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Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Silly – Week 2

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silly old duck! where we learned to rhyme…

Once upon a time, we would sit ourselves down at 5:55 every Sunday evening in anticipation of that magical moment when the Disney theme song would come crackling out of the television set. The hour’s entertainment was always a surprise for there was no TV Guide to tell us what to expect – not every show was a thriller but those nights that were more than made up for the “educational” instalments. Our favourites, like most little kids, were the cartoons and it didn’t really matter who took centre stage for they each had a repertoire guaranteed to generate a few laughs.

Ludwig Von Drake was the odd bird in the Disney Duck family: it might have been that he was a little high-brow, had an odd accent or just wasn’t slap-stick enough for most but our pre-school mind-in-formation saw that here was a fowl who knew his way around science, classic literature and music and had evidently seen a thing or two of the world and come back to tell everyone about it.  As much as we craved to be the miniature tornadoes of trouble that were Huey, Dewey and Louie, the Professor who knew something about everything was more our type of role-model. Besides, he had a warped sense of humour and was a whiz at constructing a bad pun…

This fortnight the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge recommends that we all remember what it is like to be – Silly – lie in the grass and look at the clouds, go kick a can, eat an ice cream cone with sloppy abandon like a five-year old but let yourself do something frivolous for a change.

“What is silly?” – A cartoon character or politician’s gaff, a two year old’s antics, a joke or a laugh, a funky fad or fashion craze, an old-timer’s tale or those newfangled ways…  We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this fortnight’s challenge can be found here. Need more info or want to browse past themes? Have a look at HOW DOES THIS WORK.

The Big 5 – Where do you relax?

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relaxing

do not disturb

Lack of a large enough conventional space dictated that our super-sized sectional was forced to live in the common area downstairs in front of the television: quickly commandeered by the younger generation, it feels idiotic to sit there all by our lonesome. So sadly, there is no couch for guests to park themselves on in our living room, no tufted settee for us to lounge away an idle morning or even a petite love-seat upon which to perch for afternoon tea. We are, however, the proud owners of two Alice-in-Wonderland chairs which were an unsupervised boy’s day out impulse buy of the Professor’s. Within arm’s reach of the bookcase, they are relatively comfortable but have suffered the insult of some doggy-proofing because white barbet hair and black velvet don’t mix.

Lazy Dog would tell you that they are ideal – for a snooze or a daydream, a longing look out the window or just so to keep an eye on things. They are his favourite place to chill out or curl up and when the temperature is not quite perfect in one, he hops off and hops on to the other. Yes, we did try the “no puppies on the upholstery” thing but somehow he has managed to show us that a little rest can be a good thing…

The Big 5 Challenge is curious to know – “Where do you relax?” – under a cozy duvet or at the beach, on skis or a motorcycle, in the garden or in the middle of the city, behind the wheel or in front of the pack…

We would love to know where you are the most at ease.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?

  1.  I will post some commentary such as the above on one of the five Ws (WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN or WHY and sometimes HOW) and then ask you to respond on the same.
  2. Your point of view on the current week’s challenge can take any form: a reply in the comment box, in a new post with a quote, a motto or saying, an essay, poem or opinion of yours or attributed to someone else, a piece of music, a song, a video, a work of art, photograph, graffiti, drawing or scribble – but it has to be about the topic!
  3. Challenge yourself to dig deep for an answer.
  4. The Challenge will be open for 14 days (there will be a reminder post at the 7 day mark) after which I will post another.
  5. ENJOY, have FUN and TELL your friends and fellow bloggers.

SO – Create your Big 5 Challenge post

  1. Then add a link to your blog in my comment box.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “The Big 5 Challenge” and add the same as a tag.
  3. If you would like your reader to see what others are presenting for the same challenge, add a link to the “Big 5” challenge on your own blog.
  4. Feel free to pick up your badge on The Big 5 Challenge page.
  5. Remember to Follow to get your weekly (hopefully) reminders.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Silly

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silly

really? i’m assuming that couch is for the hordes of people waiting for a table…

It was sheer disbelief that caught us unable to capture the preceding half of the photo above. There, set up on a patch of astroturf along one of the busiest thoroughfares, was a cluster of suitably summery umbrellas with too-small tables and uncomfortable chairs underneath: even more bizarre was that there were people actually eating in this spot. The proximity of a bike lane lending a little distance to regularly passing delivery trucks (bio-diesel or not) and the strategically placed potted palms adding ambience were perhaps a factor in making this the latest fashionable lunch spot but we just didn’t (and still don’t) get it. Has the Health Inspector paid a visit to ensure those water pitchers have covers to guard against passing pigeons? Do we really need some freshly ground pepper to go with an exhaust-cured wagyu burger?  Uummm, no….  Evidently someone has convinced the administration of our uber-trendy town that everyone loves dinner and a show so what better place to be seen noshing on an overpriced Caesar salad than on the sidewalk not even arm’s length from on-coming traffic?  

We thought this was a one-off but a scant five minutes later cruising down a side street there were not one, but two, similar yet different incarnations of this culinary establishment abomination: the roadside barge reducing the normally congested one-way two-lane traffic hell down to barely one. We could have grabbed that smoked-meat to go from our seat on the bus. Restaurateurs in these parts must have all been struck with cabin fever after a too long winter and banded together one night for some hard drinking and deliberation. Let’s take it outside they said, eat on the street, a platform with some tables, an awning and we’re all set! Never mind the waiters having to dodge pedestrians rushing back to the office – it’s summer, hurry up, get outside, it may not last! What’s not to love?

The Two Cents Tuesday Challenge this fortnight would like to investigate all that is – Silly – good or bad, absurd or inane, downright funny or incredibly unbelievable. Shouldn’t be too much of a stretch for there is a whole lot going on out there that could easily fall into this category… 

“What is silly?” – A cartoon character or politician’s gaff, a two year old’s antics, a joke or a laugh, a funky fad or fashion craze, an old-timer’s tale or those newfangled ways…  We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?

  1.  I will post some commentary on a random topic that pops into my head (such as the above) and then ask you to respond on the same.
  2. Your point of view on the current week’s challenge can take any form: a quote, a motto or saying, an essay, poem or opinion of yours or attributed to someone else, a piece of music, a song, a video, a work of art, photograph, graffiti, drawing or scribble – but it has to be about the topic!
  3. Please, don’t just link to an old post… challenge yourself.
  4. The Challenge will be open for 14 days (there will be a reminder post at the 7 day mark) after which I will post another.
  5. ENJOY, have FUN and TELL your friends and fellow bloggers.

 SO – Create your Two Cents Tuesday Challenge post

  1. Then add a link to your blog in my comment box.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “Two Cents Tuesday Challenge” and add the same as a tag.
  3. If you would like your reader to see what others are presenting for the same challenge, add a link to the “Two Cents Tuesday” challenge on your own blog.
  4. Feel free to pick up your badge on the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge page
  5. Remember to Follow My Blog to get your weekly (hopefully) reminders.

 

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Expectations – Week 2

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shoe expectations

a running shoe for every occasion

Our city of the perpetual pothole takes great pride in its public transit system and we availed ourselves of the services today (at $3 a clip I might add) to get to a months-long-awaited dermatologist’s appointment. It is still cheaper than parking in a lot where the valet figures our ride is a better choice for doing a few quick errands than that new Mercedes and a good way to force ourselves to sit back and find out what is really going on in the world. The only thing that seems to have really changed since we used to do this on a daily basis is that everyone is either plugged in or glued to a small device. Those who weren’t looked dazed and tired – maybe it was the time of day or perhaps just the times.

The return rush hour trip entailed a quick scramble to make the connection and we were lucky enough to park ourselves quite comfortably in one of the last available seats. End of day commuters, students, shoppers and old people all filed in silently, anxious to get home. Our urban melting pot gets a lot of visitors starting around this time of year and many arrive without much more than a basic knowledge of either official language: this makes deciphering our unnecessarily complex ticketing system problematic. Doing so with kids in tow is even more of a party game.

We watched two very small children wander up and down the aisle, twice. It didn’t seem to phase them that they couldn’t see the parent for the knees and we could hear the driver trying to explain that only one ticket was needed (under-sixes ride free) before a woman made her way back with her charges. The thought of them swaying back and forth, with her trying to hold onto both without losing one to sudden stops and swerves was just too much. I got up and offered her my seat. She shook her head to decline but we prevailed and could see the visible relief on her face.

The crux of this tale lies not in doing the right thing ourselves but in how many people don’t. The man with the good tie and mediocre suit years younger than us could easily have gotten up before us or even offered the mother his own seat so she could sit beside her two children now crammed into ours. Looking around we realized that there were any number of people who could have stepped up, but they didn’t. So we hung off the strap like the well-seasoned traveller we are until the unconscious hordes thinned out and we could sit down again. This fortnight the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge realizes that sometimes our – Expectations – what we think is a given in society about how people should act, actually have no basis in reality. We can only hope that our own actions may have made them think.

“What do expectations represent for you?” – A quick response or satisfying result, respect for an effort made or just a gentle thank-you, the bloom of a spring bulb, bark of a dog at the postman, the sun to come up in the morn or the stars to shine at night…  We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this fortnight’s challenge can be found here. Need more info or want to browse past themes? Have a look at HOW DOES THIS WORK.

The Big 5 – Why did you start to blog?

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ablution

ablution by keyboard

WordPress.com boasts many millions of users worldwide making it quite the community to splash around in. For every taste, hobby, interest, field of study or reflection, there is something to fit the bill. All one has to do is explore and an incredible number of tag-related blogs pop up in the reader. Across the Bored would love to have that many hours of free time to peruse the stacks as it were but real life prohibits any concerted effort at getting lost in the multiverse. We are lucky to have a wide variety of readers and usually find our way by following links and clicking on gravatars.

Blame it on Google. Our work relies on searches and it seems as though a vast number of results lead back to blogs. Although many consider this form of self-publication citation unworthy, the fact remains that there is a lot of interesting stuff floating around out there with as many attached images and opinions to fill a small community library a few times over. That was our hook, a digital dare from the ether that we had better get with it, to coin a dated phrase, or lose momentum. Our primary motivation for constructing Across the Bored was as virtual repository for all that stuff that would have just been jammed into a drawer, filed away on a CD or buried in a hard drive otherwise. We had no idea it would take on a life of its own. Many of you have probably answered this very simple yet complex question on your ABOUT page or under a nifty image widget in the sidebar but for the Big 5 Challenge this fortnight it seemed worth asking all the same:

“Why did you start to blog?” – forum or fancy, news or reviews, to find friend or battle foe, seek source of satisfaction or sound out discussion, to expound, extoll, expand, in song, full-colour, poetry or prose …

We would love to know why you decided to put it all out there.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?

  1.  I will post some commentary such as the above on one of the five Ws (WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN or WHY and sometimes HOW) and then ask you to respond on the same.
  2. Your point of view on the current week’s challenge can take any form: a reply in the comment box, in a new post with a quote, a motto or saying, an essay, poem or opinion of yours or attributed to someone else, a piece of music, a song, a video, a work of art, photograph, graffiti, drawing or scribble – but it has to be about the topic!
  3. Challenge yourself to dig deep for an answer.
  4. The Challenge will be open for 14 days (there will be a reminder post at the 7 day mark) after which I will post another.
  5. ENJOY, have FUN and TELL your friends and fellow bloggers.

SO – Create your Big 5 Challenge post

  1. Then add a link to your blog in my comment box.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “The Big 5 Challenge” and add the same as a tag.
  3. If you would like your reader to see what others are presenting for the same challenge, add a link to the “Big 5” challenge on your own blog.
  4. Feel free to pick up your badge on The Big 5 Challenge page.
  5. Remember to Follow to get your weekly (hopefully) reminders.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Expectations

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expectations2

INTJ or INTP? Doesn’t matter, if i can so can everyone else…

Have you ever taken a personality test? The inscrutable Dr. Fu and the Ghost get great mileage out of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and its myriad applications from character reference guide for strategy games to deducing whether friends’ relationships will survive the test of time. The quick, online quizzes that lead to gaining an idea about our psychological types are by no means 100% accurate as they can be skewed by mood and the difference in answering what we think we do and what we actually do. They are fun conversation starters though and can often lead to an ah-hah moment or two on why our hair stands on end when the person in front of us at the checkout is fiddling idiotically with small change.

Our various foibles and idiosyncrasies wind up having a huge bearing on the way we interact with the rest of the world. Sadly, there is no manual for codes of conduct, no one-size-fits-all t-shirt proclaiming in easy to read text our handling instructions or even a warning label. Runs with scissors. Does not play well with others. For your own safety, do not feed the fears. A visual prompt would certainly take the guesswork out of many situations we become embroiled in and perhaps give those who just don’t get it a clue about the rules of the game. Not going to happen: that would take the fun out of it all. This fortnight, the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge has come to the conclusion that, in the greater scheme of being a semi-functional member of society, our characters are the unwitting architects of our – Expectations – and the source of our contentment or dissatisfaction. Whether we can master the beast and get to some sort of happy medium can be a challenge in itself. 

“What do expectations represent for you?” – A quick response or satisfying result, respect for an effort made or just a gentle thank-you, the bloom of a spring bulb, bark of a dog at the postman, the sun to come up in the morn or the stars to shine at night…  We would love to see your vision.

This week’s topic was a suggestion from The Madwoman of Ghost Harbor – Got an idea or theme that you would like to see in words or pictures? Leave us a note in the comment box!

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?

  1.  I will post some commentary on a random topic that pops into my head (such as the above) and then ask you to respond on the same.
  2. Your point of view on the current week’s challenge can take any form: a quote, a motto or saying, an essay, poem or opinion of yours or attributed to someone else, a piece of music, a song, a video, a work of art, photograph, graffiti, drawing or scribble – but it has to be about the topic!
  3. Please, don’t just link to an old post… challenge yourself.
  4. The Challenge will be open for 14 days (there will be a reminder post at the 7 day mark) after which I will post another.
  5. ENJOY, have FUN and TELL your friends and fellow bloggers.

 SO – Create your Two Cents Tuesday Challenge post

  1. Then add a link to your blog in my comment box.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “Two Cents Tuesday Challenge” and add the same as a tag.
  3. If you would like your reader to see what others are presenting for the same challenge, add a link to the “Two Cents Tuesday” challenge on your own blog.
  4. Feel free to pick up your badge on the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge page
  5. Remember to Follow My Blog to get your weekly (hopefully) reminders.

 

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Lost – Week 2

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lost 2

when every step leads further away from where you started

Everyone misplaces stuff. The old joke about Grampa looking for his spectacles when they are perched on his head isn’t the material of urban legend, it is a fact: our own mother uses her sunglasses as a headband and then asks straight-faced where they may have gotten to. Such are the vagaries of age but they are also a greater indication of a pre-occupation with other things at hand that might be more interesting, important or just distracting. It is a given that the more stuff one has, be it material or what we carry around in our heads, at some point or another we are going to drop bits without even knowing where or when. Our metaphysical file cabinets can get so jammed that the drawers don’t close anymore. Remember that really significant, sentimental, valuable (insert appropriate adjective here) thing that suddenly loomed large, clear as day, in foggy 2AM insomniac brain wanderings?

Gone.

So you retrace your steps to the source. Or try to, but sometimes it has been a very long journey indeed since said thing has been reassigned to a new location. Organizational skills aren’t very helpful in this kind of situation, in fact, they can be a huge hindrance for what seemed like a really good idea at the time can make no sense at all later. Oh, I’ll just put it here and no, I don’t need to write that number down – I’m positive they said 4pm… Thankfully, many of these quandaries can be solved with a little detective work. Like Jack and Victor looking for the disappeared scone (oh, here it is next to the phone…) they can end in success  – or the sad realization that, like the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge, they are irretrievably – Lost. 

Last week we wanted to know “Have you ever been lost?” – In a great book or symphony, in love or grief, in the magic of a sunset or the gaze of a newborn, in traffic or far from home…

We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this fortnight’s challenge can be found here. Need more info or want to browse past themes? Have a look at HOW DOES THIS WORK.

The Big 5 – Who is your Underdog ?

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UNDERDOG & POLLY FLYING COLOR

still waiting

One of our earliest memories is sitting in front of a small black and white set (yes, Virginia there was a time when there was no colour) watching classic cartoons. We could easily relate to ordinary, spectacle-wearing Shoeshine Boy magically transform into his canine alter-ego Underdog and knew every word of the opening theme song. It had kitschy graphics, iconic villains and simple plot lines that that never failed to amuse. The series was filled to the brim with stereotypes – helpless, arm-waving young ladies, Soviet mad scientists, Irish-accented cops and Italian gangster-styled robbers – everyone was fair-game for the cartoonists and they put their hands to everything that would be considered politically incorrect today. Our pre-school mind wondered why Underdog had such a big forehead (he was a beagle) and why his superhero outfit was a baggy, oversized t-shirt: we just couldn’t figure out why he wouldn’t go to the store and get one that fit properly… In retrospect, that was all part of the charm and the whole genre, along with many of the other animated shows of the time, were a huge formative influence not only on our artistic sensibilities but on the way we deal with real life.

Popular culture has been pounding us with the notion that we could have been heroes for awhile now and everyone from the government to the media has their agenda on how best to exploit it. The false importance attached to the arbitrary definition of success in all things personal and public has become overwhelming but at the same time there seems to be a shift in ulterior motives, personal responsibility, even our sense of how the smallest actions, or lack thereof, have far-reaching consequences. In a society that increasingly acts without any moral compass, it is getting harder to be fearless and noble, to distinguish who merits our adulation or respect and sadly, who deserves our investment of time and emotion. Depending on the day, we are both superhero and everyman but, as the comics have told us in all their four-colour glory, everyone has their soft spot and so this fortnight’s Big 5 Challenge asks:

“Who is your Underdog?” – young or old, timid or bold, flash in the pan or kicking the can, cartoon or larger than life …

We would love to know who flies above the crowd for you.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?

  1.  I will post some commentary such as the above on one of the five Ws (WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN or WHY and sometimes HOW) and then ask you to respond on the same.
  2. Your point of view on the current week’s challenge can take any form: a reply in the comment box, in a new post with a quote, a motto or saying, an essay, poem or opinion of yours or attributed to someone else, a piece of music, a song, a video, a work of art, photograph, graffiti, drawing or scribble – but it has to be about the topic!
  3. Challenge yourself to dig deep for an answer.
  4. The Challenge will be open for 14 days (there will be a reminder post at the 7 day mark) after which I will post another.
  5. ENJOY, have FUN and TELL your friends and fellow bloggers.

SO – Create your Big 5 Challenge post

  1. Then add a link to your blog in my comment box.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “The Big 5 Challenge” and add the same as a tag.
  3. If you would like your reader to see what others are presenting for the same challenge, add a link to the “Big 5” challenge on your own blog.
  4. Feel free to pick up your badge on The Big 5 Challenge page.
  5. Remember to Follow to get your weekly (hopefully) reminders.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Lost

26 Comments

lost

Since you would save none of me, I bury some of you – john Donne

Across the Bored once heard someone ask rather bluntly “how many times do you have to be punched in the head before you step to the side?” They weren’t speaking about boxing or any of the number of forms of abuse men heap upon each other but rather about how we react in regards to ourselves. There is no doubt that free will plays a huge part in the way we construct our plans for the future and how we will get there but like the glossy vacation brochure tempting us with the illusion of sunnier climes, we are often happily deluded into buying the deluxe package when we should be figuring out how to pay for our next transit pass. That we are agents of our own misery is the stuff of life and much great fiction; whether the steps we take towards individual purpose are feeble or epic is often besides the point. Sometimes by seeking to do the right thing, the good thing, we inadvertently veer off onto the shoulder and end up like the horrid saying goes, finishing last.

Keeping a balance while staying on track has always been man’s problem, especially for those who like to launch themselves into things headlong because the vision of what could be is so clear. Avoiding the huge chaotic pendulum of change that swings back and forth threatening to derail us isn’t easy. Nobody ever said it would be. Our resoluteness and pride, our determination and desire, can all conspire just as much as our good will and faith to bring us to very dark and dismal places indeed. No matter how well we lay the map upon the table or paint lovely watercolours of the places we could go, the path may not be that apparent to everyone else and even if it is, our travel companions don’t always want to taken on the 5-star guided tour. This fortnight, the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge hopes that no matter how – Lost – we get, that there is always a way to our destination.

“Have you ever been lost?” – In a great book or symphony, in love or grief, in the magic of a sunset or the gaze of a newborn, in traffic or far from home…

We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?

  1.  I will post some commentary on a random topic that pops into my head (such as the above) and then ask you to respond on the same.
  2. Your point of view on the current week’s challenge can take any form: a quote, a motto or saying, an essay, poem or opinion of yours or attributed to someone else, a piece of music, a song, a video, a work of art, photograph, graffiti, drawing or scribble – but it has to be about the topic!
  3. Please, don’t just link to an old post… challenge yourself.
  4. The Challenge will be open for 14 days (there will be a reminder post at the 7 day mark) after which I will post another.
  5. ENJOY, have FUN and TELL your friends and fellow bloggers.

 SO – Create your Two Cents Tuesday Challenge post

  1. Then add a link to your blog in my comment box.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “Two Cents Tuesday Challenge” and add the same as a tag.
  3. If you would like your reader to see what others are presenting for the same challenge, add a link to the “Two Cents Tuesday” challenge on your own blog.
  4. Feel free to pick up your badge on the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge page
  5. Remember to Follow My Blog to get your weekly (hopefully) reminders.

 

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Abstract – Week 2

11 Comments

ear art 2

I did this with my ear and thought you might like it

Across the Bored is sure that at some point in all our lives we have looked at our pets and wondered what was really going on in their heads. We look at people and think the same thing so it’s not much of a stretch to extend it to those furry partners we wander through life with.  Reams of paper have been filled with wise words and theories about the nature of the way we reason, be it concrete or logical, creative or emotional but the subject of animal cognition is still a subject of debate.

We know for a fact that our own smelly dog wishes he had squirrel superpowers – we can tell by the way he stares wistfully out the window when they taunt him from the lawn and the way he leaps up the side of the tree when in hot pursuit. Such desire is evident in the way his paws flex and rotate in very undoggy-like fashion when he lies dreaming upside down in our favourite chair.  If he had opposable thumbs things might be very different around our house and that he forces us to stop what we are doing and stare deeply into his eyes until we know exactly what he wants would certainly indicate that there is more going on in his fuzzy noggin than “eat, sleep, bark, pee, eat, sleep, chew on something…”. The Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme this fortnight, therefore, puts forth that – Abstract – thinking is not solely the realm of those who stand upright. 

Last week we pondered “What is abstract for you” – A concept or theory, an artwork or query, a math problem, a description, philosophy or music, the very universe  …

We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this fortnight’s challenge can be found here. Need more info or want to browse past themes? Have a look at HOW DOES THIS WORK.

The Big 5 – What is your favourite Flower ?

26 Comments

wildflowers

a very tiny and rather unexpected gift

Across the Bored was going to go on a long-winded tirade against the evils of idiotic emails and how many people don’t actually read what we write in response but it seemed a tiresome and rather awful way to protract our annoyance: we’ll save that sort of thing for our Facebook page where we are sure to find a suitably snide cartoon to match our crankiness. Now that that is over with it is on to more pleasant pastures with this fortnight’s theme…

We were pleasantly surprised to find the two tiny blooms, smaller than a thumbnail, placed next to our keyboard the other day – in our own garden small green shoots are just beginning to poke out of the soil and it will be awhile before anything spectacular blossoms with any kind of gusto. In the “wilder” bits of our urban environment things seem to be progressing much quicker, it is as if without any gardener’s expectations they pop out at will, calling to us from the blasted brown grass and crackly hedgerows like miniature floral sirens. There is no way to domesticate these beauties, they are of the moment for once picked they quickly fade. Like much else that we seek to immortalize, we took a picture, or rather many pictures, and later placed the sadly shrivelling blooms between the pages of an agenda. One guesses that there is a single stem or bounteous bouquet for every, or no, occasion and this fortnight’s Big 5 Challenge would inquire:

“What is your favourite Flower” – Irises exotic, roses by the score, daffodils, sweet tendrils, petunias by the door, sweet peas, lilies or birds of paradise, grand or wild, fragrant or mild, a pot of something nice …

We would love to know what flora strikes your fancy.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?

  1.  I will post some commentary such as the above on one of the five Ws (WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN or WHY and sometimes HOW) and then ask you to respond on the same.
  2. Your point of view on the current week’s challenge can take any form: a reply in the comment box, in a new post with a quote, a motto or saying, an essay, poem or opinion of yours or attributed to someone else, a piece of music, a song, a video, a work of art, photograph, graffiti, drawing or scribble – but it has to be about the topic!
  3. Challenge yourself to dig deep for an answer.
  4. The Challenge will be open for 14 days (there will be a reminder post at the 7 day mark) after which I will post another.
  5. ENJOY, have FUN and TELL your friends and fellow bloggers.

SO – Create your Big 5 Challenge post

  1. Then add a link to your blog in my comment box.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “The Big 5 Challenge” and add the same as a tag.
  3. If you would like your reader to see what others are presenting for the same challenge, add a link to the “Big 5” challenge on your own blog.
  4. Feel free to pick up your badge on The Big 5 Challenge page.
  5. Remember to Follow to get your weekly (hopefully) reminders.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Abstract

11 Comments

abstract

Rorschach’s field day

Across the Bored likes nothing better than to walk around in art museums contemplating the collections. What pleasure to work our way from the ancient to the modern in a few hours, lingering over the Renaissance, idling near the Impressionists, pondering the Cubists… but there are, depending on the curator’s choice of selections, some rooms we pass through at a brisk clip. Those walls where big, expensive panels glare at us in Webster’s best definition of art “expressing ideas and emotions by using elements such as colors and lines without attempting to create a realistic picture” and leave us, essentially, wondering why?

We do recognize most forms of artistic endeavour but there is a trend on many of the sites we visit online, both photographic and otherwise, that elicits the same reaction. One might assume by the number of purple leopards and fragmented flowers in the more purely conceptually dedicated galleries that there were a few who were asleep in Art Appreciation 101. A lot of people don’t get it, don’t care or just refuse to colour that boldly outside the lines. Does there have to be some reference point, some readily identifiable thing that puts it all into perspective and generates that “aha” moment where our brains are more comfortable being led to a conclusion? Or is it just easier?

We much prefer drifting along the stream of consciousness. With no man at the oars as it were, we are often spectators to the unusual, the unasked for, the unexpected.  The waters can be idyllically calm or we hit the rapids with such force that it knocks the wind out of us – there are times when we feel like a man overboard but there is always the consolation that we can swim to shore with the best of them. This fortnight the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge guesses that an enjoyment of most things – Abstract – depends on where one has been before and perhaps even how far one is willing to go.

“What is abstract for you” – A concept or theory, an artwork or query, a math problem, a description, philosophy or music, the very universe  …

We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?

  1.  I will post some commentary on a random topic that pops into my head (such as the above) and then ask you to respond on the same.
  2. Your point of view on the current week’s challenge can take any form: a quote, a motto or saying, an essay, poem or opinion of yours or attributed to someone else, a piece of music, a song, a video, a work of art, photograph, graffiti, drawing or scribble – but it has to be about the topic!
  3. Please, don’t just link to an old post… challenge yourself.
  4. The Challenge will be open for 14 days (there will be a reminder post at the 7 day mark) after which I will post another.
  5. ENJOY, have FUN and TELL your friends and fellow bloggers.

 SO – Create your Two Cents Tuesday Challenge post

  1. Then add a link to your blog in my comment box.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “Two Cents Tuesday Challenge” and add the same as a tag.
  3. If you would like your reader to see what others are presenting for the same challenge, add a link to the “Two Cents Tuesday” challenge on your own blog.
  4. Feel free to pick up your badge on the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge page
  5. Remember to Follow My Blog to get your weekly (hopefully) reminders.

 

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Grateful – Week 2

6 Comments

watches for grateful

it’s all relative

Thanks goodness there is finally a reprieve from the longest winter ever with the delivery of the first thunder and lightening storm of the season. We usually moan about heavy rain and how it adds that extra bit of fun to the logistics of getting out and about but April showers are actually a blessing in disguise for city dwellers. One day of unseasonably warm weather reduced the last of the nasty frozen black detritus on our front lawn to a mix of gravel and unmentionables, relieving us of the temptation to go at it with a pick-axe and revealed in the flower beds where our procrastinating green thumb had turned brown late last fall. Most unkempt and while there is not much to be done about that but get out the shears and gardening gloves and hack down the offending mess, it remains a blatant reminder that we will be spending some time en plein air and off the keyboard. Then the rains came…

Mother Nature must feel much the way we do – that everything is looking a bit sad and worn around the corners, dusty, fingerprint-tagged, dog-nose snuffly window smeared and in need of a good scrub. The outdoor inundations wash away the mess of the passing seasons on a grand scale, too bad it’s not as easy in our little nest. The Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme this fortnight, therefore, is – Grateful – for the excuse to stay indoors and pass a few hours putting things in order.

Last week we asked “Are you grateful”? – For socialized medicine, healing rotator cuffs, a like on your post or tribulations tough, family, friends, the children next door, muddy paws of loved dogs that muck up the floor …

We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this fortnight’s challenge can be found here. Need more info or want to browse past themes? Have a look at HOW DOES THIS WORK.

The Big 5 – When is the last time you really laughed?

6 Comments

laugh

what goes on when no one is looking

Across the Bored can always rely on smelly dog to remind us what’s really important. He has it all worked out: a daily constitutional, good food, a few minutes of exercise and a bit of a snoop to see what’s going on in the neighbourhood, a nice lie down and then do it all over again. As much as he can be a pain in the posterior at 6 AM on a Sunday morning, he has an impeccable sense of comic timing.

Our particular pooch has been endowed with catlike tendencies that leave us wondering sometimes. He’ll do a pilates stretch then come up and rub himself round our legs, let himself be held in the most odd positions or be scritched against the grain. He’s not stiff like the foxhound next door but sort of rubbery in a twisty turny way that defies a doggy spine.  Every once in a while, we’ll lie down to stretch out a bit and just as we close our eyes to contemplate…. WHOMP…. fur and wet nose and kisses around the face, snurfles in the ears, paws holding us down and we just can’t help but laugh. The more we laugh and turn to hide the more he persists because he knows we need it.

Everyone needs a minion to help them let go of all the seriousness that weighs us down so this fortnight’s Big 5 Challenge asks:

“When is the last time you really laughed?” – over coffee and the comics, at the movies, with a friend, in the car or under the stars, at silly signs or awkward times…

We would love to know when the giggles and guffaws last hit.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?

  1.  I will post some commentary such as the above on one of the five Ws (WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN or WHY and sometimes HOW) and then ask you to respond on the same.
  2. Your point of view on the current week’s challenge can take any form: a reply in the comment box, in a new post with a quote, a motto or saying, an essay, poem or opinion of yours or attributed to someone else, a piece of music, a song, a video, a work of art, photograph, graffiti, drawing or scribble – but it has to be about the topic!
  3. Challenge yourself to dig deep for an answer.
  4. The Challenge will be open for 14 days (there will be a reminder post at the 7 day mark) after which I will post another.
  5. ENJOY, have FUN and TELL your friends and fellow bloggers.

SO – Create your Big 5 Challenge post

  1. Then add a link to your blog in my comment box.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “The Big 5 Challenge” and add the same as a tag.
  3. If you would like your reader to see what others are presenting for the same challenge, add a link to the “Big 5” challenge on your own blog.
  4. Feel free to pick up your badge on The Big 5 Challenge page.
  5. Remember to Follow to get your weekly (hopefully) reminders.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Grateful

25 Comments

 

 

NEM Painterly 17Could be Worse.

2 Saturdays ago, Across the Bored was feeling very sorry for herself indeed having endured the emergency room and an unnecessarily long wait for a taxi to get ourselves back to the safety of bed and an icepack. We mustn’t have looked in too much distress though for the driver, when he finally arrived and was asked to hurry (because we were “in pain”) remarked “Did you have a stroke?”

Our first thought was “Do we look that old?” and the second was yes, it is true, it could have been worse. He was, of course, trying to lighten the mood and focus my attention on other matters for what, really, could ruin a perfectly good weekend morning for him than having some awful woman moaning or worse, throwing up, in the back of his cab…

We get used to being healthy. Or in pain. And it’s only when we’re not that we realize how much we should count our blessings. We were lucky enough to be able to take a week off from our usual pursuits without much ado. As much as that in itself was a little bit of system shock it brought home the happy thought that there are people out there thinking of us, and more importantly, willing to wait for our return.

In the hours spent offline alot happened no doubt. One hand thumb scrolling is a perilous pastime at best and we didn’t get around to visiting as much or as often as we would have liked to. We did get our work featured in the galleries above though (insert bloated ego here) which does give us the added incentive to keep on keeping on. Like this fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge, we are truly – Grateful – that we are appreciated and that all our work in whatever form it takes is having an impact on those who view it. All we can do is say thanks….

“Are you grateful” – For socialized medicine, healing rotator cuffs, a like on your post or tribulations tough, family, friends, the children next door, muddy paws of loved dogs that muck up the floor …

We would love to see your vision.

 

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?

  1.  I will post some commentary on a random topic that pops into my head (such as the above) and then ask you to respond on the same.
  2. Your point of view on the current week’s challenge can take any form: a quote, a motto or saying, an essay, poem or opinion of yours or attributed to someone else, a piece of music, a song, a video, a work of art, photograph, graffiti, drawing or scribble – but it has to be about the topic!
  3. Please, don’t just link to an old post… challenge yourself.
  4. The Challenge will be open for 14 days (there will be a reminder post at the 7 day mark) after which I will post another.
  5. ENJOY, have FUN and TELL your friends and fellow bloggers.

 SO – Create your Two Cents Tuesday Challenge post

  1. Then add a link to your blog in my comment box.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “Two Cents Tuesday Challenge” and add the same as a tag.
  3. If you would like your reader to see what others are presenting for the same challenge, add a link to the “Two Cents Tuesday” challenge on your own blog.
  4. Feel free to pick up your badge on the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge page
  5. Remember to Follow My Blog to get your weekly (hopefully) reminders.

 

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Bliss – Week 2

2 Comments

happiness is

it used to be just that simple

When we were very young, Charles Schulz was very much the epitome of truth-sayer: he had grasped all the important bits of being six, summed them up in very few words and then illustrated the profound with the relatable. In our mind, he knew very well what he was talking about because he had given Linus glasses (we shared his pain) and had concluded that there was not much that was better than ice cream. The Peanuts Gang had its trials and tribulations but on the whole they lived in a universe where having 18 different colours in a box of crayolas was very close to being in heaven.

Today Across the Bored wonders whether our capacity to be content has become tainted; not the “that’s nice, we’re feeling pleased, so happy to see you” range of emotion but rather that all-encompassing warm and fuzzy, push all other thought out of our heads feeling that happens less often as time goes by. Over-satiated by information and input, overwhelmed by emotion, experience and the seemingly endless drama of living life often at full-tilt for too long, simple joys appear to be hard won. Is it that we are too full of too much or is it just a 21st century version of the grass being infinitely greener on a larger monitor?  Some of us have to work longer at it than others, some make a life’s work of making others happy, there are a few who seem to float smiling along in their own rapturous bubble, lucky them. Perhaps we are looking too hard or in the wrong place and, like they say of love, should stop looking for it altogether and let it come to us unbidden. The Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme this fortnight suggests that – Bliss – is much like treasure, find it where you may.

“Describe your own form of bliss” – In a box or under the sun, in a soft smile or sweet song, in a bath full of bubbles or a night on the town…

We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this fortnight’s challenge can be found here. Need more info or want to browse past themes? Have a look at HOW DOES THIS WORK.

The Big 5 – How do you relax?

13 Comments

relax

a whole lot smaller than we remember

Sometimes we have to force ourselves to get off the treadmill of work, commitment and daily life and just do the un-ordinary.  Various sets of constraints found Across the Bored et al pretty much stranded and snowed under at the old homestead this last March break and by Day 3 in-house projects had us all chomping at the bit of boredom. Where hadn’t we been recently that would entertain us, provide a decent photo-op without freezing off fingertips and was accessible by public transportation?

Memories of by-gone field trips with pre-school age darlings prompted a visit to the local Biodome and with that said we should, in some respects, have known better. By the look of the six other cool and casual over 20-somethings not towing small people along after them, the thought that every other adult with charges under the age of twelve might be at our destination had never occurred to us. Traffic flowed surprisingly smoothly through the exhibits and it wasn’t the crowd that proved disconcerting in the end. It was the awful fact that most of the children were holding smartphones or pads and looking at those rather than the flora and fauna on display right in front of them. It was the terrible but true saying “Why live life when you can document it?” playing out at our feet and further proof that many have forgotten how to just enjoy the moment for what it’s worth without the intervention of a gadget. We lingered, wandered slowly and wide-eyed through subterranean bat-caves and icy tundra, managing to regain the wonder, although the depressed penguins left a sad note on a pleasant few hours. It didn’t turn out to be quite the photographic expedition anticipated but no matter, for our altogether restful little outing did result in this fortnight’s Big 5 Challenge:

“How do you relax?” – with a good book or crashed on the couch, watching a mindless movie or birds in the park, fixing the old or creating the new, hiking up that mountain, running a mile, window-watching or sight-seeing…

We would love to know how you recharge and restore.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?

  1.  I will post some commentary such as the above on one of the five Ws (WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN or WHY and sometimes HOW) and then ask you to respond on the same.
  2. Your point of view on the current week’s challenge can take any form: a reply in the comment box, in a new post with a quote, a motto or saying, an essay, poem or opinion of yours or attributed to someone else, a piece of music, a song, a video, a work of art, photograph, graffiti, drawing or scribble – but it has to be about the topic!
  3. Challenge yourself to dig deep for an answer.
  4. The Challenge will be open for 14 days (there will be a reminder post at the 7 day mark) after which I will post another.
  5. ENJOY, have FUN and TELL your friends and fellow bloggers.

SO – Create your Big 5 Challenge post

  1. Then add a link to your blog in my comment box.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “The Big 5 Challenge” and add the same as a tag.
  3. If you would like your reader to see what others are presenting for the same challenge, add a link to the “Big 5” challenge on your own blog.
  4. Feel free to pick up your badge on The Big 5 Challenge page.
  5. Remember to Follow to get your weekly (hopefully) reminders.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Bliss

36 Comments

bliss

Bite me

There comes a time when one has to start regulating diets, actually climbing on that exercise bike instead of using it as a clothes hanger and get down to some serious lifestyle adjustment to ensure a healthy segue into the next stage of existence. Across the Bored has been a very, very good girl for a few seasons and is starting to enjoy the rewards of the aforesaid but every once in a while… 

It was exactly one of those days where just a bite of heaven was needed to tide things over when the idea sprang to mind that it had been a very long time indeed since we had had any kind of indulgence. Little prodding was needed to get Miss Z to explore a newish patisserie and with the only proviso that she come home with something nice, the mission was set.  A long half-hour later, the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge opened a red ribbon-tied, nondescript white box and discovered – Bliss – pure, unadulterated, non-processed just like the old days, ready to be devoured puff pastry delight. Truly a gastronomic manifestation of the divine, we both feel much better now.

“Describe your own form of bliss” – In a box or under the sun, in a soft smile or sweet song, in a bath full of bubbles or a night on the town…

We would love to see your vision.

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?

  1.  I will post some commentary on a random topic that pops into my head (such as the above) and then ask you to respond on the same.
  2. Your point of view on the current week’s challenge can take any form: a quote, a motto or saying, an essay, poem or opinion of yours or attributed to someone else, a piece of music, a song, a video, a work of art, photograph, graffiti, drawing or scribble – but it has to be about the topic!
  3. Please, don’t just link to an old post… challenge yourself.
  4. The Challenge will be open for 14 days (there will be a reminder post at the 7 day mark) after which I will post another.
  5. ENJOY, have FUN and TELL your friends and fellow bloggers.

 SO – Create your Two Cents Tuesday Challenge post

  1. Then add a link to your blog in my comment box.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “Two Cents Tuesday Challenge” and add the same as a tag.
  3. If you would like your reader to see what others are presenting for the same challenge, add a link to the “Two Cents Tuesday” challenge on your own blog.
  4. Feel free to pick up your badge on the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge page
  5. Remember to Follow My Blog to get your weekly (hopefully) reminders.