October 26: Writing Prompt #299-Breakdown

Tell us about a habit you’d like to break. Is there any way it can play a positive role in your life?

Watching too much TV.  Since coming back stateside, TV has been a much bigger part of my life than it was on Kwaj.  Now we have Direct TV where we can record series shows we’ve never seen, movies we want to watch, and we have HGTV, ION, Animal Planet, and others that were not available to us living on the base.  I am a little addicted to the home makeover, real estate, and renovation shows on HGTV, and I love crime scene investigation dramas, of which ION TV plays almost exclusively it seems, at least when I am available to watch they are always on. Oh, and I love anything to do with animals, of course.  The positive role watching these types of shows can play on my life is to help me with our own home improvement and the training of our own dog, but all the other shows are really just time wasters, except for the series shows or movies I watch with my husband during our quality time together. 

The bad habit part of TV watching that I want to break is the amount of time I do it and when I do it.  I get wrapped up in just sitting and watching or worse, flipping channels, and other things I really need and want to get done fall by the way side.  I recently rediscovered a little book I have called “More Than a Bucket List,” and I am thinking about putting many of the ideas in this book on my New Year’s resolution list this year. Yes, I am already thinking about my New Year’s resolutions. After all, I am almost done with my 365 writing challenge from last New Year’s.  J  Anyway, one of the ideas from the book is to take a week off from TV and then take a month off. I wouldn’t mind trying out at least the TV free week and see how much more I get done, then maybe I’d go for the month…It’s a great idea, at least. We’ll see if it makes my 2016 Bucket List. :-p

October 25: Writing Prompt #298-Simply the Best

NASA is building a new Voyager spacecraft that will carry the best of modern human culture. What belongs onboard?

This is a tough one. There are so many things that could be included on such a spacecraft to represent the best of modern human culture.  I would say the latest handheld and tablet technologies from Apple and Microsoft should be included, along with the computer chips that are programmed to allow cars to park on their own, etc…Definitely include a recording of the most popular TV shows, movies, and music as well as a scrapbook of modern day paintings, sculpture, and other types of artist media gaining recognition today.  Of course, we would need to include the Best selling fiction and non-fiction books, including books on politics, spirituality, business, environmentalism, and medical science all the way down to the most popular young adult and children’s books. Photographs and pictures of all the various cultures around the world in their traditional dress and participating in deeply rooted cultural activities would be a good addition. And documentaries that compare our past to our present, highlighting advances and honestly portraying issues of today as well. I know there are probably tons of things I am missing in this list that would best represent human culture today. However, these are the first things that come to mind for me. I don’t think there would truly ever be enough room on the Voyager to put all the best reminders of modern human culture, but this would be a start, don’t you think? What would you add or take away??

October 24: Writing Prompt #297-Express Yourself

Tell us about a time you couldn’t quite get your words or images to express what you wanted to express. What do you think the barrier was? For bonus points, try again.

Gosh, there have been many times I couldn’t quite match my words to what I felt or wanted to express.  The power of description using colorful and creative expressions is not my strong suit in writing.  I think I’m pretty good at writing with honesty, with emotion when it’s something I’m particularly passionate about, with insight at times, but I could never describe in words what it’s like to stand next to Mt. Hood in Oregon with the Mt. Hood Lodge at my back. There’s no photography to match the experience either.  I can’t tell you what it’s like to look at Mt. Rainier from a little known viewing spot across a field of hay bails in mid summer.  In fact, the photographs I have of that with my children in the foreground look fake and photo shopped.  There’s truly no words to describe what it was like to be take those photos.  I would love to accurately portray the glistening, clear blue-green waters of Kwajalein Atoll or the view of multiple WWII planes dumped and scattered 100 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, but I can’t. Until you are slowly descending down, listening to your oxygenated breath moving in and out of my regulator, wide-eyed and in awe, you will never know what it looks or feels like to dive in these waters, to experience history in this quiet, water-filled manner.  I wish I could give you a sense of what it was like to participate in a Balinese purification ritual at a sacred temple or ride bikes down the mountain after doing yoga at sunrise overlooking a volcano.  How can I describe what it’s like to ride an elephant in Indonesia or watch a bull fight in Spain? You cannot judge it until you have experienced it.  You cannot know the feelings it inspires until you have been a part of it.  The colors of life at the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge during sunset’s high tide, diving at Troy’s Coral Head where sharks swim around you like silent cars whizzing past in a big city, the excitement of a professional hockey game in the magnificent city of Vancouver, British Columbia, and walking the reef at low tide from one island to another with the hot salt spray blowing across your skin…these are all experiences I don’t have the words to match what I wanted to express in the moment or even today when I remember them.  They are the memories of a life being lived to the fullest, with a goal of enjoying each and every moment, no matter how small or big, just being a part of this magnificent world God blessed us with, so get out there and enjoy those experiences that can’t be described with words or images. Make indescribable memories for you and your family….enjoy every moment. 

October 23: Writing Prompt #296-As Seen on T.V.

Write a script for a late-night infomercial — where the product is your blog. How do you market yourself? What qualities do you embody that other “products” don’t? What are the benefits of reading your blog?

So, this is the part of being an aspiring writer that I am not so fond of and/or very good at.  I don’t like to “market” myself or my writing.  I understand the importance of it, but it makes me feel funny.  In the spirit of doing my best to complete this prompt, I’ll try.  So, if I had to write something about my blog to market it, it might go something like this:

From Atolls to Apples is written in the style of a personal journal. The author is very straightforward and clear about her purpose for writing being a cathartic experience for her.  Reading it may provide you with a chance to relate to the author or possibly even encourage you to look more closely at your own life experiences and how you might learn from them.  Bottom line, the author of this blog is not trying to persuade you to change your mind about anything or convince you to buy into a product or idea, she is simply interested in sharing her life with you and hopes that you will find her writing fascinating and possibly even insightful now and again. 

October 22: Writing Prompt #295-Sad but True

Tell us about the harshest, most difficult to hear — but accurate — criticism you’ve ever gotten. Does it still apply?

This was not only difficult to hear, but is very difficult to write about, so bear with me. I will do my best to explain it with care. It was not a direct spoken criticism to me, but it was a criticism, and a mistake I freely own.  During one of my last years on the island, I spoke openly in a time of tremendous stress at the workplace around my culturally diverse co-workers.  They were all from the same culture, but it was not the same as mine.  I had lived and worked around them for so many years, I mistakenly thought I could speak my mind about things within their culture that I felt were injustices toward them; however, I had not yet considered what I thought was happening from their perspective.  In fact, I completely misunderstood how my frustrations would come across to them. Almost immediately upon hearing that I had offended co-workers, who I also considered my friends, I attempted to correct it by explaining myself in writing to them (because, after all, I am usually better able to express myself appropriately-especially when it might be an emotional subject-by writing a letter). This turned out to be the worst thing I could have done.  I should have gone to them in person to apologize and simply taken responsibility for my gross error.  Instead, I tried to justify and explain why I said what I said, while again, not putting myself in their shoes to understand it from their perspective.  Bottom line, I was criticized for being culturally insensitive, and I felt and still feel quite ashamed for not handling myself more professionally when I was frustrated and for not being more sensitive to my co-workers. I never intended to be insensitive or criticize their culture. I actually said it out of my love for them and their culture, wishing to see the betterment of their lives overall. The problem with that was that my idea of a better life was not the same as theirs.  Does this criticism still apply? I hope not. I am much more conscious of what I say and how I say it to everyone now. I try to learn as much as I can about other cultures (as I always have before), but more than that, I try to see their lives and cultures from their hearts and minds, not simply my own and respect their cultures for all that they are, positive and negative included. After all, my American culture is certainly not perfect either, but it is my heritage.