One-Liner Wednesday

“Yell ape for next stop.”

–Sign seen on a New York City bus back in the 90s; it had been altered from its original wording, “Press yellow tape for next stop.” This has always amused me and my only regret is that I saw this before we all had phones with cameras in our pockets! At least I have the memory, though, and I wanted to share it with you…Just try to avoid laughing about it to yourself if it comes to mind next time you’re on a bus, as has happened with me. People will assume things…

This post was created as part of LindaGHill’s One-Liner Wednesday weekly writing prompt. Check it out and consider joining in!

 

One-Liner Wednesday: Change

“Change the way you look at things, and the things you look at change.”

–Dr. Wayne Dyer

Note: This post was created as part of Linda G. Hill’s “One-Liner Wednesday” blog prompt — check it out for some fun and inspiring entries each week!

One-Liner Wednesday: Planning

“Many people spend more time planning a two week vacation than they do planning their life.”

–Zig Ziglar

 Note: This post was created as part of Linda G. Hill’s “One-Liner Wednesday” blog prompt — check it out for some fun and inspiring entries each week!

 

Stream of Consciousness Saturday — His, Her and the Grammar Police

I’m always on the fence when people alter words to make a point, like using “herstory” instead of “history,” or “shero” instead of “hero” or even “heroine.” And I feel kind of guilty about that, particularly as a woman, because I definitely understand why people do this and I agree with the sentiment. Of course perspectives on current events, our society and how it’s evolved should include women’s experiences and perspectives.

My issue is with misusing words and grammar. It’s my understanding that these words didn’t actually evolve from a combination of the male pronoun “his” and words like “story.” So while changing it to be female-oriented is catchy, it bothers me since I’d bet it does confuse some people as to the true origins of the word that’s being modified.

Put another way, I guess you could say it bothers me because, at times, I can be the grammar police. Yes, I confess! It’s funny, because I make typos in text messages to friends which doesn’t really bother me, and I don’t mind when others make mistakes in writing. It happens. My pet peeve is with purposefully changing/creating terms without a true grammatical basis.

Although, I do have one other major pet peeve grammatically — when people can’t get “their,” “there” and “they’re” straight. That’s one mistake that really irks me and I’m surprised to see it happening more and more, even from mature adults and professionals. I think partly this may be due to people using dictation software to text or send brief emails using their smartphones. Usually the software gets things right, but words which sound the same verbally can sometimes be interchanged. I know that’s how it’s happened to me. And while my typos in casual communication don’t usually bother me, I really hate it when this one happens. First of all, it’s frustrating because I swear my phone often auto-corrects a message even after I’ve scanned it before sending; it doesn’t help that my phone lags frequently. Other times I may miss what my dictation software has transcribed if I’m in a rush. (And for the record, I use dictation because I find it convenient, plus my phone isn’t too accurate if I text by hand. I don’t have an iPhone and my input capabilities don’t seem too good; I once had an iPhone provided by an employer and found it was much more sensitive and accurate.) But primarily, I never want anyone to think I don’t know the difference between those basic words, especially since I’m also a freelance writer! How would that look? So when that mistake happens, I right away correct it in a follow-up message!

Anyway, I digress. Back to words that just happen to start with “his” or “he” and then are changed to start with “her” or “she.” I don’t like it. But I get why people do it. I might like it a bit more if people would include some kind of disclaimer when they do this, but I know that’s asking for too much. Some would say I’m missing the point and overthinking this. I actually don’t disagree, but I can’t help it.

Note: This post was created as part of this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday blog event which is run by writer Linda G Hill. Take a look at the link above to read some interesting uses of the prompt — this week it was “his/her(s)” — and consider joining in!

One-Liner Wednesday: Self-Care

 

 

“A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures.”

–Irish Proverb

 

* This post was created as part of blogger Linda G. Hill’s One-Liner Wednesday series. I chose to share this quote in the hopes that it’ll help anyone who’s stressed or feeling out of balance. We can all use a friendly reminder to not neglect ourselves or feel guilty for taking some time to regroup. Self-care is a necessity for all of us — and it actually helps us to accomplish what we want and need to do. So, I hope you have a blessed day that includes some humor and adequate rest!

 

 

One-Liner Wednesday: Inspiration for Writers

“If there’s a book you really want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”

–Toni Morrison

* This post was created as part of Linda G. Hill’s One-Liner Wednesday series. I posted this quote because recently I’ve been putting together ideas for a book I plan to write; I’d been searching for a book on a specific topic but couldn’t find exactly what I wanted, and that’s when this familiar quote popped into my mind. Although I’d heard it many times over the years, in that moment it took on special significance. I’m hoping that sharing it here will be a helpful reminder for other writers, too!

One-Liner Wednesday: What?!

“This is certainly nice publish, I’m going to shaire the idea for our frinds.”

–comment recently left for me very randomly on an old post of mine, caught by the WordPress spam filter. I appreciate the “compliment,” but WordPress is clearly right about this kind of comment!

Note: this post was created as part of LindaGHill’s One-Liner Wednesday. The criteria is for the one-liner to be funny or motivational. In the past, I’ve usually gone with motivational, but this time I had to go with funny when I saw this as I did a long-overdue purge of pending comments…hope you enjoyed it. I figured many of my fellow bloggers would be able to relate to this kind of amusing“comment!” 🙂

Stream of Consciousness Saturday: Go Stop!

Badge designed by Doobster of mindfuldigressions.com.

I am such a games geek that the minute I read this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, “go,” I thought of the Asian card game “Go Stop.”

The game comes from Korea, where it is called “hwatu,” and it’s played with Japanese hanafuda cards.

I love hanafuda cards, which I first learned about while playing a Nintendo game. As I became more and more obsessed with them, I started reading up on their history and the various games that are played with them throughout the world.

From my understanding — I’m still no expert — gameplay of “Go Stop” is similar to “Koi Koi,” the Japanese game I’m used to playing with hanafuda cards. However, I haven’t officially played that version myself. I want to, since some aspects of it are different than what I’m used to with Koi Koi.

My main obstacle is the fact that no one I know is interested in learning these games, or they’re not inclined to play games at all, or we simply never have time to try.

So it remains on my list of technically-unimportant-yet-important-to-me goals. Because playing electronic/online versions isn’t terrible, but after a certain point, I want the full experience!

Why?

First of all, I don’t want to be so reliant on a computer to handle scoring for me. I feel like I’m just clicking cards then and not fully playing. I also don’t feel a computer plays the same as a person would; I often see it make a move that no opponent in their right mind would do. Winning that way just isn’t satisfying!

Plus, like I said, I’m a games geek — in my early zeal, I bought a few versions of a hanafuda deck, to include the Japanese original, the Korean version, and a Hawaiian deck since each one varies slightly and is better for each region’s games.

But what have I done with them so far?

Nothing; they sit here, collecting dust…well, not really, since they’re in a drawer. But you get what I mean!

This has turned out to be a bittersweet SoCS post, huh? Well, I see it as a good reminder to pursue this unofficial goal of mine; perhaps I can investigate making a meetup group event for this, like the ones that exist for everything from Scrabble to chess. As they say, if you see a need for something that doesn’t exist, make it yourself!

Which is actually a very inspiring and motivating way to look at things, big or small.

In fact, I encourage you to think about something you’ve looked for and haven’t been able to find, and consider offering it yourself — and feel free to mention it here for thoughts and feedback!

What Can I Do For You, My Friend?

 

As a child, I often visited my dad at the home improvement store he owned and operated. I liked being there, and I learned a lot from it too; in particular it taught me a lot about dealing with customers.

When customers would come in and approach my dad for help with anything from ordering custom-made blinds or scheduling installation for screens, doors and the like, my dad always greeted them with a comfortable smile, saying something along the lines of, “What can I do for you, my friend?”

The first time that happened, I remember asking him and my mother after if we knew that customer. I still remember being surprised when I was told no, that we didn’t.

“But how come he called him a friend?” I remember asking. It just didn’t make sense to me. Especially since the vibe between my dad and the customer seemed genuinely friendly, like you would be with someone you actually were friends with.

I can’t remember exactly what they said to explain this all to me, but whatever they said must have made sense, because from that time I understood—basically, my dad genuinely liked running his own business and dealing with customers, so he truly was happy to see these people and get to know them and build a working relationship with them, hopefully long-term.

The linear, young side of me found this approach amazing. Now, over the years, I’ve seen business owners and employees do something similar, but this first exposure to a dynamic like this will always stand out in my mind.

Plus I’ve also too often seen some who do the exact opposite and treat customers as people they’re doing a favor for, treating them rudely, or being abrupt and unyielding. Even if they were doing someone a favor, there’s no reason to act like that. (This is a pet peeve of mine, actually!) Besides, these customers are paying for whatever service or product they’re there for!

In those moments, I always think about how my dad treated his customers like friends, and try to do the same in my own line of work. While I have yet to actually call the people who come to me my “friend” — somehow it doesn’t come off as naturally as it did with my dad — I do my best to interact with them with a similarly open, friendly approach.

This isn’t to say that there will never be issues with customers or clients, but if you approach them in this way, I’ve personally found that things can be more easily worked out. Plus it makes whatever work you do more pleasant! I encourage you to try it too — and if you have it in you to actually use the word “friend” in this way, I’d love to hear about it!

Note: this post was created as part of Stream of Conciousness Saturday organized this week by LindaGHill, as well as the Bee as part of Love is in Da Blog; the prompt was “friend” and/or “acquaint.” I thought this was a great prompt; although I didn’t know what to write initially, once this memory popped into my head, the choice was made for me. 🙂 

Excuse Me, Jennifer Aniston?

This weekend, I was reading an article on Huffington post that linked to another article and so on and so forth — you know how the Internet can be a time warp — and somehow I saw a link to the headline, “Jennifer Aniston Talks Motherhood And The Unfair Pressure To Have Kids.”

While I don’t closely follow Jennifer Aniston or most celebrity news, the headline intrigued me since I too feel strongly that people shouldn’t be made to feel weird if they haven’t had kids yet, or don’t even want any — yet this does happen way too often, particularly involving women.

So I clicked it. (The Internet wins again.)

The article referred to statements Jennifer Aniston makes in the January 2015 issue of Allure, and although her comments were brief, I was surprised at how candid she was on this topic and how much I found myself agreeing with her.

For instance, I completely understood what she meant when she said, “I don’t like [the pressure] that people put on me, on women — that you’ve failed yourself as a female because you haven’t procreated. I don’t think it’s fair.”

As a woman with no children myself, I was nodding and thinking, Right on, sister!

Until she said that not having children “doesn’t mean you aren’t mothering — dogs, friends, friends’ children.”

Excuse me?

This is when she lost me.

Who said women have to mother anyone in the first place?

Would this quote have made any sense if a man was saying it?

Try to picture George Clooney saying him not having kids doesn’t mean he’s not fathering his pets, his friends and their kids.

You can’t? That’s because he would never say that. No guy would.

And no one should about women, either.

Women do not need to mother other beings to be valid as people in our society. That’s the point I thought she was making.

This part of her statement was, if anything, proof that she buys into the expectations on women. Trying to spin them in a new way doesn’t hide that.

Now look, I’m not usually one to split hairs and dissect every nuance of a person’s statement. But in this case, I think she completely ruined the point she was trying to make with the idea that women can still be motherly without having kids. And I was unexpectedly bothered by that, as well as comments people have made saying her statement was “brilliant.”

Brilliant for a Stepford wife wanna-be, maybe.

On a side note, another aspect I disliked about what she said is the concept of friends “mothering” friends. Who wants that?! There’s only one person I enjoy being mothered by, and that’s my mother!

In fact, one of my closest friends once had another friend take on a motherly dynamic with her, and let’s just say it was not a fun experience for her! (Although those stories do make us laugh now.) So Jennifer Aniston saying that women can mother their friends, oh and their children, is just plain weird. I mean, do your friends really want you trying to mother their kids? “Oh, I told Johnny he could have a few more cookies. Look how happy he is!” Yeah, your friend is really going to love your motherly “help” there!

To be fair, I think Jennifer Aniston used the word “mothering” to mean being “loving” or “giving,” to counteract the notion of childless people, especially women, being selfish.

However, there’s a big difference between mothering and being loving and giving; you can by all means be all three — which is a beautiful thing, don’t get me wrong — but you can also be loving and giving without mothering in any form.  This is another reason why I found myself strangely disappointed when I read this. Her point had been making so much sense until then. I felt like she took so many steps back with her statement — all while she was trying to be so progressive.

But maybe I should calm down. Some would say that as a female, being easily annoyed like this isn’t the motherly way I should be acting towards others.

I apologize, my sweeties. Now please go have something to eat. You all look so thin…

Note: This post was written as part of LindaGHill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday, which was skillfully organized this week by author Leigh Michaels while Linda is away. This week’s prompt was “excuse,” which we could use either as a noun or a verb. I wasn’t sure what I was going to write with it until I read this and wanted to comment on it, and the idea of using Leigh’s excellent prompt as a verb in a rhetorical question hit me. 🙂