C Story

Posted on July 14, 2018 by hdh

Today’s writer’s group prompt led me to another piece of fictional writing. As in most Writer’s group sessions I only had 20 minutes to write. That being said, I didn’t get a chance to finish this piece. The reason I call it C Story, is that when I write pieces of fiction that I don’t finish and am not sure where to take or title them I assign them a letter. So C Story will be the third of my unfinished pieces of writing, that hopefully, one day, I will complete as a fully publishable story.  When I free write like this I have a way of getting into the story, without actually knowing the ending or the way to get there. Once you read what I have written, I would love to hear from you readers any ideas or thoughts you have as to where you think this story should go. Thanks in advance. And now for your reading pleasure, I give you C Story:

Continue reading →

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Treasure!

Posted on June 9, 2018 by hdh

Treasure!

He looked forward to the game. He’d never played it before. It was simple, The first task was to find the map. Once found, he then had to find the clues within the map that would lead him to the treasure. But where to start?


His first thought as he was getting out of bed was that the map would be in his dresser. She knew that he would want to get dressed as soon as he awoke, so it seemed logical that the map would be put there. It wasn’t. Then came the bathroom. One has to do daily routines of teeth care and other essential bodily functions. Teeth… no dice. It wasn’t in the cabinet where toothpaste and mouthwashes were stored, nor on the sink itself under towels. Frustrated at not finding the map, he did his usual toilet obligations, and as he unrolled the toilet paper to finish the job, there etched on one of the sheets of paper was the map.

Toilet tissue is delicate, therefore he had to be careful in tearing the map off, so as not to damage it. The map was basically an outline of the interior of his house with selected numbers placed in different locations. He started with #1: Location – refrigerator.

On opening the refrigerator there was a bowl of yogurt and inscribed in the top layer in blueberries were the words “ignore #2” So he looked at the map and then proceeded to #3, his favorite chair in the living room. This clue was easier to find, for right in front of his chair written using a finger in the dust on the floor was, Go to #5, which was the last number on the map. That would be the den. There on the television was the half filled glass of wine that he had had the night before. As he lifted it up, written on the coaster beneath was a sticker that read, “Your task does not end here” check clue #4.” He was glad he did not try to start his search with the last clue.

Clue #4 was in the basement and simply said, “You forgot clue #2.”

Clue #2 was in the garage stuck to the windshield of his car. It simply said, “Your treasure awaits… after you had breakfast, cleaned the dishes, vacuumed the house, put away all the unfinished dishes you left around the house and cleaned out the garage. Btw don’t forget to put down the toilet seat! Have a nice day! I’ll see you tonight, be prepared.

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Thoughts on Thpring

Posted on May 12, 2018 by hdh

Thoughts on Thpring

Thpring is one of my least favorite times of the year. Winter leaves me with its warmth. That may sound odd but think of it as being bundled up in lined clothing, or under a stack of blankets as the chill air tries to rouse you. You bask in the comfort of the warmth of those clothes and blankets. You sleep nestled in the comfort of she, whom you love (at least once her feet warm up). That is the warmth of Winter.

Then Spring comes along. With it does come warmer weather, but it is also the harbinger of bugs and pollen and the warmth that comes with nighttime uncertainty. Do I keep the heavy blankets on tonight or just the sheets? Can’t get too close to her or can I? Do I open the windows and let the cool air in so I can’t breathe, due to the pollen-filled night, or put on the air conditioner, which will never kick on because it is not warm enough yet. I hate making decisions. There is no comfort in Spring.

Yes, the buds begin to bloom. The flowers, AH-CHOO!, begin to blossom. Sights become picturesque windows of the world. Then the oaks begin to drop their refuse. Time to sweep up the mess. Can’t put out the deck table and chairs until that stops. And my blue car demonstrates how colors change when you cover blue with yellow pollen. Ahh! The joys of spring.

And of course, Spring is the precursor to Summer and all its hot days, lawn care, weeding and of course wasps. Put them all together and I long for the days of Autumn, for I know when it arrives, it won’t be long before Winter comes again, with its peaceful snows and comforting warmth.

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A to Z Challenge Blog 2018 – Reflection

Posted on May 4, 2018 by hdh

A to Z Challenge Blog 2018 – Reflection

Another A to Z Challenge Blog has come and passed. This is my third year doing this. This year I tried something different. I chose to rant and also have positive thoughts on a number of topics. I created some fictional characters and let their dialogue handle all of my thoughts.

I started with Herman and Otto. Herman is the positive one and Otto the ranter. After a while, I decided that people might get bored with only the two characters, so I added their wives, Minna and Lina. They were also polar opposites, with each other and with their husbands. I could mix and match these characters depending on the situation I was debating.

Knowing that this was going to be the basis of my writing, I brainstormed with my family, friends, colleagues, and students (that I worked with while substitute teaching) ideas that I could write about.

Here is the list of ideas that were brainstormed prior to and throughout the month. The highlighted words were the topics I ended up choosing to write about:

A: Alcohol, Anxiety, Adulthood, Apathy, Autos, Anger, AutoCorrect  B: Boredom, Books, Barter, Bees, Bugs   C: Computers, Cars, Cliffhangers, Change, Climate change, Clowns, Crying     D: Drivers, Doctors, Dreams, Dogs    E: Endings, Empathy, Electronics, Exercise, Education     F: Fandom, Forecasting, Flying    G: Gratitude, the Good Old Days, Gardening, Gifts    H: Habits, Homework, Hearing, Horror I:  Imagination, Illness, Idiosyncrasies     J: Jerks, Jaywalking, Jocks    K: Keyboards, Clocks, Kissing, Karma, Spelling with the K sound    L: Listening, Lectures, Learning, Librarians     M: Mistakes, Millennials, Meat, Music    N: Nothing, Nonsense, Noise, Names, Nervous, Negative, Numbers    O: Orders, Organic, Old Age, Opinions, Originality, Outer Space    P: Performing, Politics, Pronouncing words, Pizza     Q: Quiet, Questions     R: Relatives, Recovering, Road trip, Read aloud, Rumors     S: Storytelling, School, Substituting, Serenity, Siblings, Sports, Social Media, Schedules    T: Television, Traveling, Time, Teenagers     U: Unconventional, Umbrellas, Unions, Uttering, Unable, Undecided, Username    V: Volume, Vegetables, Video games, Values    W: Worrying, Waiting Rooms, Weather, Winter    X: X-rays, Xerox copies, Xhaustion, X-marks the spot, Xpectations, X-Mas    Y: Yelling, Youth, Yawn, Yesterday, Yoga, You’ve Got Mail, Why, y r u doing this?    Z: Zoos, Zero, Zeal, Catching some ZZZs

If I was really stuck when it came time to write about a particular letter, I went to a dictionary and searched out words that might inspire me. Such was the case with Forecasting, Idiosyncrasies, and Schedules. One of my pieces, Values, I wrote as a part of a Mindful writing workshop during February and March. I just reposted it for the A to Z piece. That piece was the first time I got to play with dialogue between the

 

two main characters. Finding a picture for “Crying” was hard. I couldn’t find a picture of a girl comforting a boy crying. Most of the ones online were stereotypically a male comforting a female, or a male comforting a male, or female comforting a female. I found one that was somewhat indistinguishable and chose to use that.

 

My goal at the end was to make the final entry for “Z” bring all of the characters together for a mini summary of what they did and sign off, which I had fun doing.

All in all, this worked well for me. I had some difficulty picking a category when I was filling out the daily posting form. I wasn’t sure how to label what I was writing about. Education topics were easy, but for the most part, I chose Author/Writing (Other).  I was using a social media delivery tool to schedule the pieces I had written beforehand. Hootsuite worked well except that when I set it up to schedule a post that hadn’t been published yet, it loaded the page that didn’t exist yet to cue. When it did publish instead of including a picture from the blog entry, it posted “Page Not Found” on Facebook. It was not consistent with that, sometimes it worked right. Even though the link was a good one when it posted, it never changed the “page not found” image. Even when I deleted the entry and re-entered it live, the same graphic showed up. I had to go into the Facebook post and insert a GIF that connected to my topic to replace the “page not found” screen. I’m not sure if that decreased the number of hits I got. I switched to dlvr.it to do most of the ending posts but discovered early that I couldn’t include #atozchallenge with my post. For a while, I was editing my posts on Facebook after they were published to include the hashtag. I figured out how to include the hashtag in dlvr.it eventually so all my subsequent posts included it on Facebook without me having to edit it. Twitter, on the other hand, does not allow you to post #anything on your scheduled posts in dlvr.it. And Twitter does not allow you to edit a tweet, once it has been tweeted already. So the last half of my tweets had no #atozchallenge on them. Again, I’m not sure how that affected the number of viewers I got.  Dliv.it had some difficulty with some of my posts on Facebook, adding a picture to the post. Sometimes they came up with a blank box and other times they showed up with a picture. I never figured out what caused it. These are all things I hope to resolve before next year. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

As to next year, I have no clue as what to write about. At least I have a few months to think about it. I didn’t get a chance to read many blogs from other people during April, though I did bookmark a number of them and hope to catch up over the next few weeks.

For those of you that are interested, here are the links to all of my blog entries for this year’s Challenge Blog “Attitudes and Gratitudes”:

A: Adulthood B: Bugs C: Crying D: Doctors E: Education F: Forecasting G: Gardening H: Homework I:  Idiosyncrasies

J: Jocks K: Spelling with the K sound L: Librarians M: Mistakes N: Noise O: Outer Space P: Performing Q: Questions R: Road trip S: Schedules T: Television U: Username V: Values W: Winter X: Xpectations Y: y r u doing this? Z: Catching some ZZZs

See you all next year.

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Z – Catch up on some ZZZs

Posted on April 30, 2018 by hdh

‘

Time for some ZZZs

It was the end of Debate Challenge. Herman, Minna, Otto and Lina had been working hard all month to be moderators of the infamous yearly debate challenge. Their task this whole month was to come up with issues that had opposing views and make sure that all of the participants were prepared and presentable for the public debate on time. They had to be fair in each debate, allowing for follow-up discussion, yet remain impartial as the debates progressed. For the most part they did a great job. The time had come for them to sit down and decide what they wanted to do to celebrate.

“I think we should go out for dinner at a fancy restaurant,” Herman suggested.

Otto said, ”Are you crazy? Do you know how much that is going to cost us? I’d rather have pizza at home.”

Lina chimed in, “After all of the work we did. We do deserve a nice night out. Why not a good restaurant.”

Minna decided to add her two cents. “If you recall, we weren’t paid for this; we volunteered. Why should we spend money we didn’t get to celebrate the hard work that we did?”

“Because we completed it,” was Herman’s reply. “This is our third year doing this. We even got a t-shirt the first year. We deserve to give ourselves a pat on the back.”

Lina added, “And some of the participants did take the time to comment to us about how they liked our work. Praise for work can go a long way. It makes you feel good.”

Otto responded, “Feeling good doesn’t put bread on table. And that t-shirt, we had to buy ourselves. Yeah, it’s nice to get connections based on our work; but that is all we got. Now that it’s over we’ll never hear from those people again.”

“Why not?” was Herman’s reaction. “Granted we do this debate thing all throughout April, but we still do some similar work during the year with other groups. Maybe some of those people that liked us so much this year will continue to follow us. I certainly plan to follow some of their work.”

Minna yawned, “Celebrating sounds like a good idea, but for me right now, I just want to sit and relax.”

Her yawn was contagious as three other yawns followed.

“Maybe that’s a good idea,” Lina murmured as her eyes slowly began to close.

“That’s right,” Herman agreed. “We should just sit back and relax. Take time and reflect upon all the work we did. It’s not so easy coming up with all of those topics.”

Herman’s eyes followed those of Minna and Lina and soon all was quiet in the room.

“What wimps!” Otto muttered to himself. “Can’t handle a little creative work, without a nap. That’s it for me. I’m going out to get pizza.”

And he did.

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Y – y is it gr8 to write like this?

Posted on April 28, 2018 by hdh

Y is it gr8 to write like this? IDK

Minna entered the lunch room with a piece of paper in her hand. She was not a happy person. “Why don’t sixth graders write in English? Just look at this note I found on the floor in my class”

Was up! btw jsuk ur gr8.Sry I rlly hve 2 go.TTYL.

Lina looked up from her lunch and read the note out loud. “What’s up? By the way, just so you know, you’re great. Sorry I really have to go. Talk to you later.”

“Okay, I give up,” Minna said. “How did you figure that out from all those letters and numbers?”

“I text message a lot, and my class taught me.” was Lina’s reply. “Texting shortcuts are being used a lot by kids, which is why in my class I teach them the appropriate time to use shortcuts in writing.”

Minna questioned, “But what about this note? Is it appropriate for a writing class?”

“Based on the content of the note, I would say yes and no. No, if that was not part of the lesson being taught. If I was teaching poetry, this would not be appropriate. However, If the students were doing a writing piece in which the characters that they were writing about were texting each other, then it would be appropriate. Based on what is written in this note, it looks as if it is just a casual note between two friends in class and had nothing to do with school. As long as it wasn’t passed around while teaching was going on, then I see nothing wrong with it.”

Minna was still irked. “I think that all this texting shortcut writing is ruining students literacy/language skills and should be banned!”

Lina did not agree. “Text speak is just another language. As with any new language, it is important to teach students when a language should be used and how to use it within the context of that language. So for formal writing don’t use shortcuts, for texting between friends it’s okay. It’s an important lesson to learn.”

Minna asked, “Don’t most people know that already? Why encourage this new language?”

Lina answered, “One, because it already is a mainstream language. Sometimes you have to keep up with the times. And secondly, not everyone does realize when to use it. When I was student teaching, my college supervisor made a point of the difference. He stated to us that some of us students, when sending him progress reports, were using text shortcuts in their emails. This is not the way to establish a professional relationship with a college professor. And an important lesson to learn when seeking employment in the real world.”

“Then I’d better start learning how to use texting language,” Minna said thoughtfully. “By the way…How do you text on a flip phone?”

————————————————-

There are lots of discussions online about ‘literacy’ and ‘text shortcuts’. Just do a search.  If you don’t want to bother to do your own search, read the following article that I found in my search:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140519160531.htm

 

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X – Never do what is eXpected.

Posted on April 27, 2018 by hdh

Never do what is eXpected

I tend to be somewhat of a rogue. When asked to do something the traditional way, I will usually find a different and unique way of doing it. I don’t think I do it to be contrary. I just like to be creative in the way I do things. This sometimes creates issues, but other times, especially in teaching ends up being a plus.

Just like Lina, the other day…

——————————-

Minna was re-assigned when the students in her class were sent to work with their parents as part of an On-the-Job program that all 6th graders took part in. For today, Minna got to work in Lina’s class. It was time for a math lesson.

Lina announced, “Everyone take out your math books and I want you to work on pages 234-238 today. We are continuing our work on subtraction of whole numbers.”

Minna asked what she could do and was told by Lina to just wander around the room and try to find students that might be having difficulty with the problems.

Minna found one student tried to get him to understand the concept of borrowing from the 10s column when there weren’t enough 1s to subtract from in the 1s column. No matter how many times Minna explained the algorithm the student didn’t get it.

Lina came over, knowing that there was a problem and spoke to the student. “You know when I have to subtract things I always find it easier when there are zeros in the bottom number and I don’t have to borrow. Would you like to try that?”

The student agreed and showed Lina the problem he was working on, 53-27.

Lina asked, “You can’t take 7 away from 3. Hmm. Is there a number that I can add to the 27 so that there will be a 0 in the ones place?”

The student replied, “If I add a 3 then the bottom number will be 30.”

Lina followed up with, “That sounds great, however, if you add a 3 to the bottom number, you better add a 3 to the top number so the difference will still be the same.”

The student did that and now the problem was 56-30. “The answer is 26!” he shouted.

“That sounds great. Do you think you can do that for some other problems?” Lina asked.

“I could try.”

“You go ahead,” Lina said. “If you need more help just ask an adult.”

Minna just looked on in awe. “That’s not the right way to subtract. You have to borrow and carry over and all that stuff that we learned when we went to school.”

Lina remarked, “That might be true and eventually I’m sure he will get the algorithm, but this method works too and he’s feeling confident about getting right answers. Sometimes you have to come up with new and different ideas to get across to kids what you want them to learn.”

Minna scowled. “When he forgets what you taught him at home and his parents try to explain, I’ll bet you’ll hear from them about your radical teaching method.”

“Probably.” Lina shrugged her shoulders. “But if they’re not learning the way the book says, you have to change what you do. For me doing the un-traditional and unexpected way sometimes gets good results, despite the criticism. And that’s what we’re here to do, right? Teach the children.”

Minna could see Lina’s point, even though she still felt that doing it by the book was the way to go.

———————–

I can tell you from experience doing what Lina did does get a lot of complaints from some parents. But their children did learn. And those kids rather than being disenfranchised from learning math actually found success and started to enjoy it.

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W – Ode to Winter’s End

Posted on April 26, 2018 by hdh

Ode to Winter’s End

Winter lasts but three months long

And then it’s over, what could go wrong?

Herman’s mad for now its Spring

But it’s still cold and that’s the thing!

Snow’s still here, where’s April’s rain?

“I need warm sun to plant my grain.”

Otto quips, “but it’s still fun

To play with snow, until it’s done.

I like the cold, there are no ticks

Or biting skeets and all their tricks.

Spring brings the dust that makes me sneeze

And all the stings that come with bees.”

“But flowers bloom,” Herman replied

“With scents and beauty from land that died.

And sounds of birds that fill the air

With chirps and peeps from voices fair.”

Otto stood firm in his cold stance

“You have your Spring, go do your dance

I’ll stay right here. I’ll still be warm

As Winter goes and breaks the norm.

My flannel shirts and vests I wear

Will save me from the chilly air.”

Herman fought back; “Winter be gone

I have to fertilize and seed my lawn.

Let cold winds go; it’s time to leave.

Time for warmth, a snow reprieve

Or else when Summer comes too soon

There’ll be no plantings tall to prune.”

“I guess you’re right,” Otto agreed.

“Nine months I’ll wait to meet my need.”

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V – A Question of Values

Posted on April 25, 2018 by hdh

A Question of Values


While sitting here, contemplating the world we live in, what it all means, and how it connects to my actions,  I’m reminded of a story from my childhood.

—————————————

Two friends, Otto and Herman, happened to meet along the road, both lost in their own thoughts about what is important and what guides their actions.

As usual, Otto always gets the first words in.

“You gotta’ have fun in this life. The key to happiness is play and adventure. Be your own boss. It’s through individuality and the freedom to do whatever you want to do that makes for a successful life. Who cares what anyone else thinks about you; if you’re happy then all is well. Don’t let other people’s suffering bring you down.”

Herman listened, as he was used to doing whenever Otto spouted out his opinions and then replied.

“I couldn’t agree with you…less. Sure it’s good to have fun and play and be your own boss, but not at the cost of others. Tolerance and acceptance of others should always guide your actions. Showing empathy and trusting that your decisions will always turn out for the better is truly the path to happiness and fulfillment. Thinking only about yourself will only provide a false sense of joy and contentment.”

Otto just shrugged off Herman’s comments. “How can you feel good at other people’s pain?”

Herman’s answer was short. “You feel good because they know you understand where they are coming from. They feel your support.”

The conversation went on with no real resolution.

————————————————-

 

As for me, it seemed that the answer was right there in front of them both. Play, adventure, freedom to do what you want for yourself are very important to how you do things, decisions you make, what you choose to create and expand upon. However understanding others, in what they say and do, and being accepting and tolerant of those that differ from you are of equal importance. You don’t live in a world of your own. As such, within reason, you need to compose your life and actions accordingly. You will have disagreements, some minor, some major, but understanding and the willingness to listen before you act is what fills your inner spirit.

At least, that’s how I want to live my life.

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U – What’s your Username?

Posted on April 24, 2018 by hdh

Your Username is WHAT?

Lina was having a quiet respite from her class in the faculty lounge when Minna walked in, clearly upset. “Why is it so hard to find a person’s name online? I know her first and last name, shouldn’t that be enough?”

Her solitude broken, Lina asked, “Who are you trying to find and where are you trying to find her?”

The classroom teacher that I’m working with needs to find this woman, who she is planning to have Skype session with. She forgot the person’s username and asked me to figure it out,” was Minna’ reply.

Lina looked confused, “Why is that so hard. You have her name. Can’t you just do a search on her name in Skype contacts?”

Minna pretended to look like that was the answer she was missing. “Oh, of course, that’s what I should have done. I’m sure that will give me the answer right away. Oh, that’s right, I already did that. Can you tell me which one of the names listed is the one I’m looking for? I came up with ‘dragonbreath, ‘pieceofcake’, ‘twizzler’, ‘can’twait’ and ‘neverends’.”

“Wow!” was Lina’s reaction. “That is difficult. Why do people make up such weird usernames?”

“Because they like to be unique,” Minna said, “It gives them a sense of identity. The problem is it is very difficult to find them.”

“That’s true. It also causes a problem when they get tired of that name and they change it to something else to fit whatever they are into. I have a friend who’s email name was MarioKart132 and then he changed it to Zelda3486 and now his new name is MechanicB14.”

“I was told that the person I’m looking for is supposed to come in and do something with yarn,” Minna said thoughtfully.

Lina suggested, “Why don’t you do a search on Skype for something like ‘Yarngirl’ or ‘Yarnlady’ and see what names come up. If you show the results to your teacher, maybe one of those names will spark her memory.”

“I guess I can try that. It’s a shot in the dark, but with any luck, it will work. Otherwise, I’ll just have to say I can’t find the person.”

“Good luck,” Lina said as Minna left. It was quiet again. Lina took a deep breath as her prep time had run out. It was time to go back to her class to teach a math lesson. Today’s topic was “Logical Thinking.”

 

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