Tag Archives: Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge

May 10, 2023 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: A Story About My First Crush

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Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

Two shiny metal reflective hearts sitting on a brown grainy surface. One is larger than the other, and you can see where the smaller heart was cut out of the larger one. I have only occasionally developed crushes throughout my life, so I had to dig deeply for this post.

My first crush was a boy named Jonathan, and I think I was somewhere between the ages of three and five when it happened.

He was probably someone I went to church with as I had a stay-at-home mom who was just beginning to (or maybe would soon begin to?) homeschool me. Therefore, there was no daycare or public school for me to meet new people at during this stage in life.

The only memory I have about Jonathan or my crush on him involves my parents scolding me for calling him my boyfriend and telling me I was too young for such things as I stared up at the bare tree branches and chilly, grey sky overhead, inwardly sighed in exasperation at my parents who I thought were being really silly about the whole thing, and outwardly obeyed them. (Or at least I think I obeyed them?)

If only I remembered more about it. I assure you that the rest of my childhood was far less dramatic than that brief moment of parent-child conflict, so maybe that’s why it stuck around in my memory so firmly?

As far as crushes I fully remember goes, that honour goes to two characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

I thought that Deanna Troi:

Photo of Marina Sirtis playing Deanna Troi on Star Trek:Deep Space Nine. She is wearing a teal Star Trek uniform and looking ahead of her seriously.

Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12543302

 

and

Photo of LeVar Burton playing Geordi La Forge on Star Trek: The Next Generation. He is wearing a yellow Star Trek uniform and his visor and looking ahead of himself with a serious expression on his face.

Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12048284

 

Geordi La Forge

 

were both good-looking, kind, and interesting people, and I wanted to follow them around all day and ask them dozens of questions about themselves and life in the twenty-fourth century as they performed their duties on such a fancy spaceship.

I’ve been attracted to all sorts of different types of people, and I don’t really have a type. Having a good character and a pleasant personality are such important factors in attraction, too.

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May 3, 2023 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: My Thoughts on Small Talk

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Two blue tits sitting on the edge of a birdbath that is sitting next to a large tree. The birdbath is filled with water and is nearly perfectly still. The bird on the right is looking at the bird on the left and opening its beak as if it’s about to chirp. Its right leg is lifted up as well. The bird on the left looks a little disgruntled but keeps both legs firmly clasping to the edge of the bird bath.

Is this what avian small talk looks like?

I have mixed feelings about small talk.

Typical small talk conversations are unlikely to offend anyone or to stir up difficult emotions for the majority of people.

Then again, you never know what someone might find hard to talk about. Asking someone about their job might be a painful conversational segue for someone who was recently laid off or who is in an awful work environment, for example. I used to think asking about family, food, and pets were fairly innocuous, too,  but that’s not necessarily the case for everyone.

Occasionally, people try to discuss sports, fashion, celebrity news, or makeup with me. I know so little about all of them that I won’t have much to add to those conversations which I think is a small risk of anything you might bring up with someone you’ve just met or who you’re trying to keep things light and fluffy with.  We don’t all share the same interests, after all, but plenty of other folks may leap at the chance to guess which sports-ball team will win this year or when celebrity X and celebrity Y are going to get married after they announced their engagement.

(I’m being a little silly there and mean no offence to anyone who loves sports or fluffy, harmless celebrity news. To each their own!)

Some of the safer topics I’ve discovered are the weather, music, books, that cool bird* I spotted while birdwatching a while back, tv shows, and weekend plans. They probably won’t step on anyone’s toes, and it’s easier for someone to steer the conversation into other directions if one of those things does touch on a sensitive issue for them for whatever reason.

*It was some sort of hawk, and it was glorious. I only wish it had flown close enough for me to better identify it!

The conversations they tend to generate can feel a little repetitive to me, but I also recognize the value of sticking to lighthearted and safe material with people you don’t know well yet or who you’d rather not discuss certain things with for whatever reason.

So I will happily participate in small talk for as long as is necessary. Sometimes that may be a permanent decision depending on who I’m interacting with and what our relationship is like, but I’m also secretly glad when I meet people who also share my interests and want to discuss anything from horror films to that great new dairy-free restaurant to much deeper and more personal stuff.

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April 26, 2023 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Films to Watch When You’re Having a Bad Day

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A clear glass bowl filled with popcorn is sitting on a white table. There is a clear glass filled with a dark soda sitting on a red and white checkered napkin on the left hand side of the popcorn bowl. On the right hand side, an opened bag of microwave popcorn is leaning on the glass bowl of popcorn and there are about two dozen pieces of popcorn spilled over the white table and red and white checkered napkin. If you like eating snacks while watching movies, go put your favourite snacks on your shopping list.

I generally don’t eat while watching films, but I might be tempted by this cola and popcorn!

I need lighthearted stories when I’m trying to get my brain to stop rehashing whatever happened earlier, so you won’t find anything serious or scary on today’s list.

Here are five films I’d rewatch when I’m having a bad day.

 

Film poster for the 2008 romantic comedy “Definitely, Maybe”. The poster shows Ryan Reynolds carrying Abigail Breslin on his shoulders. Rachel Weisz, Elizabeth Banks, and Isla Fisher(his three love interests in the film) are shown smiling, each in their own third of the poster as a cityscape, some yellow glowing lights, and a city forest scene complete the visual arrangement. The title is written at the bottom of the poster.

Definitely, Maybe (2008)

What It’s About: A father telling his ten-year-old daughter a story about the three women he dated 11+ years before while she tries to guess which woman he described was her mother. Sometimes he must make humorous detours to avoid sharing inappropriate details of his dating life with his kid. There are a few light mystery elements, but this is mostly about their warm father-daughter relationship and what the dad wishes he’d done differently in life.

Why I Recommend It: The storyline is sweet and funny. I liked seeing what happens to characters after they broke up and how they successfully coparented their child. You don’t see amicable breakups often in this genre, but it was handled gently and with a lot of humour. This otherwise followed most romantic comedy tropes, so that predictability was helpful as well.

 

Film poster for Just Wright. Image on poster shows Queen Latifah and Common playing their respective characters. She’s attempting to dribble a basketball while. He lovingly wraps his arms around her and tries to take the ball away. They are both grinning throughout this. She’s wearing a soft, dark blue sweater and jeans and he is wearing the same uniform he’d wear to play professional basketball.

Just Wright (2010)

What It’s About: A no-nonsense physical therapist who is hired to help a basketball player recover from a career-threatening injury.

Why I Recommend It: I loved how opposite the two main characters were when we first meet them. I can’t say much about their personalities without giving away spoilers, but it made discovering the similarities between them more interesting in the later scenes. This more or less followed the typical plot for a romance which another reason why I liked it. Sometimes it’s nice to just relax and watch a storyline unfold without needing to solve any mysteries or trying to guess in advance how it will end.

 

Film poster for Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. In it you see Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, and Karen Gillan standing in a swamp in a jungle that covers them up to their chins. They are all looking suspiciously around at the jungle to see what might sneak up on them.

By https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2283362/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54174459

 

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)

What It’s About: Four teenagers who are accidentally sucked into a video game, become the characters in it, and must find a way to win the game before they run out of lives and get stuck there forever.

Why I Recommend It: The characters are ridiculous and delightful. I loved the way the storyline poked fun (in a friendly way) at all sorts of video game tropes. This does not require any sort of analysis. It simply exists to entertain, and there’s something to be said for that some days!

 

Film poster for the Pixar film Coco. It shows a drawing of a large white guitar surrounded by several of the main characters of the film, including Miguel, his abuela, and three skeletons who are ancestors of Miguel’s family. They are standing in front of the Land of the Dead, and there is a small image of Miguel walking with his dog at the bottom of the image.

Coco (2017)

What It’s About: A 12-year-old boy named Miguel who is accidentally transported to the Land of the Dead and must find his way home again before morning.

Why I Recommend It: Miguel was such a sweet, kind, and brave kid. I also loved the subplots of this film that were related to Dia de los Muertos and Miguel’s relationships with various family members. There are a few minor mysteries to be solved if you want to, but it’s also completely possible to ignore the clues, focus on the main storyline, and still have a wonderful time.

Honestly, I highly recommend Pixar films in general. All of the ones I’ve seen so far have been well-written, creative, funny, and otherwise excellent distractions from a bad day whether you’re five years old or many decades older than that. They’re somehow written for people from every age group simultaneously which is quite the accomplishment.

 

Film poster for Spirited. Will Ferrell is on the left hand of the poster wearing a green suit and looking like he’s about to leap out of the poster. Ryan Reynolds is on the right hand of the poster wearing a red suit with white trim on it also looking like he’s about to leap out of the poster. They are both standing with wide leg stances and have their right arms bent at the elbow in front of them while their left arms are moving back for momentum. It’s like they’re skating or something!

Spirited (2022)

What It’s About: A modern retelling of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. This time, the selfish rich protagonist is someone who is aware of A Christmas Carol and has zero interest in listening to the spirits of past, present, and future or changing his ways.

Why I Recommend It: It was wickedly funny and an amazing homage to the original. I loved seeing how everything was updated for our era where everyone has a smartphone and does not take kindly to paranormal strangers breaking into their apartments in the middle of the night.

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April 19, 2023 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: A Piece of Advice I’ll Always Remember

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Closeup photo of about a dozen peaches that are sitting in a wicker basket. Warm sunlight is trickling through the holes in the basket and onto the warm, soft fruit. Normally, I have anecdotes, short or otherwise, to share in these posts to fill out some space and make them last longer. This time I do not.

I read this a few years ago and thought it was as accurate as it is funny:

“You can be the ripest, juiciest peach in the world, but there will always be someone who hates peaches.”  – Dita von Teese.

It’s so very true. Not all personalities will necessarily mix well in this world.

All I need to do is to be kind and polite to everyone and let the people who like peaches know that I’m around.

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April 12, 2023 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: My Best Home Remedy for the Common Cold

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Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

Edited to add that I’m once again having trouble leaving comments on Blogspot blogs. It worked this morning and now it doesn’t. If I don’t comment on your post now or in the future, this is the reason why.

The small hand of a Caucasian adult is holding a blue and white bottle of Life Brand Sterile Saline Nasal Mist. My best home remedy for the common cold is something I first discovered a year or two ago that’s called a nasal saline spray or a sterile saline nasal mist.

It’s a gentle purified solution of salt and water that is not habit forming. There are no drugs or preservatives in it, therefore I’m hoping that most of you will be able to give it a try if you’re interested.

Here’s a photo of my current bottle. Its ingredients are identical to the name brand version so far as I can tell, so don’t waste your money on the fancy stuff unless you really want to. It all works exactly the same. You can even make it at home if you prefer that option.

When I have a cold, it feels like 90% of my body is comprised of mucous. My cheeks, sinuses, and nose become sore and uncomfortable, and that can trigger a nasty headache and other painful reactions in nearby body parts as well.

Squirting nasal saline spray into my nostrils helps to clear them out and reduce the pain and inflammation that can be part of the common cold. This makes it easier for me to fall asleep and stay asleep.

It works better and lasts longer than inhaling warm, moist air from, say, running the shower and sitting in the bathroom. That was the trick I used for many years before I discovered this product, and it’s still a great option to use in conjunction with this or instead of it if you can’t use saline solutions. Close-up photo of a digital thermometer, an analogue thermometer, and about ten little pills sitting on a white table. The pills are of various sizes and colours, from blue to pink to yellow to orange. A few are large, a few are small, and most are average sized.

I’ll use my spray a few times a day when I’m sick depending on how much my sinuses are hurting and how congested I am. It’s especially nice to do right before bed as I can then breathe through my nose more easily as I fall asleep.

Common colds are never going to be fun, but nasal saline spray makes them a lot easier to deal with.

I look forward to reading everyone else’s responses to this prompt and will be taking notes for the next time I get sick.

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April 5, 2023 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Sports I’ve Tried and What I Thought of Them

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A few of my comments on Blogspot blogs went through last week. This week, none of them are going through even if I switch browsers. I will keep trying, but that is why I’m not commenting on some sites.

A photograph of a basketball net against a dark night sky. The photo is positioned so that it looks like the full moon in the sky is about to swish through the basketball net.

Physical education class was where I was first seriously introduced to playing sports as is probably also true for many other folks. Every year we played football, basketball, volleyball, and baseball as the seasons turned. Sometimes the teacher would mix things up a little by having us play hockey or kickball indoors or play tennis or run around the track outside when the weather was nice.

While there are people out there who learned to love those sports and exercise in general through their experiences in gym class, I was not one of them. I wasn’t a naturally athletic kid or teen, and competition squelches my interest in exercise instead of encouraging it.

I’m sorry to say that I loathed every single one of these sports. Other than tossing a baseball around with my oldest nephew a few times, I have steadfastly and purposefully avoided even the slightest whiff of all of them as an adult.

The sports I like generally have a few things in common:

1) It’s easy to participate in them non-competitively,

2) They can be done alone or with a small group of people,

3) They do not involve pain, balls, or running. (I sustained numerous injuries in gym class over the years. Even though they were minor things like sprains or bruises, having so many of them happen year after year gave me what seems to be a lifelong aversion to sports that involve these things).

4) You can do them at your own pace and with modifications if certain moves hurt or if I can’t yet do them.

So, for example, I love swimming, nature walks, yoga, bicycling, light hiking*, dancing, and weightlifting. I used to love canoeing, too, although I haven’t done it since I was a kid.  Rollerskating is also fun if I’m on a smooth surface, am wearing appropriate safety gear, and can move at my own pace.

*e.g. I’ll explore a trail for an hour or two (or much longer than that if the weather is mild and the terrain is fairly flat), but then I want to go home, rest my feet, drink lots of water, and maybe eat a banana.

Basically, I don’t mind pushing myself in reasonable ways to see how my body reacts, but I never want to wake up the next day too sore or bruised to function.

If any gym teachers end up reading this, I hope contemporary gym classes are much more useful, practical, and encouraging than the ones I had. The idea of teaching kids to get into the habit of exercising early in life is a great one, but that class was useless for me at best.

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March 29, 2023 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Best Nonfiction Book I’ve Read

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IBook cover for The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander. Image on cover shows the hands of a brown-skinnned person clutching the bars of a cell as they stand in the darkness of the cell all around them. ’m a quiet and reserved person in most real-life conversations, but nonfiction is one of those topics that makes me light up. If we ever meet in person and you want to see the talkative side of Lydia, just mention nonfiction you’ve enjoyed or ask me what I’ve been reading lately in that genre.

Without giving into my urge to share a dozen different answers to this week’s prompt, the best nonfiction title I’ve read is The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander.

The author did an excellent job of explaining how systemic racism affects every aspect of the prison system as well as what happens to former prisoners after they are released and try to reintegrate into society.

What I liked the most about this book was how thorough it was. This obviously isn’t something that has a quick or easy solution, but the more we all know about how this system works the better we can become at (hopefully) fixing it and breaking the cycles of incarceration and crime that so many people become stuck in due to racism (among other reasons).

A relative of mine used to work in a prison and would sometimes share (non-identifying) stories about some of their clients and how difficult it is for prisoners to access certain services while they’re incarcerated and to find legal work and build stable lives for themselves once they’re released. Race only adds yet another layer of hardship to people stuck in those circumstances and makes it that much trickier to get out.

Even though Canadian laws are less punitive for certain crimes than American ones are, I have to say that we have a lot to work on in this area as well. This book is about the U.S., but the problem definitely isn’t confined to that one country.

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March 22, 2023 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: A Famous Book I’ve Never Read and Why

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Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

Here’s a quick housekeeping note before I dive into my answer: blogger was once again not allowing me to comment on some blogspot sites yesterday for Top Ten Tuesday. I was eventually able to leave most of those comments by switching to a different browser and playing around with certain settings, but if I can’t reply to your post today it’s probably due to this issue.

Okay, onto my answer.

I have never read Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and never plan to change that.

ILeather-bound copies of several classic novels that are sitting on a bookshelf. The one with the clearest title has a navy blue cover and says “Pride and Prejudice” with the name Jane below it. You cannot see her last name. ’m treading gently here because I know this is a classic novel that many people adore, but I am not interested in it for the following reasons:

1) Romance is something I appreciate as a garnish in stories instead of as the main dish. I normally read books with little to no romance in them at all, so leaping from that to a full-fledged historical romance novel is a bit too much for me in the vast majority of cases.

2) With all due respect to Ms. Austen, she and I grew up in wildly different cultures. I struggle to relate to books from any era that make getting married the most important life goal for their characters, much less ones where an entire family’s economic and social fate hinges on whether their daughters find wealthy husbands.

I grew up in a family that prioritized education and personal development to the point that I was discouraged from dating when I was a teenager, so it’s a huge culture shock for me to read about families that push their teenage and young adult daughters to find a husband. It’s a completely unrelatable theme for this reader because of that.

3) From what I’ve heard, the main character clashes terribly with the man she eventually marries when they first meet. I tend to shy away from people who have abrasive encounters with me online or in real life unless it’s a one-time occurrence or there’s a reasonable explanation for why we clashed on topic X and we otherwise get along pretty well.  There’s a huge difference between politely existing in the same space with someone who may not be your cup of tea due to reason X and purposefully seeking out the company of someone you struggle to find common ground with during your limited free time.  Life is too short to waste worrying about high-conflict, optional relationships in my opinion. Why not seek out more compatible friends, romantic partners, etc. whenever possible instead?

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March 15, 2023 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Favourite Historical Personage to Read About

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Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

Edit: Just so you all know, Blogger is being finicky about letting me comment again. I’m able to comment on a few blogspot sites, but most of them are giving me an error message. I will keep trying!

This is one of those questions that I’d give a different answer to every month or so depending on whose books I’m reading and what portions of history I’ve most recently studied.

A black and white photograph of Claudette Colvin in 1952, three years before she refused to give up her seat to a white person. She is wearing thick black glasses in this photo and a dark grey shirt. She is smiling faintly at the camera with her head turned on a slight angle. Her hair is neatly pulled behind her head.

Ms. Colvin in 1952, three years before she refused to give up her seat.

Most of the history classes I took in school covered the exact same stories about kings, wars, and presidents over and over again every year, so I try to study the cultures, people, and events they skipped over now that I’m an adult and can expand my knowledge of the world.

Lately, I’ve been reading about the life of Claudette Colvin. 

Everyone has heard about Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat to a white person, but Ms. Colvin did it nine months before Ms. Parks did.

Because Ms. Colvin was a teenager at the time, the civil rights organizations of the time decided that they’d wait for a case involving an adult to challenge segregation on buses.

Whoever was chosen was going to be dealing with quite a bit of racism and hatred for speaking up, and they weren’t sure that Ms. Colvin was emotionally prepared for it.

I think she would have done a marvellous job, though, and should have been recognized for her courage from the beginning.

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March 8, 2023 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Something Funny That Happened To Me

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About a half dozen pairs of dress shoes neatly polished and sitting in tidy rows on a wooden surface. They have shoe horns inside of them, too, to help them keep their shape. This is a story that happened when I was about two years old. I don’t personally remember it, and there aren’t any photos from this day so far as I know. Luckily, my parents made sure to tell me all about it once I was old enough to form longterm memories.

When I was a toddler, mom and dad took me on a trip to visit my mom’s younger brother at college. Uncle Joe had a roommate named John and trilingual friend named Sebastian who were both with him that day. From what I’ve been told, they were happy to meet my parents and have a little one around for a few hours.

I was a quiet, calm, and generally well-behaved child. The combination of those personality traits means that you can sometimes get away with things that noisier kids who unwittingly attract adult attention with their shenanigans might not.

So there was baby Lydia quietly looking around in an unfamiliar place when she noticed that Sebastian wasn’t speaking English! I stared at him in amazement as he had a conversation in French. (He speaks Spanish, too, although I don’t think he spoke it that day).

Then little Lydia saw an untidy pile of shoes near the door. She didn’t approve of such nonsense and decided to fix the problem by matching up all of the shoes with their mates and then placing every pair of shoes neatly by the door.

I imagine the grownups noticed what I was doing as they spoke to each other. Since no one intervened, I was able to straighten up every single shoe and be satisfied with a job well done.

Whatever toddler behaviour my uncle might have been expecting from me, this was not it. Everyone was amused by how I’d decided to keep myself busy and useful while the grownups talked. I’d like to think Uncle Joe and his friends placed their shoes neatly by the door a few times after we left just for the fun of remembering the little one who cleaned up after them.

Here’s another funny twist to the tale.  My untidy childhood bedroom sometimes annoyed my poor mother who is naturally good at organizing stuff and keeping everything in its proper place, but I have slowly become better at that skill as an adult. To this day, I still love fiddling around with things and organizing them into various ways even if I’m never quite as tidy as mom is.

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