Singing in the Rain (or rather, “singing”)

Some people get the blues when its raining. Here in Washington State that is not an option. You would be chronically depressed. We do have a higher-than-national-average drug abuse and suicide rate, possibly not a coincidence. However most people are used to all the rain and think nothing of it. This isn’t to suggest that we like the rain, we don’t, its just that we’re a lot more tolerant of it than people elsewhere because we have to be. One effect of all the rain is that we appreciate the sun a lot more than than others do. Lately it has been very sunny and there hasn’t been any serious rain, so everyone seems to be in a good mood.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/climate-control/

Knight One Day, a Cowboy the Next

When I was young I was decidedly indecisive about my future, the title pretty much says it all; the careers mentioned being the favorites. Knights and cowboys fascinated me growing up, I thought they were really cool so I thought it would be cool to be one. Most little boys like those sorts of jobs and buy into the romanticized pop culture images. I am no closer now to realizing my dream for either than I was back then, chiefly because now I have no desire. Knighthood is out of the question for fairly obvious reasons, at least the shining armor variety. I suppose it is technically possible for me to be knighted I would have to live a lifetime of truly exceptional greatness, especially since I am an American. The United States doesn’t have any knighthood orders; most countries that do only give them to prominent foriegners, usually heads of state and high end military officers. Being a cowboy is considerably more plausible, surprizingly so considering that I live in a rural area in close proximity to horses and cattle. However I do not like riding horses and I can’t stand the smell of livestock. That and I don’t like to risk physical harm, which is also a reason why I wouldn’t have been a good knight. As unlikely and unfit as I was and am for these careers, they were much more realistic than my other dream job: Men In Black agent.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/futures-past/

Bird Man!

I’ve always been a fan of the Hindu figure Garuda. Half human half bird serving as personal taxi for the gods is pretty damn cool. He’s probably one of the better known Hindu beings outside of India and in Indonesia he’s so popular that he has remained their national symbol despite being an otherwise extremely Islamic culture for the last 150 some years. Its easy to see why:

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/mutants-and-hybrids/

Losers Weepers

I would probably keep the item unless is was a briefcase full of money, in which case I would turn it into the authorities and wait for somebody to claim it. Jewelry and other such items I wouldn’t have any issues with keeping, since the previous owner would probably never be reunited with it anyway. Who the item belonged to prior and how it was lost would be an intriguing question, chiefly because its one that would almost certainly remain unsolved.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/finders-keepers/

Africa is a HUGE Place

I will be in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania within thirty days. I have been thinking about it a lot and today’s Prompt is fitting as the last time I held silence on something that should have been said was during a meeting to prepare for this trip. One member of the team laboriously put together a PowerPoint presentation with pictures of us an the village we will be staying at. It was very nice except for one detail: the background music. To me the music sounded extremely dark and gloomy (I think they were going for “ambient”), and it sort of seemed to unwittingly perpetuate the whole “Dark Continent” stereotype that dominates depictions of Africa. Someone said that the song sounded familiar and asked the slideshow creator where it came the. The answer? “It’s the theme music from Blood Diamond, it took me forever to find the right sounding song.” I’m not sure what was went by “right sounding,” but I have a bad feeling that meant “African sounding”.

Here is the problem: Blood Diamond took place in Sierra Leone, which is on the opposite side of the continent that Tanzania is on. Those two nations have nothing in common, so that would mean that there music is most likely entire different. I honestly couldn’t tell you the difference, but I’m sure it would be as absurd as playing Irish music on a slideshow about a trip to Russia. Ireland and Russia are both Europe after all. As much as I wanted to voice my concern, I held my silence and I’m glad I did. I wanted to suggest maybe searching for some music that was actually Tanzanian (or at least Swahili), but out of tact I did not. Honestly the Circle of Life would have been better, because its upbeat and the Lion King uses Swahili extensively. Or even some reggae, since while it is not actually from Africa it does have a message of peace and global unity. Oh well, I’m sure nobody who saw that slideshow saw what I saw.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/break-the-silence/

Boredom: A Haiku

Two short weeks ago

There was stuff for me to do

But now there is not

So Tired

I’ve been home for over a week now, but I’m still just as exhausted as when I initially came back. No matter how much sleep I get it never seems to be enough and I always want more. I got out of bed around 10:15 today, and my sister had to go to her community college so she dropped me and my brother off at the mall. That provided a much needed change in scenery for me, though going to the mall for that is something that I had done to death last semester; so the entertainment value for that today was limited at best. When I got back home I was tired and slept until about half an hour ago. I am currently fighting the urge to go back to sleep as I write this.

The Cake Is a Lie

I honestly don’t know what I would do in such a situation. Walking in to your own home to find two intruders stealing from you would be really quite horrifieng. True maybe they are in need of assistance, but they shouldn’t just go and take what is not theres. Calling 911 would be my guy instinct, but that would likely only be effective if they did not see me. The risk of them being armed and/or dangerous is substanstial, especially in the area I live. Whatever the case, those people have no business barging into my house and making themselves at home. Thinking this through as I write, I think would ask them who they were. There is a good chance that they are someone that my parents or siblings do know. I just hope I’m never thrust into this situation.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/unexpected-guests/

Modern Times, trilingual text

Here is my tribute to Valeriu D.G. Barbu, I’m not sure how accurate the Italian and Romanian translations were (there from dictionary.com/translator) but the trilingual aspect is a key part of Valeriu’s style:

Here we are in the present day
Caught up in the constant flow of distractions and business
Never taking time to stop and ponder the beauty of our surroundings
To me that is very sad
That we are forced to take everything we encounder for granted
When you go about your daily routine
I ask of you please, don’t get caught up with your routine tasks
And take some time to appreciate the smaller things
Trust me, you will be glad if you do

Qui siamo al presente day
Prendare fino in il flusso costante di distrazioni e business
Non prendendo tempo per fermarsi e riflettere la bellezza del nostro surroundings
Che è molto triste
Siamo costretti a prendere tutto il encounder per concesso
Quando vai sulla tua routine quotidiana
VI chiedo per favore, non dilungatevi con i compiti di routine
E prendetevi un po’ di tempo per apprezzare le piccole cose
Fidati di me, vi farà piacere se

Aici suntem în prezent zi
Prinz până în flux constant de confuziile şi afaceri
Niciodată nu ia timp pentru a opri şi ne oprim de frumusetea
Imprejurimilor la mine ca este foarte trist
Ca suntem obligati sa luam tot ce ne-am encounder pentru acordate
Atunci Când treceţi despre rutina zilnică
I cerem de la voi va rog, nu vă încurcaţi cu sarcini de rutină
A lua ceva timp pentru a aprecia lucrurile mai mici de
Ai incredere in mine, veţi fi bucuros dacă nu

http://valeriudgbarbu.wordpress.com/
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/forms-of-flattery/

No Table, For Starters

What might shock some dead ancestor would greatly depend on who this ancestor is, for what may mortify one may not even cause another to bat an eye. However there is one thing that all of them in recent memory probably would get shocked by, and that is the fact that we don’t sit at the dinner table when we eat. We used to, but that was many years ago and now we never do with the exception of Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and sometimes New Year’s. At this point it feels plain weird to sit down together for a regular meal, in fact that wouldn’t be “regular.” The table is used to store stuff, and it is rarely cleaned off. Dinner at our house is usualy eaten on the couch in front of the TV. Ten Years ago that was not normal, and I’m sure thirty years ago that would have been unthinkable. I can only imagine what a great great grandparent would think about all that.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/modern-families/