Questions from Carol Anne

My lovely friend Carol Anne has given me some questions. They’re associated with her Liebster Award. Congrats on your award, Carol Anne, and thanks for thinking of me! 💖

My 11 questions to you my nominees are:

1. Can you swim?

I know the basics, but I’m not a strong swimmer, and frankly I prefer to stay on land and gaze out at the beautiful waves.

2. Pepsi or coke?

Coke, please.

3. Snail mail or email?

Email is less wasteful.

4. Do you enjoy traveling?

No. Shocking, I realize. Everyone loves to travel, right? Well, I do enjoy experiencing new sights, attractions, nature, etc., but the expense and inconvenience make it a net negative for me. Travel is very costly unless you go by car, split the cost of gas, have people to put you up at your destination, yada. Or go camping, lol. Then there are all the migraine triggers for me that happen from noise, light, discomfort, etc. Also, there is my ongoing back/neck pain. Not to mention I don’t like leaving my kitty for more than a couple nights because I miss him too much! 🐱❤️

5. Snow or rain?

I’m from the East and honestly I miss the idea of snow but not the reality of it. Snow is beautiful and fun, if you don’t have to be anywhere and can bundle up and take a lovely walk. Rain can be romantic if you’re snuggled indoors with your sweetie, or a kitty and a good book, but again not if you have to drive in it. Since I’m in California, land of perpetual drought, I welcome any and all precipitation! Of course, we always get the “wrong” kind, in the “wrong” place, so they tell us the drought goes on…

6. What is one of your favourite quotes?

Life is short; eat dessert first. 🧁

7. Are you a glass half full or glass half empty sorta person?

Depends on the day.

8. What is your favourite flower?

Sunflower. Or tulips!🌷

9. If you could give your younger self some advice what would you say?

Go to Northwestern (in high school)! Stop dating insane men (in the 1980s). Buy tech stocks (in the 1990s)! Sell the tech stocks (before the crash). STOP DATING INSANE MEN. 🙄

10. If you had one superpower what would it be?

Repelling insane men.

11. Favourite book?

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. Tied for second place: Where I’m Calling From (short stories by Raymond Carver) and Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman (short stories by Haruki Murakami).

~*~

©️2019 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

The Daily Grind [socs]

I don’t mind

The daily grind,

The sameness of days

Blending one into another.

I don’t scheme

For a change of scene,

An adrenaline rush,

The crisp crackle of change.

I’m at peace

With dawn in the east,

The rhythm of hours

Until dusk purples the sky.

~*~

©️2019 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

A POP of Perception

Angie (aka King Ben’s Grandma) tagged me in Beckie’s positivity prompt. The theme this round is graciousness. Please pop over to Angie’s to read about the origins of the prompt along with her wonderful take on gracious greetings.

My idea of graciousness is rooted in being considerate. This probably comes from my years in administrative support. I’m always aware of people’s moods and when it’s a good time to stop and chitchat, and when a simple “good morning” will suffice. I try to be constantly aware of others’ moods. This is something that only works in person, of course.

Now that I’m noodling on it, this awareness of mood goes beyond my working life and back to my childhood (doesn’t everything?). My parents often argued bitterly, and this was scary to me, so I was forever “taking the temperature” of the room and adjusting my behavior accordingly. I needed to know if it was time to be funny or quiet or what.

I’m a person who says “good morning” with a smile, but I don’t go beyond that unless I perceive it will be welcomed. And I would rather err on the side of too little than too much. I don’t tell people to smile; honestly, I hate when people do that. It’s just so… selfish. An unsmiling face makes us feel bad, which is why we exhort people to smile.

But how do we know why someone isn’t smiling? Maybe they’re in pain. Maybe a family member is desperately sick. Maybe they just got walloped with a bill they can’t afford. Leave them alone! Let them look sad and deal with your own discomfort over it. Unless you’re actively prepared to help them with their problem, don’t mouth off with a meaningless comment. K?

Thank you for coming to my rant. Now go be less annoying and more gracious in your greetings.

If you would like to participate in Beckie’s prompt, please visit Angie’s blog for the rules. I graciously decline to tag anyone.

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©️2019 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Chill Factor

I’m not talking about the wind chill factor, but what gives me the creeps in books and film. Mostly, I avoid horror because I don’t find it interesting, nor do I need an extra surge of adrenaline after driving in SoCal traffic. Horror show in and of itself. 😱

But over the decades there have been some works that grabbed me. So to speak. I love Stephen King’s writing. He knows how to tell a story, create compelling characters, set the scene, and build suspense. The Shining is a perfect example. For a while, I enjoyed some of Dean Koontz’s novels too, but his writing became repetitive.

I prefer horror stories that focus on the madness of human beings, which is all too believable unfortunately, rather than layering on supernatural elements like vampires and demons. That said, I loved Frank Langella as Dracula in the 1979 film. I also adored Johnny Depp in 2012’s Dark Shadows. But those are exceptions; most vampire things are silly.

Recently, I watched a few supernatural romances on Prime (with witches) and they were terrible. I wouldn’t even classify them as romances since they didn’t have happy endings, but they were definitely in the horror genre. Campy horror. The witches were incredibly beautiful, natch, in order to seduce unsuspecting men to the Dark Side. Isn’t that always how it is? 😈

I did enjoy Practical Magic with Sandra Bullock though. That was different. But it wasn’t scary. (I’ve never disliked a movie starring Sandra Bullock.)

As a kid, the Candyman movie terrified me, maybe because I was told I was allergic to bees. I’m not even sure if that’s true. I was also told I was allergic to penicillin, and that turned out to be false. 🐝

I think a lot of what makes a movie scary is visual shock value. If there’s too much early on, it can dissipate, so it needs to be doled out carefully. Books are different, a psychological buildup that stays with the reader, in the best case. Hard to forget even after you turn the last page.

Game of Thrones could be classified in the horror genre. It had zombies, witches, and all sorts of gory, shocking deaths. I mainly thought of it as an adventure romance type of show though, since (to me) the focus was more on characters than action. I wouldn’t argue this point however, if you’d rather plunk it in the horror box.

Movies used to have more subtlety. Take Psycho, forex. Don’t you still think about the shower scene sometimes when you’re in a strange bathroom… 🔪

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Laura’s October Challenge (Day 9)

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©️2019 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

321 Quote Me ~ Lifestyle

Sadje tagged me to continue the lifestyle theme in this round of Rory’s 321 Quote Me game. Thanks Sadje! 😻

The above was Part 1 of 321 (a thank you). Now I will do Part 2, which will be my two quotes.

Part 3 requires me to tag 3 more bloggers. I think I’ve seen this tag around for a day or so now, which means the usual suspects have already been tagged. I’ll open this up to volunteers instead. It’s a great way to get in the game if you haven’t played yet. Post a couple lifestyle quotes and link back to me (and Rory).

Have fun! 🎃👻😈

~*~

©️2019 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

The Monday Peeve 4

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!

Here we go then with today’s…

Recently I unfollowed some bloggers, but it’s not because they said anything offensive. Some of them I actually like. But I want to be fair, and if a few people are posting like mad while others stick to (what I consider) a more reasonable schedule, then the mad posters dominate my feed. I’m not about to change my habits and receive posts by email to make sure I don’t miss my “faves.” Why not? Because I don’t want to.

To give you an example of what I’m talking about, I just went through and counted the posts that a certain blogger made in a 24-hour period. The total was 50. FIFTY! That is not a reasonable number to me. Most of these were reposts with hundreds of likes already. Why is it necessary to grab more? I don’t know. Probably ad revenue.

Not my problem. I make no money from my blog. This is for fun, and I have no interest in helping people make money from their posts. Get a real job. Write a book. Whatever. But don’t spam me. I am finding myself increasingly peeved about reposts. I don’t mean hey here’s a funny post from 3 years ago you might want to check out… no, I’m talking about the spam type of repost. When I see I’ve already liked a post, and recall reading it recently, I have to wonder why it’s floating through again except to annoy me. Don’t be a feed hog! Let posts from other bloggers have a chance to be seen!

Bottom line: Don’t make my blog reading experience inconvenient for me. If you do, you risk the unfollow click.

~*~

©️2019 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

FPQ43: Genes or Jeans?

Fandango provocatively asks…

“What do you believe, when it comes to people’s traits and personalities? Are they primarily formed and shaped by nature or by nurture, as defined above? What about your personality? Nature or nurture? Please elaborate.”

I encourage peeps to visit Fandango’s post to get the full flavor of his question. Plus, he’s just fun to read! 😻

My opinion is that everything is genetic, meaning nature, but that nurture has some influence over what may be expressed or suppressed. For example, regarding my purrsonality… my parents never said they were “loners,” but neither of them had tons of friends, and both enjoyed spending a lot of time alone. My dad spent a zillion hours reading by himself, and my mom always had some solo craft project going on. I am the same. Sure, I could have learned to be this way by observing them…

But let’s take my daughters, raised by me, observing how I operate. One is similar to me and the other is quite different ~ what you would term a “people person.” She’s friendly, gregarious, outgoing, warm, and open to new people. Doesn’t really seem to enjoy spending a lot of time alone. Huh.

I say this stuff is hard-wired.

~*~

©️2019 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon

Fan of… Brie

I am a huge fan of brie ~ it is my favorite cheese! I’m perfectly happy nomming on a chunk of brie all by itself, but there are a lot of delicious foods to pair it with as well. It works with every type of cracker and chip, but also fruit, from grapes to pears to crisp green apples. 🍏

Here’s something you may not have known: brie is fabulous as a melt. Yep, you can top your burger with a piece of brie, melt it for 30 seconds… mmm! I will make a confession… I deveganize veggie burgers by melting brie on them. Sacrilege! But this transcends yumminess, especially on the spicy ones. 🌶

I’m a happy camper right now because there was leftover brie from game night, and it is ensconced in my fridge as we speak, er write. Trent says even the littlest moments count as weekly smiles, so I’m using this as mine. 😻

It’s a wonder I don’t waddle through this world, given my food preferences, but here is a secret ~ I don’t eat everything in the same day. I make choices, and I’m not afraid to throw things in the garbage. I can buy more later. Otherwise, I’m the garbage can and that’s gross. Like the warnings about texting and driving say: “It can wait.”

I include the above paragraph, not to engage in a verbose lecture, but because someone inevitably asks in comments.

~*~

©️2019 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

FPQ42: Censorship

Fandango provocatively asks…

“Do you feel that in today’s world — and perhaps in the part of the world in which you live — the freedom to articulate and express opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction is being threatened?”

Speaking to the legal aspect, not at all. I am referencing only my personal, direct experience here, not stuff blogged about hysterically without proof. What do I mean by that? I mean… when people start shrieking about someone’s rights being violated before they know the whole story. And then when the rest of the story comes out, it’s generally ignored. As far as me, I am somewhat protected by my “white privilege” and also by the fact that I am a very small fish and generally don’t write stupid things.

That isn’t to say I haven’t caused myself some needless personal consequences over written material ~ I certainly have. But the part of the question I’m addressing now is about freedom to write without fear of legal consequences, and I feel I have that.

What about besides legal consequences? Well, I don’t know. It’s hard to compare anything to the vast reach of the internet. There was a time, I guess, you could pen an edgy opinion letter to your local gazette and incur the wrath of a little town, but now send off an unfortunate tweet and the next day wake up to a million folks around the world calling you a c*nt. That shouldn’t happen though. See the next paragraph…

I think there should be more “censorship,” not less. But not by the government (which is why I put it in quotes). I think internet service providers and websites should be upholding their TOS and enforcing their own standards we’ve all agreed to against impersonation, hate speech, racism, etc.

It’s not impossible. It just seems that way because we’ve elevated the idea of “anonymity” to the highest value. If we disallowed anonymity, much of the hate would vanish overnight.

Not all of it, of course. The POTUS isn’t anonymous, I realize. 🤣

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©️2019 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Morning Has Broken

I’m not much of a spiritual person usually, but certain experiences can make me feel… something… more. One of these is the song “Morning Has Broken” sung by Cat Stevens on his 1971 album, though it’s actually a much older Christian hymn first published in 1931. It’s such a beautiful song, so simple and yet so powerful. I recently mentioned that if I could travel through time I would like to view the earth before people spoiled it.

Morning has broken like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken like the first bird

Sweet the rain’s new fall, sunlit from heaven
Like the first dewfall on the first grass

In his MM post that kicked things off today, Jim featured Cat’s song “Where Do The Children Play.” That’s a good question to ask these days too, when everything is being built over and it’s harder to find open space for nature to do as she will.

~*~

©️2019 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.