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.

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.

No Sharing!

Melanie had some fun St. Patrick’s themed questions today, but I wasn’t in the mood for those. Then she posted these, which are much more to my taste.

What harsh truths do you prefer to ignore?

All of them! Let’s see… a big one is how many bugs and bug parts I’m probably eating all the time in salads, cereals, etc. Gross! Next, is how I’m damaging my health by sitting on my butt all day and never exercising. Another is how I keep reading the news and think I actually know what’s going on lolololol 🤣🤣🤣

Actually, a super harsh truth right now is how many greedy, selfish, inconsiderate people there are who will not stop harmful behavior without the force of law. I mean, we always know this, but I for one am not usually thinking about it. Then this virus comes along and people just don’t wanna cooperate for the greater good. They have to be forced, no way around that fact. 😢

Is free will real or just an illusion?

Illusion. We’re almost completely wired up to make every choice due to our genetics plus environment, and we exercise very little if any “will” over that, even though it feels like we do. I say “almost” because of the random elements in there, not will.

I guess, given this truth, we can be more forgiving of the sh!t heads in my first reply who won’t voluntarily cooperate. They can’t help their selfish ways. But that does not mean we let them do what they want. No. We hire more cops.

What is the meaning of true love?

True love, in my opinion, is that passionate attraction we feel toward another person combined with the steady certainty that we would care for their well-being to the same degree or greater than our own.

If both elements are not present, then it is not true love. Passion without care is just a sexual connection, even if it’s embellished with other goodies like intellectual sparks and shared hobbies. Caring without the passion is a great friendship, but most will jettison that for even a slight chance at a romantic partner.

Great questions! 😻

~*~

Image credited to imgflp.com.

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

Sharing At A Distance

This week’s questions from Melanie:

Are you a sweet, sour, tangy or other type of person?  Take that as you will! 😉

I have been told by the majority (in real life) that I’m a sweet person. Even online now, I’m pretty darn nice, compared to back in Usenet days. It’s just not worth it to engage with trolls and jerks. They have all the time in the world… and I do not. But that doesn’t mean I’ll put up with crap! Those days are gone. I vanish if someone is mean to me. 👻

Does the whole coronavirus phenomenon worry you?  Or are you more a “meh – it’s just another severe flu scare” type of person?

First, severe flus are scary! They kill loads of people every year, relentlessly. So, there is nothing not scary about another severe flu coming around. I’ve had the flu twice and both times were absolutely miserable experiences I do not wish to repeat. Each year, I get a flu vaccine, which supposedly is not perfect, but I haven’t had the flu any of those years (knock wood). 🍀

Second, scientists don’t have a complete handle on this coronavirus yet. They aren’t sure exactly how it behaves, and there is no vaccine yet. Its progression from mild to moderate to fatal can be extremely rapid, which is… scary. You feel like you’re getting better and then, bam! Your lungs overload.

Third, while the number of cases in the U.S. is tiny at the moment, we don’t know how many contagious people are walking around shedding the virus everywhere. This unknown is scary. Next week there could be thousands of cases shutting down a particular city, but which? Ah. 😱

Fourth, while I’m not in a high risk group, I am older-ish, so it’s prudent for me to be cautious. Forex, I just canceled a pleasure trip to Vegas next weekend. It can wait. No need to be on a plane and in large crowds right now. I’m not so much worried about death as I am the pain-in-the-assedness of having to deal with some kind of two-week quarantine or whatever annoying thing if I’m exposed to the virus. 😛

When was the last time you were snooping, and found something you wish you hadn’t?

I’ve written before that I snooped as a teenager while babysitting and found many “interesting” magazines and books. Later in life, the only times I’ve snooped were the typical looking for evidence on a guy’s laptop type of situation. I can’t say I’m sorry I found what I did. It’s always better to know.

What’s the most pleasant sounding accent in your personal opinion?   Everyone has a pleasing accent to someone! 

British, of course. 🇬🇧

Gratitude: Your chance to share your joy!

I found two new chairs for our dining room and that makes me happy.

~*~

Images from Melanie and me.

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

FPQ59: Ain’t Got No Education

Fandango provocatively asks…

“What does it mean to you in the 21st century to be well educated?”

Woo, what a great question! And I can tell already that I’m not going to come up with a definitive opinion, but instead will meander around in a tangled mass of thinkies.

First, a disclaimer. I’m educated but I don’t believe I’m well educated. Sure, I have a college degree, but so what? I’m in my late 50s and don’t even remember most of the stuff I studied. Plus, there are a kajillion things I didn’t study. I could have spent a portion of time since college broadening my knowledge by immersing myself in online classes, educational shows, and better reading material, but I didn’t. I frittered away my free time on junk food for the brain and continue to do so. 🍫

Second, there’s a big difference in being smart and being well educated. I know a lot of smart people who are great at taking tests (hello!) and rattling off trivial facts, but that’s not the same as having a deep reservoir of knowledge about a broad spectrum of topics. Not every well educated person can perform under pressure like a trained seal. These are different things. I’m in neither camp really ~ I’m not great at trivia nor do I have the reservoir ~ but I often play trivia games anyway.

Third, people can have one valuable skill, such as being a competent engineer, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re well educated. Knowing how to do one thing perfectly is fabulous, but I view being well educated as having curiosity about a variety of topics and the will to pursue information on them. 📚

Fourth, I think it’s important to understand technology, if only to protect ourselves from the worst of it. I could do much better in this area, but I’ve been intellectually lazy because for many years I had a husband who knew it all and now I have friends who do. My kids are no slouches either. But knowing only techie stuff does not make a person well educated, just like knowing only the complete history of Hawaii or tons of facts about show biz doesn’t either.

In order to fit my definition, you have to know a lot about a lot and be able to discuss these topics with others in some form. But you also have to be open to the possibility of new information, corrected data, and/or changing your mind. A fragile ego isn’t compatible with a well educated mind, if it closes off the possibility of being wrong. 🥀

When I find someone who seems brilliant and well educated, I watch to see how well they adapt to new information. A truly well educated person understands that there is always room for more knowledge; a closed mind gives away a substandard education. I have called myself “wishy washy” because I am open to new information, change my mind often, and eagerly gobble up the latest news, sometimes to my detriment. Discernment is also a good thing! But I continue to have a strong negative reaction to people who disregard new information only because it’s new.

I also can’t bear those who refuse to admit error or apologize. Well… that’s another post… 😜

~*~

Image credit to Fandango.

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

FPQ58: Shattered Illusions

Fandango provocatively asks…

What is something you’ve long believed to be true, but you now realize is not true?

This question definitely lives up to its name and has provoked a lot of thinkies. While there have been minor and/or short-lived beliefs I’ve held that life has popped like a room full of party balloons, nothing comes close to my cherished and false belief in love. 💔

Now before people start hollering at me… I am not saying I have ceased to believe that love exists. Don’t be silly. Of course, I know that people find love all the time. Other people. What I mean is that for decades I was absolutely certain with an unwavering faith that love existed for me. A soul mate. All that romance novel crap. But soon I’m going to turn 59 and I have given up. In fact, I can pinpoint exactly when I gave up: Thanksgiving 2016 when I got dumped by someone I really believed was a good guy who wanted to be with me and would follow through on the plans we’d made. 🥀

Some people will say that it’s because I gave up that I can’t find love. There’s some woo theory that you must behave as if love is already in your life and wake up every day with the idea that you will be with your soul mate imminently. So, you’ll be happy and smiling and dressing beautifully, since you would be doing these things if you were meeting your love for brunch… and then by some miracle he will appear at the car wash or something. Idk. It’s not my theory, so don’t expect me to defend it! 🤣

The thing is, how long does a reasonable human behave this way? Six months? Ten years? You wake up happy, smiling, put on a gorgeous glittering gown, sashay off to the car wash… and they go, “Jesus, it’s that crazy lady again waiting for her soul mate! When is she gonna bring a car here?”

So, anyway. Giving up gave me freedom. I quit the dating sites. I deleted Meetups. I even exited Facebook and Instagram. All the social media sites that were supposed to make you feel connected to people (and potential soul mates), but left me feeling more isolated and alone. I began to focus only on work, family, friends, and writing. I quit spending money trying to look “sexy” for some man I hadn’t met and most likely never would. I revitalized my blog, which has always been my favorite form of “social media.” 😻

Now, in a movie or novel, this is exactly when I would meet my soul mate, right? When I’m focused on my own life and doing things that bring me joy, rather than searching outward for happiness. But this is real life not a romcom… so no.

~*~

Image credits to Fandango and Bitmoji.

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

Navel Glazing

Dr. Tanya asks more blogging questions about blogging bloggers…

 1. Do you like to respond to writing prompts?

It depends. I haven’t been doing many this month because I had a lot of other stuff going on. I committed to doing the daily music prompt for Bee, and I was busy with my political love story. But yesterday I did a combo post for Fandango’s Flash Fiction prompt, and that worked out well. When I do writing prompts, I like to combine them.

 2. Do you feel that they add value to your blog?

Fiction and poetry add “value” to my blog, as do posts about writing in general, book and movie reviews, and other cultural jabber that can add depth and interest to fictional settings and characters. What doesn’t add value are boring “Facebook” type get-to-know-ya lists of favorite colors and ice cream crap posts that I try to avoid.

I love to read other bloggers’ short fiction and poetry, whether from prompts or not. There’s so much creativity here!

 3. What is your favourite kind of writing prompt?

I am more likely to respond to an idea, or words that together form an idea in my mind. Sometimes I’ll respond to a dreamy picture that inspires a poem.

 4. Which ones are you less likely to do?

I won’t post yucky pictures here and I try to avoid politics, religion, and graphic sex, not that this is a blog for little kids or anything. But those are my preferences. If you want to read spicier stuff from me, buy my books.

I also don’t like a lot of rules about writing for fun. When I post a prompt, I tell people to respond how they wish. To me, that’s ideal. If I see a prompt that tells me I need to reply with 87 words all starting with Q, stand on my head, and click a freaking blue frog, ya know what? HARD PASS.

~*~

Image credits to Bitmoji and idk… Google?

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

FPQ57: Hey La 🎶 Hey La 🎶 Fandango’s Back! 🎶

Well… he wasn’t totally “gone,” but he wasn’t around as much, and he had been recycling old FPQ’s. 😱 Green is good for the environment and for our wallets, but for prompts… not so much. Since I was also busy, I took the opportunity to bail on the whole reheated casserole. But now, it’s A RETURN TO NORMALCY!!! In Blogville anyway. Everywhere else? Complete freaking chaos.

Today, Fandango provocatively asks…

Are humans better at creating or destroying?

It all depends on your perspective. Humans are very good at creating… other humans. Good god, there are a lot of them/us! Just a few hundred years ago there were way fewer and a few thousand years ago? Pffft. Hardly any compared to now. We’ve really upped our output. 😎

As we continue to produce gobs of new humans, we tend to destroy other things, such as clean air and water, open spaces for other mammals to graze and hunt, forests and wetlands, etc. We kill loads of animals to eat and waste vast amounts of acreage for animal food while people starve to death. 😢

We also create lots of products for humans to spend money on, most of which have to be constantly replaced and tossed into giant junk piles on land and at sea, which are destructive. There are lots of creative people coming up with new ideas for new products all the time, some for fun, others for science, medicine, etc. Many humans are working to destroy the environmental problems that humans themselves have created. 👍🏻

Some people also create art, music, poetry, literature, etc., to be enjoyed by others. Not all creation is tangible ~ some folks have ideas that they try to transmit in various ways in the hope of uplifting other people’s spirits, though not everyone will receive the message as intended, of course. How discouraging is that? A human comes up with a brilliant new idea that will help everyone on the planet to live more happily and the rest of the humans tell him to get lost? Geez, he might as well have invented yet another brand of cat litter! 🐱

What was the question again? 🤣

~*~

Image from Fandango himself.

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

Glimmer

I do not ask for pity
Though I may be a wretched soul
Lost to love and dreams,
My body cold and broken,
Withering in shadows.

I reject your useless pity!
Save it for the hungry,
With their outstretched bowls;
For I have no need of food
Here in my cage of bones.

Where were your tears of pity
When I could have used a hand?
Stuff your sobbing eulogies;
I prefer the subtle glimmer
Of the sunrise come to greet me.

~*~

Written for Eugi’s Weekly Prompt.

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

321 Quote Me ~ Balance

We’re back to Rory’s Quote Me game that anyone can play whenever. The theme today is balance. Play along! No tags! 🙂

3 Quotes…

2 Songs…

1 Picture…

~*~

Images found on Google and in Paula Light’s collection.

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