July 15: Writing Prompt #196-Far from Home

Tell us about the farthest you’ve ever traveled from home.

I consider Huntsville, AL my home because I was born there and have lived there longer than any other place, including Kwajalein.  That said, I actually had to Google the distance between Huntsville and several of the places overseas that I have traveled in order to determine which one was the farthest away from home.  And the winner is….Bali, Indonesia at 10,146 miles away from Huntsville, AL.  Of course moving to Kwajalein took up 6,740 of those miles, so that I only had to go the additional 3,406 miles to make it to Bali, but that would definitely be the farthest I’ve traveled from home EVER.  J 

How about you? 

July 14: Writing Prompt #195-Opposite Day

If you normally write non-fiction, post a photo. If you normally post images, write fiction. If you normally write fiction, write a poem. If you normally write poetry, draw a picture.

This picture was taken approximately one year ago.  I call it “Brothers,” and I actually had it printed and put it in a frame in my older son’s room. Why? Because it says so much more about the sibling relationship than any of the posed, perfect smiley photos I have of them together.  And I think it speak for itself…so in honor of this “Opposite Day” post, I am not going to write a book about it and analyze it for you. I’m going to let you look at it and decide for yourself what it says to you! J

July 13: Writing Prompt #194-Your Life, The Book

From a famous writer or celebrity, to a WordPress.com blogger or someone close to you — who would you like to be your biographer?

Who would write my biography? My family and friends. Reminiscent of a Faulkner novel, each chapter would be by one person who knew me well and could give their perspective on my life and person. That way, you see the whole picture, good, bad, and everything in between. There’s no bias when you allow all those who took part in your life to speak their thoughts about you.  Not everyone is going to sing your praises, and I wouldn’t want them too. I would urge them to be honest and straightforward and provide an accurate description of me for all to read.  Life isn’t about being famous or having a famous person write your life story. It’s about being real, living life like the majority of us regular Joes, so I would want my story to be told by all the regular people of the world that I know.  They are special and famous to me, but they are just faces in the crowd to those who don’t know them.  The best stories I’ve ever heard were told by friends in small groups on a patio overlooking the beach, in a boat on the water, or at a campsite over night.  It’s not about who you know or what you’ve done. It’s all in the way you tell the story.  I trust my friends and family would do it justice, each in their own unique way.  

July 12: Writing Prompt #193-Singular Sensation

If one experience or life change results from you writing your blog, what would you like it to be?

For me, the experience has already and is currently happening, and it’s all I could ever hope for.  Since beginning my blog, I feel more connected with family and friends far and near; I am getting regular practice and enjoyment out of writing, which is a passion of mine; I am able to reflect upon my life and provide my own sort of “therapy” to get me through difficult changes or situations, and I am accomplishing my own personal goal to write every day! Anything else that might happen as a result of writing my blog now or in the future would simply be icing on the cake! J 

July 11: Writing Prompt #192-Fandom

Are you a sports fan? Tell us about fandom. If you’re not, tell us why not.

I enjoy going to sporting events in person, but as far as getting involved in watching every game for a team on TV or participating in fantasy leagues, etc…I do not have any interest because I usually get bored watching sports on TV or my mind starts to drift to all the other things I have to do, and I get up to take care of these chores.  I do have teams that I like to follow in hockey (The Canucks) and now football (I live in Seattle, you can’t help but follow the Seahawks during football season here), but other than that, I’m definitely not a fanatical fan of any sport or team. On my bucket list is to attend at least one game of every professional sport and so far, I’ve done that with hockey, baseball, and soccer (Canucks, Mariners, and Sounders) , in part thanks to my move to WA.  Now, I just need to make it to a Seahawks game and a pro basketball game, and I’ll have the most popular sports covered. Being from the south, I should have already been to professional car racing, but I haven’t. Tennis, golf, and cycling would be cool to see too, but I’m not sure I could stomach boxing or MMA. That said, if the opportunity to attend such an event turned up, I wouldn’t pass on it.

It’s good to branch out and do things you normally wouldn’t try. Like when I lived in Spain for a summer and attended a bull fight in Madrid with the rest of my college classmates. In Spain, Matadors are in many ways, the equivalent of professional sports stars here in the U.S. I never would have thought this could be an enjoyable activity for me, but I liked it so much that I chose to go on my own to another bull fight later in the summer when I moved down to the south of Spain for my final month there. Afterwards, I found myself eating bull with my Spanish family. They had purchased the meat from the bull that died at the arena after the fight and after serving dinner and watching me eat it,  asked if I knew what I was eating.  I did not, but continued to feel very privileged to have a chance to participate in their culture and traditions in this way.  Some argue against bull fighting because the bull is killed in what some consider a not so humane manner (I won’t go into that further in this entry), but seeing it from another perspective, nothing goes to waste in this culture, right down to the meat of the bull. 

In the end, I don’t consider myself a big sports fan, but I do relish the opportunity to be a part of the fandom culture of attending games and events surrounding the world of sports.