Adulthood Vs. Childhood

When you're a child, things are different. You have a different lifestyle, different expectations. As you grow up, some of these aspects change. Below is a comparison of adulthood and childhood.

Punctuation Puns

In this blog post, we'll be exploring some excellent puns related to punctuation. Some of these were found online, and other jokes I made up.

Me and My Beyoncé Burp

A few years ago, I had a birthday celebration, I went with my mother and a couple of friends to eat at a restaurant and see a movie. During dinner, I was telling one of my friends, who went to a different school, about another classmate. He was a year or two ahead of me, and I was joking about how most of his sentences seemed to begin with 'me and my fiancée'. Seriously, it was always 'me and my fiancée did this', 'me and my fiancée did that'.

The Snake

We used to live in a rural area, so there was a lot of wildlife. One day, my parents saw something interesting. A hawk swooped down and took a snake. It was flying away with its meal when a second hawk appeared, trying to steal the snake.

They began fighting with each other, and the snake was dropped in the process. In the scuffle, they apparently forgot about the food they were fighting over. The body remained uneaten, and lay on the ground for a long while.

Children's Misconceptions and Strange Beliefs

When we're kids, sometimes we get some interesting ideas in our heads, including some that are wildly inaccurate, fuelled by lack of knowledge or our imagination.

Near-Death Experiences

During life, we sometimes find ourselves in potentially dangerous situations. Maybe it was just bad luck, or maybe we brought it upon ourselves through poor judgment. Below is a compilation of these stories.

Be Serious

I was out somewhere, and there were a fair number of people around. One of them was a girl, probably in her teens or twenties, just hanging out. Apparently her family was trying to contact her, and she either didn't have her phone or was just ignoring them.

Disadvantages of Being a Shape-Shifter

Last week, we discussed some of the cool advantages of being a shape-shifter. But what about the potential problems? Today, we'll discuss some of the issues that could arise from transformations.

Advantages of Being a Shape-Shifter

Being able to change form has plenty of advantages. Whether it's turning into an animal, looking like a different person, or becoming an inanimate object, such an ability would have plenty of perks. This can apply in real life, or to those fantasy characters trying to find the lost dragon princess. Let's explore some of this awesomeness, shall we?

Movies That Make People Cry

There's lots of good movies out there. Funny movies, serious movies, happy movies, sad movies. Today, we're going to discuss some of those tear-jerkers, the ones that do such a thorough job of evoking an emotional response in their viewers. As a warning, there will be spoilers, so if you haven't seen these some of these films, you may want to avoid their descriptions.

Invasion of the Yellow Jackets

I was pet-sitting for my cousin recently while she was on a trip. I looked after her two cats, and had a grand adventure one day, which involved far more creatures than I had signed up for. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start from the beginning, shall we?

Evil Things Restaurants Do

Restaurants are awesome. They serve food. I mean, unless you happen upon a bad place, such as McDonald's. (people come out of the woodwork to argue with this statement)
Anyway, whether good or bad, there's still a few evil things restaurants are sometimes found guilty of. Like having the wrong brand of saltine crackers, for example.... (narrows eyes) Below is a list of these things.

Disadvantages of Immortality

Immortality certainly has its appeals. You have time to do all sorts of things, experience a lot of things. But what about the potential disadvantages? Things might turn out not to be as idealistic as you anticipated. Today, we'll explore some of the problems that could arise from immortality.

Advantages of Immortality

The concept of immortality has fascinated humanity for ages. (That darned Adam and Eve, they ruined it for us. We could have lived forever, but no...) We often find ourselves wondering: what would it be like, if were immortal? What if we all lived forever? Or what if some were immortal, but others weren't? What would life be like, if our lifespan went beyond the usual 70-90 years? Let's explore some of the good points of outliving Methuselah, shall we?

Game Show Contestants

Most people have probably seen game shows, Whether it's "The Price is Right", "Do You Want to Be a Millionaire", or any number of other programs, we've seen them in some form.
But today, we're here to discuss the contestants of said shows. More specifically, the more... shall we say, exasperating contestants.

Things That Make No Sense

Throughout life, one comes across many things that make no sense. Here are a few examples.

Bugzilla

Yes, that's its official name. It was huge. It was ugly. It was the most horrifying, terrible thing ever to crawl into our house.

Okay, so my description seems a bit melodramatic. But if you saw it, you'd feel the same way. Prepare yourselves, because this week, I'm telling the tale of the enormous bug that somehow appeared in our house. Just when you thought your home was safe...

Foods I'm Reluctant to Eat

Food is good. Especially when it's chocolate. Or caramel, or butterscotch, or more chocolate. Maybe some cake, brownies, cookies, fudge... (drool)
Sorry, got carried away there. There's also spaghetti, cream of asparagus soup...
Anyway, my characters just waved a tub full of raw seafood in my face, so I've lost my appetite now. Today's blog post is about the foods I'm hesitant about, either from personal experience or just because. Some of them smell or look gross, and some of them are disgusting to even think about.

Amusing Things People Hear

Sometimes you hear the strangest, or the most amusing, things. Maybe you're in a conversation, and someone says something interesting. Or maybe you just overhear something while shopping or at a restaurant. Below is a compilation of some of these things.

Graham Crackers

Graham crackers. A well-known food item which many people enjoy. Yet, as a child, I wasn't impressed with them. I mean, they weren't anything exciting. I even associated them with disappointment to some extent.

Occasionally, the teacher would announce we were going to have a snack. Sounds great, right? Maybe it would be candy, or cookies. Maybe the teacher would bring out chips, or popcorn. I, along with the other short people, would wait for the snack to be bought it out. And it would be... graham crackers. I mean, it's right up there with fruit snacks or boxes of raisins, both of which I was just as unenthused with.

Back to School With Deborah

Awhile back, I had an odd dream. It was one of those classic 'school dreams' that people have, even if they haven't been in school for a long while. I graduated five years ago, and I'll probably dream of being in school until I die.
Interestingly enough, the dream also featured some people I follow on social media. I've probably forgotten some of the details, but let me see what I can recall of the dream.

Vintage New Computer

You occasionally find people talking about how they built their own computer. As in, actually purchasing the video card, sound card, RAM, etc. separately, rather than getting a pre-made PC. They decide how they want their computer, in terms of storage capacity, amount of memory, and how well it runs those high-end graphics on the latest games.

But this gets me thinking. What if they took that concept, building a custom computer, and did something crazy and unexpected with it? What if they took an old computer, and put all new stuff in it? It would be a brand new computer, with the outward appearance of Ye Olde Windows. (Or whatever operating system you happen to be using.)

How To Get Nothing Accomplished

The title speaks for itself. I'm a master at this, personally. I plan to get all this stuff done, but in a minute. Just as soon as I... Oops, it's almost midnight, way too late to get started on anything.

Or better yet, I have the desire to do stuff. But then I don't get around to actually starting immediately. and so I lose my drive to be productive. "Why don't you want to work, brain?" (prods lump of goo that's been melted from endless scrolling through social media)

Anyway, here's a quick guide to never fulfilling your dreams or making something out of yourself.

My Friend's Great Month

I hadn't talked to my friend lately, so I decided to call her and see how she was doing. Apparently, she's doing fantastic. She planned to get all sorts of stuff done in June, be a super-productive human being. Then... things happened.

It was the summer of '69. She bought her first real six-string at the five-and-dime, played it till her fingers bled... wait, wrong story. Let me start over.

Why I Haven't Gone to Bed Yet

I stay up late. And even when I'm tired, I still find reasons not to brush my teeth, turn the computer off, and try going to sleep. Below is a list of my typical problems and excuses that impede the process.

Symptoms of Depression

Depression is a multi-faceted thing, with many aspects and thought processes. It's not just about feeling sad and wanting to hide in bed with the covers over your head, about having a gray cloud over your head and dragging your feet with a frown on your face. Depression is a series of unhealthy thought processes and miseries, a sort of mental fatigue, a feeling that you're just tired of everything, done with everything.
And it comes in waves; sometimes you seem okay, and other times you go through periods where you're just in a funk. You feel angry, sad, and/or lacking the desire to do anything. Today, we'll delve into some of the icky realities of depression.
(Item one: it really stinks. Item two: I don't recommend it. Item three...)

My Childhood Camping Experience

At one point during my childhood, my friend and I were going to Girl Scout camp. We'd be staying in cabins for the week, and doing various projects and activities. However, we wound up having to drive to the location, then stay at a nearby campsite, because we couldn't get a hotel. So begins the adventure.

Now, I'd never camped before, and let me tell you, I turned out to be a wimp. If I got lost in the wild, I'd be dead within the hour, probably from something ridiculous.

Book Review- 'The Fallen Moon' series by K.J. Taylor

After a social media poll, it was voted that I should write a review on this series. Note that this includes a number of spoilers, so if you're planning to read it, you should probably avoid this blog post. We'll also be discussing PG-13 subjects, so be forewarned.
Recently, I was at the library when I came across part of a fantasy series involving griffins, and I thought it would be a good read. They only had the second book there, so I requested the first to brought to my branch, then picked it up. And so I began my read of 'The Dark Griffin' by K. J. Taylor.

A Miserable Meal

Gather 'round, children, and hearken to my tale. It was a dark and stormy night, with thunderclaps overhead. Weak and starving, we stumbled towards the much longed-for food source, blissfully unaware of the peril that awaited us...

Whoops, got a little melodramatic there. Let me start over. Today we're going to explore a truly awful experience we had at a restaurant. Fasten your seat belts, folks, because it'll be a wild ride.

7 Songs of My Life

I was tagged on social media by Deborah Kelty a while back to do this, and I thought I'd post it on my blog as well. The title is fairly self-explanatory; choose seven songs that describe me in some way. Originally the post was about posting with 'no explanation', but I wanted to expand upon these more, so here we go.

Automatic Things in Bathrooms

There's nothing greater than walking into a public restroom... and discovering that oh no, they have automatic toilets. Or automatic sinks, or whatever the case may be. These evil things were clearly designee by someone who enjoys watching people suffer (see 'schaudenfreude').

Curious Case of the Church Coughing Fit

Has anyone ever had the problem of recalling something that happened, but no one else seems to?

"Hey, remember when..."

"No. Are you sure that really happened?"

Yes. That issue. No one seems to know what you're talking about. Finally, you begin to wonder: is it that everyone you ask either wasn't there or forgot about it, or is your memory wrong? Perhaps it was a dream you had, and you mixed it up with reality. Talk about feeling confused.

The Working Process

We plan to do stuff. We'll vacuum the house, do the Mt. Everest of dishes in the sink, finish our philosophy paper, complete that thing we promised someone last millennium... and then we don't actually get started. Perhaps we make an attempt, only to discover we have no attention span today. Or we opened social media for five seconds... and now we're sucked into some endless rabbit trail that dedicated procrastinators seem to naturally find. Oops, you've gone three hours without even looking at your manuscript!

Old Writing Excerpts

I watched a video by Abbie Emmons, called 'Reading my (terrible) OLD WRITING!' She read some original stories and fan-fiction from years ago, pointing out some of the flaws in them. And that got me thinking. Why not post some of my own writing from days of old?

Brace yourself, folks, because some of these are from long ago, and some are from weird writing phases.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre Inn

Mom and I were travelling to a see a friend of mine graduate, and visit my brother. It was getting late in the day, and we wanted to find a hotel soon and get something to eat. For a while, we seemed to be having no luck; either there were no hotels around, or the signs promised lodging ahead... only for us to drive through and be unable to find it.

Finally, in La Pine, Oregon, we saw a place called Timbercrest Inn. Even better, a pizza place was right next to it. Convenient, right? Glad to have finally found a place to sleep for the night, we parked and walked into the office.

How To Not Learn New Skills

A while back, I did a blog post about things people say they're going to do, but never actually accomplish. Among those listed items were learning new skills, such as playing an instrument or acquiring another language. But why, you might ask, do we plan to learn the piano, or how to say "I have no idea how to stop procrastinating" in Spanish, only to never follow through on our plans? Well, let's dig deeper into that dilemma, shall we?

Crazy Realities of Writing

Earlier, I wrote a post on common misconceptions regarding writing. Today, we'll explore some of the mind-blowing things that occur when one takes on the task of writing. (Especially in fantasy or sci-fi stories.)

Interesting Phrases From Other Languages

Along with interesting words, I decided to compile some phrases from other languages. Some of them are kind of comical, and others are just plain cool.

Awesome Words in German

In my previous blog post, 'Awesome Words In Other Languages', I mentioned some words with no English equivalent. While compiling this list, I found so many great gems in the German language, I decided to create a separate post just for them.

Awesome Words in Other Languages

Recently, I was reading a blog post by K.M. Weiland about the value of language. In it, she mentioned how some languages have words for concepts that another tongue might not have a word for. This seemed like a fascinating concept, so I decided to look for words in other languages which had no English equivalent. Below are some of these words.

Events of Tuesday

Tuesday was a rather interesting day, and I thought I'd share the adventures with you.

Yesterday morning, we got up at eight, because an electrician was supposed to come and replace some of the outlets. I'm not a morning person, and I had got up early the previous two days, so I was grumpy and tired.

Nine o'clock came and went, still no sign of the electrician. Mom had some toast, I ate some leftover pizza. No electrician, no call. Finally, we got tired of waiting. We had shopping and other things to do, so we left around ten thirty.

"Pikachu Electrician" by Kawaiichinmoku.

Customer Man

My friend sent a package to her family, and had set it up so she would receive a message when they got it. Eventually, the package arrived, and a message came to her saying they had received it. But it's the wording that was truly fantastic.

"Met customer man. Gave package. Man was grateful."

'Customer man'? It sounds like he ought to be a superhero with a cape. "It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Customerman!" And it seems he's very grateful about getting packages.

Anyway, my friend found it just as humorous, and came into my room to tell me about the adventures of Customerman, and whoever wrote that terrific synopsis. Or as it might be better phrased, "Met friend woman. Heard story. Woman was amused."

Simplistic or Uncreative Place Names

There are great many places in the world, with different names. Some of them are surprisingly simplistic. And, in some cases, they may not seem very creative. Below are a few of these.

The Story of Writer's Block

One day, when I was out of the house with nothing to do, I got really bored. I'd been having writer's block lately, so I started writing this on my phone.

How to Make Microwave Popcorn

One evening, Mom asked for a bag of microwave popcorn. Seems simple enough, right? I took off the plastic wrap, stuck it in the microwave, and started running it while I fixed some chocolate milk.

After a while, I glanced over to see the bag had gone to one side of the microwave, rather than spinning on the turntable like it was supposed to. Perfect. As an added bonus, the popping slowed down before I expected it to, and it didn't look like it popped completely.

Romance in 'Pocahontas 2'

Ah, the infamous sequel to 'Pocahontas'. The one we don't talk about, except in scandalized tones, expressing our mingled outrage and disappointment. But bear with me a moment, and we'll discuss some of the aspects in the love life of Pocahontas, both positive and negative.

Good Traits in a Partner

We fantasize about what we'd like to see in our future husband or wife. But which traits do we really need? What things are important in a relationship?

And of course, this goes both ways. Finding a person who has these traits means nothing if you're judgmental, argumentative, and uncommunicative. A relationship is about mutual respect and trust, about getting along, and working things out when it gets hard.
Anyway, without further ado, here's a list of good traits to have in a partner.

Unrealistic Romantic Fantasies

Let's face, most people have them. We don't always want to admit that they're unrealistic or unreasonable, but nonetheless, they are. Below is a list of high expectations we often succumb to.

And for my future spouse, you'd better pay close attention to this list, so you can whip yourself into shape. I also expect you to know which things I made up, and which ones apply to me.

Being Single on Valentine's Day

Ah, Valentine's Day. A time when we're surrounded by white, pink, and red. A time when there are hearts, little stuffed bears/dogs/anything cute, flowers, and candy. For some people, this means buying trinkets and booking a reservation at a fancy restaurant.

Others, however, have no lover to reserve a table for, nobody to give a box of chocolate to. It could be they just went through a terrible breakup. Perhaps the relationship was destined not to be, and now their lover is frozen in ice and they've decided to become a nun. Maybe they've never been in a relationship, and long for the day when someone looks their way. Or maybe they're Jughead Jones, and only attracted to hamburgers.

Whatever the reason might be, here are some great responses for why you're not doing anything this Valentine's Day.

Signs You're a Music Addict

Are you in love with music? Are you incapable of going more than five seconds without hearing a pleasant tune or epic beat? Then you may be a music addict. For more information on music addiction, consult this list below.

Cat of Many Deaths

To begin this post, I might explain that there's a game called 'Untold Tales', based on the 'Warriors' series by Erin Hunter. In the game, you can play as a Clan cat, a rogue, or become a kittypet.

That being said, it's story time. Recently, I had a dream in which I was playing this game. Along with hunting about a billion mice at one point, I got into a fight with some enemy cats. They proved too strong for me, and I had to flee. They chased me across two or three squares of the map (which they wouldn't do in the actual game) before I finally lost them. From there, I tried to get a safe place where no enemies would appear. I planned to wait for nightfall there, when I could sleep and thus regain some of my health.

Things We Never Accomplish

Throughout our lives, we come across things that make us think, "That's so awesome, I'd like to do that." But how often do we actually go through with these things? Today, I've decided to explore some of those things we say we're going to do, but often don't. (And no, I don't mean the load of laundry I haven't folded and put away yet. We're pretending that doesn't exist.)