Sign of the Times: Girls and Cars

confusing_signs

There was a time when we would name our cars after girls.

Now, people name girls after cars.

Advertisement

Flash Fiction Challenge: Time to Create a Character

This is my first flash fiction challenge from Chuck Wendig’s blog Terribleminds.  In a nutshell, the idea is to create a character in 250 words.  Next week, readers of the blog can borrow the character and create a new story.

Grace Beasley is four foot-eleven. She tells people she’s five-one in an attempt to measure-up, but, she doesn’t want to push the fib too much. Her job is a constant reminder of her height, as she is the only teller at the bank who needs a stool at her window.

Grace thinks she has a weight problem, even though most of her friends say they’d kill for her figure – curvy enough to fill her dresses just right.  Having a tailor for a best friend doesn’t hurt.  She’ll still stop at the grocery store salad bar for dinner tonight.

Quitting time.  Grace washes her hands in the restroom just past the loan manager’s office.  She looks in the mirror, thinking the rich dark green of her blouse makes her skin look more pale than usual. She dismisses the thought, reminding herself she picked the blouse because it looks great with her hair – originally medium brown, now colored a brownish red and hanging in layered wisps to almost her shoulders.  Remember Grace’s best friend?  The tailor has a stylist friend.

Grace also notices her light blue eyes don’t seem to be as blue as they once were.  And on that note, she decides it time to go home, a ride that’s twenty minutes longer than it used to be, thanks to Douche-nozzle cheating on her, and her leaving the apartment.

Grace is proud that she has channeled her hurt and anger into becoming more proficient with her knives.  The stabby ones are nice, but the throwy ones are her favorites.  As a result, Grace is also known to make a killer stir-fry.

On Motivational Quotes

We’ve all seen them.  Posters, coffee mugs, t-shirts, plaques, etc., all designed to lift one up from whatever foul mood or attitude one may be experiencing, and motivate one to face a new day or meet a new goal.  A noble endeavor, to say the least.  The trouble is, there has been such a flood of “motivators” they have become cliche, to the point of there being entire sections of the Internet devoted to “demotivators.”

Now, don’t get me wrong, I find demotivators as funny as the next guy.  That has been a problem in the past.  I became so cynical, it was difficult to get through meetings and training sessions without getting bored or angry.  Usually both.

I’m trying to do better.  I decided when I started my new job to try a new attitude as well.  I’m no cheerleader, but, I’m not the constant grouch, either.  I just do my thing, and the others can do theirs.  We’ll either be together, or we won’t.  That’s worked out pretty well for me, and has lead to another new job.  I even like going to work every night, a feeling I haven’t had in a long time.

I found a motivational poem a few weeks ago.

Food For Thought

Did is a word of achievement

Won’t is a word of retreat

Might is a word of bereavement

Can’t is a word of defeat

Ought is a word of duty

Try is a word each hour

Will is a word of beauty

Can is a word of power

In the past, I would have torn that apart, maybe (probably) even written a parody.  I’m getting too old to waste the time or energy.

I’ve noticed, while watching a show or a movie, that I found myself saying, “I could have written a better line/scene/story than that.”  So, I’m going to try my hand at writing.  This blog is part of that effort.