FPQ87: Pandemic Pondering

Today Fandango provocatively asks…

Having been subjected to stay at home restrictions (to one degree or another) over the past six months, would you say that the quarantine has made you a better person? If so, in what ways? If not, why not?

Yes, I do think it has made me a better person regarding doing things for others. In the past, I viewed dangers as something only to worry about for myself (and immediate family), but now I think more about the wider implications of my actions. Let’s take mask wearing. I hate wearing a mask. Just gonna say it straight up. I find them super uncomfortable and annoying. In the past, I might have worn one to protect myself, but now I wear one for that reason and also because I don’t want to infect others, should I catch The Thing and not be symptomatic for a few days or so.

I’ve also learned that I’m not as much of a loner as I thought. While I have a higher tolerance for loneliness than most people I know, it’s not infinite. After a while, I really crave in-person conversation. And zooming is not a good substitute for me. It’s okay for playing games at times, but it doesn’t make me feel I’ve been with people. Kinda like cybersex back in the day…

Perhaps it’s made me a worse person too though, in that I have less tolerance for some beliefs. Or maybe that’s better! I used to be pretty accepting of quirky ideas, but now I’m not. But maybe it’s time I quit thinking that every lunatic notion is “interesting.” We’ll leave it at that.

~*~

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

Morning Owl [flash 138]

Malcolm the owl was an energetic young fellow, especially first thing in the morning. He wanted to demonstrate his eloquent speech and share the stupendous ideas he had concocted right at the break of dawn. Unfortunately, all the other owls were fast asleep.

After flying over to his friend Zeke’s tree, Malcolm gave Zeke a quick poke with his beak. “I challenge you to a game of chess and let’s make it 3D!” Malcolm hooted.

Zeke opened one bleary eye and sighed, “Dear owl pal, there is a glitch in your wiring. We are supposed to snooze when the sun is out shining.”

Distressed, Malcolm flew home and played chess with a rabbit. The bunny beat him, so Malcolm ate him. “How I wish Zeke were awake,” Malcolm said with a shake of his head and a burp.

~*~

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

Image credit ~ Pexels.

Written for Fandango’s Dog Days 29.

Six Degrees 3 [blogcarnelli]

Welcome to Blog Carnelli! This is a fun, no-pressure, no time limit prompt. The idea is to use the six degrees of separation concept (that everyone is only six or fewer people away from Kevin Bacon) to connect books, movies, and songs.

Today I’m starting with the last item from my Six Degrees 2 post. That was the novel My Trashy Romance by Terry Black. I’m using the word black to connect to the first entry in this post.

1. “Paint It Black” by the Rolling Stones. This 1966 song has darkly themed lyrics about depression and death. It’s one of their greatest hits, maybe because most people can relate to feeling hopeless from time to time.

2. The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro. This is a suspense novel centered upon a Degas painting that the heroine has been commissioned to reproduce. She suspects that the piece is itself a forgery and becomes involved in a tangle of lies and thieves.

3. Faking It by Jennifer Crusie. This romance novel is a fun romp through the world of art fakes and forgeries. Tilda, the heroine, and many other characters are constantly pretending to be people they aren’t.

4. We’re the Millers, a film starring Jennifer Aniston. This comedy centers on a drug dealer who needs to go to Mexico and pick up a shipment or else be killed. To be inconspicuous, he recruits a stripper (Jen) and a couple random teenagers to pose as a family.

5. “Fly Like an Eagle” by Steve Miller Band. This 1976 song talks about revolution and the impoverished. Yet, despite these heavy themes, the narrator would prefer to simply fly away to the sea and be free of it all.

6. Wesley the Owl by Stacey O’Brien. This is a heartfelt story of a little broken bird and the biologist who cares for him his whole life. It’s a love story and it’s wonderful. I highly recommend it.

Okay then. That wraps up my third post on Blog Carnelli. I hope you enjoyed it and will join in with your own. Since I want to keep track of my connections in order not to repeat any, I created this handy little table in Word. In real Carnelli, if you repeat any item in a round, you are out of the game.

~*~

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

Toob Talk

I’m really digging these Dog Days prompts! Today Fandango asks about our favorite TV shows. This is likely to be a long meander, so buckle up.

I don’t watch “shows” these days; I find them a huge bore and I’m not in the mood to try the old stuff I’ve missed, even if everyone says it’s great. Meh. (However, there are a couple new recommendations I may check out.) When I watch “television,” I’m inclined to view a movie. I want a good story, finished in a couple hours, not something dragging on and on, boring me to bits or compelling me to binge-watch an entire season until I’m screen-dazed. The other day I watched An American Pickle and it was great. Love Seth Rogan. There are other movies I would like to watch too.

Television news and news shows are the absolute worst, in my opinion. So boring! I read the news, probably too often, and that is enough. Next worst are documentaries, history, and “reality” shows. Ick! I will watch non-fiction though, if it’s focused on science or animals. Still, fiction is where it’s at for me, same as in reading.

But back in the day, I definitely had favorite shows. When I was a kid, I was a huge fan of game shows. Shocker, eh? I’d watch any, but my favorites were Match Game, Hollywood Squares, $20,000 Pyramid (this had different amounts for the title at different times), and The Price Is Right. Oh, when I was a really little kid, I enjoyed Let’s Make A Deal. I also liked I Dream of Jeannie, That Girl, The Brady Bunch, Eight Is Enough, and One Day at a Time. The first two in that list were romantic comedies and the last three focused on close family relationships. Those themes have always appealed to me. None of these shows, however, appeal to me today although the themes in general still do. Whenever I try to rewatch an ep, I totally cringe. As far as the game shows, probably only Pyramid would be fun for me these days. The rest? Cringe City. Everyone likes Jeopardy, and I do too, but it can be a bore.

My mom and I watched cheesy scary movies together (Creature Feature) and also got hooked on Dallas and Falcon Crest. Later, I enjoyed Cheers after Shelley Long left and then I loved Frasier. That show was just so witty and hilarious. My ex and I watched LA Law and that was fun. Next came Sopranos (hilarious!), Six Feet Under (focused on relationships), Breaking Bad (relationships and immensely interesting twists and turns, plus FUNNY), and Game of Thrones. I was surprised at my love for GOT, but when something is good it’s good, regardless of genre. It had romance, drama, murder, dragons, adventure, etc. etc. Everything!

Looking forward to tomorrow’s topic.

~*~

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

Image credit ~ Bitmoji

You’re Looking At It

Fandango’s Dog Days prompt today is about hobbies. My main hobby is writing. I have hoped over the years it would become a vocation, but alas it still brings me more pleasure than money. Which is fine (she says sadly). Blogging is part of my writing, but I’ve also written short stories and novels, plus poetry that I haven’t published here. Almost all of it is self-published on Amazon for Kindle. Right now, I’m still working on Ghosted, which I hope to have ready for sale by the end of the year. We shall see… At least I have a cover! 🤣

I also enjoy reading, walking, yoga (recent addition), playing board games, obsessing over dumb things, and doing puzzles on my phone.

~*~

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

Six Degrees 2 [blogcarnelli]

1. Today I’m taking the last entry from my previous post (“Folsom Prison Blues”) and using the theme of feeling stuck (a word in FBP’s lyrics). One of my favorite songs, “Hotel California,” also has a trapped theme. It’s by the Eagles. Initially the narrator feels welcome at the HC, but eventually realizes there is no escape. The song includes the line this could be heaven or this could be hell.

2. The 2019 movie Vivarium (starring Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots) also switches from the idea of something that seems great to the realization that it’s horrible. A young couple go to look at their possible dream home with an estate agent. He disappears and the couple is left stranded in a maze of horror. They are forced to raise a baby who may be some kind of demon from hell (or an alien).

3. Speaking of hellish homes, I present We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. What’s going on here? Is this creepy family dead or alive? I enjoyed this psychological horror story very much. I also love a story told by an unreliable narrator. The novel has two sisters as main characters.

4. One of my favorite romcoms, 27 Dresses, features two sisters dealing with their romances. They are first of all in love with the same man (for a while) and second must untangle themselves from various deceptions. It’s a funny and sweet film.

5. “Alice’s Restaurant” repeats the lyric 27 glossy photos with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one to be used as evidence against us. Those were pictures of the heap of trash that the narrator and a friend illegally added to on Thanksgiving. This is a war protest song by Arlo Guthrie about the Vietnam draft, among other things.

6. My Trashy Romance is a fun story about a trash collector who falls for a librarian. Initially, they hit it off, but she discovers something that upsets her, so she breaks up with him. But does he win her back? This witty novel is written by my real-life friend Terry Black.

Okay, that’s it for my second six degrees / blog Carnelli post and I will continue on at some future date…

~*~

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

Photo credit ~ Kevin Bacon, the original six degrees dude, via Google

Double Trouble

I’m combining the prompts for Fandango’s Dog Days of August 7 and 8 today. Hope that is okay! Do not want to break any RULES.

Something I found was an in-person game group in 2012. Now, I’d been on Meetup and played Scrabble with a bunch of nice folks, plus there were some larger groups that played all the board games, but I never felt a strong connection (read: they were mostly young dudes). Besides connecting over game playing, I needed to be able to chat with peeps because I was lonely after my divorce and my breakup with TMWBMH. This new group consisted of many people closer to my age and a bunch of women too. Yay! Some of us became friends outside of the group and saw movies and had vegetarian restaurant nights, etc. Man, I miss seeing friends for real ~ Zoom just doesn’t cut it, ya know. It’s better than nothing, sure, but I hope it won’t be years before in-person events are safe again.

Going along with that theme is someone I admire: she’s a member of the above-mentioned game group. I really think she’s the coolest person. She’s super-smart first of all and funny too. Next, she’s athletic and musical ~ she has a gorgeous voice. Third, she works in science, which is what I wanted to do way back when but ended up not because too hard. Waaah. I like things to be easy. Well, except for puzzles; they can be difficult. Back to person I admire (let’s call her Pia)… Pia got divorced around the same time I did, but instead of having a series of disasters on dating sites, each one worse than the last, Pia dated for a bit and then found her soul mate on a site. It can happen! This inspired me to keep trying, but alas I am not Pia, so my disasters continued unabated. Anyway, I’ll be happy to see Pia and her hubby again (also a smart and funny person) when it’s okay to get together in person.

~*~

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

Image credit ~ Pinterest

New Prompt ~ Six Degrees

I found the 6 Degrees idea at my friend Davida’s blog, but I’m going to tweak it a bit. She links to a prompt that asks us to describe 6 books, each connected to the previous one in some way (a word in the title, the same author, a theme, etc.). That reminded me of a super fun game I’ve played called Carnelli, which uses books and movies. Since I’m pretty flexible with rules, I’m going to allow songs and poems too ~ anything written, basically.

Blog Carnelli is what this is, my friends, and I hope you will join in. Take any one of my 6 items and start your own Six Degrees post (no time limit)… or take one from another player. Can you just begin your own from scratch? Sure, why not! We can use the tag #blogcarnelli to find each other.

If you’re wondering what is the deal with Kevin Bacon, click here. Okay? I’m gonna start! 🤩

1. Hollow Man. This is a 1980 movie starring Kevin Bacon as an arrogant creep of a scientist working on an invisibility serum for the military. There’s also a love triangle involved with Elisabeth Shue. The movie is violent and somewhat predictable, but hey Bacon.

2. Leaving Las Vegas. This is a 1995 movie starring Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue. The story centers on the relationship between an alcoholic man who has lost everything that mattered to him and a prostitute. Sad, but great.

3. The Glass Castle. This is a 2005 memoir by Jeannette Walls, where she chronicles her childhood with an alcoholic father. I found it utterly engrossing. There’s a movie version, but it’s not nearly as good as the book.

4. “Heart of Glass.” This is a 1978 new wave song by Blondie. It was written by group members Debbie Harry and Chris Stein. Though the music is upbeat, the lyrics are focused on mistrust and heartbreak.

5. The Heart Goes Last. This is a 2015 novel by the wonderful Margaret Atwood. It’s a dystopian romp where you have to agree to be a part-time prisoner in order to have a modicum of security. Thought provoking!

6. “Folsom Prison Blues.” This is a 1955 song by Johnny Cash told from the point of view of a prisoner. The guy is lamenting his loss of freedom when he hears the train go rolling by. A classic! 🎶💖

So, there you have it. My first Six Degrees #blogcarnelli post. More will come along at random… looking forward to yours!

~*~

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

Puzzle Time! [socs]

More procrastination tools for those who are “writing a novel.” 😂

Okay, so I have a new app called “Jigsaw Puzzle,” which admittedly is not a very creative name. But it’s super fun, and no they are not paying me to say so. I’ve been doing the free puzzles so far, but I may pay for some eventually. We’ll see. The free ones are great though! 🤩

I was skeptical at first… I mean, what? Who wants to do a puzzle on their phone? But it works well, surprisingly. Let me show you. First, we pick a puzzle and scatter it into 400 pieces (more on some devices).

Next, we change the background color to one that looks better with these particular pieces. And we tell it to show us edges only. See the bottom buttons? You change colors there, pull up the original for checking, etc.

We complete the frame and the rest of the pieces appear again like magic!

Now we sort our pieces. I start by sorting for color, usually a striking one that is in a small area. You can stick pieces in “trays” if you like. Sometimes that’s helpful to keep colors together and get them out of your way.

Progress! 😍

I want to illustrate what I do when the “easy” colors are gone and it’s time to hunt for shapes. I will say (left to right in the tray below)… normal green piece vertical, normal green piece horizontal, 4 outies, 4 innies, 2 right feet, 2 left feet, etc. Works for me!

And voila!

I’m getting really into these puzzles. Very relaxing and non-competitive. Plus, the cats can’t swipe the pieces onto the floor. 🐱🐱

And! The default setting is “grabby.” What I mean is that when you place a piece near its correct spot, the table grabs it. Coolest thing ever, especially when it happens randomly. But more importantly, it lets you know that a placement is right.

Yeah, yeah this wasn’t entirely stream of consciousness because I had the pics ready from the other day when I thought it might be fun to document my puzzling for a post. Like whatever… deal with it!

~*~

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

Image credits ~ Jigsaw Puzzle

Girl Talk [flash 160]

Carol danced into the room and interrupted the conversation. “Girls, how do you like the new me?”

“Uh, we liked the old you,” Janet said. “Gosh, that’s a lot of purple you’re wearing.”

“People are swearing?” Rosemary yelled.

“No, dear,” Carol shouted back. “Adjust your hearing aid. We are talking about how I’m going to live life to the fullest now that I’ve turned eighty-five.”

Janet waved a hand. “Don’t make excuses for wanting more male attention, Carol. We know how you are. But the guys are gonna laugh at your crazy clothing.”

“Psssh, I just passed Leo in the hall and he called me a hottie.” Carol smiled.

“Leo is blind, honey,” Rosemary said. “This hearing aid has a poor design. It’s not my fault. Did anyone bring coconut cookies?”

Carol swirled around the table. “People can believe whatever they want! Feathers and sequins make me happy!”

“Fine,” Janet said. “Are you in for Go Fish or not?”

~*~

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