Half

Somehow, this reminded me of a book, that has nothing to do with this word. It's called "Six is So Much Less Than Seven."

For some reason, I thought of loss when I saw this word today. Not in a glass half empty kind of way, because that's half of the same liquid. That's about quantity, not about completion. Not about different halves that are lacking other parts needed to be whole. A whole heart, a whole soul, a whole unit... I don't think singleness is sad. A single person is still whole. But half of something that is lacking another part to form its whole.... that's what I felt today when I saw this word. "Half." "Not complete." Something that's missing. I felt loss.

Dense

Fog
People...

There are far more dense people in the world than I knew. I'd thought smart people outnumbered the idiotic. Not so. And IQ doesn't play as much a part in decentness and non-idiotic behaviour as one might think.

On a slightly different tangent re: "Dense..."

I have a lot of patience with people who aren't "smart." People who don't understand how to do something or don't know something, or are slow to learn something and ask questions (even the same questions) over and over and over again. They don't bother me. I do have problems with people who don't try. Who want me to do all the work for them instead of with them. Who lie about what work they have or haven't done on their own. "Dense" people, in my world, are those people. People who'd rather complain, manipulate and make excuses, rather than try, and try, and try, and try, over and over and over again. The latter may be slower than others at times, but they are not dense. Slow and steady does eventually cross the finish line.

Playground

- This used to be my....

There was a playground near me when I was growing up. We called it "The Park." I can still remember all the rides there. There was a big concrete duck and black horse, each mounted on a giant spring that was dug well into the ground. We'd rock back and forth on those. One day a friend just rocked "forth" and the whole thing came out of the ground. I had not yet fully developed empathy at that point and wondered why the parents were so freaked out.

There was a jungle gym shaped like a train. Just the outline of one. The only solid part was the bench part to sit on.

There was one of those flat spinny things. We called it the merry go round. Kids would hold onto its bars and run around it, trying to get it spinning really fast, then jump on at the last minute for the ultra fast dizzying ride, while trying to fight the centrifugal force that threatened to shoot them all off the edges

A new slide was put in at one point, with red and white striped climbing poles and a tunnel at the top of the slide. A short tunnel, but back then that made it way cool.

Then there were the swings. Horse swings. Plastic horses, in different colors, attached at the front and back to the swing set. You'd sit on the horse's back, grab the handle bars, put your feet on the foot bars, and swing. I rode the blue one a lot and used to imagine we were flying together. It made its way into some of my dreams.

Wow... floods of memories from this place... not sure how much more to write. My 60 seconds is up anyway ;)

I remember a lot from there. Times with my dog. A friend who lived at the edge of the park and considered it her back yard. Birthday parties, a basketball hoop at the far end. Older friends telling me they set the park on fire while smoking and the police came...

I still dream about the park at times. I often have to go through it or by it to get somewhere. In a dream, it's usually connected with a very large hill that was near it in real life.

Evidence

There was no evidence. It was her word against theirs. And the handful of people she'd told, hadn't believed her. That was the part she would never understand. That when faced with the choice of believing her, her, or them, everyone chose them. She whose praises everyone had sung. She who'd helped most of them through troubles of their own, saved their lives, found them work, built them up and led them from lonely worlds to new lives... she whom everyone had trusted... None of that mattered.

What was it about the outer glow that some people had? A glow that shone so brightly to some, that it protected the bearer like a forcefield. While others, whose glow came from within, would never have any protection at all.

Pressed

Pressed Flowers:
I remember pressing some in an encyclopedia. I'd hoped to put them in a frame between two panes of glass and give them as a gift. Never happened.

Pressed Suits:
Did you know Dry Cleaners can just press stuff for you if you ask? Without cleaning? I don't usually need this service since most anything I have that's "Dry Clean Only" doesn't survive past its first laundry load.

Hot off the Press:
My friend had a miniature printing press when we were little. I remember typesetting all the letters in backwards and then cranking out ONE WHOLE SHEET of paper!!!! - Over and over again.

I also had a school trip to the New York Times when I was younger. I'm pretty sure I still have the... I don't know what they're called.... the fused row of letters and numbers that were used to print that day's date. We were each given one to take home.

Pressed for Time:
Time's up! :)

"She hasn't been herself."

"In what way?"

"She seems... preoccupied. Distant. Have you sensed anything?"

"No. Nothing at all."

Crouch

I got nothing.

I'm thinking of another word that's similar, and yet very much not this word.

I'm also thinking of Barty Crouch.

I'm also thinking Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

I'm also thinking of sore knees from memories of crouching too long!

Celebrate

- All kinds of music with that word in my head.

I'm not sure I'll be able to write anything creative. The music is too loud.

Concern

Unhelpful people come to mind. It's understandable for people to be concerned from time to time. I get concerned too. But it's also important to not let that concern become an annoyance or burden for the other person.

Some people think that any help is still help. That's not so. It doesn't matter what the giver believes is helpful. Help is not help unless it's considered helpful by the recipient. Any other "help", undue concern, or calls or unwelcomed visits are often immensely detrimental. It's not charitable, it's self serving. It's entirely for the benefit of the giver who needs to feel like they're doing something useful, or see the person, or hear from them, or be convinced everything is ok...

I've seen the damage people like that can do, and I won't allow people like that in my life. I have a couple of family members and a neighbor who fall into that category, - who I can't "get rid" of! - so I lie. Always. No matter what is happening in my life, to them I will always be 100% perpetually "fine."

Rally

Pep Rally

I wanted to be a cheerleader when I was younger. I really did. I thought it would have been fun. But I didn't pursue it. For all the reasons people don't become cheerleaders. Because cheerleading was less about cheerleading and instead was about boys and popularity and coolness and looking like Barbie. - And football. There was something in there about football too...

I just wanted to cheer. I would have loved cheerleading!

Hover

Hovercraft of course.

Also "Hoover" which was the name of a robotic dog in a comic strip I used to love. As the comic became more popular the dog's name was changed to "Bleeker" to ward off potential future trademark issues. But he'll always be "Hoover" to me :)

Here you go: http://bleekercomics.com/

Bars!!!!

LOL!!!

I'm sorry. I used my bar jokes in the last post!

Existence

Descartes walked into a bar and the bartender asked "Would you like a drink?" Descartes said "I think not." and he disappeared.

Joke #2 (Courtesy of Cheers)

Q: How many surrealists does it take to screw in a light bulb?

A: A fish.

Thank you folks! I'm here all night!

Ant

I knew someone who had a competition with her friend to see who could buy each other's kids the most obnoxious gift. My friend thought she had a clear win when she bought her friend's kids a drum set. Her friend bought her kids an ant farm. - Her friend won.

Division

I liked long division in school. But then when the next wave of kids were taught to write the carried over numbers in different places? Messes me up. Gotta do it my way!

I also thought mitosis was cool.

Ok, this seems to be a "school" day. That's what comes to mind with "Division." That and divisiveness amongst people - and I'd rather go back to school than there.

Pepper

Who didn't want to like Dr. Pepper growing up? Remember those commercials? "Wouldn't you like to be a Pepper too!"

I TOTALLY wanted to be a Pepper! I wanted to love the stuff and dance and sing down the street with that guy and all the cool kids behind him!

Then I actually tried the stuff, and I hated it. I tried it several times because I SO wanted to like it.

Ick.

I wonder what happened to the Dr. Pepper guy?

(Gosh I love the interwebnet. The Dr. Pepper guy was David Naughton.)

Salt

What's with throwing salt over the shoulder to get rid of the devil/demons? Wasn't salt a luxury way back when? Was the idea to scare them off or get it in their eyes? Or, given salt's scarcity, was it more like throwing a bunch of money in the air and having the demons all scatter trying to gather it up?

Sponge

Don't want to write about sponge bob or absorbing info like a sponge... Sea sponges bring to mind some nice images, but I don't have much to say about them (nor about another type of sponge that comes to mind.)

So...

A tip.

Sink sponges: Cut them in half. You'll end up with double for your money. Do your sponges really need to be THAT big when you're cleaning up and/or doing the dishes?

avenue

Q :)

I haven't even seen the darned thing. Except on awards shows and a little online. But oh, that hasn't stopped me from knowing most of the music!

I would love to do that show. - Except I could never hold a puppet up over me for that long. I can't believe the same people are able (physically!) to keep doing this show years later. They must be made of steel.