Today’s blog post is a little late today. I got caught up doing real work the last few days and haven’t had a lot of time to put into the “fun writing” I do, but I do have a little time right now in between homework with Sean and making dinner, so I thought I would try to jot a few things down. Yesterday’s question was:
Do you have a particular keepsake stashed away that brings you special memories?
I think everyone probably does have something they saved from their childhood or early adulthood that brings back special memories for them. I have a few things that I have held on to. I have this old Oreo cookie tin that I keep stuff in (I’m not sure why I have the tin, I am not a big Oreo fan, but we can get to that later) and I do keep a few special things in there that are important to me. Here are a few things I found in there when I looked the other day:
First off was I found Michelle’s high school ring in there. She had given it to me back in the day when we were dating ( I don’t know if they still do that, where you give each other your ring when you’re dating) and it’s still important to me. High school wasn’t great for me, but I do remember having fun with my friends and that is when Michelle and I forged our deep friendship and it became so much more later on.
I also have the hospital bracelet I had to wear to get into the NICU to see Sean when he was first born. He was only in the NICU for a couple of days, but it was a little scary until he got out of there. Michelle had been so sick during her pregnancy and Sean’s sugar levels had bottomed out after the birth so they were keeping a close eye on him at first, and he was a few weeks premature as well. I can clearly remember going in there to hold him and sit with him in the rocking chair there. It was quite an amazing feeling holding this little person in my arms. Now when I look at him today and he is taller than me it’s hard to believe he was ever that small.
I did also find a bunch of pins in there, but these are special pins. They are wooden pins that were handmade but Colonel Seth Hudgins. COL Hudgins was the President of the West Point of Association of Graduates for most of the time I worked there and anyone who remembers him knows he used to give out these pins that he made to people when it was their birthday. It was a nice way for him to say Happy Birthday to you. He was a good man to work for and work with, understood the importance of family and friendship and that they could go along with hard work and pride in your job. Seeing them again reminded me of the good times I had working at West Point.
Okay, so now on to today’s question. Since today is National Chocolate Chip Day (who knew? I didn’t see it on my calendar!) I thought I would ask a simple question:
What’s your favorite type of cookie?
Everyone has a favorite cookie. The one you like to sneak out of the bag late at night or early in the morning, dunk in a glass of milk or eat hot right out of the oven. So let me know what your favorite is. You can leave a comment here, on Facebook or on Twitter. I will post my answer tomorrow.
That’s it for today. I need to finish cooking so then I can get working on my other blog (www.onedadskitchen.com if you want to check it out. I know, shameless plug). Don’t forget to do something creative today!
Filed under: Memories, Questions | Leave a Comment
Tags: memories, question of the day, special keepsakes
We had a very pleasant Mother’s Day yesterday at Michelle’s parents, relaxing, having dinner and sitting outside enjoying everyone’s company. I made some fish for part of the meal, fo which you can get the recipe here on my cooking blog. It was a nice day and we had a good time. Thanks to everyone who visited the blog yesterday and contributed; it’s much appreciated. So yesterday’s question was “What’s one word you can use to describe your mother?” I thought long and hard about it, and the best word I can think of to describe my mom is:
Sacrifice.
When I think back over the years and right up to this day, I think my mom has sacrificed more than anyone I know. She dedicated her life to her family, staying home and raising six kids so they could have the home life and family values that made us all good people. I’m sure it wasn’t easy for her having to deal with all of us and the various issues and troubles that would come up on a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, etc. basis, but she made that her career. You always knew (and still know) that she is willing to do whatever she can to try to help, even if that means giving up something for herself to help you out. Driving us to music lessons, little league, dance classes, tests for school and even teaching us how to drive were things that I am sure we all took for granted when they were happening, but mom always made time for it to happen so that we could learn, experience and enjoy life. Even today, she still gives of her time freely to help out with the grandchildren (there are 13 of them now) and help out whenever any of us needs a hand or some advice. So thank you mom, for giving up so much of yourself so that we could benefit. I know you will say you wouldn’t have had it any other way, and that is great for us to hear, but I hope you realize how much we all love and appreciate everything you did and still do for us.
Now on to today’s question. I was putting some papers away this morning and came across a few things in my nightstand that got me thinking and I thought this might be an interesting question for today, so here goes:
Do you have a particular keepsake stashed away that brings you special memories?
Something that you have saved for years but every time you look at it, it brings a smile to your face and lets you think back about a special time in your life or a special person. We all have things we keep stowed away in little boxes on our dresser or in our nightstand, so what is it that you keep that is special to you? Think about it and get back to me. You can leave a comment here, or answer me on Facebook or Twitter. I also pose the question to some people and see if I get any response from them. And if you have a question you think might be good to pose to everyone or an idea for a good blog post, or some creative writing that you would like to share, please feel free to leave me a comment, send me a message or drop me an email at IguanaFlats@msn.com and I’ll get right back to you.
Enjoy the rest of your day everyone. They are saying rain here in New York for the next 3 days, but then it should be beautiful the rest of the week. Have a great day and don’t forget to do something creative today!
Filed under: Family, Mothers, Questions | Leave a Comment
Tags: family values, mothers, one word to describe your mother, question of the day, sacrifice
A Mother Is…
I’m up early getting everything ready for Michelle’s Mother’s Day breakfast. Sean was supposed to get up to help me, but I think he went back to sleep, so I am going to take a few minutes to blog. Thanks to those who answered yesterday’s question of: What is a gift that you made for your mother when you were a child? We all made lots of different things for our mother’s when we were kids. Since there are six of us in my family, my mom got lots of homemade or school-made gifts over the years. I tried to think back over things that I made and the only one I can really remember making, and I am sure everyone made at this at some point, was a gold, spray painted jewelry box covered with spray painted dried pasta. Now I am sure the teachers at the time thought that this was probably a good project to do, and I am sure my mom put on a happy face when she got it as a gift ( I think moms have to go to a special class to learn how to make that face of surprise and happiness when they get stuff from their kids), but looking back on it now it probably wasn’t the greatest idea. However, the great thing about moms is that no matter what it is or what time of year it is, they are always happy to get something from their kids and glad to be thought of in a special way.
So staying with the Mother’s Day theme for today, here is today’s question:
Give me a one word description that sums up your Mom.
Now I know it’s not easy to describe someone in just one word, especially your Mom, but I think you can handle it. put some thought into it and then answer. I expect lots of good answers people, this is your Mom we’re talking about after all. You can answer here, on Facebook or on Twitter. I’ll pose the question on Twitter too and see if I get any response. I’ll post my answer tomorrow.
Before I get back to breakfast, I would just like to say a Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms I know out there. Each of you has helped not only me become a better person, but your own children and others in lives are better people for all the advice, sacrifice, friendship and love that you bring to the table. And a special Happy Mother’s Day to my Mom, Michelle, all 3 of my sisters, my mother-in law and sister-in law who all bring something special into my life. Thanks for all you do and I love you all.
Have a wonderful day today and don’t forget to do something creative today!
Filed under: Family, Questions | 2 Comments
Tags: Mother's Day, Mother's Day creations, question of the day
Okay, so I got some interesting answers yesterday to the question of:
Tell me something about yourself that people might be surprised to learn.
Thanks to everyone who shared and answered the question. As for my answer, I think it’s hard to say. A lot of people know many different things about me, but maybe not everything. Other than Michelle, there probable isn’t a person who knows everything. So I’ll try to give some interesting facts that some of you may already know and some of you don’t:
When I was younger, I put both my hands through a glass door and came with no injuries.
Also when I was younger, my brother hit me in the face with a brick. I had a big black eye, but that was about it.
I didn’t reach five feet tall until I was a junior in high school.
When Michelle asked me to go to the senior prom with her in high school I said no. (Little did I know 27 years later I still can’t live this one down)
I absolutely love horror movies – good ones, bad ones, it doesn’t matter.
I had a really bad temper as a child to the point where I would scream, yell and turn blue from holding my breath.
I need darkness and quiet to fall asleep.
I have always had more female friends than male friends.
I have a huge collection of autographs (over 5,000) and baseball cards (somewhere around 30,000).
I love to cook but don’t eat pasta, cheese or milk.
When I was in the hospital, I insisted that we had won the lottery and Michelle spent all 13 million dollars (there were lots of other things I thought were real too, that’s for another time).
I think that’s just about enough for now. If there is anything else you want to know about me, just ask, I’m glad to share, which is kind of weird because I have always considered myself to be a very shy person, to the point where it has probably kept from doing things in life. Anyway, let’s move on to today’s question. Since Mother’s Day is this weekend, I thought I would do some Mom themed questions this weekend. So here is today’s question:
What is a gift that you made for your mother when you were a child?
It has to be something that you made, not bought. Now we have all made things for Mom in school or at home, and we all thought that we made the greatest gift in the world and Mom was always nice and took it with a smile even if she couldn’t figure out what it was that you made. So what can you think of? I’m sure you can remember and your Mom probably held on to it for years. Or if you are a Mom, can you remember something that you received as a gift from your kids? Think about it and you can answer on here, or on Facebook or Twitter. I’ll post my answer tomorrow and I’ll ask some people on Twitter and see if I get any response.
So that’s it until tomorrow. Don’t forget to do something creative today! (maybe make something for your Mom?)
Filed under: Questions | Leave a Comment
Tags: mother's day gifts you made as a kid, question of the day, things you didn't know
Did I Hear That Right?
It’s Friday and we should all rejoice since the weekend is here. I got some good response to yesterday’s question and a big thank you to all who took the time to answer and visit the blog. Yesterday was the biggest day by far of visits that I got to the blog, so I am glad enough people are interested enough to keep checking it out. I really do plan to start putting some fiction up on here of things that I write, I am just trying to cull through things and see what I feel best about it to share with everyone. If you have any type of writing that you would like to share, please feel free to contact me here, on Facebook, Twitter or by email at IguanaFlats@msn.com and we can work out putting your work here. It can be whatever you would like it to be – a poem, short story, an idea, a question whatever you’d like. I’m flexible (well not really, the leg braces make that kind of tough, but as far as my way of thinking I am). Now back to yesterday’s question:
What’s your guilty pleasure? Some people answered with a particular food that they just absolutely love. If I had to pick something like that, I guess my guilty pleasure would be donuts. I absolutely love donuts, and I’m not picky about what kind, I’ll pretty much eat any type (ok, no coconut, but other than that, we’re good to go) and I could eat them any time of day too, morning, noon or night. I love apple fritters as well and we have made homemade ones that are delicious. Adams Farms makes one that is about the size of my head… okay, well maybe not my head, since I have special features… that’s a story for another time, but someone else’s head let’s say.
As far as guilty pleasures for other things, I guess in music I have lots of them. If you ever picked up my iPod you probably would be surprised at a lot of the stuff that’s on there. I can go from listening to Andre Segovia to the Carpenters to Miles Davis to the Foo Fighters to Nine Inch Nails to LoFidelity All Stars to Slipknot pretty quickly. I do like a lot of the old sappy songs your parents probably used to play or things you played in the seventies, which I guess is kind of a guilty pleasure. For movies, there’s probably a couple that would fall into the guilty pleasure realm. I’m not to proud to admit that I have probably seen”P.S. I Love You” 6 or 7 times. yes it’s hokey and sappy and considered a chick flick, but I just like it. The same could be said for “Bachelor Party” with Tom Hanks. That movie still cracks me up. For television shows, I can’t really think of any but one. I am not a fan of reality television, but there’s something about “Storage Wars” that I like. Whether it’s the people on there and the way they interact or what they expect to find, I don’t know, but I could watch them all day.
Okay, so that takes yesterday, now on to today. Let’s see how willing everyone is to share today. Here’s the question:
Tell me something about yourself that might surprise people.
I used to ask this of students to get them writing because it’s a good introduction to writing things down and then sharing with other people. Now, I don’t want you to confess to any hardcore crimes or anything; you go tell the police or your local priest all that stuff. Just let me know something about yourself that people might say “Wow, I never knew he/she was like that, did that, wanted to do that, felt that way, etc.” Hey, if I am willing to answer it, than you should too. No judgments here, this is just an exercise in writing and getting to know a little bit about people. Think about it and leave a comment here, or on Facebook or Twitter. I’ll post my answer tomorrow.
So that’s it for today; time to get back to regular work. Thanks again to everyone who has been answering and commenting. I think we’re slowly working towards a good blog here and having some fun along the way. Hopefully I can get some more celebrity input on this question. Anyway, until tomorrow, have fun and don’t forget to do something creative today!
Filed under: Questions | 3 Comments
Tags: guilty pleasures, question of the day, surprises about you
School Days and Guilty Pleasures
I didn’t get to write anything on Wednesday this week, which isn’t unusual. Wednesday tends to be my busiest day of the week so I don’t really get anything extracurricular done, but that’s okay, we all have days like that in our lives. Anyway, here is my answer to Tuesday’s question of:
Who is your most memorable teacher? The one who inspired you, kept you going, helped you learn? The one who has made a lasting impact on your life?
I think I have a few. I couldn’t think of one teacher from elementary school or high school that had any kind of lasting effect on me, but I had a middle school teacher who did. Mr. Malone, my eighth grade English teacher, was not only a good guy, but I think he had an impact on me. It wasn’t so much what he taught, but he seemed to give us the freedom to think and do things. He was the first teacher I can remember who pushed me a little in writing, making me think, and use my imagination more in my writing. I think that kind of started me on the road that I still follow today. I could also say that we always had a lot of fun in his class, which was also the first time I can remember that happening.
Another teacher who had an effect on me was a professor I had when I spent one year at community college. Sam Draper wasn’t a particularly friendly guy or even a really nice guy, but he was a good teacher. He taught a freshman English class I was taking and he was the first teacher to not only teach me about some of the rules of writing, but also encouraged me to express myself more in my writing. He was also the person who helped to convince me that I should major in English in college. he told me I had a good grasp of literature and expressed my ideas well in writing and I should explore that. For that, I thank him, wherever he may be now.
Lastly, Peter Lyons was a professor I had when I was working on my Master’s degree. He wasn’t only a professor though; he also gave me a chance to work in the Writing Center and Western Connecticut where I was able to work directly with students to help them with their writing. I only took one class with him as the teacher, but I enjoyed it and he taught me a lot about self-examination of myself and my writing and how I should include more of myself in my writing. The opportunities he gave me and the lessons I learned from him, not just about writing and teaching but life in general, have helped me immensely. I am sure he had many students through the years who might tell him the same thing, and I know he retired a few years back, but I did get a chance to thank him before I left WestConn many years ago for all that he had helped me with.
Okay, so that’s covered now, ao we can get on with today’s question. Thanks to everyone who answered Tuesday’s question, including Boomer Esiason. I was trying to come up with something a little different for today’s question, so let’s try this:
What’s your guilty pleasure? Now I don’t mean in a racy, sexual way (although if that’s where you want to go with it, go ahead). I was thinking more along the lines of is there a television show, movie, or song that a lot of people consider bad or silly, but when you hear it or see it you have to watch, listen to it or sing along? Now come on, we all have this, whether we want to admit it to anyone (or even ourselves). Did you secretly enjoy watching “Saved By The Bell” or singing along to the “Macarena?” Let’s hear it and see what you are willing to admit to. I only have a couple of hundred followers between Facebook, Twitter and my blogs, so not that many people will see it anyway :). Don’t be shy! Give an answer and I will post my answer tomorrow.
By the way, if you ever have a question of your own that you think would be fun or thought provoking to get people talking and writing, please send it along. You can leave a comment here, send me one on Twitter or on Facebook, or send me an email at IguanaFlats@msn.com. I am open to any and all suggestions and input. That’s it for now. I have a lot of writing I want to do today, some fun and some work related, so I have to get to it (or maybe I have to go and watch “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, who knows?). Don’t forget to do something creative today!
Filed under: Questions | 3 Comments
Tags: favorite teacher, guilty pleasure, question of the day
Yesterday’s question was not an easy one. The question was:
Who do you consider to be your hero?
I didn’t get a lot of answers, but that’s okay with me. My philosophy is answer only if you want to, this isn’t school after all (more on that later). It is a tricky question. You have to consider what you define a her as and then try to find someone who fits into that criteria. Everyone has their own definition and it is a personal thing that you may not want to share. But since this space is basically my journal, I’m willing to share some
I think I have three categories to fill for heroes. The first would be parents, and I think most people would agree and feel the same way about their parents. They sacrifice and do all they can to try to make growing up and your world a better place. A few of the people who answered me said it was their mother or father, and I would have to agree. Both my mom and dad were good role models for me not only growing up, but throughout my adult life as well. They tried to teach me and guide me through life, let me make my mistakes and earn my kudos and gains so I could turn out to be the type of person they wanted me to be. They both worked really hard to make sure all of us (and there are six of us out there) had what we needed not just in a material sense, but in a moral and psychological sense as well. I think we all turned out to be pretty good people because of them.
My second hero would have to be my wife Michelle. I’ve written before about her on Facebook and those that know me personally know how wonderful a person she really is. She’s my hero for so many reasons, least of which is that she saved my life three years ago when I got sick. We’ve had our share of ups and downs. Sometimes it seems like more than our share, and sometimes it seems like more downs that ups, but she has always taken whatever life has thrown at us and dealt with it. I think a lot of that can be attributed to the incredible strength that Michelle has. She may complain about a problem or something that comes up, but she tackles it, wrestles with it and inevitably comes out on the better for it. She has an amazing ability to deal with literally everything. I am sure there are times when she is stressed to the limit by everything and yet she still can find her way to clearly sort things out.
Michelle is the most selfless, giving person I have ever met. She will do anything to try to help someone, see it through to the end and never ask for anything in return. She’s been like that for as long as I have known her and it is one of the many things I love about her. She doesn’t think twice about trying to help someone, no matter what the situation and if she can’t do it herself, she’ll figure out a way for someone else to help out. She gives constantly and there are many times where I feel like I don’t give enough back to her or she doesn’t get enough back from others, but she doesn’t seem to care. She loves to make other people happy.
Michelle is the best mom I have ever seen. We tried for years to have a baby, had some setbacks and she had a very hard pregnancy with Sean and was hospitalized several times before Sean was born 3 weeks early. After he was born, he was in the NICU for a few days to build up his strength and Michelle was still too weak to see him. Two minutes after they unhooked her from machines, she was down in the NICU to hold him and be with him. It has been like that ever since. Even though she works really hard and is often very tired, she always makes time to do something with Sean. They go to the movies, go swimming, go for ice cream and sometimes just cuddle on the bed with the dog to relax. Sean is so much like her in the way he cares for others. It makes me so happy to see that he is like her in this way.
I can’t believe what Michelle has done for me the last 3 years, let alone most of my life. When my father got sick, she didn’t think twice about what had to be done. She sacrificed what little free time she had and allowed me to leave my job so I could help take care of Dad for a year. I left her for weeks at a time to deal with the house, work and Sean and she never complained. When I got sick in 2009, she had to go through it all over again. Actually, I can’t imagine having to go through what she did. Driving to the hospital several times a day, spending hours dealing with hospital staff and staying by my side the whole time I was in a coma while she dealt with Sean, the house, the bills and everything else. I can never explain how much it all meant for me. She has helped me through my recovery, keeping me going, prodding me on when I didn’t feel like doing any more, lifting me up when I have been depressed. She is always there.
Even though I tell her I love her every day, I don’t think I could ever really express how much I do love her. She fills in every void in my life, complements and completes me in every way and fills my heart in a way that no other person can. To say she is my personal hero is understatement; she is a hero in every definition of the word.
My third hero may seem a little bit of odd choice, but again it relates personally to what I have gone through. Is it odd that a hero could be a young boy? No, I guess it is, and if you know Eric Thomas and his story, then you know what I mean. Eric is the son of some good friends of mine and has had to endure a lot for a little boy. He has a rare genetic blood disorder that could only be treated with a bone marrow transplant. He went through months in the hospital, tests upon tests, medicine upon medicine and endured all the side effects that went along with them. Thankfully, his sister was a perfect match as bone marrow donor. The transplant was performed and after more months in the hospital building his system back up he was able to return home. He still has to deal with some medical issues, but he has always been able to push through everything fiercely, never doubting for a moment that he can do it and everything will come out okay. Eric and his family were going through a lot when I got sick and was hospitalized. Eric and I went through similar situations, spending months in the hospital, doing all kinds of rehabilitation therapies, taking all kinds of medicine. He has been an inspiration to me through it all. I think about what I went through and can’t even imagine how hard it would be to do it and be 5, 6 or 7, but he did it. Like me, I am sure there were days when he didn’t want to do it, but he always seem to have the fight in him to keep going and move forward. That’s the spirit that inspires me and makes him one of my heroes.
So now, that we covered heroes, we can move on to today’s question. Since today is National Teacher’s Appreciation Day, here is the question:
Who is your most memorable teacher? The one who inspired you, kept you going, helped you learn? The one who has made a lasting impact on your life? It can be from any grade, elementary school, middle school, high school, college, whatever. People get inspired by teachers at different moments and different times, so whomever it was that did this for you, let me know. And if you can get in touch with them and say thanks, maybe that would be a nice thing to do today. I’ll post the question on Twitter too and see if I get any response.
Thanks to those who answered yesterday’s question, including Penn Jillette, who says the Amazing Randi, James Randi, is his hero. I’ll post my answer to the question tomorrow. You can leave response here, on Twitter, or my Facebook page if you like. Until tomorrow, have a great day and do something creative today!
Filed under: Heroes, Questions | 1 Comment
Tags: heroes, personal heroes, question of the day, teachers
Look, Up In the Sky…
So after not having a computer for a couple of days, I have new laptop and am almost up and running again (thank you Michelle!). I haven’t been able to do anything online for a few days, so I do have a lot of catching up on work and blogs so this post will have to brief.
So Friday’s question was:
What’s your favorite late night snack?
When it comes to late night snacks, there are 2 things that I really like. I love just about any kind of chip and would be glad to snack on them anytime. The nice, salty crunch is very addicting and it doesn’t matter to met if they are potato chips (although I like Wise the best, though Utz are pretty good too), tortilla chips, Doritos or pretzels, but my absolute favorite is probably Fritos ( I don’t like to share them, just ask Michelle, she’ll tell you.)
Besides chips, I think my real late night favorite is a Drake’s fruit pie. Apple is the best, but Cherry is pretty good too, and if you can ever find the Blueberry let me know, because I like them but can never find them. There is just something about those pies that I love. Whether it’s the caked on icing or the filling or just biting off the little triangular corners, they are tasty. And they have to be cold for me. It lets the filling set and to me they taste even better this way.
That’s my late night snack. Thanks to everyone who answered, including Emeril Lagasse and Geoffrey Zakarian (although Geoffrey Zakarian didn’t actually pick anything).
Now on to today’s question. I was thinking I wanted to come up with something good and perhaps thought-provoking today. Sean and Michelle went to see The Avengers over the weekend and it got me to thinking about heroes. Not necessarily heroes in the superhero sense of the word, but personal heroes. So here’s today’s question:
Who do you consider to be your hero?
Now think about this in personal terms to you. I would consider a hero as person you would look up to not just as someone who seems to do right in the world, but someone who inspires you and makes you want to have some of the attributes that they possess, not necessarily so you could be like them exactly, but they are more of a role model for a behavior or attitude that would like to portray as well. Hopefully that’s not too abstract of a definition. There’s no right or wrong answer here; it’s really up to each of you personally as to who that hero might be. He or she can be real, fictional, past or present, it doesn’t really matter. Think about it let me know. I’ll post my answer tomorrow and I’ll post it on Twitter as well and see what kind of response I get, if any. If you want to follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you can do so at the links to your right, and you can always leave a comment or answer here or there, whatever your preference is. Until then, have a great day and don’t forget to do something creative today!
Filed under: Questions | 1 Comment
Tags: definition of a hero, heroes, personal heroes, question of the day
Perhaps Just a Little Taste…
So yesterday’s question went pretty well. Those of you who are my Facebook friends have already seen some of this post, so bear with me for a bit. There’s some new stuff at the end, along with today’s question:
When you were growing up, what was your favorite toy to play with? The one thing you could play with over and over again. It can be whatever you want, whatever you may have the best memory of.
I got lots of good answers to this one, so thanks for answering. You can certainly tell that most of us are from an era where we actually played outside instead of being locked in a room with a computer or video game all day. I used to love spending all day outside playing. Like Jeremy and Chris, I loved playing wiffle ball. We would play for hours and hours at a time in the backyard. We also played a lot of basketball, which was just as fun.
When I was younger and not yet playing wiffle ball or basketball, I would have to say my favorite thing to play with was probably all the action figures we had. I am pretty sure we had just about everything: G.I. Joe, Action Jackson, Big Jim, Johnny West, The Lone Ranger, Star Trek, every super hero you could imagine, Evel Knievel, the Six Million Dollar Man, even Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier (complete with boxing ring of course). You could create any adventure you wanted to create with all those figures, and they weren’t these tiny little figures that you see in stores now. They were much bigger, and I can remember having lots of fun playing with them. The best part was that you actually got to use your imagination and create scenarios, not have a machine or game create them for you. I guess that whole idea got lost along the way somewhere (sigh).
Anyway, thanks to everyone who answered. Now on to today’s question. I was looking over some of the questions I have jotted down to use (and I am always willing to take suggestions, so please leave one if you have one) and I thought this might be an interesting one to try today:
What is your favorite late night snack? Now, we all have one, even people who are really good about things that they eat still keep something around to indulge in once in a while. So, what is it that you go to at 3 AM when you get that craving? It can be anything at all of course. Something sweet, crunchy, sugary, a sandwich, heck if you chow on a filet mignon in the middle of the night, that’s okay too. Let us all know what it is. I’ll bet there is quite a diversity of things people go for. I plan on asking some famous chefs and cookbook authors this one on Twitter, so hopefully we get some response out of them. I’ll post my answer tomorrow. You can leave a comment here with your answer, or join me on Facebook or Twitter and answer there. I’ll probably stop by here later on again today to do another post after I finish some work. I feel like writing today.
Now hop on your bikes and have some fun today and don’t forget, do something creative today!
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Tags: creative writing, late night snack, questions
A New Place to Play
Okay, so this is the space I have intended to use for all my extra writing – my fun writing. I spend enough time during the day writing things that aren’t always a lot of fun. For those who don’t know me, I am a stay at home dad, work from home dad. I do freelance proofreading, editing and writing for just about anyone willing to pay me to do it. I have a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree in English and have been writing for many years. I also do a lot of creative writing on the side that I have shared with very few people to this point, but hope to start sharing some of that on here. I have another blog, onedadskitchen.com, where I talk about my love for cooking and what I cook for my family every day, but I am hoping this blog will be very different from that one. My only goal for this blog is that I write, and by write I mean whatever I feel like writing about on that particular day. It may be based on current events, it may be completely fictional, it may be part of a story I am working on, or it may be just a question that I ask and get responses to. Way back when I was teaching writing skills, I used to use a lot of questions to get people writing. They tend to spark ideas in people and most people have a very strong opinion one way or another when you ask them a question. Sometimes it will be a fun question (okay, most times it will be a fun question, I want this to be fun) and sometimes a more serious one. I am a big believer in keeping journals and encourage everyone to do it. You would be surprised by things you think about and are willing to write down as a way to express yourself. Once you start doing it, you’ll find it hard to stop.
So in a way, this will be my journal to keep me writing. I promise to share as much with you as you do with me. I may not lead the most interesting life, but I have had a lot of things happen to me in my lifetime (more on that to come as we go along) and a lot of it is worth putting down on paper, er, I mean computer. My mind can get a little crazy sometimes (and it’s not just from medication, more on that later too) so some of the things I may come up with may seem a little strange, but just go with it and have some fun. I’ll be doing a lot of cross posting from here onto my Facebook and Twitter accounts (join me on both, you can see the links on the right. No not there, look over there, right there. I am pointing right at it!) so those that are already with me on both places can always write their ideas here. And I encourage and implore you to please, please, please write your ideas here. Don’t hold back! Write whatever you want to write here. If it gets a little too out of hand, WordPress will just have to label this as adult content, but who cares? It could be even more fun!
Now on to today’s question. The questions I ask will be completely random, and some of them I have already posed on Facebook, so you Facebook friends, either bear with me or feel free to answer again. Also, you should know that I also pose these questions to random celebrities on Twitter, and occasionally they do respond (I’ll post about the Salman Rushdie thing at some point) so I’ll put them on here as well when and if anyone responds. Celebrities I am sure get lots of crazy messages and don’t pay attention to most of them, so I am not really surprised when I don’t hear back from them at all, but I still ask anyway. I figure at some point, I’ll ask a question that will pique someone’s interest somewhere. Anyway, I got off track. Back to today’s question:
When you were growing up, what was your favorite toy to play with? The one thing you could play with over and over again. It can be whatever you want, whatever you may have the best memory of. I’ll post my answer tomorrow after everyone has had a chance to answer.
I promise as we go along, I will share more of my own story about me and more of my own stories (mostly fictional). Those of you who know me in “real life” may be surprised by what comes out of my head (and my fingers, since I do have to type all this), but don’t be alarmed. I was like that before I got sick (another story for another time), I just never let it out much. I will respond to any and all comments here, so write what you want, ask what you want and do what you want, because that’s what I plan to do with this space. You can e-mail at IguanaFlats@msn.com, or follow me on Facebook or Twitter (now the links are up there on the right. No, up, and on the right… oh never mind, if you want to find it, you will) with any ideas you may have, or some good questions for later posts or some good stories, to call me names, or just say hello. Don’t forget to be creative today!
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The Office of Iguana Flats 