What would you buy?

It is time once more for Mama Kat's Writer's Challenge. This week the prompts are:

1. If I sent you four hundred dollars today what is ONE thing you would spend it on and why. P.S. I want my change.
2. What are your kids talking about?
3. Tell us about a local news story that's all the buzz right now in your neck of the woods.
4. Share some blogging advice.
5. Tell us about that time at the playground when that thing happened.

I felt a bit odd trying to answer some of these. No real obvious theme came to mind, so you get to watch me blither in a real time stream of consciousness way. Enjoy.


#1) I am torn. I could buy about a month's worth of one of the drugs I take for my diabetes, but that is strangely unsatisfying to me.

I could also sign on to EBay and buy some computer and/or AV equipment, but that would be hard to estimate the change to give Mama Kat until the auction ended and one found out what (if anything) I had won. I could also bid on a new KVM box to replace this one that randomly sticks sending the last letter typed over and over. (I sometimes lose a whole post when it sticks on backspace and I don't spot it in time.)

I guess I'll go for a visit to the meat market. Four hundred dollars worth of steak and brats and sausage would make for a mighty fine start to a barbecue. Then I'd invite some friends over and settle back for some good food and even better conversation. And sorry Mama, no change left over. But you are welcome to come to the barbecue. {*grin*}


#2) Given that the Son just recently turned 19, it is hard to say for sure what he is talking about. One topic would likely be his job and the hours over the next few months until summer tourist season arrives. Another might be his plans for the coming year, including school, work, and the possibility of joining the National Guard. Beyond all that, it depends on his mood and what is going on in his life. Since I know he reads this blog, maybe he'll leave a comment and tell us directly.


#3) The headline in todays paper was about a proposed real estate development that is before the city council. Since it is an active matter before council, I cannot say anything further.

Another headline notes that police responded to a vandalism call and found a mushroom growing operation. Samples were sent off to the state labs for identification and tox scan. The police chief noted that although no arrests had been made, leads were being pursued. It wasn't clear to me from reading the story exactly what was happening other than some vandalism and presumed trespass. The materials found at the site were "organic", so the question of the legitimacy of the mushrooms was left hanging. I'd suspect the unstated question is whether the mushrooms were of the illegal hallucinogenic species or just someone growing an edible species for fresh mushrooms. I suspect the answer will come out in the coming weeks.


#4) My only blogging advice from the production side is to just do it. I try to write most of my stuff like I was writing a letter to an acquaintence. I know it still comes out stilted at times, but it does seem to resonate with some of the readers. I never started this site with the goal of massive readership, so I am suprised at the number of people who actually read my drivel.

On the reading side, I might be considered an expert since I read about 200 blogs with my various reading software packages each day.

My number one gripe is the sporadic blog. I like a blog to be published regularly, at least once every other day. Given that is seems that at least a third of all the blogs are written by someone with a variant of the name Jennifer (Jen, Jenny, ...), if it isn't written regularly, I confuse the authors and backstories.

My second gripe would have to be the people who decorate their blog page to the point where the universe could go into heat death before it completes loading. Please recognize that most serious readers will be using reading software which strips all that fancy stuff out. The only time I actually visit your site is to comment - usually clicking in from one of my software readers because I found what you were asking or saying interesting enough to drive me to respond. So please don't make it a test to see just how interested I am in commenting by forcing me to wait for the universe to reach heat death before your site loads completely. (And by the way, I also dislike the author approval for comments. If you are going to squirrel them away before publishing, why not just turn the comments off?)


#5) I'm not sure what you were hoping happened, but I do have one precious (to me) memory from the playgound. I was in the first grade at the rural Nebraska school I attended for K-3. The playground there was built up against a bluff that formed one wall of the valley the town was situated in. On top of the bluff was where we played games like Red Rover. After school, there was a group of us that played on the bluff before walking the one to four blocks home. (Small town living at its best - first graders able to walk unescorted to and from school and to each others homes.)

One day we were playing a variant of War, running like mad across the grass and bare dirt of the bluff. I remember running at full speed, loving the feel of the wind in my face, enjoying the endless energy that comes with being that age. And then I tripped. I went flying through the air. It was like time stopped. It felt like I was truly flying and the ground was never going to rise up and slap me in the face. Even after coming roughly to ground and getting up and dusting myself off, I was in awe of that feeling of flight, the feeling that one could just launch oneself into the air and fly. I spent many years from then on seeking to regain that experience again and again and again. The older and bigger and heavier I became, the harder it was to attain that feeling. It finally reached the point where the only time I experienced the feeling was while playing football. I suspect that was one of the reasons I loved football so much.


Well, that will do it for now. I have to get ready for tomorrow. I have my dental checkup and then a speaking engagement for the League of Women Voters meeting in the evening. Should be interesting.