Precipitation Theory

So at one point, I lived in California, aka the state that's on fire. And for those who don't know, California was going through a drought for a while. Rain, what's rain? Oh yeah, it was that thing I liked when I was a kid. Anyway, we didn't get nearly enough rain, so that was fun. (Not.)

So one day, I was looking at the forum of a writing group I'm in, and someone in England was complaining about the rain. Not just rain, but endless water that was flooding areas. I pointed out the irony of it all: here I was in a drought, and she's drowning. Jokingly, I said, "Hey, perhaps you could bring that excess water my way." Her reply was along the lines of 'I wish'.

That winter, it rained. And rained, and rained. There was one month where it rained the majority of the days. Perhaps one of the reasons this sticks in my mind is because we were having problems with our phone lines whenever it rained, and no matter how often we complained, it did not get fixed, or they would replace the wrong thing, etc. But I digress. So at one point later on, I wrote to her, "Hey, thanks for bringing those rain clouds over here!"

And it wasn't just California, either. In in another state, other family members of mine were in the Land of Eternal Snow. For a while, my second cousins had more snow days than school days. Being in love with snow, I was definitely envious.

How Not To Write Romance

At one point or another, we've all encountered stories involving romance. Whether a book, TV show, movie, song, or other format, romance is a recurring theme in stories. In this time, we've seen those that do romance well, and those that don't. In today's post, I plan to discuss things that sometimes aggravate people in romance stories. Not that some of these can be well-written, but in many cases, these have been overdone, overdramatized, or in another way are executed poorly. (As a warning, some of these will deal with PG-13 subjects.)

For purposes of avoiding spoilers or having people storm the castle with pitchforks because I didn't enjoy the story, I'm not going to mention many titles or author names in this post. But I think we can all relate to, or even recall examples of, some of these aggravations. 

Gelert and the Tramp

Gelert and the Tramp? It should be 'Lady and the Tramp', right?

Well, not today. This Wednesday's post focuses on the parallels between 'Lady and the Tramp', and an old Celtic legend involving a dog named Gelert.

A Perfect First Date

My mother and father went out on their first date. They were planning to go to the movie theaters. My father, who was a sci-fi fan, wanted to see the 'Star Wars' movie, which had just come out at the time. Mom wasn't sure, because her sister had seen it and said she wasn't that impressed by it. But Dad really wanted to go, so that's what they did.

Upon reaching the movie theater, my father realized he forgot his wallet. So Mom ended up having to pay for both of their tickets, for a movie she wasn't sure she even wanted to see. They then entered the theater, and sat down to watch the film.

And then, after all of this, guess what? Neither of them even liked the movie. Poor Mom, who was just as disappointed as she thought she would be. And poor Dad, who was so excited to see 'Star Wars', and then was so unimpressed by it.

Mom never let him forget their disastrous date, either. "Hey, remember when we went to that movie I didn't want to see, and then I had to pay for both of the tickets?" Ah, yes, good memories.

(If you don't believe teasing is a thing in our family, ask my friend how I still remind her of the time she fell asleep while we were on the phone.)