Category Archives for InkTober

InkTober 2017: Day 24 – Blind

My home gets a lot of light. On the brightest days, there’s no need to turn on a light until the sun starts setting. For a long time I had no blinds on the windows in my living room so the full power of daylight could find its way into my space. Fortunately, because of the direction my windows face, I never had to worry much about privacy. As a result, after I became ill and started spending a lot of my time at home, it felt good to have a room where I was always exposed to natural light.

With the exception of overcast days that tend to sap my energy regardless of where I am, being in this room is usually the best place for me to spend my time. Spending so much time in my brightest room means it’s also where I make most of my phone and video calls. Because the room is so bright, I started getting complaints from a couple of the fussier people I know, whom I shall not name, about not being able to see me clearly during video calls because of glare on the screen. I tried to resolve the issue by moving to various seats around the room, but nothing I did seemed to satisfy them.

One of these fussy people – after becoming very frustrated about the visual quality of our video calls – took it upon himself to buy temporary blinds for my living room windows. His thinking is that they help reduce the glare, while not completely blocking out all of my natural light and, depending on what I decide later, they can easily be removed. Knowing my friend as I do, I did not put up a fight. I gave him my window’s measurements, he bought the blinds, he brought them to my home, and he installed them.

Now when we have our video calls, there is very little for him, or the other fussy person in my life to complain about; and I still benefit from the natural light that makes its way in through my windows.

 

InkTober 2017: Day 23 – Juicy

Of course oranges and orange juice to illustrate the prompt ‘juicy’, because there’s nothing better than a fresh-squeezed glass of orange juice. Unless it’s a fresh-squeezed glass of orange juice without pulp, which would definitely be better because I don’t like pulp in my juice. Pulp makes me feel like I have to chew my juice. I know that sounds ridiculous but it’s one of the many idiosyncrasies I’ve had with respect to food since I was a child. However, when I think of some of the odd habits some of my cousins had with respect to eating food, this is nothing.

One of my younger cousins had a combination of requirements when he ate a meal. First off, when foods were placed on his plate they weren’t supposed to touch each other. Even as he ate, he was mindful of making certain that none of the foods got too close to each other because if they did he wouldn’t eat them. The other thing is that he needed to keep everything near his meal clean, including his hands. Picture a four-year-old eating a juicy piece of chicken with his hands and upon finishing it holding his hands in the air so someone could wipe his hands clean before he continued eating. That happened all the time. I’m not sure how his parents coped with that habit, but it made babysitting him somewhat challenging.

By comparison, my cousin’s quirks make my no-pulp requirement seem like a non-issue. All the same, whether we like to admit it or not, I think we all have some issues when it comes to the foods we eat and how we eat them.

 

InkTober 2017: Day 22 – Trail

I’m not sure why, but I seem to have a leaning towards fairy tales in this round of InkTober. Although I’ve only written one post where I’ve cited a couple of stories, I’ve been thinking about fairy tales quite a bit recently. In fact, the first things that jumped into my mind when I read the prompt ‘trail’ were an actual trail through a forest and, of course, “Hansel and Gretel” who dropped bread crumbs along a trail as they ventured deep into the woods so they could find their way home. Spoiler alert: Animals eat the crumbs and they get lost.

My understanding is that what was first recorded by the brothers Grimm was not at all suitable for children and when I think of the themes of some of the most well-known fairy tales I can see how that could be the case. I know that modern-day fairy tales are sanitized versions of the originals, which were re-written so that they could be told to children and I think it might be time for me to read some of the originals. I’m curious to see how the Grimm’s Fairy Tales from the early 19th century compare when put side-by-side with the Disney interpretations that are so influential in our society today.

I guess I’ve just given myself a reading assignment…