Doodling

I was a doodler.

Place a paper and pen or pencil in front of me and I will start drawing random things on it. Flowers, smiley faces, zigzag going up or down, lots of activity! All this went on while I was either having a conversation on phone or was studying. The doodles ended up on my books too.

Then things changed. No more landline phones where you had to be in one place and talk. With the convenience of a cordless phone and later on cell phones, I learned to walk when I talked. No more doodling for me.

When I got an iPad, I tried to draw on it but wasn’t very successful. My grandson however was very good at it.

Zombie from Minecraft
Calico cat

My attempt at recreating the doodles I used to do, when young.

Written for Weekly Prompts- Doodling, hosted by Sue W and GC

This week partner Susan and myself invite you to explore the less formalized but equally creative world of doodling. 

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Overcrowding

There are times
When my mind is in idle mode
Thoughts are floating peacefully
Ideas hibernating, in a hazy atmosphere


Then there are other instances
When a frenzy of activity occurs
Too many ideas are simultaneously generated
Thinking power divided between each


Like a computer overloaded
Too many tabs opened, the annoying delays
The throbber*, indicating waiting for response
Perhaps it needs to unplug and go to sleep mode!

(* Throbber is the icon we see when an app or program is being loaded!)

Written for RXC, PROMPT #209 hosted by Reena

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#RXC

Empathy and compassion

There are tears in your eyes
So my eyes tear up too
If you are going hungry 
I pull away from food too
When I’m dressed in finery 
And you shiver in rags
I feel like an abuser, a tyrant
Where is compassion and empathy 
If not seen in our actions and reactions?

Written for Eugi’s Weekly Prompt – Compassion , hosted by Eugenia

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Anything for the view

Shaking, I grabbed her hand and said I think we have to get out of here as quickly as possible.

She was shivering too. The cold wind was lashing at us with a great force. But she came here to look at the marvelous view. Nowhere else could we gaze on the beautiful valley below, but on the top of the mountain.

“Let’s stay here for a little more time”, she pleaded. “We have climbed the rocks and the steep hills to look at this amazing view. Can we not stay here longer?”

“I’m sorry Emily, but if we stay here longer, we won’t be able to go down tonight. The light is fading and the way down is not easy. We will plan another trip and will come well prepared next time. We can even bring a small tent and spend the night here. Can you imagine how wonderful sunrise would be from this vantage point?”

Reluctantly she stepped back from her position at the top and with a sigh of relief, we started our journey downwards. We barely made it before it started to snow too.

Next time we’ll be better prepared, I promised myself.

➰➰➰

Written for FSS, hosted by Fandango

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American political system

Fandango provocatively asks this week;

If you’re American, do you concur with my assessment that our country is rapidly going to hell in a handbasket? Or do you believe that everything is hunky-dory and America’s light is shining as brightly as ever?

If you’re not an American, based upon what you’ve read, seen, and heard, do you feel that America has, indeed, faltered? Or do you think that America will weather this storm?

Since I am NOT an American, I don’t know much about the politics in this country. When we moved to America in 2015, Obama was the president. The elections were near and we saw how the GOP selected Trump for their candidate. We never thought that he would be elected the next president. But it was to be so!

I give this context because of the difference I saw and felt between America under the two presidents. In Obama’s time, people were more tolerant, there weren’t any racial slurs cast on us as Muslims and brown people and the atmosphere was way more peaceful. When Trump took power, things went downhill. Open racism was common. People would say nasty things in passing and the entitlement of some white people grew by leaps and bounds.

What happened during the last couple of years of Trump’s rule and after the elections was unbelievable. It reminded me of any third-world country which sees power struggle at the hands of despots. More like what has been going on in my country since we became an independent country.

What Trump did was to unleash all the racism, hatred, and intolerance which some people already had inside their minds but now it became okay to be openly racist. This smells like beginning of the end of the tolerances and acceptability that was a hallmark of American society.

The recent acquittal of a white man for the murder of three people openly was another example of why sensible people feel that justice in America is totally blind and lopsided.

Too many issues have cropped up in recent years and many people are losing hope.

How can you fix this?

#Keepitalive

#FPQ

Just before you go

Let’s hear that beloved melody just before you go 

Let us part as friends, not as adversaries

Life is too short to hold grudges or thoughts of revenge 

We couldn’t make a life together so it’s best to part ways

I hope you will find someone to share your life again 

And that you two will have that special song as we had

But before you go, let’s listen to our favorite song together

➰➰➰

The photo below is from Jessica Gale at Morguefile.com.

For the visually challenged writer, the photo shows two musicians playing musical instruments at what appears to be a food court inside an airport terminal building, while other patrons are sitting at tables eating and socializing.

Written for FFFC # 145, hosted by Fandango

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#FFFC

Following after unfollowing…. Strange behavior?

So many of you might have noticed that I’ve recently re-followed you. And someone asked me about it too. Why did I need to re-follow people I had been following for almost 3 years?

The explanation is simple; WordPress settings!

I had enabled notifications of new posts on most of the blogs I follow. But this would produce too many notifications and when I got up after sleeping (7-8) hours, some notifications just disappeared. Some comments also were lost because apparently the WP notification panel can hold just a limited number.

I thought if I turn off the notifications of all the blogs I follow, I can simply read new posts in the reader. But not… says WP. There was no tab to turn off notifications. So I had to unfollow a majority of blogs that I follow and follow them again being careful not to enable notifications.

And while I did that, I also reorganized the blogs I followed. In a way it was an operation clean-up as well.

So if you are one of those who were unfollowed and then followed again, this was the reason.

Thanks for staying with me.

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#Blogging