safe

Sunday Poser — This Is Who I Am

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(Note: I forget when I published this post, to change the title from my last Sunday Poser’s response, which was “Long Covid.”

Banner courtesy Jim Adams

For this week’s Sunday Poser, Sadje asked:

How much of your real life do you write about on your blog? Do you think it’s safe to share details online?

I blog anonymously. My real name, believe it or not, is not Fandango, and my head is not shaped like a paper bag with large, vacant black eyes and a permanently affixed sardonic grin on it.

Anyone who reads my blog already knows a lot about me. They know I am old, I am retired, have been married to the same woman for almost 48 years, and I have two children and two grandchildren. They know generally where I live, that I am politically liberal, that I do not believe that God exists, that I love my country but I hate what has happened to it during the first quarter of the 21st century and particularly over the last decade.

I am not hesitant in my posts to express my views, opinions, and perspectives on politics, religion, and society, even though doing so may upset or anger some readers or cause me to lose subscribers. So be it.

I also enjoy exercising my imagination and creativity through my flash fiction posts, and I am having fun experimenting with different writing genres, like noir and the old American West, and even an occasional Rod Serling/Twilight Zone-like story.

And not being an artist or a particularly good photographer, I have enjoyed using AI text-to-image apps to create illustrations to accompany my posts.

So there you have it. I blog anonymously, but I am relatively open about who I am. I do write and post about what is happening in my life. The blogger you read is essentially the same person I am in the real world.

Is it safe to share details about me online? Is anything these days really safe?

Simply 6 Minutes — Test Ride

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“Bruno, what the hell are you doing? You’re going to break it!” Sally yelled at her husband.

“That’s the whole idea,” Bruno said.

“The idea is to break Billy’s new tricycle?” Sally said. “Have you lost your mind?”

“No, I’m just trying to make sure our little Billy is safe,” Bruno said. “I read an article in the paper about a woman who bought one of these trikes and the back wheel fell off while her daughter was riding it and broke her leg. I just wanted to take it for a test ride, figuring that if it could hold my weight without falling apart, it would be safe for our little Billy.”

“Oh right,” Sally said. “I know you, Bruno. You’re just a big little boy at heart.”

“Well, yeah, that too,” Bruno admitted, smiling.

Written for Christine Bialczak’s Simply 6 Minutes Challenge. Photo credit: dreamstime.com.

Friday Fictioneers — Anniversary

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The crowd of about a thousand people gathered on the street outside of the now-shuttered Palm Dance Club. It was the fifth anniversary of the mass shooting that killed and injured almost 100 at the predominantly gay dance club.

People were carrying signs and banners in support of the LBGTQ+ community. Some were crying as a handful of speakers gave emotional and inspiring talks. Some questioned whether the dance club might reopen, but the owner of the property, which has been closed since the night of the event said no. “Not until it’s safe again for members of our community.”

(100 words)

Written for Rochelle Wisoff-Fields’ Friday Fictioneers prompt. Photo credit: Dale Rogerson.

Weekend Writing Prompt — Safe Haven

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1A3DB945-1DD1-4F6D-BB8E-FD4BCE00B58D Amidst all this sound and fury swirling around us,

This esoteric national catastrophe happening right before our eyes,

I need to grab my backpack

And take us to find a safe haven.

(32 words)

C632B506-D5BC-4556-81F2-F090D423EE12Written for Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt, where we are challenged to write a poem or piece of prose using the word “haven” in exactly 32 words. Also written for these daily prompts: Ragtag Daily Prompt (amidst), The Daily Spur (sound), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (esoteric), Word of the Day Challenge (national), and Daily Addictions (backpack).

Fandango’s Provocative Question #27

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FPQWelcome once again to Fandango’s Provocative Question. Each week I will pose what I think is a provocative question for your consideration. By provocative, I don’t mean a question that will cause annoyance or anger. Nor do I mean a question intended to arouse sexual desire or interest.

What I do mean is a question that is likely to get you to think, to be creative, and to provoke a response. Hopefully a positive response.

We all get older, and as we age, we tend to experience an increase in health issues and/or physical deterioration. So my provocative question this week is a hypothetical one. Let’s say that medical science came up with a miracle drug or treatment that would be guaranteed to permanently cure one specific disease or condition — or at least relieve all of the symptoms with no harmful side effects.

You can consider your answer from a personal perspective or from a broader, more altruistic perspective in terms of society in general.

Given that, here’s this week’s provocative question:

“If you could choose one — and only one — particular malady, condition, or disease for which a safe and effective treatment was available, what one condition would you choose to treat and why is that your choice?”

If you choose to participate, write a post with your response to the question. Once you are done, tag your post with #FPQ and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments.

And most important, have fun.

The issue with pingbacks not showing up seems to have been resolved, but you might check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

Run Away

Fandango9 Comments

C108B371-E106-45E2-AB9C-6D6529C8AB05Okay, yes, I was in a jealous rage when I hit him with my putter, but I only meant to hurt him, for crissake, not to kill him. Oh how I wish I could go back in time and return to those more innocent times. I’m feeling so nostalgic for those wonderful days when we were young newlyweds. We were oh so happy. But now, I see my reality and realize that I can’t escape the present. I look down and see the blood oozing from the wound on his head, a wound I put there. I am going to have to run away, to take flight. I’m going to have to disappear from this world and go someplace where I will be forever safe, where I’ll be alone, and where nobody knows my name.

Written for these daily prompts: Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (jealous), Ragtag Daily Prompt (putter), Swimmers (kill), Word of the Day Challenge (return), Your Daily Word Prompt (nostalgic), and The Daily Spur (flight).

Twittering Tales — The Space Walk

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18649ca4-f5b3-40e3-9c57-59a93da02e07.jpegIt seems so real. Like I’m actually floating weightlessly outside of the ship. This virtual reality experience is amazing.

Wait. It’s getting cold. I’m having trouble breathing. Is this VR thing safe? Vision’s getting blurry. My lungs! The pressure! Can’t breathe! TURN IT OFF!

(277 characters)

Written for this week’s Twittering Tales prompt from Kat Myrman. Photo credit: WikiImages at Pixabay.com.

100WW — Sorry About That

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img_2714“We’ll be safe here,” Dan said.

“Right,” Donna said, unable to keep the skepticism out of her voice. “For how long?”

“I don’t know,” Dan admitted. “We made it through the night, didn’t we?”

“What’s up with the flare?” Donna asked. “Are you trying to lead them here?”

Dan put down the flare and walked up behind Donna, putting a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him, comforted by his touch.

“I won’t let them hurt you.” Then ripping off his mask, he said, “But they found me last night, Donna. Now you’re all mine. Sorry about that.”

(100 words)

Written for Bikurgurl’s 100 Word Wednesday prompt. Photo credit: Jenni Jones.

SoCS — Marathon Man

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What immediately came to mind when I read today’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt from Linda G. Hill and Joey at Joeyfully Stated, was the line, “Is it safe?” from the 1976 suspense thriller “Marathon Man” starring Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier.

Why? Well, this week’s SoCS prompt is “save/safe.”

The aging Nazi war criminal, Christian Szell, played by Laurence Olivier, has Thomas “Babe” Levy, a Columbia graduate student and long-distance runner, played by Dustin Hoffman, strapped into a dentist’s chair.

Olivier’s character is torturing Hoffman’s character by drilling into a tooth nerve as he tries to find out if it’s safe for him to retrieve his contraband stash of stolen diamonds.

This is just one scene from “Marathon Man,” which is one of my all-time favorite movies of that suspense thriller genre. Whenever it’s playing on TV, I either watch it or record it on my DVR for watching when it’s more convenient.

If you haven’t seen “Marathon Man,” you should make a point of watching or recording it. It would be a great movie to save for a rainy day.