Facing The Unknown - Weekly Writers Workshop

 

This weeks prompts for Weekly Writers Workshop hosted by the inimitable (I should know, I try to imitit him all the time, and I am not able) John Holton on his blog, The Sound of One Hand Typing, are:  write a post on the word medications,  write a post in exactly 12 sentences, write about what would induce you to give up life as you know it and face the unknown, tell us the story of your personal experience with rejection, write about a bad habit you'd like to eliminate from your life, and write about a time you had to let go of someone you cared for.  I'm sure you have deciphered by the enormity of the first sentence, and the title of this post which prompts I have chosen.  

There have been at least 5 times in my adult life that I have given up life as I knew it and faced the unknown: moving across the state at the age of 22 to attend university,  moving across the world to serve 2 years as a Southern Baptist missionary in Far East Russia in 1992 a few months after the country had  opened it's doors to Western missionaries, moving across the U.S. to attend seminary, moving across the country again back to my native Illinois to court the woman who would become my wife, and finally moving against the grain by staying at home for 6 years and homeschooling my children. In each of these cases I gave up life as I knew it and faced the unknown; in the first 4 I also had to let people go that I cared for (the 6th prompt).  

What motivated me those 5 times varied by degree but they all had to do with a path I have tried to follow since becoming a follower of Jesus more than 40 years ago and that path has been putting the needs of others before my own.  I am not perfect, so I haven't  been perfectly motivated and I sure haven't perfectly followed this path but the path has certainly led many times to leaving life as I then knew it. 

My first three travels were all based on what I thought would be the life of a missionary.  When I left South Carolina where I had attended seminary for a year to pursue marriage with Amy, I had already become uncertain of a career as a missionary, but one of the myriad reasons I had fallen in love with her was because I had seen in our 7 years of friendship that she was also on the path to putting others needs before her own.  So I envisioned that we would attempt to meet those needs together, which we have for 26 years and continue to do so however imperfectly. 

The needs of my wife and children motivated me as a home educator, they also prepared me for my current job as a substitute teacher. With all our children out of high school, there may come a day when Amy and I, as a couple give up life as we know it and face the unknown. I am certain  that the same motivations that directed in the past would lead us into any new unknown. 

I know would like to lead you back to the known, which is a variety pack of other submissions that can be found in the comments section of  this weeks edition of the Weekly Writer's Workshop. 

Weekly Writer's Workshop: 10 of my favorite Comic Strips

Here are the prompts for this week’s Writer’s Workshop: 

1.  Write a post based on the word shopping. 
2. Write a post in exactly 10 sentences. 
3. List ten of your favorite comic strips (from the newspaper). 
4. Write about a time when you laughed at an inappropriate time. 
5. Write about a joke (practical or otherwise) that did not go over well. 
6. List things you oddly obsessed about as a child.
   

I love comic strips.  I think I always have and I'm pretty sure I always will.  

Here are 10 of my favorite strips but not my favorite 10 strips

Rubes by Leigh Rubin

This is actually my favorite strip of Rubes.  I remember reading it in the Western Courier (my school campus newspaper). To learn more about Rubes click here.

Frank & Ernest by Thaves

The rest of the strips with images are not my favorite strip of the series I'm using them because I have previously used them on this or one of my other blogs.  This strip is a good representation of the regular content over the years. for more about Frank & Ernest click here.

Mister Boffo by Joe Martin

Along with Calvin & Hobbes, Peanuts & The Far Side, Mister Boffo, is probably one of my favorite 4  comic strips of all time.  The strip below while very representational of Martin's humor is definitely not up to his usual standards. For more Mister Boffo strips click here.

Non-Sequtir - Wiley Miller

Many of the Out There Comics like Far Side and Rubes   take place in a panel rather than a strip.  I think this is why I like Non-Sequtir so much it often appears in strip form strip rather than a panel.  For more about Non-Seutir click here.

Big Nate by Lincoln Pierce

The strip below embodies the titular character very well.  For more about Big Nate click here.

Animal Crackers By Mike Osburn

While Animal Crackers is a comic strip that appears in newspapers, this is not how I first digested it.  I remember strips being excerpted in some of my middle school textbooks and discovered it in newspaper version years later. For more Animal Crackers click here.

For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston

Paramount Pictures, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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The above picture has nothing to do with the aforementioned comic strip.It's just I did not have permission to post any of the above strips but only used them since I had already used them on blogger before.  The above images or from the 1919 Cecille B Demille silent film For Better For Worse.

For Better or For Worse is a family comic strip that is humorous but also more realistic than many comic strips of it's era.  One way it was more realistic was the stylistic choice to age the family in real time.  At some point Johnston reversed the aging process and began telling the family story anew.  For examples of the strip click here.  

The Far Side by Gary Larson

I love The Far Side.  Gary Larson has a bizarre sense of humor and his artistic style blends very well with that humor.  One of my favorite strips is where you see a cat following signs scrawled out that say Cat Fud.  The signs eventually end at the inside door or a dryer,  While the cat appears to be following those signs into the dryer.  You can see dog waiting on the other side of the door ready to push it closed if the cat goes in.  The thought bubble above the dog says "Please! Let this work! For examples of the Far Side Strip click here.

Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Watterson

Calvin & Hobbes originally ran from November 18, 1985, to December 31st, 1995. Words cannot really describe what a wonderful experience it was for me to spend 10 years with Calvin and his stuffed tiger.  I adored every scrape they got in and don't really have a favorite strip.   Since I recently turned 60, I decided to put a link to the Calvin & Hobbes Strip from when I turned 30. The Strip features Calvin's Love Interest/nemesis. Susie Derkins.  It also use the phrase opposite day which is a phrase we use around the house quite a bit and I was unaware that Calvin ever talked about the concept.

Peanuts By Charles M Schulz

By Samsz - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5250404765

I have tried hard not to rank these comic strips or even say that they are my top 10 favorites. They are just 10 of my favorites. Peanuts, however, will always be my favorite strip. I'm sure that my love for comics strips grew from my love for Peanuts.  I once tried to learn French, just so I could read the French edition of a Peanuts anthology  at our library.  This strip is from the day I was born.  For more  Peanuts click here.

For more of this weeks Writers workshop click here.  

Weekly Writer's Workshop: Brand Names and Store Brands, and Fictional Lands. Oh My.

 John Holton from The Sound of  One Hand Typing is hosting the Weekly Writers Workshop.  Here are his prompts for the week.  (I am doing the ones in bold.)

Here are the prompts for this week’s Writer’s Workshop: 

1.  Write a post based on the word rules. 
2. Write a post in exactly 9 sentences. 
3. When you grocery shop, do you prefer “name” (i.e. national) brands or “store” (or generic) brands? Or a combination of the two? Why? 
4. Tell us about something you learned in October. 
5. If you could spend a year living in a fictional world, which one would it be, and what would you do while you were there? 
   
6. Do you think you would be a good leader of your country (e.g. president, prime minister etc.)? Why or why not?

National Brands or Store Brands

Generally speaking, I'm a generic or store brand guy.  There are multiple reasons for this.  One, I generally like most foods and don't notice a big difference between store brands and name brands.  Two, I like the savings that shopping at a store like Aldi produces in my budget.  In fact, I quite prefer the Aldi brand brownie mix to any other brand name brownie mixes out there.   We often still refer to the Aldi products by their brand-name counterparts;   Aldi Sandwich cookies are Fake Oreos and  Aldi Woven Wheat crackers are Fake Triscuits.  

That being said, there are some brand-name items that I will spend more money on.  I think one of the reasons for that is that most of these items are "splurge" items so since I'm buying them infrequently I don't mind the occasional additional expense.  Nutter Butter cookies, for example, don't always have a store brand equivalent and they are good for an occasional treat.

My Fictional Sabbatical

If I could spend a year living in a fictional world it would definitely be the land of Narnia.  You may think that I'm too old to enter Narnia.  But some adults like the Cabby and the Cabby's wife (The Magician's Nephew) have entered Narnia.  So there is hope for me.  As for what I would do there,  While I wouldn't mind meeting Reepicheep the mouse, or going to the parliament of Owls,I would do whatever the adventure Aslan brings me.  This is a common phrase used in many of the Chronicles of Narnia books by C.S. Lewis, who just happens to be my favorite author. One advantage of spending a year in Narnia is that no time would pass while I was in Narnia, so I would not miss a single minute of my time with my family.  I enjoy my life with them much more than any fictional world could afford me.  

If you'd like to participate or see other submissions to this week's workshop click here.  

SOULMATES 34 years and recounting.

Here are the prompts for this week’s Writer’s Workshop: 

1.  Write a post based on the word soulmates. 
2. Write a post in exactly 8 sentences. 
3. Post photos of your Halloween costume or your (grand)child(ren)’s costume(s). 
4. Make a list of things you have planned for November. 
5. List the top ten songs that you never want to hear again, and why. 
6. Write an essay entitled “Giving a child an unusual name is a bad idea.”

I chose #1. I decided to write an Acrostic essay about my soulmate and best friend who is also my wife of 65 years.  (We've only completed 26 so far.)

Suited to one another? I met Amy in the fall of 1990. I was 25 and she was 21.  I was returning to the WIU campus after having to take the semester off for academic reasons.  She had just graduated from Northern Illinois University that Spring and was starting graduate school in Macomb. 

Our paths meet. She decided to go to the year's first large-group meeting of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship which met on the 2nd floor of the student union.  I believe the meeting was held in the Fox Room.  A majority of our meetings were held in that particular room.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, our meeting at the Fox Room (if it was the Fox Room), was not the first time Amy encountered me.  She had gotten to the Student Union early that night and was studying at the Hardees when she spotted me waiting in line to order. She thought to herself, self, that the guy in the ball cap stroking his chin and pondering what type of Hardee’s  fare he will consume tonight is just the kind of guy who is likely to be at this meeting tonight.

Lisle, Illinois is where Amy said she was from when I introduced myself to her at the I-V meeting.  It turned out her hunch was right I was one of the students on the exec committee for our chapter and introduced myself to all the newcomers that night.  It also turned out that Lisle was where my grandparents lived.

Many things in common. Besides Lisle, it turned out that Amy and I shared quite a few similarities.  We were both from families with 5 children.  Our fathers were both the oldest of 7 children.  We were both raised Catholic and we both became disillusioned with that faith when our Parish priests came into our Parochial schools in 7th grade to tell us that not all of the Bible was true.

A Friendship quickly blossomed. We were inseparable.  Because I did not have a car at school and because we lived in suburbs near each other we drove back to the Chicago area on holidays and vacations.  We both enjoyed watching and playing sports and so many other things.  Whether at school or back at home we spent most of our free time together.

Time Passed as it always does.  She was the closest friend I ever had.  But life outside of university beckoned us both and we began to make our way in the wide world.  We talked on the phone,  exchanged letters and tapes over the years,  and spent as much time together when we were in the same time zone. Many people began to realize that there was something between us beyond friendship.  If there was we were oblivious to that notion.  

Eventually, we realized what others had already figured out.  We loved each other, and one night in February of 1997 on AOL of all things, I got the memo that the Godly wife I had almost given up on finding was the same person who had sized me up at Hardees all those years before,

Soulmates? Certainly, but the best kind. Best friends who fell in love and never stopped being best friends.

Thanks to John Holton for hosting the Writers Workshop at The Sound of One Hand Typing.

A 12 Sentence Post (which is better than no post at all).

 It is Fall, and I am in my usual  decline of posting here at Leap of Dave. Lately, when I have posted,  I've just been putting out OPV (Other People's Videos) instead of mixing in my own content. It's not that I don't have things to write about, there are plenty of post ideas that I am wanting to get out there; it's not even about lack of time, it's more like I need a jump start to get this blog churning again.  So, for that much needed jump start, I went to my blog roll and saw that John Holton of The Sound of One Hand Typing  put out this week's Writing Workshop prompts. 

Along with trying to write this post using 12 sentences only, I will also use another of his prompts to tell you why I use Google Chrome.  I am not a Chrome snob by any means it is just something that I am used to, it doesn't try to invade my computer like Microsoft Edge does, and I never really got into Firefox. 

As a long term substitute teacher at a middle school my job is both varied and predictable.  For the past few days I've been subbing for 7th grade teachers.  Our 6th graders last year were a bit of a challenging bunch, and I have been glad to see that many of them have matured since last year.  Many, however, is not most, and the past few days while not difficult, have been eventful.  

Thanks again to John Holton, for helping me to have something to write about today.  I also appreciate John for reminding me that Weird Al Yankovic is turning 65 today, making him exactly 4 years and 11 months older than myself.