Category: Life

Posted in Life

Are You Patriotic? What Does Being Patriotic Mean to You?

Posted on by jennrae

Do I consider myself patriotic? Well, let’s define patriotism first I suppose. I see patriotism as having a love of one’s country, native country, adopted country, or you can even be patriotic to a region. I happen to live in the Pacific Northwest part of the US. I am a Washingtonian. Do I agree with everything my state does? Or everything the US does? No.

As an individual I have personal opinions, and ideas of what is good and what is not. I don’t neatly align with any political party. Even if I could be put into one bin per se, would I agree with an agenda wholeheartedly? I highly doubt it. I am a bit of a cynic, and I am also a bit contrarian. So, I don’t and won’t fit neatly into a category, and I am more than okay with that.

If something terrible, like a sept. 11th incident were to happen right now in my country, I would be very upset and distraught. If my state were to slide into the ocean tomorrow, I would be very upset and obviously troubled by it. Do I love the US? I do like the idea. As a reality, it falls short, but the possibility and promise are there. I don’t wish I was born elsewhere, there isn’t another country where I would rather be from. I don’t have any desire to be Canadian, although I met someone in the past whose dream was that, it isn’t mine.

Do I love my country? Sometimes. I love what it stands for, I love the idea of the American Dream, I love the idea of the possibilities. Intellectual freedom, the ability if you try hard enough if you do enough, you can get where you want to be. Is the dream real, though? I am not naive to think it is the same for everyone.

If English isn’t your native tongue, or if you grow up in an impoverished or educationally dismal area, the dream is a bit harder to obtain. Not impossible, but difficult. Some are born with a leg up and don’t have to work as hard. The US, much like life, isn’t fair, and not everyone has an equal opportunity. For those with what is oftentimes called grit or fortitude, it is there. You do have to want it, you do have to work hard for it.

I want to believe it is still possible to achieve, but I think everyday it gets harder and harder. The disparity between those with money gets wider and farther, and the bigger the gap the more of a dream the American Dream becomes. I know this is happening around the world, not just in the US.

But the US is a country that has always promised a chance to succeed where one could go to start over or start again. So, it is especially sad to see this country get so divided.

Am I patriotic? I guess I am, I am in love with the dream, the promise of the US. Am I in love with the reality? I want to be, somedays I believe more than others.

It is like an old crush you once thought you couldn’t live without, but now you are okay. You wonder what happened to them, if they are happy with their life, if they did anything momentous or important?

If they didn’t, are they happy anyway, did they find their true love, or some passion worth living and fighting for? I guess a more accurate answer to a complicated question is, sometimes. I am sometimes patriotic. Sometimes I wish things were different, sometimes I wish we could rediscover a middle ground where politics weren’t such a toxic subject matter.

Daily writing prompt
Are you patriotic? What does being patriotic mean to you?
View all responses
Posted in Life

What’s Your Favorite Thing To Cook?

Posted on by jennrae

I probably enjoy cooking eggs the most, scrambled or like an omelet. Or over easy. It is a fun challenge to not break the yolk. You can add whatever you feel like to it, like peppers or mushrooms and of course tons of cheese. I like to eat it with salsa and sour cream too. Jalapenos, just add those to everything. It is like a kitchen sink food, there isn’t a right or wrong way to make it.

I also like to make enchiladas and Huevos Rancheros, I guess I like Mexican food, especially the Tex-Mex versions. I like Italian food as well, but I admit that I cheat and buy the sauce. Maybe I will try my hand at a home made sauce someday.

I’m trying to live a little; be more adventurous. Wasted too much time playing it safe and I feel like I haven’t really lived much. Never too late though to start. I guess I do prefer winging it, and grabbing whatever I happen to have laying around to throw into things as far as cooking goes.

Recipes are good occasionally, they help when I feel like I am doing something new, but I like experimenting a bit, straying from the set path and discovering something new. New can be scary, but it also can be exciting. I will even randomly throw chipotle seasoning or chili seasoning in stuff, because why not?

Daily writing prompt
What’s your favorite thing to cook?
View all responses
Posted in Life, Writing

List Five Things You Do For Fun.

Posted on by jennrae

I enjoy drawing. I have a cartoony style that is unique and unpolished. I have used it to create portraits for characters in the past. But it is mostly just fun doodles. I’d like to try my hand at painting, I used to paint years ago.

I write short stories or character studies for fun. I like to write short fiction. It is fun to wrap up the story quickly. Short timed writes are especially fun because there is no pressure for it to be perfect.

I also listen to music for fun. It is also fun to see live music. I think music is the secret to changing a bad mood to a good mood. I can change my energy based on what I am listening to. And live shows are especially fun because it is like you are one with the crowd. It is a different kind of energy.

I also like to get out of town and see new things, find new experiences. Sometimes we will pick a place to explore and see what’s there. Get to know a different place. We found a virtual arcade that way and go carts, drive in theaters too. It is kind of cool to research a place for fun things to do that isn’t typically a tourist spot. You can find some fun shopping areas too with unique finds. And I enjoy bargain hunting and finding treasure.

I also like to walk or hike for fun, or just be out in nature. Camping is awesome for getting away and recharging the soul. We hiked to the lighthouse one year which is five miles one way. Walking in sand that is also cold and rocky with the sun on your back was a unique experience, but the tour of the lighthouse was well worth it. I need to do that again. It has been awhile.

Obviously I enjoy movies and books of course, and going to the theater or even the local playhouse is also very fun for me.

Daily writing prompt
List five things you do for fun.
View all responses
Posted in Life

Can You Share A Positive Example Of Where You’ve Felt Loved?

Posted on by jennrae

A recent example of where I have felt loved was probably when my son noticed that one of my favorite coats was missing a button, and so he made it his mission for mother’s day to find a button and sew it on the coat, and he did just that. I can honestly say I was very touched. It meant more than a card, flowers, or candy. It was the most thoughtful thing. I hope his girlfriend realizes how lucky she is, because he is a good soul and has a kind heart.

There have been many times where I felt loved by someone for various things, but that is the one that stands out for me. It brought a tear to my eye because it was unexpected and I didn’t think he would really do it. Sometimes just noticing something and fixing it is worth more than spending a ton of money.

Daily writing prompt
Can you share a positive example of where you’ve felt loved?
View all responses
Posted in Life, Writing

Where Can You Reduce Clutter In Your Life?

Posted on by jennrae

If we are talking physical clutter, I am bad at keeping manuals and paperwork. I think I have had is known as a junk drawer just filled with various manuals of different gadgets and doodads. I also, as I am sure most of you know, have a plethora of DVDs and books. The DVDs I store in binders, although I need to buy more as my collection has outpaced my current ones.

I also have a 200 disc cd changer that I got when I was a teen, still works and holds my cd collection inside it, with folders telling me what disc is where, although I need to go through and reorganize it. I also tend to put the mail down on a desk or table and I don’t get to it right away.

I have a couple magazine subscriptions but I am getting better at letting them go into the recycling. If I really need a recipe I can always find it on the internet, so there is less reason to keep those.

If we are talking mental clutter, yes, I do worry about stuff I cannot control, although I am getting better at letting that stuff go too. You can only do so much, and I just don’t want to use my energy on things that I cannot solve.

Meditation and trying to clear my mind is something I want to do daily or at least every other day. It is so freeing to just let yourself be even if it is only for five or ten minutes. If you don’t do this, you should start. It is like setting aside time just for you. It is very calming and I can usually get more done afterwards.

I do need to reorganize my writing space so it is more inviting and gives me the right mood. I did have a eureka moment at the gym which I did jot down. I do not know if this idea is a new novel, or a new short story, but it will be something, that I do know.

Daily writing prompt
Where can you reduce clutter in your life?
View all responses
Posted in Life

What Is Your Favorite Animal?

Posted on by jennrae

I like most animals, unlike most people, as far as real life animals go, I do prefer cats. Big cats, little cats, weird cats. If we open it up to the fantastical, I love dragons and unicorns. There was a time where I had dragon, unicorn and white tiger figurines all over my house. I have over time lost or gotten rid of most of them. There are still some tigers around here, but it is a bit more subtle.

Kitkat broke a glass dragon when she was a kitten. She killed every houseplant I had, she just would uproot the plant and knock dirt all over the place. She just didn’t want them to live. I gave up on having houseplants, or most glass objects.

She was a chewer too, I had to get her dog toys. Cat toys would be destroyed in seconds, and she still would break the squeaker in the dog toys. She has a Kong ball. I am convinced she is a African wildcat that somehow escaped from the game farm. She would chew through wires too, so we had to get a wireless mouse for the computer. I told her she was hunting the wrong kind of mouse. But, despite all that, I still love her, and most cats I meet.

I also like dogs, I am just away from the house a little too much and have no yard to speak of. So, can’t really have a dog at the moment. But I do fuss over my parent’s basset hound, Bilbo who is incredibly cute and goofy. Maybe someday if I can get some property, I would love to have a dog. I had a sheltie as a kid named Buddy that I loved a lot. He was fun.

I had some bad experiences with horses, I am sure they are great. I always liked the look of them. But I had one that didn’t like me and one that was terribly skittish, so I didn’t bond like the girls in the books I liked to read did. But I love drawing them. They are beautiful. I guess if I had a pet dragon, or unicorn it probably would have ended badly as well, so I might just stick with my wildcat.

Daily writing prompt
What is your favorite animal?
View all responses
Posted in Life

Think Back On Your Most Memorable Road Trip.

Posted on by jennrae

My most memorable road trip as a child was when we drove down from NW Washington to northern California. We stopped at the Tillamook cheese factory in Oregon, and the redwood forests. I remember fitting into this tree that was so massive. And, I remember going to rest stops and I think we went to a beach someplace. The details are fuzzy. I think I was eleven.

I went on a more recent trip a few years ago with my son where we went from where we are to Hillsboro, Oregon. We stopped at Vancouver and went to the mall there. He had never been to a two story mall before, and it was busy so it reminded me of what malls used to be like. They had an arcade on the bottom part, and a go-cart racetrack outside the mall.

A lot of options besides shopping which made it more fun. In Hillsboro we ate at a good burger place called Killer Burger, and I took my son to a place for airsoft, which is why he wanted to go there. Someday, I’d like to go a little further, maybe down the coast, or perhaps further east like Idaho, or Montana.

Daily writing prompt
Think back on your most memorable road trip.
View all responses
Posted in Life

What Snack Would You Eat Right Now?

Posted on by jennrae

Quesadillas or chips and salsa sound good about now, maybe a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. When I get really hungry it doesn’t really matter.

Although, I don’t snack a lot, I keep it mostly to a couple meals. I usually skip breakfast, although I want to stop that, unless you count coffee.

And, then I have lunch, and then later dinner. If I am watching a game I may snack a bit more, but that is only occasionally. Or at a picnic, or potluck or a social event. Something unusual.

Although it is getting close to my lunch time, so I very well might make quesadillas since that sounds really good right now. Hope everyone is having a good Sunday.

Daily writing prompt
What snack would you eat right now?
View all responses
Posted in Life, Writing

What’s Your Dream Job?

Posted on by jennrae

My dream job would be to get paid for my writing and to make enough to not need another job. Something that allows me to have the time and money to travel and experience things without worrying excessively about money.

I would be my own boss and make my own schedule. It would be nice to be able to be creative from morning until night. Of course, things are always less fun once it becomes work.

It ceases to be fun when the stakes are higher. I do think I would be better suited to that type of work due to my introspective nature than the customer service work I currently do.

My current work can be draining and I have to pretend to be more sociable than I usually want to be. I come home exhausted mentally from all the interactions, most of which are the trivial “hey, how are you doing”, type of things.

I would be worried that I need to improve my self discipline in order to make that work as I am used to having a set schedule that is made for me. It would be worth it though. Just to be my own master and to do what I love doing.

Daily writing prompt
What’s your dream job?
View all responses
Posted in Life

Describe An Item You Were Incredibly Attached to as a Youth. What Became of It?

Posted on by jennrae

There were a few things I was attached to as a kid. One was this music box, with a girl on it holding an umbrella. You took the girl off she was a part of the lid and there was a circular container for whatever treasures.

I think I was five years old when I got it. You would wind it up and it would play Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head. I always stop when I hear this song even now, and it takes me back to that music box. Whenever I watch Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, I just love the scene they use this song in, it is just a happy go lucky scene. I still like the rain, and I bet it is due to this music box.

I don’t remember what happened to it. I was rough on my things as a kid, I was one of those girls who would give her barbie’s a haircut, and often broke their heads off. I wanted to see how they worked. I wasn’t nice to my stuff until I was a little older. It was made out of plastic, so, I am sure my Mom tossed it when it became damaged.

The other item was a little ring with a fake sapphire in it, I think it may have been from a yard sale, or something. Sapphire is my birthstone, and dark blue is still one of, if not my favorite, colors. I kept that thing so long. I think again, I was five or six when I got that, I begged to get it, and my Mom said okay. It wasn’t expensive it was like a dollar ring.

I lost it on my high school graduation day. It somehow slipped off my finger along the pathway. I have very small hands, almost child like. I think it was on my pinkie by this time.

I went back to try and find it, and I couldn’t. I guess like my childhood, the ring’s time with me was up. I have had some sapphire rings since that were real, but I lost all of them in the move. Maybe I’ll buy another in the future.

Daily writing prompt
Describe an item you were incredibly attached to as a youth. What became of it?
View all responses