMP tag, link back to me (or not), and Bob’s yer uncle. I do reserve the right to delete any links that offend my delicate sensibilities. So far, none have, but it could happen. I have feelings!

It’s been an insane weekend here in the USA. I hope everyone is doing okay. During times like these what’s important, I think, is to maintain a bit of consistency where we can, in order to hang onto that illusion of control over some tiny, insignificant area of our lives. You know what I’m saying? That’s why I get so UTTERLY ENRAGED when I plan to eat a nommy nommy avocado and I wait until it feels nice and ripe, wash it, cut into it… and it’s all BLECH AND HORRIBLE! Omg. Why me lord? Why? I don’t understand why avos can’t be consistently perfect. I quit buying the bag of them for a deal because I figured, okay, don’t be a cheapo, obviously they stuff inferior avos in the bag. So I only buy the larger, more expensive ones… and still! I would say about 30% of the time they are DISGUSTING AND INEDIBLE! I mean half-rotten and mooshy and brown and gross and awful. It makes me so PEEVED…

I think I just won’t buy avos again. I always say this though. Waaah!

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Image originally from Pixabay.

There Was A Crooked Part

I haven’t done a Weekly Smile for a while. It’s not because I’ve been sad, although I have, but more because the time has simply slipped away from me each day even when I seem to have so much more of it. I know I’m not the only one who feels this way. In any case, here we go.

My daughter made me smile when she told me that someone suggested to her we part our hair crookedly to hide our grey coming in until the salons reopen. In the 1990’s, there was a whole crooked part fad, and I had bought special combs for the three of us, so we could make our crookedness symmetrical. But I no longer have these combs, so I did mine freehand…

I love it! You still see some silver, but it’s much more blended this way. Big smile! 😀

And here’s a bonus smile. I went to Google to find the Mother Goose verse for the “Crooked Man” poem, and all I had to do was type “there was” and it came up in the list. Google knows the things I want. Scary but true.

There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile;
He bought a crooked cat which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together in a little crooked house.

~*~

Written for Trent’s Weekly Smile

Images credited to Trent’s World and me.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Housesweeping

Hey bloggity friends! I took the opportunity of all this downtime to do blog admin tasks, and one that was overdue was a cleanup of my followed blogs. I had some bloggers in there that hadn’t posted anything in over two years. Yikes! 😱

I’ve swept out around 150 blogs now and may take another look tomorrow. Part of my rationale also is interaction ~ if I didn’t recognize a blogger’s name because they never bother to come over here and leave a comment, I may have given them the hose. I’m not one to find it fun to trail after a “celebrity” trying to get them to notice me.

Again, this blog isn’t monetized. I do this for fun, writing inspo, and interaction. It’s not my mission to pile up likes and follows. I’m happy when I get comments on a post is what. Likes are great too… I like posts sans commenting at times. But not all the time. Now, with fewer blogs in my feed, I’ll have more time to comment!

If I’ve mistakenly unfollowed you, please let me know… by leaving a comment. 🤣

~*~

Image from Bitmoji.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.