Tag: iphoneography

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.

 

tagged “S”

6 Comments

tagged s swine

S is for Swine
Sweet and Sublime
Sallow or callow
the four-legged kind
Snarfelling
Snuffling
Sneaking away
Staring intently
they Snortingly Say
Sit for a while
and Soar
with pig wings
Sow Subjects Socratic
Sing of porcine things
Stop being
Sanctimonious
Soothe us instead
with Sonnets
Soliloquies
and a pat on the head

℁

Saunter over to the entries in Frizztext’s A-Z Challenge: tagged “S“.

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.

 

The Big 5 – “Who” is your Underdog? – Week 2

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LightMyFire

Sometimes just a spark is all that’s necessary

Today’s post was originally going to explore the topic of small countries’ efforts towards independence but an entry in our Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Lost moved our train of thought in a different, yet quite related, direction. We were  reminded of a cigarette brand whose late 60s marketing was geared exclusively to women. Even though the memory had nothing to do with ponderings on smoking, advertising or even women’s liberation, the idea behind the campaign, the quest for determination, did.

Virginia Slims groovy slogan of “You’ve come a long way, baby!” reached back to those generations who had come through depression, a few world wars and huge changes to gender roles in both social and domestic milieus. Fast forward fifty years and it is all the more poignant for despite the radical adjustments we have all made, things really aren’t a whole lot better. In fact, one might argue that they are worse. Our own mum has been known to shake her head in disbelief and mutter “I don’t know how you do it” which is odd considering how both she and her own mother conducted their lives, taking risks and acting outside of accepted convention – besides, like them, it is not as if we have much choice in the matter.

We have, sadly, been duped by the media machine that decided we could be everything to everyone all the time: that we could not only wear the pants but have a closet filled with matching hats that we could defiantly don all at once or interchangeably on a whim. We were told, tempted, nagged, chided, berated and reminded that we could do anything we desired if we really wanted to – be saint and sinner, sacred and sex object, saboteur, sage and saviour. It is not true.

There is a dark and pervasive strain of something or other that has been poisoning the well of our being. As usual, we thought it was just us in our little bubble feeling put-out and put-upon but the more we read and created a dialogue, it became apparent that there are many of us out there suddenly realizing that the moment we stop to take a breath we feel like we are drowning. The author of the post that led to all this postulation wrote of a certain state of being lost, in a “fog… that suffocates the quality of daily life”. Is this malaise generationally endemic? Has it struck only North Americans who have been bombarded by false hope and the pipe dream of attaining super-womanhood or is it a plague that knows no borders? Who can say: it is the stuff of discourse but some days it makes us want to just start a fire under the whole thing…

This fortnight the Big 5 Challenge is dedicated to all those of both genders who are still fighting the big battle, one in which a constantly metamorphosing enemy defies pinpointing and where the front lines keep moving from day to day.

“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, some great entries and the guidelines for this challenge can be found here: Need more info, want to browse past themes or get the badge for your blog? See HOW DOES THIS WORK.

tagged “Q” & “R”

7 Comments

q and r

Queendom is Resigned
once again
to a Quack court filled
with Quick Reproaches
and Queer Reprisals
Random Queries
met
with Rambling Quarrel
prod Quiet Resilience
who
in Quixotic Rapprochement
only seeks to Quell
the Rabid Retrenchment
Quench
the scorched Regression
that Reigns a fevered Raptor
in the Queue
it is a Ragpicker’s Quest
that hungers for Resurrection
a Quantum leap of faith
to Quicken the heart
held Ransom in the Quagmire
before it ends
in Queasy Revolution

∀

 Run Quickly to the entries in Frizztext’s A-Z Challenge: tagged “Q” and “R”.

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Lost

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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.

 

The Big 5 – “What” is your favourite Flower ? – Week 2

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mauve flowers

we’ll be using this one for reference

It is a bit like watching a pot of water to see when it will boil: waiting for spring to grace us with her presence, we mean. Looking out the window every morning with the hopes that there will be a sudden burst of warm sunlight doesn’t seem to help and if the calendar didn’t say (almost) May one might assume that we were poised on the back end of summer expecting a first snow any day soon. Even though the grass on our front lawn is slowly turning green out of desperation for better days, temperatures refuse to be coaxed into decent double digits and the flower beds are still unremarkable.

We can’t remember what we planted last year but that doesn’t really matter for even if we did, it’s not guaranteed to come up this year anyways. The joke is on us for some of the blooms we thought would brighten things up have turned out to be biennial rather than perennial. Apparently this is a detail the garden centres think would be better to leave off the care label half-covered by a large orange price sticker. We do recall the kind of blossoms the larger plants will produce but most of those will likely appear when we’ve given up and gone on vacation.

The neighbours tell us it looks lovely in July, perhaps we will take our sabbatical a month earlier this year and return just as everything pops out in its wondrous glory all at the same time. The Big 5 Challenge will decide then which exotic cluster wins best of show…

“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, some great entries and the guidelines for this challenge can be found here: Need more info, want to browse past themes or get the badge for your blog? See HOW DOES THIS WORK.

tagged “P”

8 Comments

tagged p pop art

Perhaps
like the horoscope says
it is time to Pause
on the edge of the Precipice
and Ponder only
where Predisposition
Pushes us
Put all Platitudes aside
cease Placating
those who will not be Pleased
like the Proverbial Pachyderm
Parked in the room
and
be the Paramedic
Poring over the Patient
resuscitating
Pop art and Poetry
from the Postscript
of
our Penance

‡

 Proceed to the entries in Frizztext’s A-Z Challenge: tagged “P”.