Taboo [socs]

Beside me is a game of Taboo without a shoe. It has a mess of cards and a timer too. Does it have a buzzer? Let me look… No, no buzzer. Here’s a pic of the whole thing.

Wow, it really is messy! When I’m finished with this post, I will find a rubber band and neaten up the cards. All the colors should face the same direction, so you can play one set at a time. Idk why there’s no shoe or buzzer, but on the back of the box there’s no mention of such. I guess I got the cheapo version. 🤣

We were playing online Taboo last week, but the site had so many ads that some of us switched to our own cards ~ that’s why this box is sitting out. This is an easy game to play at a distance as long as someone else keeps the time (too hard to watch the time yourself when you’re giving clues), and you all pay attention to any “taboo” words you say inadvertently. I guess you could share your card with someone from the opposing team so they could “buzz” you, but we haven’t bothered to do this.

In the meantime, we found online Code Names, which is more fun anyway. It’s our favorite game at the moment ~ even my daughter joined in the other night. What a blast! Now, I have to admit something: this was more fun at a distance than in person because my daughter was there. She would not have joined us in person because she’s at home with her husband and baby. 💕

And another great thing about games from a distance is of course… NO DRIVING!

Tonight we’re going to have a big virtual game night with 16 people invited. We do this over Zoom paid accounts. It works out really well except (as I mentioned) the camera on my laptop doesn’t function. So, I will just use a static photo, no big deal. My phone loses battery too fast to Zoom on and it’s annoying to have to charge it during a game. Plus, it’s just better to use a laptop with all the features visible on one screen.

I know we’ll return to meatspace game nights as soon as we’re allowed to, but I really enjoy sitting in my own place, with the heater blasting, hot tea on demand, chatting into the night… and not having to brave the roads after with the drunken maniacs. The only issue is that some of our favorite games simply can’t be played online. Oh, and some of our peeps won’t play this way. 😢

Next week we start April A-Z, and though I couldn’t be bothered with the rigmarole of filling out forms and such, I’ll still be doing the thing on my own. My theme is games! They won’t all be board games. Hope you’ll be reading and participating. 😻

~*~

Image from my photo library.

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

A Bunch Of Nonsense

To distract myself from myself, I’m going to answer these super intrusive questions about myself from Melanie…

1. Tell us how you met your partner. Please be specific in telling your tale.

I don’t have a “partner.” I’ve been divorced since 2011 and all my attempts at dating were documented disasters. Right now, it might be nice to have someone to be cooped up with though. Or maybe not.

2. What is your most romantic experience, again with details?

I have a post in drafts called Skyloft. It’s about the best first date I ever had ~ my last first date. I had a couple more first meetings since, but they don’t count as first dates. This man was also a disaster, like the others, but worse because I’d finally begun to trust again, and after him everything was impossibly shattered. The date itself was incredible. It was the hottest day of the year, and I was sick, had been sick for a month, which made the whole experience surreal. I felt I was in a painting, with all the colors and sounds and tastes and smells so exquisitely bright. When he touched me, I felt transported to another plane. Nothing was the same again… it still isn’t. He kissed me at the beach, with the turquoise waves crashing in, just like a dream. I will never forget this, no matter what he did later.

3. What is the most extravagant purchase you’ve ever made, and why did you buy it?

I have not bought anything extravagant for a really long time. I’m super careful. I’ve spent money, sometimes a lot, but on stuff that’s necessary, such as a car (a sensible one). I simply can’t think of anything. Oh! I know. My daughter went to Costa Rica several years ago and brought me some very cool artwork. I spent $400 to have it framed. But I love it. ❤️

4. What is your favorite swear word or expression, and when are you most likely to use it?

I’m an equal opportunity swearer. I try to give all the bad words a good workout daily, but I must admit that since I haven’t been driving they’ve been sitting in a sad heap on the sofa watching reruns of Gilligan’s Island and munching potato chips. 😢

5. What is your favorite kind of pie? With or without ice cream?

Ooh pie! I had the best pie up in Northern California ~ key lime with whipped cream and a thick graham cracker crust. That is my fave, followed closely by lemon cream and then cherry. No ice cream necessary.

6. While we’re on the subject, what is your favorite ice cream, and where did you last eat it?

Cookie dough! I don’t remember when or where I ate it last. I don’t eat ice cream often because I’m always freezing. 🥶

7. Who is your most unique friend and why? (May be someone from the past.)

My daughters are both brilliant and hilarious and totally unique. I love them to bits! My besties! 💖💖 (Why? Because I raised them! Duh.)

8. What is your most irritating habit?

Yelling at my cat to quit yelling. 🐱

9. Who was your favorite teacher and why?

I loved many of my philosophy and writing professors at CSUN.

10. Do you like being alone and if so, what would you probably be doing?

I enjoy choosing to be alone; I don’t enjoy this forced isolation and not being allowed to go to work. It’s super depressing. When alone, I read, write, play phone games, chat with peeps online, etc.

11. What is the most outlandish thing you’ve ever done?

Probably picked up hitchhikers and taken rides from strange men back in Illinois. Nothing bad ever happened even though this is a terribly stupid thing to do.

12. What superstition do you always follow?

I count things a lot, which isn’t really a superstition, but more an OCD, except not that much since I don’t do it consistently. I just feel things will work out better when there’s the right number of ’em.

13. What famous person or animal have you met? Tell us about the meeting.

Not really. I’ve seen various celebs in the Los Angeles area, but haven’t hung out with any. I don’t think celebs or royals are better than anyone else, and people ought to quit making such a fuss over them. 😛

~*~

Image credit to Bitmoji.

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

FPQ62: Homebound

Fandango provocatively asks…

What activities have you cut from your life since this pandemic started that you DON’T really miss?

Unlike some, I don’t see a silver lining in this thing for me personally although yay less pollution right now, so that’s great. I miss everything I was doing because I had my life the way I liked… work, family, pets, friends, hobbies, etc. Still have pets around. Everything else is online or not at all and geez I get tired of staring at screens.

However! There is one thing I’m not doing or hardly at all and I do not miss it because I hate it. Can you guess?

God, I despise driving. It’s just the worst and I don’t miss it one bit. Wish I could resume a normal life without it, but I live in Southern California, so lol.

It was making me more depressed to keep documenting my days of nothingness, so I stopped. I’ve been working on Ghosted 👻 and playing games.

~*~

Images from Fandango and me.

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

I Think It’s Tuesday #PoiMe

Warning: this is not gonna be one of those smell the flowers in the pandemic posts, but there are plenty of those around, so if you would rather read something cheery, move along now.

I’ve been doing my side work from home as usual but not my main work. It would be complicated to set up. The days blend in a haze of sleeping late, sweatpants, coffee, news, news, and more news. 😢

It’s depressing to live this way and never see any of my favorite humans. I don’t know when I’ll be able to visit my daughter up North again. Or even see my family in Los Angeles. Everything seems terrifying. But I’ve been staying indoors mostly and not even going for walks. I don’t like getting the mail because I never know if someone will stand too close. Today was okay. No one was at the mailboxes when I was.

The worst thing is reading these constant bits of news and feeling more horrified. But I need to know what’s happening! I live near a busy street and traffic never stops whooshing by… where are they all going? Why aren’t they staying home like they’re supposed to? Aren’t they hearing the same stuff I am? 😡

I’ve been cleaning a lot. I have nothing else to do but keep checking the mishmash of news. I read a book. Probably will read another. Been chatting with friends. I was gonna bake banana bread, but no one else is around to help me eat it, so I didn’t. No need to turn into a chubby hermit. Got bored with the phone games. I’m finally working on Ghosted. 👻 Luckily, I really like it.

I am grumpy and sad. I don’t find the beauty in this. Maybe if I had a partner? Then we could be having luscious sex and engaging in wonderful deep conversations and playing chess and watching lovely old movies and making lasagna and planning our escape from this mad mad world, but instead I just keep checking the cat boxes to make sure no poop needs to be removed.

It’s not that I mind being alone. I like to be alone. It’s the forced aspect of it. And it’s the constant uncertainty in every direction. Health, family, finances, job, future. What’s going to happen? Even if things tentatively begin to improve, will we be re-whomped with this, or a new version, next winter?

Sorry, I can’t put up some Hallmark card type of post. This really sucks. 🙁

~*~

Image originally from Pixabay.

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

The Monday Peeve 28

Apologies for late peevery! This whole staying at home thing has got my sense of time all confuzzled. 😢

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, and link back to me (or not ~ I dgaf), 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!

*

My laptop phone camera… why won’t it work in Zoom? Whyyyyyyyyyyyy? This is to blame for my late peevery also. Well, partly. I was all set to do my isolation and peevery posting yesterday when new side work came in. Yay work! By the time I was done, it was time to play online Taboo with 5 friends on a video conference call via the Messenger app. That went really well. You can use your own Taboo cards and a timer actually because the ones on the site repeat frequently. Anyway. That was over by 9:00 and we decided to test Zoom for our big virtual game night next week (16 people).

Everything went well except I was a black square with no face. They suggested I reboot, which took forever, and by the time I rejoined the meeting everyone was gone but Cathy. Where’d they go? It’s not like anyone has to go to work today! Anyway, Cathy helped me do a million different things to try to get my stupid camera to work, but it wouldn’t. The green light was on, the settings were correct, everything was fine (I even switched from Safari to Chrome, which I’ve been meaning to do for some time). But nope nope and more nope.

We finally just settled for turning it off so my default photo would appear; at least then I wouldn’t be a black square. Sad that next week I’ll be the only one without real video… unless my daughter can help me. I can bug her today. There’s a good idea!

Anyway, Cathy and I jabbered until like 12:30am and I was falling asleep… and I got into bed and thought oh crap I never did my posts! But I had the sleepy tireds… 😴

Damn camera. Boo.

~*~

Image originally from Pixabay.

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

Self-Isolation Report 3

Saturday Morning

7:30 ~ got up earlier than yesterday to be productive, wasn’t…

8:00 ~ Noon… finished the Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies, had coffee & tea, played with cats, read news to further terrify self, did phone games and Messenger chat

Saturday Afternoon

12:30 ~ did a couple hours actual work, moped, felt sad, depressed, horrified, etc.

3:00 ~ texted with drunk friend in MA 💖

4:00 ~ had a salad, quesadilla, blackberries

Later Saturday

5:30 ~ cleaned up kitchen, still feeling bad

6:00 ~ did stretches, had snacks, made tea

7:00 ~ 10:00… chatted online with friends & daughters, set up Zoom to play party games later, did really well at 2048, played the Cat Lady app for the first time (very fun)

10:00 ~ decided to look at writing messes in progress… NO WAIT! Schedule more posts for April, whew. Almost got trapped into doing actual writing, close call there 😱

~*~

Images from Bitmoji and me.

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

Self-Isolation Report 2

Friday Morning

8:30 ~ finally got up after sleeping until 7ish & then lazing in bed playing games on my phone until I ran out the battery

9:00 ~ Noon… had coffee but wasn’t hungry for breakfast, chatted with friends online, played with cats, took shower, read news to further terrify self, ate a protein bar, had tea

Friday Afternoon

12:30 ~ drove to Crystal Cove State Beach & walked around for a couple hours taking pics

Later Friday

3:00 ~ stopped at grocery store to get fresh produce, milk, bread (they were pretty well stocked)

4:00 ~ put groceries away, ate late lunch of spicy vegan black bean burgers topped with melted non-vegan brie (yummy)

5:00 ~ FaceTime with elder daughter

6:00 ~ tea and phone games

7:00 ~ contemplated writing… decided to do this report first and also the SOCS and the SLS… plenty of time to write… plenty… my gosh, I’ll be knocking out so many new books soon they’ll probably ban me for hogging all the Kindle space! 🤣

~*~

Images from Bitmoji and me.

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

Self-Isolation Report 1

Thursday Morning

8:00 ~ cleaned cat box, vacuumed, did laundry, cleaned bathroom, read blogs

9:30 ~ had coffee & an avocado 🥑

10:00 ~ dusted, cleaned kitchen

11:00 ~ exercised to a video

11:30 ~ downloaded phone games

Thursday Afternoon

1:00 ~ played phone games, ate cookies 🍪

5:00 ~ thought about writing, took a walk in Huntington Beach

Thursday Night

7:00 ~ ate instant noodles, made tea, started work

8:00 ~ freaked out about Gov Newsom telling us we can never leave our homes again and began frantically chatting with friends and daughters

11:00 ~ finished work, had more tea

Midnight ~ made this post, feeling too anxious too sleep, glad I still have some Valium

Yah… so just like the olden days when I was all upset about some dumb man, I can’t get my mind in a clear enough state to switch over to the fictional realm. It’s too cluttered with stabby bits of reality and what ifs.

~*~

Images from Bitmoji and me.

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

Whatever…

I guess I haven’t posted anything today. What’s left to say? I was looking forward to the FPQ, but then I saw I would have to listen to a news clip. Ughhh. Like I’m not glued to the news enough already? Too much and yet I can’t stop looking at it like I’m passing a car wreck except it’s the whole world in a wreck and I can’t just pass by because I’m living in it too.

Then I was gonna post for the Color Code Challenge, but I didn’t have anything. I had pics with colors, but no pics with groups of colors. Boo. That would have been a fun post, if it had materialized. 🌈

I thought about Sadje’s pic of the woman on a cliff with the broken god, but eh. Then there was a “glorious” sunrise or something too. Meh. Just not feeling the fiction. Or poetry. The challenge from last week was humor, but I’m too consumed with anxiety to be funny right now.

The weird thing is that I had a relatively good day, very productive. Things ended on a happy note too, and now I have a 4-day weekend. I had planned to go to Vegas with some friends, but obviously that’s not going to happen now. I’ll read, write, exercise, and maybe watch a few movies alone at home. Those are the kinds of things I enjoy, so I’m not upset about Vegas, but I dislike uncertainty. A lot. 🙁

Believe it or not, I watched Contagion last night. It’s a good movie! People wonder why I’d watch that now, but now is a great time to watch it imo. Absolutely stellar cast too. It’s weird to see Bryan Cranston before he played Walter White. (Never watched Malcolm.)

So anyway… I’ll be around. My Thursday Inspiration is coming right up tomorrow morning and I’m working on my April A-Z game posts here and there. It’s a good time to catch up on things.

Stay safe! 💖

~*~

Image originally found on Pixabay.

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

Wow What A Week

I touch my face a billion times per day. Yes, I counted, which is why I haven’t been around much this week. I have itchy eyes and am aways messing with my hair and rubbing my achy neck and just generally transferring germs to my face and from my face to everywhere else. But now that’s a crime and also it’s scary to think that all this time people weren’t washing their hands or cleaning their houses. Gross! 🦠

Just when I think I’ve adjusted to the latest barrage of news about THE THING, here comes a new assault of information. Well, not information so much as stuff we’re not supposed to do anymore. First, it was hey quit hooking up with random men from the internet and I was all no problem been on that diet for over three years now. 👍🏻

Wash hands 87 times per day, got it. Clean everything all the time. Sure, okay. Unlike some of you lunatics, I already had Lysol and wipes and alcohol. Don’t go to China or Italy. Lol, okay. Don’t fly at all. Wait, what? Grrrr, okay… I canceled my trip to Vegas this week. Don’t sit in bars and restaurants. Sigh… I canceled Friday night plans and changed Saturday’s.

Tonight I read that Mayor Garcetti has shut all entertainment in Los Angeles ~ bars, gyms, libraries, museums, etc. Grocery stores are allowed to remain open and you can get restaurant takeout only. Governor Newsom says if you’re over 65 you should self-isolate. Luckily, I’m “only” 58, yet I plan to stay inside most of the time, basically go to work, then come home to work more and read/write/blog, and not do much else.

Oh, that’s actually my normal life! 🤣

Joking, sort of. Even though I’m not the most social of butterflies 🦋 I do make some plans… and I don’t enjoy being told I’m not allowed to. But I get it, I get it. I intend to comply with these guidelines in order to help myself and others too. It’s important.

Happily, we’re not really that isolated now, are we? There are so many ways we can stay connected without sitting next to each other in the same room. I’m looking at the bright side of this situation and saying, okay, how can I optimize my time? Well… read and write more obviously. I have lots of partially finished works in progress that I’d love to get on my Kindle shelf for you guys to buy, hehe. In a previous post, I mentioned that I plan to work on Ghosted this year again. Great opportunity!

And I definitely want to stay connected to Blogville! 💕 I know some of us have been drifting a bit or slowing down some, but I have every intention of soldiering on. My Monday Peeve and Thursday Inspiration posts will continue. I’ll do Jim’s Song Lyric Sundays as long as he hosts them. It’s rare I miss a (new) Wednesday Fandango FPQ, and I enjoy the Friday Flashbacks he began as well. I enjoy the weekly SOCS. Other prompts will happen as the mood moves me…

That brings us to the April A-Z Challenge. Last year, I said I wouldn’t do it again for a variety of reasons, but I’ve changed my mind. What’s funny is that I went to the website and was immediately annoyed just like last year! Oh, here’s one reason why I said I wouldn’t do it again… their ridiculous forms, etc. Well, ya know what? I’m going to do it without linking to them at all or jumping through hoops to get myself listed. I don’t care about trying to get more views here. If new peeps come by, great! But if the only readers I have are my “regulars,” I’m fine with that too. 😻

My theme is gonna be games. But I’m not gonna jabber on boringly about rules and game pieces and game theory and the history of chess or any crap like that you could go google for yourself. No. I’m gonna talk about how a game affected me. This blog is about ME! Me me me me!

~*~

Images credited to Bitmoji.

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