Tag: why

The Big 5 – “When” do you get annoyed? – Week 2

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download

I swear it wasn’t there 2 days ago

It seems to take a lot of fancy dancing on our part just to keep up with all the innovations that Apple and the 400 or so app providers we use keep churning out, so we’re not always completely pleased when notified that it’s time to upgrade to the “latest version”. Half the time something really nifty and easy to use is gone, disappeared with no explanation, leaving us to Google and in worst case scenarios, search support (which more often than not doesn’t provide an answer).

We upgraded to Yosemite and had to spend way more time reconfiguring things we really don’t know much about than should be necessary. We’re more of the “turn it on, it works, let’s go” type of user, accustomed to having things where they are supposed to be and in working order.  Imagine our surprise when we discovered that the download icon was gone. Not there. It used to have it’s own pride of place with a lovely dropdown menu that you could track all that stuff you just had to have in one place. Endless navigation and clicking ensued to find out just what were we supposed to do now. And as much as we searched, all we could find was that it was no longer a familiar part of our browser window. No explanation, no logic for its removal. We finally figured out to set our preferences to desktop rather than a downloads folder just to make sure we were actually getting what we wanted.

This morning we noticed that our happy little icon is back. Let’s see whether it has the full functionality of its parent. We do love change, of sorts, but the Big 5 Challenge is not a fan when things that are supposed to streamline our workflow and make our lives easier are just dumbed-down. Don’t assume we don’t need those features that worked beautifully and were a part of what drew us to you in the first place – hello Apple… is there anybody actually out there that is not trying to justify their salary by fixing stuff that isn’t broken?

“When do you get annoyed?” – on the bus or in the car, up close and personal, way too far, by too much noise or too much talk, by things that stick on shoes when out for a walk… We would love to know when you get your knickers in a twist.

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.

The Big 5 – When do you get annoyed?

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i’ll be waiting

Our aging neighbour finally bit the bullet, sold her house for what is was actually worth and snuck off early on a Sunday morning for points West without really saying goodbye to any of us on the street that she had gossiped with for so many years. So it goes: people are funny that way. We get used to their little idiosyncrasies, make small talk, put up with their barking dogs and annoying gardeners and for the most part, just live and let live as long as they don’t get too intrusive.

The couple that took over the bungalow look much like any other twenty-something, newly married couple just starting out. On their first day of possession, all the lights were on for what must have been a closer inspection of the premises: the previous owner favoured a more ecologically conscious (or just plain cheap) habit of only illuminating the room she was in so it was odd to see the little house lit up and taking on a new life. Day 2 the contents of what had been left behind spilled out into the yard – couches, chairs, an old tv and stand, a perfectly good desk and almost new filing cabinets, a mattress, box spring, carpet and garbage bags filled with who knows what.  For some reason we expected the van that pulled up to take it all away, perhaps to charity, a resource centre, the Sally Ann, church, anywhere that it might do some good and make life a little easier at this particularly stressful holiday time of year. But the two healthy, fit young men milling around the trailer didn’t dispose of it in a civically responsible manner. They did go to a lot of effort to pile it in the driveways of other neighbours so that they could park their own two cars without any obstruction. They didn’t even ask. Not a great way to make friends and influence people.

Big fat snowflakes started to fall around 10 pm onto the sad pile of furniture left in the street. We had hoped the roving pickers would make it to our neighbourhood to collect their free booty but they must all have been tucked in their own houses avoiding the cold snap because this morning the piles were still there. Until the garbage trucks arrived and ate everything.

That is when the Big 5 Challenge lost it. Completely disgusted and peeved beyond belief that in this day and age when everyone blathers on about doing the right thing, being ecologically friendly, passing it forward and helping out the less fortunate, the new residents actions were proving that some people still didn’t get it. We don’t feel “right neighbourly”  today, rather we can empathize more with the Clampetts  and would love to greet them at the door with a shotgun filled with salt and pepper and a baying bloodhound….

“When do you get annoyed?” – on the bus or in the car, up close and personal, way too far, by too much noise or too much talk, by things that stick on shoes when out for a walk… We would love to know when you get your knickers in a twist.

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.

The Big 5 – “Where” do you eat? – Week 2

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green apples

an apple a day

It’s been years since we had to pack a lunch for ourselves or, for that matter, walk further than a hundred feet to find something to snack on midday seeing we are “lucky” enough to live and work out of the same premises. We do, however, keep an eye on what the Ghost and Miss Z throw in their backpacks to sustain themselves through their busy schedules. Their food of choice these days tends towards the portable, bite-sized, not too smelly and unobtrusive.

The rigours of back-to-back seminars means that some days our monsters have to actually eat in their classrooms. Just as walking down the street with a coffee or bottle of water in hand wasn’t a common occurrence thirty years ago, neither was noshing down on a fragrant smoked-meat in a “State of the Media” symposium. Times change. Many of the unwritten rules of public comportment that we took for granted are long gone and we either go with the flow or run the risk of becoming stale-dated like that mystery meat sandwich from the vending machine.

Meal-time, under the best of circumstances, is no small effort and the Big 5 Challenge is curious about “Where do you eat?” – in bed or on the sofa, in front of the tv or in a cafeteria, on the road or in the air, alone or in a crowd, way too fast or without a care …

We would love to know where you chow down.

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.

The Big 5 – Where do you eat?

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sushi

YUM

Now that the Ghost and Miss Z are out and about unsupervised and wander in when their days are done, the island in our kitchen has become the focal point for most food-related activities.  It sits plonked between the stove on one side of the room and the fridge on the other, a horrific example of how not to succeed in the concept of the “work triangle”. Get more than one person in the room trying to meal-prep or even just trying to grab a quick snack and the dance begins: the side-stepped, blocked path roundabout, the hot pan “watch out not to burn yourself” get that off there before we drop it tango of a too tight remodel not thought out long enough (our absolutely perfect kitchen has been in the concept stage for the last 20 years…). It looks great at first glance, it works marginally. Despite all that, we have become accustomed to such interaction. Like Pavlov’s dogs we know what to do when the timer on the microwave beeps and, depending on how many bodies are in play, we act accordingly.

Whoever did the redesign on our open-concept rental must have been contemplating a larger space. We do have a dining “area” with a table that seats eight comfortably but the chairs seem to attract stray coats and backpacks.  Whatever surface that could possibly be used for supper always seems to have an assortment of laptops, books and projects in progress strewn over it and only sees the light of day on special occasions. We hate it. It does not conform to our sense of orderliness.

The days of sitting down to a family meal every night seem long gone and the Big 5 Challenge suspects this is a trend.  “Where do you eat?” – in bed or on the sofa, in front of the tv or in a cafeteria, on the road or in the air, alone or in a crowd, way too fast or without a care …

We would love to know where you chow down.

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.

The Big 5 – “What” do you do? – Week 2

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mason jars

nuts

Sometimes we get so busy that we just don’t want to do it anymore.  There are days when we’ve beaten a concept to within an inch of its message and still can’t manage to get that resounding pop of satisfaction and those are the hours when we’d really rather be doing something else. Like rearranging closets, cleaning the garage or taking every dry good out of its awful plastic packaging and putting it into lovely, aesthetically pleasing and ecologically conscious mason jars. If we are going to waste time, it can at least be constructive.

Such manias are labour intensive for the most part. They can be the stuff of drudgery or filled with the crisp exhilaration of industriousness at its best. Our organizational skills have been honed over a lifetime; they are legend, a repository of much wisdom and have been, at every opportunity, imparted to our offspring much to their chagrin.

This fortnight the Big 5 Challenge pondered “What do you do?” – enigma or electrician, caregiver or taker, just starting out or enjoying the fruit of your labours, rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief …

We would love to know what takes up most of your time.

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.

The Big 5 – What do you do?

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innovation-poster atb

please make our oscar chewable

It’s not often that we mix church and state but we have, in the recent past, alluded to real-world activities that have been gobbling up our time. When we haven’t got our mitre on, the hard hat is busy protecting us; in an ideal life we would presume and postulate to our heart’s content but when the sun rises each morning we are, sadly, reminded that the rent still needs to be paid.

Alot of what we experience on a daily basis is last minute, due yesterday, just got this great idea to add to those hundred other things you’re doing right now and must be bigger, better, more exciting in full-colour, glossy bus-sized incredibilitude. As much as we love pushing the envelope and repeat (often) that work is a good thing (sorry Martha), we’d give our eye teeth for another head and an extra set of hands. With our luck, we’d always be arguing…

As an aspiring optimist, we say that when we are given yet another task to check off on an already long to-do list that it make us think outside the box but sometimes we just come up empty. Nothing but biodegradable peanuts and shredded packing tape. It can take a stressful toll in one way or another and our biggest fear is just running out of time before we can get all those ideas swirling around in our head out. Concretized for someone else to take pleasure in, be inspired by, be educated about, get a laugh from and hopefully start some sort of dialogue over. That is, perhaps, why many of us blog.

Seems like this century everyone is busier than ever and the Big 5 Challenge is awfully curious to know the reason. “What do you do?” – enigma or electrician, caregiver or taker, just starting out or enjoying the fruit of your labours, rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief …

We would love to know what takes up most of your time.

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.

The Big 5 – “Who” do you resemble? – Week 2

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Dog-snarlingit’s not always pretty

Funny how the complete draft of a post can be so clear right before one falls asleep and then the next morning we find ourselves trying to pick up the rather frayed thread to weave it all back together… Some things set us off easily perhaps more than they should and with that being said, it is a good thing that we have the sense to value sleep more than firing off email responses at 12:30 am. In the light of day they make much better copy and transform us from snarling hell-hound to obstinate rat-catcher with a mission.

It all started with a simple message – “No notifications yet“. Perhaps some of you have also seen it recently on your mobile WP apps, maybe we’re the only lucky soul. In any event, we had been otherwise occupied with real-life stuff over the last few weeks and didn’t pay it much mind, but then it started to be a ridiculous reminder that something evidently wasn’t right and so we emailed Tech support with a query. Before we launch into this lengthy tirade, let it be known that we have had some amazing help in the past from people at WP who actually did get it and this whole incident unfortunately fell at the tail end of a series of less than inspiring customer-service encounters. Run-ins that left us wanting to shred something to bits and shake it ’til it gave up.

One would have thought that having a WP.com blog meant getting a simple, direct answer from our loving host but that would have been too easy: in order to find some resolution we were requested to open a new account at WP.org (oh joy, another password to keep track of) and repost the same query all over again. Now, being one who can appreciate the finer points of “staying organized” (.com’s  answer) we went through the motions. A day later we were asked whether we were actually logged into the right account and that’s where we almost lost it. Logged in? To the mobile app on our home screen that stays open all the time so we don’t have to clumsily type our lengthy coordinates into the tiny log-in window while we are being jostled on the bus or playing co-pilot in the car. Logged in to the one account that we’ve been logged into since we downloaded the app onto our mobile devices who knows how long ago? We guess the answer to that would be, well ya…. “Try logging in and then out again” was the stellar follow-up: sounds like someone has been taking lessons from tech support at our internet provider – should we try kicking it also?

We do realize that a lot of questions sent to tech support are inane and it must be frustrating to be on the receiving end of such silliness all day long but it really rankles when we’re lumped into a group that hasn’t even developed opposable thumbs. We don’t ask for help unless we’ve googled the problem, looked through all the forums, help centers, articles, yadda yadda and basically exhausted all our own resources. God forbid tech support should and not just assume we’re logged into the wrong account – we would know if we were and that’s not even the problem anyways.
So we went back into the app, without having to log in, and lo and behold the notifications had miraculously appeared. Basically the same but somehow… Different.

At the risk of sounding like an old codger irrevocably set in our ways, we are absolutely not thrilled with the new, improved WP mobile notifications. Now we have little stars (ooh, just what I need – another gold star for my collection) and word bubbles that (take a few clicks to) change colour to prompt us that this is what the attached content is about because no one knows how to read anymore. Sadly, the cross-platform links have not quite gotten the kinks ironed out so if you have read, answered, approved or commented on any of the notifications on, god forbid, your big clunker of a monitor that you can’t carry around in your pocket, the mobile versions haven’t gotten the memo: you’ll just have to read it again to change the colour of that nifty star/bubble – because you just have that much time. We always thought the point of mobile was to make life easier, simpler, less time-consuming, to let us get from A to Z in as few steps as possible. Apparently not, and that’s just the start….

Click on your notification and what do we find? Gravatars and relevant info on who liked what, ok, that looks good; what we commented and the reply – uh oh, there’s a star prompting us like the ghost of Facebook to attach significance to “Thanks for the info…” – really? Now we have this added feature to further an already overburdened sense of guilt that we’re not engaging enough as it is?  Aaaacccckkkk….. What happened to being able to click on the link in a notification to actually see what we are being prompted to approve? Not there anymore. It means we have to go back to the monitor, sometime later, today or tomorrow, and wonder what or who we are forgetting and why we need to do this all over – again. Why is the spam flag now hidden under “more” and why should we have to go through extra steps to get to something that used to be right there under our noses? What does “edit comment” mean? Are we censoring our reader’s replies now on top of everything else? Isn’t that rude and a bit pompous? If we don’t like what people have to say about us or what we’ve posted can’t we just not approve them, ignore them and eventually they’ll disappear like in the good old passive-aggressive days of yore?  It all smacks of the mega-corporation malaise, the one where someone in the back room is trying to justify their paycheque by tweaking things that don’t need to be fixed and taking away features that were actually useful and worked properly in the first place. Upgrades don’t always mean better, lately they seem to mean guess what’s gone. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a whole lot we can do about it but foam at the mouth like some rabid dog. Not nice at all. And it’s really not a good look for us.

Do we really need all this aggravation or should we just roll over onto our backs like an unconcerned puppy waiting for a scritch and something better to come along? It’s been exhausting and so we will follow our dog’s lead and go and lie down until we’ve forgotten about it and it’s time for dinner…

This fortnight the Big 5 Challenge asked – “Who do you resemble?” – mom or pop, lion or lemur, celebrity or saint…

We would love to know who is on your list.

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.

The Big 5 – Who do you resemble?

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article-0-19AA650200000578-331_306x371

at least it’s not the postman’s….

Everyone knows the old joke about if you want to know how your significant other is going to age (say 30 or 40 years down the line) take a look at their parents. Scary. From both sides. We often pore over pictures of our ancestors and can see how certain traits carry over in the gene pool: skipping a generation once in a while, with siblings sometimes resembling each other more than their parents, Uncle Ed’s mouth popping up here, Ma Tante’s pale complexion there…. A little bit of something from everyone all mixed up in one package.

Even if it’s not readily apparent that we do have the same DNA as our family, we can rest assured that the truth will out in other ways. Mannerisms, voice, small annoying idiosyncrasies, even knee-jerk reactions to external triggers are all packed into the genetic baggage that so many of us try to lose along the way.  On our journey, we choose partners and animals for a variety of reasons (just google people who look like their pets) and sooner or later we start to have more in common with them than we might desire…

The Big 5 Challenge has concluded that jowls may possibly be in our future. Such is life and if we don’t like it, at least we live in a time when we can do something about it.   “Who do you resemble?” – mom or pop, lion or lemur, celebrity or saint…

We would love to know who is on your list.

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.

The Big 5 – Challenger’s Choice – Week 2

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NY-In-The-Moment-788828

if only…  running really fast to try and catch it

This fortnight the Big 5 Challenge is leaving it up to you – Challenger’s Choice!

What do you crave?    How old do you feel?    When was your last Duh moment?    Where do you relax?     Why did you start to blog?    Who is your Underdog?    What is your Favourite Flower?     When is the last time you really laughed?    How do you relax?     Who did you listen to?      Where are you from?     What are you reading?

We would love to know which topic gets you going…

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.

The Big 5 – Challenger’s Choice

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I don’t want to work
I want to bang on the drum all day
✩✩✩

Yep, that’s exactly right

The Big 5 Challenge has been the victim of a last minute assignment due yesterday – please feel free to have a gander at the rules, choose any of the topics listed here and go for it in fine summer style!

We would love to see what you come up with.

The Big 5 – “What” do you crave? – Week 2

2 Comments

spock massageplease, please, please come to my house – i’ll pay anything

Have you ever had one of those days where everything that could possibly go wrong did? This particular Wednesday proved a fine example of that old adage: we woke at an ungodly hour to the sound of the sprinkler system kicking in like Niagara Falls in the duct work and discovered that the source of a prolonged hot flash was coming from the dog jammed quite contentedly into our armpit. It was dentist day part 2: despite the grey skies we decided to walk – it wasn’t that far but the swollen rain clouds looming overhead decided they couldn’t wait another five minutes and released the inundation upon us halfway there. Arriving early and waiting an additional half hour was a bonus that let us dry out a bit before the heavy demolition began in earnest. After an hour in the chair the silky strains of Respighi could not soften the blow that the simple filling we had gone in for had now turned into a hidden crack and future crown. Not feeling like a princess at all….

Murphy must have been laughing from on high when he saw us leave the dentist’s office. A break in the torrential weather, another bad decision to walk, more rain the size of spitballs, major construction tearing up the side streets causing us to skip and jump across puddles and piles of gravel, wrongly stocked items at the grocery store resulting in ludicrous prices at the cash, too many packages resulting in the forgotten umbrella, a return for the barely usable brolly and finally home.  All we could think about was a piece of Russian toast and a caramel macchiato, neither of which was going to happen seeing we resembled a wet-mouth Saint Bernard and most words came out crooked anyways.

The weather seemed to have put everyone on tenterhooks with the simplest questions having a cataclysmic effect quite unwarranted (us included). We told everyone in no uncertain terms not to ask what is for dinner. The invitation to Spock though has been extended to perpetuity for all we really want, right now, is not to be bothered. Could be worse…

This fortnight the Big 5 Challenge is interested to know –  “What do you crave?” – peace and quiet, a hearty party, a chocolate-covered donut, pastrami sandwich or kale smoothie, to be alone, to be away, a 48-hour long day…

We would love to know what has been poking you to go for it.

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.

The Big 5 – What do you crave?

3 Comments

crave

some days it’s bacon

Fellow blogger and roller derby queen Marie’s post about the unexpected repercussions of an alimentary lifestyle choice had Across the Bored snorting with sympathetic laughter. We also have been there, ate that and (groaningly) lived to tell some mortifying tales of caving to desire. To be honest they really did seem like good ideas at the time, ones that were not so far-fetched to be ridiculous but like the ingestion of just one wafer thin mint, ones that put us right over the top.

Everyone has had the experience of having a taste for something: everything from garlicky goodness and super spicy to divinely dessert-like. It’s our taste buds and indeed even some odd twist of metabolism that pipes up in a small voice and whispers “howzabout that raspberry sundae? You know you want it…” Sometimes it all ends in disaster with us saying that we will never succumb again and other days we pat ourselves on the back for having made a wise decision that takes us in a better, healthier direction.

The Big 5 Challenge gets overwhelmed by a variety of desires –  “What do you crave?” – peace and quiet, a hearty party, a chocolate-covered donut, pastrami sandwich or kale smoothie, to be alone, to be away, a 48-hour long day…

We would love to know what has been poking you to go for it.

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.

The Big 5 – “How” old do you feel? – Week 2

11 Comments

anyone remember this decade?

Having been too old to enjoy Sesame Street when it first came out and not old enough to appreciate its finer comedic timing and pop culture references, Across the Bored was quite pleased when The Muppet Show made its debut in the late 1970s.  Sublimely ridiculous in its use of punmanship, with unabashed references to everyone from Shakespeare to the Village People, it was the one of the few shows that we watched faithfully. The combination of great silliness, snort-worthy parodies and even a few tear-inducing moments were exactly what we needed at that point in time.

We still do Swedish Chef impressions when trying to explain incomprehensible recipes, see the wisdom in Miss Piggy’s approach to life and yes, on some days know we have become Waldorf and Statler chiding and deriding from the best seats in the house. Watching reruns of this classic, truly unique in its genre, brings it all back and we laugh like pre-schoolers all over again.

This fortnight the Big 5 Challenge prodded – “How old do you feel?” –  like a kid in a candy shoppe or drudge with a mop, like you could run a mile, need to rest a while, could change your style or rule the world…

We would love to know how you are reeling in the years.

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.

The Big 5 – How old do you feel?

10 Comments

how old

we can remember at least 30…

Pleasant weather has had Across the Bored seeking out old haunts and new neighbourhoods in some spontaneous outings these past few weeks. As much an opportunity to build up the photo library for some post-summer editing as they are  exercise in disguise, such sorties are also the perfect excuse for an ice-cold drink and a bit of people-watching from a shady terrace.  With time on our hands and no particular place to go, a few hours spent wandering around usually leaves us feeling invigorated.

Such was definitely not the case last Friday when my usual walking companion was otherwise occupied: itching to get out and get something done we headed off to a department store downtown with a focus on replacing some badly needed unmentionables. Now most men will just shake their heads and wonder how difficult could that be for it seems a simple matter of going to the underwear department, finding size and favourite brand, paying and going home (or just getting whoever puts them in the drawer to seek and replace) but certain ladies will more fully understand the torture that ranks on a par with the old pre-season swimsuit try-on debacles.

It’s not for lack of styles or sizes, stretch satin or spandex, balconette or push-up, may-I-help-yous or sorry, they don’t make those anymore. It’s not because of the awful lighting in the tired changing rooms with the fun-house mirrors that make one feel pastily like all the things we swore we’d never become. It may be that we don’t approach this kind of thing with the same zeal or excitement of youthful folly: it has come to the point where we want comfortable and reassuring, a little confidence-builder that doesn’t squeeze in the wrong place or cause unsightly bulges where they don’t belong. We don’t want to be reminded of the past, we want something for us now – if it comes in hot-pink lace then all the better. On our way out we met a lovely lady who looked just as bedraggled, put-upon and exasperated as we felt. “I hate doing this – it gets worse every year” she sighed as we flipped through the racks yet again for the one size we needed in the perfect style that was not there. She had been through the same ordeal: we were not alone, we are legion and as she pointed out, this type of battle deserved a rejuvenating reward – name your poison and swallow it with gusto!

The Big 5 Challenge puts forth that it definitely depends on the situation to make us 5 or 50. “How old do you feel?” – like a kid in a candy shoppe or drudge with a mop, like you could run a mile, need to rest a while, could change your style or rule the world…

We would love to know how you are reeling in the years.

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.

The Big 5 – “When” was your last Duh moment? – Week 2

3 Comments

duh note

we’re going to need the bulk pack of these

We couldn’t stifle a laugh booking eye appointments recently, although to be fair some confusion may have arisen from the fact that there is a quite complicated system in place as regards family names/gender for anything medical or governmental in our province.  The optometrist’s secretary chirpily asked “Ok Mrs. X, your file is under your maiden name, now could you give me your husband and son’s last name, please?” Pffft!!! She knew as soon as she had let it slipped – brain on autopilot, all part of the job….

Everyone from the Urban to Oxford dictionaries has an entry for the word we most closely associate with this kind of event. On Wiktionary certain Slavic language etymologies roughly translate it to mean a ghost or spirit, which makes some sense as it seems as though the perpetrator of the action is usually not functioning at full capacity.  In Shabo, it means “breast”, a definition which is perhaps the most accurate as we all feel like boobs when when we realize just how idiotic what we have just said or done is. Duh….

This fortnight the Big 5 Challenge pondered – “When was your last Duh moment?” – while reading a newspaper, watching TV, tripping over your own feet or someone else’s, silly or sad, complicated or bad, indescribably inane or just downright dense…

We would love to know when you last rolled your eyes to the heavens in exasperation.

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.

The Big 5 – When was your last Duh moment?

12 Comments

duh_3

ok then…. now what?

Sometimes no matter how hard we try, the unexpectedly stupid occurs. The media has made a full-time job of presenting the vapid and vacuous in such a way that we all feel much better about our own fumbles going forward. Those hard to correct, knew it as soon as we had done it (or not) instants are, thankfully and for most of us, not recorded and broadcast for all to see to see but we all get that same head-shaking reaction. From the we’re sure we checked twice and everything looked fine and dandy, no that typo wasn’t there yesterday type of realization that comes after we were busy thinking about that thing that was not what we were actually doing at that moment to those little facepalms when your conscience sits on your shoulder like some moulting vulture reminding you that yes indeed, the old saying about measuring twice and cutting once was not just idle talk.

Perhaps we we tired, had iron-poor blood, didn’t pause to reflect or work that angle into our calculations, but sh*t inevitably happens. Therein lies the beauty of restating the obvious or pointing out the absolutely-cannot believe it-incredibly idiotic. Marbles do go missing from time to time. Some days our IQ is barely above room temperature, we know full well we shouldn’t operate heavy equipment and have no choice but to act like imbeciles deserving our own Youtube channel. From politicians to baby beauty queens, airheads to talk-show hosts, paste-eaters to ivory tower theorists, everyone has made a gaffe that resulted in a laugh. No one is perfect. Sue us….

The Big 5 Challenge had their own OMG blurt about 5 minutes ago – “When was your last Duh moment?” – while reading a newspaper, watching TV, tripping over your own feet or someone else’s, silly or sad, complicated or bad, indescribably inane or just downright dense…

We would love to know when you last rolled your eyes to the heavens in exasperation.

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.

The Big 5 – “Where” do you relax? – Week 2

2 Comments

charles-barsotti-relax-it-s-summertime-and-the-living-is-easy-new-yorker-cartoon

so much so that auto-schedule is also taking a break

Perhaps the old joke about this part of the continent having 10 months of winter and 2 months of lousy skating has more than a little to do with the fact that once this season comes we are all just a wee bit off kilter and though full of ideas about how best to take advantage of everything outdoorsy, we are at the same time stricken with that full-body paralysis that makes us just want to lie on something soft in the brightest patch of sun around.

Urban summer is a whole different season from blissful by-the-ocean or camping in the meadow endeavours and was proven by an unavoidable Sunday morning trek into the core of town only because we could not live one moment longer without power for the internet router. Of course, tech support sent us to the wrong outlet. The one with the not-so-happy to be working on the last day of a glorious weekend sales associate who was no help at all and who will not be winning any customer service/employee of the month awards; the one which opened a full two hours before the one that actually did carry the part we needed… Now our day of rest is usually spent in relative solitude, far from the madding crowds with perhaps a nice waffle and a cappuccino on the patio and the most aggravating it gets is lazy dog clamouring to visit his friend next door. So needless to say, we were not amused.

It did give us a chance to walk around for a bit and play tourist with those out for Grand Prix weekend but mostly it served to remind us that downtown is best enjoyed when everyone is working. What was supposed to be a quick trip turned into a five hour trek and resulted in one pitiful AC plug and the need to put our feet up for a bit when we finally did make it home. Could be worse, we could have paid a small fortune to broil with no earplugs in the stands at the racetrack. This fortnight the Big 5 Challenge asked – “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, 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.

The Big 5 – Where do you relax?

13 Comments

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.

The Big 5 – “Why” did you start to blog? – Week 2

14 Comments

110926_cartoon_090_a15925_p465

all depends on the day…

Throughout the last week we have been reading some great entries into this challenge and have to say that many of the reasons that other bloggers got started are ones that we can easily associate with: as a journal, a place to vent, a vehicle for artistic expression, to connect with others and to see what the rest of the blogosphere is up to are just a few of the points offered up. We had been saving Roz Chast’s cartoon for a very long time in the knowledge that one day it would be just right for that very special post and lo and behold, it is. She knows us all and must have been perched on our shoulder the day we first pressed publish for we are All of the Above, though we would like to think that subtlety plays at least a small part in getting our point across.

Did we think we could change the world? Not realistically. Did we anticipate changing ourselves? Never in a million years, but we did. Would we do it all over again? In a heartbeat and we would venture that many of you would also. This fortnight the Big 5 Challenge is curious to know “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, 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.

The Big 5 – Why did you start to blog?

28 Comments

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.

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.

The Big 5 – Who is your Underdog ?

6 Comments

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.

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

3 Comments

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.

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.

The Big 5 – “When” is the last time you really laughed? – Week 2

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07-The-Far-Side-Best-Comic-Strips-1

so accurate in so many ways

Humour is an intensely personal affair and we are lucky when others share and indulge it.  So needless to say we were heartbroken when Gary Larson decided to retire in 1995 – who would provide our daily dose, make us snort, who would be there with that little snippet of truth that summed up exactly how we felt? It was as if a long relationship was suddenly being ended by one of us saying that they “needed a little space”. Understandable perhaps but nonetheless traumatic…

In our local bookshop there was a massive compilation of the cartoonist’s work available at a horrific price; at that time, the needs of our then-quite-small children outweighed any amusingly adult indulgences and so it sat on their shelf collecting dust.  How we coveted that heavy tome and wondered what witty gems it hid within. Many years later, we found a copy online at less than a quarter of the list price – how could we resist?

It is an edition, like a select few others, that we go back to over and over again. There are cartoons that have become reference points, some of their phrases appropriated into private jokes and used to encapsulate a whole world of situational descriptors and the wonder of it all is that they are still as fresh as the day they were penned. So, yes Gary, we can appreciate how emotionally exhausting it must have been to be “on” all the time, and will respect your wishes not to redistribute your work, but want to let you know that even after all these years we are still amused and delighted. The Big 5 Challenge takes our guffaws where we can get ’em and this fortnight wonders…

“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…

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.

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

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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.

The Big 5 – “How” do you relax? – Week 2

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Call the Midwife … 'We don't go out on bikes.'fits and starts between bites of toast

We are not big television watchers. Not having 536 cable channels might have something to do with it but we compensate our viewing pleasure in other ways and our recent thrill (after marathoning Downton Abbey) is Call the Midwife. Being a dedicated multitasker, the small screen usually finds us doing something else at the same time but the late Jennifer Worth’s memoirs fleshed out with the BBC’s knack for colour continuity and period detail have proven that there are some things worth putting down your knitting for. This runaway hit about “women’s issues” and the field of midwifery pre-contraception in London’s East End in the 1950s has proven compelling – the characters are affable, the scenes range from the bittersweetly comic to the tragic and the plotlines broach all manner of “tough” subject without a moment’s hesitation. It is, as some have said, “magnificently subversive drama” that plays out with all the unexpectedness of life itself. We are fully engaged and the better for it.

It’s not hard to see ourselves reflected in the bits of dialogue between the nursing Nuns of Nonnatus House. Much like 90 year old Sister Monica Joan’s dismissal of the Dewey Decimal system as “altogether too earthbound” in favour of an arrangement more distinctly eclectic, we too have been known to shuffle tomes and “put Plato here, next to Freud, so they can be companions in their ignorance…” Well aware of the oddly calming effect of placing books where we think they should be, rather than where most libraries would have them, we pull and replace, urging the Noir Style to rub shoulders with Strange Days, Dangerous Nights and squeeze the Explorers next to a mint Maharaja just for good measure. This methodology works as well for us as it did for the aged sister stacking volumes on a makeshift bookshelf until someone jams an action-thriller into 1001 Kitchen Organizers and we are forced to do triage once again.

After all that, the Big 5 Challenge is ready to put its feet up, watch another episode and ask this fortnight…

“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, 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.

The Big 5 – How do you relax?

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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.

The Big 5 – “Who” did you listen to? – Week 2

9 Comments

cookbookSomewhere a Grasshopper and Ant are in lively discussion

Advice, whether good or unwanted, seems to be measured out much like ingredients in a recipe – either in pinches or tablespoons, pennyweights or pounds. Sometimes freely given, often with a price, this form of guidance can restate the obvious, impart the wisdom of the ages or make us wonder where it originated and much like cooking, depends on the messenger’s knowledge to have decent results.

Things that once seemed problematic like “Drink 8 glasses of water a day” (What? Who has time? Where am I going to get 8 glasses in this office? Really?) in retrospect and according to many an esthetician, make good healthy sense.  Others, like “Buy it! Everyone’s wearing neon this year!” should be avoided like the plague affecting the fashion victim uttering it.  Are the hundreds of recommendations we seem to be overwhelmed with actually helpful or even useful? Are they what we need to hear or are they what the bearer knows we want to hear? We could fill a book with all the well-intended bon mots heard over a lifetime and put Napoleon’s words along with a suitably witty illustration on the frontispiece:

Du sublime au ridicule il n’y a qu’un pas (There is only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous).

This fortnight the Big 5 Challenge hears the voice of the past in these few simple phrases handed down over the last two centuries that apply to more than just domestic issues:

Learn how things are done properly, for if you marry a rich man you will need to know whether your servants are doing their jobs as required and if you marry a poor man, you will be doing them yourself…

“Who did you listen to?” – Parents or peers, punk or piano, the beat of your heart or steps in the street, politicians, revolutionaries, strangers that you’d meet… We would love to know who influenced your youth.

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.

The Big 5 – Who did you listen to?

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when it all comes flooding back

Across the Bored was trying to recall the details of certain past events the other day and was surprised that, despite their importance, some had faded into near-nothingness. It’s not that they weren’t there, or had not been documented in many different ways, it was that they didn’t seem to rank particularly high without some sort of prompt to bring them back into focus. Recollection can be an odd lot, with some images and feelings so vivid that no matter how old they are they stay right in the front of the crammed filing cabinet of our memory – others, sadly, wind up jammed beneath the drawers and only surface when we do a good cleaning.

Conversations with three very different and unconnected people reminded us of this; that our memories, and in turn our perceptions of each day, are very much dependent on where we are on the curve. Our circles of influence rely much on what is floating in and out, which faces take on more significance, whose words drop into the bucket of our consciousness, even which melody informs our mood. As young adults, our lives were filled with an exotic newness and they played out against a changing soundtrack – we said sad goodbyes to the Woodstock era but still rebelled against the mainstream with a vengeance and were then hit in the face with an alternative 80s wake-up call that, yes indeed, the electricity needed to be paid and it was us holding the bill. A word, slogan or song had much impact on the direction we took, be it for that day or the coming years and so has prompted this fortnight’s Big 5 Challenge that asks:

“Who did you listen to?” – Parents or peers, punk or piano, the beat of your heart or steps in the street, politicians, revolutionaries, strangers that you’d meet…

We would love to know who influenced your youth.

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.