Tag Archives: #GMGGraphic

2307 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

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2307 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

Have you ever had your heart broken? Not by a lover but by the genuine tears of a child. Friday I was sitting at the computer blogging when my son asked me to play with him. He was home from school again because of the freezing rain that turned the world into a skating rink. The schools are so quick to shut down these days for weather that’s pretty normal for Canada but that’s another story for another time.

I told him I was busy and I couldn’t play. My wife who works overnight was sound asleep upstairs. He has two brothers and a sister but the boys are grown and on their own and his sister lives with her Mom. For all intents and purposes, he is an lonely child.

My words about being too busy to play with him cut like a knife. First, the corners of his lips sank and his voice began to quiver. “Daddy, but you are always busy and I play down here alone all the time. I just want someone to play with”

In that instant, my heart broke in two. I was the oldest of three. The first of my two sisters came into the world two and a half years after me. I don’t know what it is like to be without siblings, not really.

He tried so hard to hold back his tears but they would eventually escape his grasp, running down his cheeks one by one. He is an outgoing boy. When we go out it doesn’t take long for him to befriend other kids at the park or start up a conversation with the woman sitting at the next table in the coffee shop. I’ve seen him make friends with the guy in the next car while we sit waiting for Mom to come back from the store or for me to finish pumping gas. He is a social animal and that will serve him well as he grows up but for now, it makes it very difficult to spend so much time alone.

Needless to say, I spent a lot less time on the blog and more time playing Lego and board games. We made banana bread together and watched Captain Underpants (too many episodes in my estimation but he loved every minute.) We read books, made paper airplanes and started the final phase of his rock-spinning project. It was a wonderful week.

On Tuesday we took him to his first live concert. He had a blast dancing and singing. We saw Vance Joy in the summer and he put on a great show with no swearing or other foul language so we thought it would be a good show for Nate to go too. Plus he loves Saturday Sun always dancing around the house if one of us is streaming it.

Here are some of this week’s highlights on Greg’s Blog…

Five Word Weekly Challenge

Another great week at Five Words. Thanks to everyone who participated.

Express Yourself written by Henrietta Watson at All About Writing and more.

Perspective written by Paula Light at Light Motifs II.

Essence of a Good Life, a beautiful life quote written by Rugby8432 at The Bag Lady blog.

A Better Life, an advertisment for Fandango’s cult over at This, That and the Other. Have a read but don’t drink the Kool-aid!

Riding on the Wind, a meditative poem written by Debbie at Piper’s Adventures.

Ponderings written by Sadje at Keep It Alive.

Uplifting Spirits written tubasarwat by My Written World.

Four Line Fiction Challenge

Daniel Boberg via Unsplash

Another slow week for Four Line Fiction…

If I’d Only Listened, was my contribution to this new weekly challenge.

More highlights from Greg’s Blog…

Chin Music | A T-Shirt Wisdom Wednesday graphic salute to pitchers and catchers reporting for spring training. Go Jays Go!

The Suicide of Rene Levesque | Written in response to Fandango’s Provacative Question.

The Waiting | A Rework and Revised version of The Waiting reissued for Fandango’s Flashback Friday.

I Was Certain | A Puente poem written for David’s W3 Prompt over at The Skeptic’s Kaddish

Around the Blogosphere…

Sorry I didn’t get much reading in and therefore nothing to report this week.

Next week…

Look for another Five Word Weekly on Monday, T and Four Line Fiction on Thursday. I didn’t get to Revenge last week so who knows, there may be two drop this week!

Have a great week,

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Happy Valentines Day Rant

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Happy Valentines Day Rant

Is it just me or have holidays in school become ridiculous. I know there are many people who dislike Valentine’s Day, it is a “Hallmark” holiday if there ever was one and there is no doubt it is contrived. My wife and I don’t celebrate per se. No roses for 20x the normal price, no cards, no expensive dinners. This year we are going to the Vance Joy concert here in town but we’d have gone no matter the date plus this will be Nate’s first live concert. He is excited.

Some people don’t think kids should be allowed to exchange cards in class. I don’t approve or oppose a few minutes to distribute a few cards in class. If the teacher chooses to allow the exchanges, it doesn’t need to be a big production, five or ten minutes before or after recess and back to business. I do find it infuriating that the kids who participate are expected to give a card to everyone. It renders the exercise pointless. Nate only ever talks about a handful of kids, both boys and girls he considers his friends. I know, what does that really mean when you are in grade one, who knows but they are the kids he plays with most. They are the kids he invited to his birthday party later this month.

His teacher sent a note home at the end of last week reminding the parents that there were 23 kids in the class and they were expected to include a card for everyone. She further requested that they not put names on the Valentines and included appropriate sample greetings – To My Friend / To My Pal / To My Classmate – with an additional note asking that any greeting remains gender neutral. Her reasoning, it was too cumbersome for her to make sure the right card got to the right person.

The reality is, all of these “holidays” have become ridiculous in school. I am hardly and upstanding Catholic but Nate attends a Catholic school where they refer to Halloween as orange and black day, Christmas as red and green day and Easter as pink and yellow day. Christ, no pun intended, two of those holidays are central to the Catholic faith.

Happy Valentines Day to my fellow bloggers.

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2306 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

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2306 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

Sunday Digest is a little late tonight. I found myself watching the Super Bowl routing for the Chiefs. The Chiefs are not my team but I just can’t bring myself to cheer for anything in Philadelphia. Not just the Eagles, I mean any of the sports franchises and even the city in general.

At least the game was a good game, close until the very end. I was more than disappointed in the finish though. There is nothing worse than watching a team try to not score when they have the chance. Despite the Chiefs having had three chances to score a major on the final drive, one where the receiver had a clear path to the endzone and stopped on the one-yard line and two where the quarterback took a knee, and chose instead to run the clock down before kicking a last-second game-winning field goal. I understand the logic and strategy but as a fan, I found it anti-climatic and just not a great look for the sport. At least my wife outdid herself with the chicken wings and chili.

She was right into the Rihanna halftime show but I didn’t recognize a single song. I’m assuming she did a medley of her hits. That’s the norm for Super Bowl shows but having heard them now I still don’t think I’d recognize them if they were playing on the radio tomorrow. I can’t think of a worse halftime show. No, wait, I take that back, the Black Eyed Peas auto-tuned disaster was the worst ever.

An update on my exercise and weight loss plan. The exercise has been going well. I think I’ve only missed one scheduled day since I started but I’ve seen virtually zero results on the scale. That said, my belt is as small as it can go which is two holes smaller than when I started so that has to be a sign of some progress.

This week in music my favourite band from the 80s has released a new song. Depeche Mode, now a two-piece following the sudden death of Andy Fletcher last year have released “Ghosts Again”, the first single from their upcoming Momenti Mori album.

Here are some of this week’s highlights on Greg’s Blog…

Five Word Weekly Challenge

Lots of great responses this week…

Sara’s Struggle is a story about overcoming adversity written by Henrietta Watson at All About Writing and more.

An Illuminating Encounter is a tale of forboding written by Sadje at Keep It Alive.

Pressure is a tragic tale of forbidden love written by ladysighs.

Four Line Fiction Challenge

Belinda Fewings via Unsplash

Another slow week for Four Line Fiction…

Private Hell, was my contribution to this new weekly challenge.

I’m not giving up, next week will be better.

More highlights from Greg’s Blog…

Mass Extinction | Written for an older What Do You See? prompt from Sadje.

Spacetime | Written for Denise’s Six Sentence Stories and several daily word prompts.

Just Another Day | Written to include words prompts from Fandangos’ One Word Challenge

12. Revenge: Trinkets | The twelfth installment of the Revenge Series written for Sammi Scribbles Weekend Writing Prompt.

Around the Blogosphere…

Here are some other great clicks this week…

Rest Zone | Vova Zinger’s Photoblog | Vova Zinger posted a series of beautiful architectural images taken in the Boston Public Library Courtyard. This one is my favorites.

That One Moment | Paula Light at Light Motifs II | A well-written work filled with raw emotion and brutal honesty. A must read.

Only a couple this week. I didn’t get much reading in. Hopefully, I can catch up on everyone’s work next week.

Next week…

Look for another Five Word Weekly on Monday, T-Shirt Wisdom on Wednesday and Four Line Fiction on Thursday. At some point during the week the next installment for the Revenge series will drop using the prompt word jejune.

Have a great week,

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2305 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

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2305 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

Do you ever just need a moment to yourself. Of course I found a way to make it backfire on me. I’ve been back in the office for a couple of months now but working in my own office in isolation. The workload isn’t much different from when I was at home so I’m not sure why I was needed back so desperately. That decision was out of my hands but we make do as necessary.

Anyway, last Sunday I left a couple of hours early and stopped for some food at a local restaurant to take in the Leafs/Capital (hockey) and Chiefs/Bengals (football) games, simultaneously. I sat in the corner alone with my mask on except when eating. The bill was surprisingly reasonable, certainly on par with some fast food joints I may have stopped at and eaten while driving and the quality was way better. The problem is I may have forgotten to mention it to my partner who believed I was still at work. Of course, me being oblivious left the receipt in my work pants. Needless to say, she found it and rightly so, I’ve been relegated to the doghouse. Nothing foul was afoot and it seemed so insignificant at the time, but it was still a breach of her trust.

Truth is I just needed a moment to myself. If I’d told her, I’d have had to pick her and the kid up and bring them along or I’d have been asked to bring home an expensive takeout order, not that the cost was a concern, I just didn’t want to be saddled with a chore and expectations. I just needed a moment, lost in the noise and in my thoughts. I was wrong not to tell her but a part of me thinks it’s time we’d have been apart anyway.

It was nice to have a little more normal week on the blog, here are some of the highlights…

Five Word Weekly Challenge

Lots of great responses this week…

Linger With Me is a beautifully romantic poem written by ladysighs.

The Monster in the Back Room is a cheeky monster tale written by Joanne the Geek.

Life’s Real Purpose and Adulthood is a harrowing tale of monotony, life’s grind and taxes by Chel Owens.

Dishes a tale of newly realized freedom by Paula at Light Motifs II

Gossip Girls is a poem about not liking gossip unless of course, it’s about someone else by Sadje at Keep It Alive.

Four Line Fiction Challenge

Belinda Fewings via Unsplash

They said if you build it they will come. Not so much for the inaugural Four Line Fiction challenge but if I’m anything it’s not a quitter. Perseverance is said to be the trait of champions. I provided the only entry this week…

Out Of The Cold, was my contribution to this new weekly challenge. Hopefully its more than me next week.

More highlights from Greg’s Blog…

The Nightbird | Written for Shay’s Word Garden.

My First Computer | Written for WordPress Daily Prompt

In Between | Written for Denise’s Six Sentence Stories.

Another Person’s Trash | Written for Carrot Ranch’s Story in 99 Words.

11. Revenge: The Bonding | The eleventh installment of the Revenge Series written for Sammi Scribbles Weekend Writing Prompt.

Around the Blogosphere…

Here are some other great clicks this week…

Follow 9 | Liz H. at Valley of the Trolls | Another installment in the Follow series. Liz always has compelling serials to follow.

Inside the Tree | Bridgette Tales | A story that draws you in and won’t let go until the very end.

Hollow Man | Fandango at This, That and the Other| A poignant piece about chasing material success at the cost of everything else.

Her Crime Murder | Diana Coombes aka Writer Ravenclaw | A tale of murder and daring escape!

Homo sapiens | Hobbo | Someone mentioned the late great Hobbo this week and I went back and read a bunch of his work. It seemed appropriate to add one here. If you haven’t read Hobbo’s works I highly recommend you have a gander.

Just keep clickin! There was so much other great stuff out there this week but not enough time or room to fit it all in here.

Next week…

One week until the Super Bowl for all you football fans. For me its just an excuse to eat chili and chicken wings! Chiefs and Eagles fans will be going crazy.

Look for another Five Word Weekly on Monday and the second installment of the newly minted Four Line Fiction on Thursday. Hopefully this weeks image gets the creative juices flowing. At some point during the week the next installment for the Revenge series will drop using the prompt word key.

Have a great week,

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Where the Sidewalk Begins

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Where the Sidewalk Begins

Every week Fandango over at This, That and the Other posts a provocative question. This week’s question follows on the heels of his unfortunate fall from a ladder. I think the accident probably had a huge influence on this week’s question…

“Have you ever fractured a bone (or bones) that was serious enough to require inpatient hospitalization and a post-operative stay in a rehab facility? What bone(s) did you break? How long did it take in rehab (inpatient or at home) before you were back to “normal”? And did you actually achieve the same level of functionality you had prior to the fracture(s)?“

While I cannot claim to have required hospitalization or a stay in a rehab facility I wanted to participate so this is as close as I’ve come.

The worst bone break I ever suffered was a fracture of the scaphoid bone. Certainly nothing like Fandango’s ladder/hip mishap. There was no hospital stay outside of the lost hours spent waiting in Emergency but there was lots of physiotherapy after to get back to a full range of motion.

It all started on the first day of school. No, I wasn’t going to school. Those days were long behind on this fateful September 3rd. I was out for my morning ride. I’d just purchased a new road/gravel bike a couple of weeks earlier. Before this bike, I’d been a mountain bike guy. I’d taken many a spill on rocky tree-lined trails with nothing more than bruises and scratches to show. These bones were tough as nails!

But as a guy in my early 50’s it was time for something less dangerous…

Now, back to the first day of school. It was 7:30am and I was out for my 15km morning ride along my usual route. On this morning I was cruising along at about 25km/h, and gaining fast on a group of 15 to 20 high school students walking in the dedicated bike path like a herd of cattle who’ve broken through a barbed wire barrier to obliviously congregate on the road.

As I approached the group they remained oblivious and did not move out of the way. Instead of slowing or stopping, I veered to my right across the grass boulevard towards the empty sideWALK that was ten feet to the right. Notice how I highlighted WALK because that is where they should have been! Anyway, my front wheel caught a rut along the edge of the cement and dug in sending me and the bike ass over tea kettle. My head (thank God for helmets) hit first with my 6’1″ frame crashing down close behind.

The kids, no longer oblivious, looked over as I skidded across the concrete and popped up seeming unscathed. Yeah, I was bleeding from various scraps and scratches but when some of them asked me if I was okay, I insisted I was alright. After all, my head and frame were still attached to each other! In fairness, the adrenaline of the moment had me believing I was none the worse for wear. Although, I am certain my bruised ego would have told them I was fine even if there had been a bone sticking out somewhere.

An inspection of the bike revealed some damage to the handlebar tape and a couple of superficial scratches elsewhere but no major damage. Hell, that was a minimum right of passage for the mountain bike. If it wasn’t banged up you weren’t doing it right.

Inspection complete, I jumped back on the bike with every intention of finishing the nine or so klicks remaining on my ride but the moment I tried to grab the handlebar with my left hand that notion quickly dissipated, replaced with searing pain shooting up my arm. I couldn’t have gripped the bar if my life had depended on it. Instead, it was a slow shameful ride home with my left arm tucked against my midsection while my weakened legs powered a bike that was being guided by a lone and shaky right arm.

I don’t know if any bones were broken. The ER doctor showed me the x-rays but they did not show a break. Apparently, fractures to the scaphoid bone don’t reveal themselves on x-rays until 48 hours after injury. Based on his experience the doc believed the bone was broken and because the small bones of the carpals, and in particular the scaphoid, don’t receive a lot of blood flow should be treated as such. A lack of blood flow restricts healing and if not immobilized and allowed to heal the bone could die. That was enough for me to accept my fate and follow his instructions.

For six weeks I wore a removable cast without knowing if it was broken. X-rays were never taken again later, I just ran with the emergency room diagnosis. When the cast came off I began three months of physiotherapy to get close to a full range of motion. It would be another nine months before I can say the hand and wrist were back to normal.

Even now if the moon and stars and sun align just right, hidden behind a bank of dark grey clouds that are dumping a cold damp rain down on Mother Earth I can still feel it click and groan. Sometimes, I think that if I’d just plowed through them they’d have moved or at the very least it would have been a softer landing!

Oh, and did I mention all the years of reckless mountain biking where I never once broke a bone?

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2304 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

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2304 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

Have you ever had one of those days, weeks, or months where you just didn’t feel like doing anything? Crawling out of bed seemed like an insurmountable task. It’s like there is a weight on your shoulders pinning you in place. That is the only way I can describe this week. It’s not stress or anxiety or anything like that, just the winter blahs!

It certainly doesn’t help when the first thing you have to do each morning is dig out from under another eight to ten centimetres (three to four inches) of snow. The snowbanks on the driveway are almost too high to throw snow over. Keep in mind that there was no snow on the ground at the beginning of the week. Just the dreary brown, grey and beige of mid-winter. I am so over this winter thing and ready for spring to SPRING!

It hasn’t all been bad. Despite the winter blahs I have been able to keep up with my exercise routine and although the scale looks the same I do feel and see some effects of the effort taking effect. That has to be a good thing, right?

Of course, my sloth has meant a certain neglect for my blog as well. Reading and writing have taken a back seat to vegetating on the couch and binging TV that I probably wouldn’t watch otherwise. A problem compounded by the fact that I end up staying up until one, two, and three in the morning and then waking up at seven again to get the rugrat ready for school. Certainly a subtle form of self-destructive behaviour.

It may not be the most exciting week in review but here goes…

Five Word Weekly Challenge

This week’s Five Word Weekly challenge response:

The Dream, a work of speculative fiction written by Paula at Light Motifs II that would make a great starting point for a longer story. I would like to see where the story takes Odwin.

More from Greg’s Blog…

Paper Free Blogging | Written for Blogging Insights prompt at Salted Caramel

10. Revenge: The Shadow Woman 2 | Part ten of the Revenge Series written for Sammi Scribbles Weekend Writing Prompt.

Around the Blogosphere…

Here are some other great blog posts I beamed to this week…

Terrible Poetry Contest – January Winner/Wrapup | Chel Owens | Poetry so terrible it’s good, like an Ed Wood film!

The Funny Farm | Bitchin’ Chickens | I’ve been wanting my own chicken coop for some time but space and my wife have put a damper on any such ventures so I’ve come to follow this blog to get my chicken fix. If only it came with fresh eggs each morning!

Prudential Tower – City Cliff | Vova Zinger’s Photoblog | Love the perspective in this photo.

At Last, The Destination | Rhyan Scorpio-Rhys at Madd Fictional | One of my favourite blogs. Rhyan writes some great fiction.

Next week…

Out of January and into the bleak mid-winter, let’s see if the groundhog brings us a February present. Here’s what to look for on Greg’s Blog this coming week…

Look for another Five Word Weekly on Monday and the launch of Four Line Fiction on Thursday. #GB4LF is a weekly photo prompt challenge and I hope everyone finds time to participate. In addition look for T-Shirt Wisdom (now moved to Wednesday) and Part 11 of the Revenge Series.

Have a great week,

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Paper Free Blogging

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Do you write directly on a device? Are you old school, do you write on paper first?

While the process is the same I don’t always use the same input method. That said, pen, paper and any notion of old-school writing being romantic is long a thing of the past. The only thing writing on paper ensures is dead trees. I know they were dead before I started but I tend to edit and re-edit while still writing and that means a lot of crumple, toss, re-write, rinse and repeat.

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Writing electronically is much more forgiving. For example, this thought sounds better in sentence six – go back and edit sentence two immediately before I forget. It is so much easier to edit electronically and paper is so much more majestic and relaxing in its natural state.

Haseeb Jamil via Unsplash

I still prefer the computer over my phone but have become more cognizant of the fact most readers are using their mobile devices so I find I’m checking formatting, image placement and aesthetics all the time.

I use several applications for writing drafts including Word, OneNote, Google Keep (especially for jotting down ideas), and the native WordPress editor. They all have advantages and disadvantages. For example, Word is excellent for writing challenges that have word counts attached. The count is always visible in the bottom right of the screen.

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More and more I find myself using Google’s voice capture technology to write first drafts. It is quicker and easier to get initial thoughts down on electronic paper than typing but does bring back some of the pitfalls of pen and paper if you want to edit. Plus I find myself sounding like Victor Borge’s phonetic punctuation skit.

Do you re-draft? If so, how many times?

It depends but I do tend to get into the weeds when I re-draft, agonizing over the small stuff and rewriting over and over. Thank God for the undo and/or redo buttons on most editors. Editing ends up eating up a lot of time and effort.

The one thing I do have to watch for is my habit of dropping the d and s from words that should be past tense or plural. I read and re-read to make sure I have them right. It used to be I’d have to wait until the next day to re-read the piece and catch them but I have gotten better over time. Plus MS Word and Grammarly are very good at catching those types of spelling and grammar problems.

What is your method? I would love to know.

From above it seems my method is all over the map. It’s not really though. The process generally follows the same patterns – inspiration, write, revise and re-write as necessary + a few more times for good measure, and finally publish – regardless of the methods used to record it.

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2303 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

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2303 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

Mother Earth’s processes ebb and flow over long periods of time – centuries, millennia, eons. Man on the other hand does not have that kind of time or patience. We are nothing more than a cosmic blip. As such we have developed ways to speed up those natural processes for our own exploitive gain. It represents many of the problems we have created when it comes to pollution, plundering the planetès resources, and global warming.

It has also allowed us to unlock the beauty of the planet, often hidden in plain sight. This week my son and I began a passive science project. For Christmas, he received a STEM certified National Geographic mini rock tumbler. The kit included several different types of very plain (I wish I’d have taken a photo) looking rocks. My son put the rocks into the tumbler along with one of the grit packets provided and water into the tumbler drum. We then placed the drumontop the tumbler base and let the spinning begin. The first step would take five days of spinning with us stopping taking a look after day one and again after day three. He was so excited to see the changes along the way.

At the end of the fifth day the rock edges had been smoothed considerably and the stones were beginning to show their colours. After he played with them for a while the stones along with the second packet of grit and clean water all went back into the drum for a six to eight day tumble. Each phase, four in all will continue to smooth and polish the stones. I am amazed at how it has held his interest as he asks about his tumbling stones every day.

As for the blog itself, I’ve introduced a new header image but I think it needs tweaking. Not sure it’s effective on mobile. If anyone could let me know what they think or how it looks on the mobile experience it would be greatly appreciated.

Let’s take a look at the week in review…

Five Word Weekly Challenge

There were three responses to this week’s Five Word Weekly challenge:

Bramble in Six, Paula at Light Motifs II blogging lament that incorporated the word justice.

As the morning arrives penned by Sadje at Keep It Alive. A tale of computer woes that could derail a detectives efforts to apprehend a cyber criminal.

In the Dark – Ending? a tension filled piece from Writer Ravenclaw.

All are excellent reads and I highly recommend you take a look.

Escape Plan | Written for Chel Owen’s Terrible Poetry Contest.

Wouldn’t You Say? A WTF Reply. | Written in response to Cyranny’s Cove WTF? eyelash vending machine post.

9. Revenge: The Shadow Woman 1 | Part nine of the Revenge Series written for Sammi Scribbles Weekend Writing Prompt.

KABOOM! | Sorry just wish Putin would find folly from a 10 story building!

Around the Blogosphere

Here are some other great blog posts I click on this week…

The Waterfall | Joanne the Geek

What’s It All About? | ladysighs

No Energy | Fandango at This, That and the Other
Fandango found himself in the hospital this week. Hhere’s hoping the hip responds and it gets easier as the days pass

Next week…

We shall see, I am trying to update my WordPress theme but I am so damned concerned it will eff everything up. Some of the new themes look like they have advantages that make blogging quicker and simpler and less labour intensive but only once I’ve figured out how they work. We shall see.

Look for this week’s Five Word Weekly on Monday and hopefully Part 10 of the Revenge Series. Beyond that its a crap shoot at best!

Have a great week.
Greg

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2302 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

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2302 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

Welcome to the inaugural Greg’s Blog Sunday Digest. Think of it as a wrap-up post for the week that was. I hope to make it a weekly feature that will include the week as I saw it play out. I hope to include some of my blogging highlights, any featured posts from Greg’s Blog challenges (currently Five Word Weekly but there will be more challenges to come), and some links to interesting posts I have found as I’ve clicked my way around the blogosphere.

It’s hard to believe but we are already through the second week of 2023. It has been a quiet week on the blog front. Work and home life have taken precedence over my creative pursuits. It happens that way sometimes. Along with a minimum of published content this week, I must admit I haven’t done much viewing or reading of my favourite blogs either.

I must admit I hate when that happens because there is so much great content out there. I will try to do my best and catch up but with all the great content out there it is hard.

Earlier in the week I published a post about becoming more healthy. I promised to not turn this into a health-nut blog but I will provide brief updates here. I hope the small updates will help keep me on track. I have started a new light workout routine that I am happy to report I did manage to complete all week. No results yet of course, I’ve actually gained a couple of pounds, discouraging but it is early days in this process.

Let’s take a look at the week in review…

Five Word Weekly Challenge

There were two excellent responses to this week’s Five Word Weekly challenge:

In My Solitude was written by Sadje at Keep It Alive. It is a beautiful poem of reflection incorporating all five of this week’s prompt words.

Exhuming Amy is a chilling vampire tinged tale of grief penned by Joanne the Geek inspired by the prompt word exhume.

Both are excellent reads and I highly recommend you take a look.

More from this week…

Quantum Hearts | Written for Fandango’s Story Starter #80 (#fss)

I’m a Fat Guy

Around the Blogosphere

Here are some other great blog posts I click on this week…

Silhouette of trees without leaves | Vova Zinger’s Photoblog

Doughnut Versus Donut | Fandango at This, That, and the Other
I must admit I began to wade in on doughnuts myself but ran out of time and never finished the post. I will say this, if you from Canada, Tim Horton’s is the place. I mean they drove Dunkin’ out of business and only one Krispy Crème location has survived up here.  

The Streets Were Deserted | Sunra Rainz

Hullo, Rabbit! | Chel Owens
The rabbit apocalypse is upon us!

Provocative | Paula at Light Motifs II
The start of a HARElequin romance novel.

Next week…

This week might be sparse again. It is my Monday to Friday week at the office which will make finding time for blogging difficult. I do hope to get back into a normal rhythm again soon.

Look for this week’s Five Word Weekly on Monday and T-Shirt Wisdom Tuesday, on well, in case you missed it TUESDAY!

Have a great week.
Greg

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Unarmed

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Every week Fandango over at This, That and the Other posts a provocative question. This week’s is a doozy…
“In your interpersonal relationships with acquaintances, friends, and family, are you able to separate political ideologies from the people who hold them? Why or why not?“
Cue my rambling answer below…

I’ve always been able to separate issues from those on the other side. That is probably why I am so good when it comes to disciplinary matters at work. None of it is ever personal. Just deal with the facts and move on. If the other party has hard feelings, there is nothing I can do about that. I just go about my business and do my best to treat them the same afterwards regardless of what may have transpired. There are plenty of people who get themselves emotionally invested and it eats them up inside. They generally burn themselves out or get run out of town at the end of a pitchfork. Either way, they do not fare well long term.

I admit I approach debating, political or otherwise, through a similar lens. Everyone has an opinion and I encourage them to bring it to the table. The best policy is to treat people with respect even when their ideological compass is pointing in a different direction than our own. Sometimes those views, extreme or absurd as they may seem, can shift perspective for everyone involved and lead others to think outside the box and find common ground leading to more moderate solutions. Even if it amounts to nothing at least I know who the imbeciles are.

There is one group that I do tend to distance myself from and they rarely make it to my inner circle. The exception is family – unfortunately, you are stuck with ’em! If they start I normally throw a couple of jabs in and walk away. So back to that group, I’m referring to those who refused to acknowledge facts when forming opinions. The brazen efforts they will go to refute proven science or obscure the facts to mould opinions that support their ideological fantasies suggest they aren’t likely to see reason. At some point, it doesn’t make sense to continue banging your head against the wall. I was saving the following graphic for a future T-Shirt Wisdom Tuesday but it seems appropriate right here and now.

Greg Glazebrook @ GMGCreative


For example, rabid anti-vaxxers and political anarchists who insist on comparing democratically elected political leaders to Hitler or Stalin. I’m the first to admit that I am not a fan of the current prime minister here in Canada but not every decision of his government has some hidden agenda or has been bad for the country. The government is not trying to overthrow democracy and appoint him the Supreme Ruler of the Northern Realms. Truly, I can only think of one instance where that may have been the case on this continent. Does January 6th ring a bell? The funny thing is the idiots who believe the previous scenario are the same clowns driving around with Trump stickers pasted on their back windows and bumpers.

Okay, so maybe I’m less tolerant of idiocy than I thought. lol

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