Tag Archives: Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge

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Here are a few of the things that make me laugh. I hadn’t previously realized just how amusing I find dogs. It’s cool to learn new things about yourself, don’t you think?

This isn’t their dog, but this one is of a similar size and colouring.

A True Story:

One of my neighbours has a little dog who loves people. No matter who you are or what you look like, this dog hopes everyone in our area will stop to say hello and pet him for a moment. (Our neighbours are quite friendly guys who don’t mind it if others pet their dog as long as they know you).

This same little dog dislikes every other dog he meets. He barks ferociously at puppies and senior dogs alike.

It’s hilarious to me to see our furry little neighbour switch from wagging his tale at the nice humans to scaring off any dogs who get too close to him in the blink of an eye. Maybe he wants all of the human attention to himself?

Three Jokes:

Q. What does a dyslexic, agnostic, insomniac do at night?

A. He stays up wondering if there really is a dog.

A guy spots a sign outside a house that reads “Talking Dog for Sale.” Intrigued, he walks in.

“So what have you done with your life?” he asks the dog.

“I’ve led a very full life,” says the dog. “I lived in the Alps rescuing avalanche victims. Then I served my country in Iraq. And now I spend my days reading to the residents of a retirement home.”

The guy is flabbergasted. He asks the dog’s owner, “Why on earth would you want to get rid of an incredible dog like that?”

The owner says, “Because he’s a liar! He never did any of that!”

How does NASA organize a party?

They planet.

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 My first question when I read this prompt was, how long will the time capsule be sealed up?

If it’s something like 50 or 100 years, I’ll bet we’ll still have a great deal of knowledge about the books that were around now.

If it’s 1000 years from now, future generations might have forgotten a lot of what we know today.

Then again, we still have books in print now that were written thousands of years ago. I’d want this time capsule to be as historically useful as possible, so my answers will be a little off the beaten path as I try to come up with things that future historians would be excited to receive.

A Book of Covid-19 Memories by Ordinary Folks. That is to say, let’s include the stories of teachers, healthcare workers, morticians, people who were homeless, grocery store clerks and other frontline workers, people who caught Covid-19, people who were diagnosed with Long Covid after their original infection ended, and others who aren’t always included in history books.

A Photo Essay Book About Life in the 2020s. They’d include photos and brief descriptions of the people in them from as many different cultures and countries as possible.

A Book or Booklet of Predictions About the Future. Wouldn’t it be interesting for future generations to see what we thought their lives might be like in X number of years? I know I love reading predictions of life in 2020 that previous generations compiled.

A Book of Descriptions of the Daily Lives of Ordinary People. For example, they could talk about what they ate, wore, did, read, watched, and thought about. The more details, the better.

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While I’m not quite as deeply introverted as I was as a child, I still relish time alone to do quiet activities. Here are some of the things I do to recharge.

Nature Walks

There’s something incredibly soothing about walking in all sorts of natural settings, from forests to beaches to mountains and more.

This is something I can do with certain people as long as they’re not too talkative during the walk. Occasional bits of conversation are fine when necessary, but I find nature walks best when we can mostly walk in companionable silence and listen to the beautiful sounds of nature.

Time Alone

Other than the many usual sources of stress we all went through during the Covid-19 pandemic, one of the toughest parts of the past eighteen months has been how little time alone I’ve had.

This was especially true during the winter when Toronto was under a strict Stay at Home order and it was too cold to take a long walk outside. I love my spouse dearly, but I also desperately needed alone time during those long months spent at home!

Jigsaw and Sudoku Puzzles

I’ll dabble in other sorts of puzzles, too, but these two are my favourite kinds of puzzles.

It’s nice to sit quietly and think about something that is guaranteed to have an answer.

The satisfaction of figuring it out makes me quite happy.

Reading

This last answer is sort of obvious for us bookish folks, but some books are wonderful for recharging after I’ve done a lot of socializing.

Rereading old favourite stories is a particularly good way for me to recharge, especially if they have lighthearted subject matter.

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There are some books like the Neanderthal Parallex trilogy by Robert J. Sawyer that immediately pop into my mind every time one of the blog hops I participates in asks this question.

With that being said, I do try not to repeat myself with these prompts if I can at all help it.

Let’s see if I can answer it with a different response this time!

I’ll bet I can think of something…

Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor is a science fiction and fantasy novella about a young girl named Sankofa who gained unusual powers when a seed fell from the sky into her village. (My review of it is here).

This is one of those books that develops the world and characters enough to draw an audience in while still leaving a lot of room for sequels…or, in this case, a TV show! I’d love to see Sankofa be able to deeply explore her abilities and where they came from.

The cool thing about telling her tale in a TV show is that it would give the writers plenty of opportunities to show things that this character doesn’t have knowledge of. Most of the scenes in the book were of things she either directly observed or was later informed of by people who experienced them.

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Once again, this is one of those topics that makes me wish I could have a sneak peek of your answers before sharing mine. Will most of you pick funny answers or serious ones? Am I the only one who will choose this response? Only time will tell.

Due to my desire to avoid all high risk activities during the pandemic, I skipped a few scheduled dental cleanings in 2020 and 2021. It was a relief to finally have a cleaning and thorough checkup last month. There was one tiny cavity in my mouth that they were able to fix without using any numbing agents or pain medications at all, but other than that my teeth looked good despite me breaking the rules about how often they should be professionally cleaned.

I wish there were a way to keep all of our teeth clean and healthy without them needing them to be scraped by dental hygienists a few times a year, x-rayed, filled, and sometimes even replaced. Wouldn’t that be nice?

I’m not afraid of the dentist, but it makes me shudder when their tools scrape against the tiny bits of plaque that my toothbrush accidentally missed. What a weird sensation that is.

Someone should really invent a machine that will either use sound waves to effortlessly remove plaque or change human physiology so we no longer create it in the first place!

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I’m still having trouble leaving comments on some of your blogs, but I will keep trying every week.

I have a few different bad habits. They include:

• Procrastination
• Checking my phone during meal times
• Overindulging on Youtube videos
• Not drinking enough water

Procrastination is a habit I’ve struggled with for many years. I am slowly but surely conquering it.

I am not getting better at staying off my phone during meal times.

Watching too many silly Youtube videos is also a struggle for me. Sometimes I limit myself to five (short) videos and then make myself go do something else.

Not drinking enough water is something I’m working hard to change. Sometimes I do it for so long that I develop a headache, especially on warm summer days. I have a timer set on my phone to remind me to drink water even if I don’t feel thirsty at that precise moment.

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(I’ve been having trouble leaving comments on certain WWBC posts due to a problem with Google. I’ll go back to commenting everywhere as usual as soon as that glitch is fixed).

This week’s topic was “meet my pets.” I needed to tweak it a little in order to be able to participate because I’m allergic to most of the mammals that people commonly keep as pets. My place is also too small to add anyone else to it. Therefore, I’ll be talking about pets I’d have if there were no such thing as allergies and I had the space for one or more little, or not-so-little, friends.

Rabbits. They’re quiet, small, and can be perfectly content as a 100% indoor pet.  I also think they’re adorable, especially when they’re binkying (jumping for joy).

Cats. I like how self-sufficient they are in general. An affectionate cat would be great, but I’d leave it up to them to decide if or when petting and cuddling would happen. From what I’ve heard, it’s best to let feline friends set the tone of your relationship as far as that goes.

Dogs. They’re loyal, and many of them are quite joyful creatures as well. I’d prefer to have a fenced-in yard if I had a dog so he or she could go safely run around outside whenever they wished. Although it would also be nice to have a reason to take long daily walks with them if I didn’t have a yard!

(Non-Venomous) Snakes. I had an amazing elementary school teacher who kept all sorts of reptiles in his classroom. The snakes were my favourite creatures to quietly watch, and I’ve retained an interest in them to this day. Their behaviour is so different from warm-blooded animals. It’s almost like meeting an alien or something.

Llamas or Alpacas. Okay, so this one would require me to own a farm or something.

There were some fascinating llamas that I liked to visit at a local zoo before 2020 happened. They have such ornery expressions on their faces! I also enjoy seeing how gentle they are with their big, furry babies.

This is a stock photo, but it’ll give you an idea of just how lovely those moments are.

Someday I’ll go visit the llamas of Toronto again.

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Did anyone else find this week’s prompt a bit challenging?

I live a peaceful life that honestly wouldn’t fit in well with dramatic, high-action stories.

Here are a few films and books about quiet, introverted, bookish people that remind me of myself.

William Thacker from the romantic comedy Notting Hill

Why: The main character owns a bookstore and is bashful about publicity. I enjoyed working in a bookstore years ago and also try to avoid the spotlight.

Walden by Henry David Thoreau

Why: I love spending time in nature, whether that is by taking a brisk walk/hike, bird watching, or sitting quietly and observing what is around me. Like Thoreau, I also like going back home and enjoying my share of creature comforts at the end of the day.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

Why: Francie and I both grew up in working class families that highly valued formal and informal education. Having extra money does makes it easier to raise children, but you can still give a kid a wonderful life on a tight budget if you focus on what’s important.

Rosa is third from the right in this poster.

Detective Rosa Diaz from the sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine 

Why: Rosa and I are both private people who steer clear of office gossip and politics. We’d much rather get the work done as quickly and accurately as we can.

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I interpreted this week’s prompt to be a slightly tongue-in-cheek question about the unique things that give our lives meaning. That is to say, I won’t be mentioning food, water, oxygen, or other stuff that every human needs to stay alive. I’m also assuming necessities like glasses or medicine aren’t supposed to be included. Here’s hoping you all interpreted it in similar ways!

Internet Access. You all might giggle at this, but I often choose vacation destinations based on whether they have Internet access and how strong their signal might be. While I do spend most of my vacation time offline having adventures, I really like being able to text the people I travel with or google the history of the places I visit.

Stories. They can come in the form of books, TV shows, films, or true anecdotes about my loved ones.  I adore stories of every shape, size, and origin.

Spending Time in Nature. Yes, most of the time this involves visiting urban parks where I still have that all-important Internet access. LOL! There is something so soothing about being surrounded by trees, grass, flowers, and the occasional babbling brook. It’s even better if I can take a long, brisk walk through it. I sleep like a baby after those excursions.

Non-Competitive Games. That is to say, I love playing board and card games if no one cares about winning and/or if we play a game that encourages everyone to cooperate to reach their goals. I adore banter and the silly things people discuss when they’re playing a game whose only purpose is to encourage everyone to spend time together.

Dairy-Free Chocolate. Any dentists participating in the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge may not approve of this answer, but I relish good chocolate. It’s the best sort of sweet there is in my opinion. I even like 100% chocolate that contains little to no added sugar in it. An adult relative was once surprised by how much little Lydia liked dark chocolate, especially since they’d just finished telling me that it wasn’t something children liked.