Howdie All!

Thank you for visiting my blog. Those of you who know me know that I have been into writing (especially that I LOVE talking) for a couple of years. I have completed my first (un-published) novel 18 months ago and have been writing for the Gulf Daily News (GDN) for the past four months or so. But mainly this page was created because there seems to be too many questions that need to be answered. So it's about writing as much as reading. If you find that any of the topics in here hit a button, I would appriciate any comments you might have. Thanks and happy reading!

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Random Questions

OK, so this is sad, but I had way too much spare time on my hands today (which I haven’t in a long time) and was playing around with the ‘random questions’ generated at the blogspot’s profile. OK, so it’s not all funny, but I’m trying.

You've written a hit musical! How will you avoid having fame go to your head?
Put my thumbs in my ears and my indexes in my nose

What spells can you cast with magic markers?
No outside-the-lines colouring books.

The hair from your last haircut ... what would it say about your new style?
That fringe will grow old just like me, and you’ll grow bored of it, then what?

If you were a cannibal, what would you wear to dinner?
Human leather shoes

How is an ankle unlike a consequence?
Like a leg is unlike an action.

Your bow is not broken but you've run out of arrows. How can you fake being a bard?
I’ll throw the bow away, talk bullshit and have dreamy eyes.

Come up with some possible band names for your group that features a washboard and a Styrofoam tuba.
Damage, tuba diving.

Please come up with a more appropriate name for the ringtoe:
Toe-ring finger, in your foot.

You're in the grocery store with a broken cart. How will you ever be that hungry?
What do you mean? I am now.

What's the best time you've ever had licking stamps?
When I had a dream that ice cream was always made into stamps before being sold.

You're trapped in a well with a goat and a slinky. Describe how you will escape.
Will hyponitise the goat into thinking he is a faithful, trained dog, very Lacy like. Will throw the slinky to the top, will ask the goat to ‘fetch’ then say: “Lacy, go get help”

What's the most amount of sand you've ever had in your swimming trunks?
Enough to make a castle.

Describe the sound of a moist waffle falling onto a hot griddle.
OUCH! OUCH! SON OF A..!

How tall would you be if you had never cut your fingernails?
Ok, I’m 5”2 but not that desperate!

You're going to the moon! What did you forget to pack?
A rubber duck, you know, for the bathtub.

What did you dream when you ate a spider while sleeping?
That they finally made sushi outta tarantula

You have a red jar of cedar chips. Why do moths miss the forest?
Because no one makes’em like mommy.

Which is more important to you and why: flexibility or expandability?
Expandability, you’d know if you see how small I am.

Whoops! Your tongue is now a magnet. Whatever will you use for silverware?
What silverware?

Lionesses have no manes. How do they know when they've grown up?
When they start noticing lions didn’t put the toilet seat down

When your science teacher smashed a frozen rose with a hammer, did you warm the petals to bring them back to life?
Only if someone can prove to me that Austin Powers was real.

Your hand has been replaced by a rubber stamp. What does it say?
Gimme

Which is easier to make a model airplane out of and why: a banana peel or a wet sock?

A banana peel, because no one will want to step on it.

Create a tagline for a new line of plastic bedsheets.
WipeMeClean

Sponges and tongues are frequently misspelled. Is it because both are thirsty?
No, it’s because sponge bob works for a secret agency and needs disguise. Just don’t tell anyone.

Never mind the turtle. Don't you think you're sure to win?
Only if the turtle lets me.

Other Questions I couldn’t answer, any ideas?:
1. Foxes are clever and tigers are cunning. So, what's your cat's safety school?
2. Try making up the rules to a game where you tie knots in a yo-yo string just to see if you can get them out:
3. The children are waiting! Please tell them the story about the bald frog with the wig:
4. Your superpower is that you smell like dandelions whenever someone lies. How will you maintain your secret identity?
5. You've just inherited a manufacturing plant that specializes in plastics. What are you going to make?
6. You moved the pot before the coffee stopped brewing. Do you smell the mountains or the burro?
7. The wicked backspin caught you off guard. How will you play it off without losing your footing?
8. What would you name your ballet inspired by the sight of children leaping through a garden sprinkler?

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

How close is too close?

Friendship might seem like an obvious topic to discuss, but the truth is, it is such a complex yet common relationship that can come in way too many forms, can affect our lives constructively or destructively and can last a few days or a lifetime.

We have all been introduced to teenage friendship. This can be the most intense kind of friendship as both friends start discovering the world and turning into adults under the influence of the combined effort of conceiving ideas, thoughts, beliefs, hobbies and even morals. Friendships that start in teenage years and continue through to adult years are extremely solid relationships and can last a lifetime.

Then there is the colleague friendship, that friendship that forms at school or in the workplace simply because both parties need company during unavoidable daily duties. Those can be as shallow or as deep as both parties will allow. Many of those friendships end soon after the common factor ends. Although those that can survive while parties are apart can turn into beautiful

I have learned that the most solid type of friendship is the one that forms around hardships. Friends that help each other or experience together devastation only to come out stronger, together establish an implied understanding that if the worst happen, there will be someone to lean on.

Lifetime friendships can start anywhere and at anytime. They come like lifesavers to help you through rough patches and personal struggles. You connect to your close friends the way you connect to yourself. You learn to vent and express and grow through your close friends. They become more like family, you protect you friends and help them and are willing to spend the kind of time and effort on them that you wouldn’t normally spend on people. You will be willing to sacrifice your own good in favors of theirs.

Losing a friendship can cause great pain and if the friend you had lost was a person you had a deep connection with, this can scar a person for life. Sometimes circumstances see that a friendship is shattered, travel, differences and even death may cause a friendship to end.

What I am troubled by the most though, are friendships that end because a helping hand is not welcomed. I understand that some people are private, independent or even introverts. But I do not understand how those individuals expect a supposedly close friend stand by and watch while they harm themselves. I do not understand how I am expected to be a close friend if I do not receive and offer help. I do not understand any other way a friendship could be. I do not understand how you can be so close to a person who is willing to abandon you and lock you out as soon as you get too close.

Was it my fault with these friendships to worry? To care? To insist on offering a helping hand? To watch over the friends I care about and try to predict their needs, to spare them the pain of having to ask for help? Was it a myth that the hand that feeds never gets bitten? How close is too close? How do you know that you are crossing the accepted line? How else can you be a friend without offering help? I know not all private people refuse to open up to their close friends, but are there people who are too private to have close friends?