Tag Archives: dreams

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’25 A To Z Challenge – Q

When someone asked my Dad to perform some difficult or problematic task, he would sometimes reply, “I’m like a steer.  I can only try.”

I’m going to try to show you the many, muddled meanings of the word

QUIXOTIC

taken to mean (among many other things) dreamy, foolish, impractical, impulsive, romantic. unrealistic, utopian, chivalrous, ineffective, impetuous, imaginary, fantastic, and starry-eyed.

It comes, of course, from the early 1600’s Spanish novel about Don Quixote – a man who tried to do the right things, for the right reasons, but failed, because of poor eyesight and worse judgement – only succeeding to draw his many personality peculiarities into the English language.

Finding the meaning of the original name – Quixote – using internet dictionary, translation, and Google research was like riding a carousel, round and round it went – like having Christian apologists claim that the Bible is inerrant…. because the Bible says that it is inerrant.  The character was quixotic – because he was Don Quixote – and he was Quixote – because he acted quixotic.

The Spanish suffix ‘ote’ means ‘large.’  Old Spanish says that ‘quix’ meant ‘leg’ or ‘thigh.’  It apparently began as an occupational name for someone whose job required much lower limb exercise, producing muscular, large legs.  Sounds like an American Thanksgiving turkey advertisement.

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Contest #1 Answer

I was in the back yard with my bare feet in the kiddies’ pool, eating Cakes And Ale, a sort of poor man’s tea, when someone flung a Frisbee in my direction.  As the disc approached, I wondered why it seemed to get larger as it got nearer.  Then it hit me.

Later, as I applied more internal anesthetic, I completely forgot to give Pensitivity any credit, and just decided that being the person who dreamed this challenge up, definitely rules.  I don’t remember you coming through the garden gate.  But then, after a certain point in the afternoon, things become a little hazy – shortly after I cracked the third 12-pack.  Did we have fun??  Shall we do this again, occasionally?

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Lucky To Be Unlucky Fibbing Friday

It was Friday 13th last week, so Pensitivity101’s theme was (loosely) superstition based.
Here are your questions:


1. Who sang “Is This a Kind of Magic?”

A rich Jewish illusionist who called himself David Copperfield

2. Who sang “Somebody’s Watching Me?”

The President of Paranoids Anonymous – but he won’t give his name

3. Why do we blow out birthday candles?

The Big Bad Wolf had his Medicaid cut off, so he’ll be a little late.  We need to huff and puff, and blow out the candles before we burn down the house of straw, and the house of sticks.  When we get to the house of bricks, we’re gonna need an HVAC technician.

4. Why do we associate red and green with Christmas?

It all started when Olaf went to cut down that year’s greenery and the wife saw that he had bled on some of it.  She was gaga for the colour scheme and insisted that all the ladies try it.  Interior decorating wasn’t as big a deal back in the day, but they knew what they liked when they saw it!  Blood went with everything!

5, What do Little Elves supposedly cause?

Mayhem and pandemonium!  One Elf – one shelf – no problem.  Lots of Elves – drunken Christmas party  Who do we call, the cops, or Santa??!

6. Why do some people hold their breath when passing near a cemetery?

To prevent succumbing to the urge to finally tell that gone-but-not-missed relative what you held in for years.
Yeah, crazy Aunt Mary, you can take your latkes and shove them up your……

7. Why is finding a penny considered good luck?

When avaricious businessmen become our avaricious politicians, you’re lucky to find any money.  A penny saved – is a government oversight.

8. Why should we not rock an empty rocking chair?

You might catch the cat’s tail, and have it knock over your beer.

9. Why do people hang Dream Catchers?

They take the phrase “Dream big or go home” literally and decided to try catching the Dreams in the comfort of their own home.  The new wave of armchair warriors now do it from their beds!  I don’t chase my dreams anymore.  I just find out where they’re going, and meet them there later, for beers.

10. Why is flipping a loaf of bread unlucky in France?

Just being in France is unlucky enough.  Lichtenstein might invade, and some of that Surrender Monkey attitude could rub off.  A carelessly flipped loaf of bread might land in a bowl of garlic-flavored snails.

Ahhh… Summer finally arrived in Canada.

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Rather Pointed One-Liners

I’m not a cactus expert….
….but I know a prick when I see one.

I’ve learned a lot from my mistakes….
….I’m even thinking of making a few more.

I was grilling a chicken last night….
….For the last time, why did you cross the road?

How to fall down the stairs:
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 6
Step 9
Step 12
Floor

When it comes to great sex….
….It’s not the meat.  It’s the tumidity.

A fool and his money….
….are never around when I need them.

I’m responsible for what I say….
….not what you understand.

I went to the paint store to get thinner….
….It didn’t work.

I knew the psychic was a phony….
….the moment she took my check.

The Institute of Unfinished Research has concluded that…
….6 out of 10 people

Never discuss infinity with a mathematician….
….You’ll never hear the end of it.

I was sitting in traffic the other day….
….Probably why I got run over.

I just saved a ton of money on Christmas presents….
….by discussing politics on social media.

Just got my doctor’s test back, and I’m quite disappointed….
….Turns out, I’ll never be a doctor.

I married my wife for her looks….
….but not the ones I’ve been getting recently.

I was going to do a post about anticlimaxes….
….but in the end, I didn’t.

Propaganda is when an Englishman….
….takes a good look at something.

I have a recurring dream….
….where I divide 10 by 3.

Knock, knock….
….Who’s there?….
….Granddad….
….QUICK!  STOP THE CREMATION!

I asked my girlfriend how she avoids clickbait….
….Her answer may shock you.

A man asks a librarian for a book about noise levels….
….She replies, “Sure, what volume would you like?”

I don’t believe in skeptics….

I wasn’t going to drink after my shift….
….then I worked my shift

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Trippin’ Fibbing Friday

Pensitivity101 was tripping last week.  What would be your answers to these questions?

  1. You wanted to book a trip to Athens, but the agent misunderstood you…where did they send you?

Athens, Georgia!  At least I got there in time for the peach festival.  The pie was delicious.  I got my slices long before Reacher got his.  I did better than a British author, recently.  He booked a hotel room in Cambridge, for a book festival and signing.  His online confirmation showed him that he’d booked a room at nearby Cambridge, Ontario.

  1. What will customs agents find in your luggage?

Skid marks on my underwear.  After that, they just closed it up and pushed it through.

  1. What do you sneak aboard the flight, and what do you sneak it in?

Some ‘Adult beverage’ – Metamucil for the wife and I.  We put it in a plastic ‘hip’ flask, and she hides it in her bouffant hairdo.

  1. The plane crashes — everyone survives — where did you crash?

On a marshmallow factory, just outside Kankakee, Illinois.

  1. What are three things you find at your crash site?

Packages of Graham crackers and chocolate wafers, a dozen campfire toasting sticks, and a human-sized inflated Stay-Puft Man balloon.  We can all make S’mores, and sing Kumbaya till the rescue trucks get here.

  1. What is the first thing you do when you get back home?

Haul out the exercise bike, and vow to work off all those carbs and sugar calories.

  1. The airline offers you money, but you turn it down…what do you get instead?

I want my luggage and belongings returned.  They’re probably worth more than whatever pittance is being offered.  Besides, I gotta get my laundry done, and those stains out, or I’ll be collecting my cheque at a naturist park.  😳

  1. You decide that a cruise is safer, where do you go?

On an around-the-world trip – but I insist on a return ticket, because I want to be sure to get back where I started.   🙄

  1. Sadly, you get marooned on a deserted island but find huts and scientific equipment made out of coconuts…what do you do?

Fabricate a 67inch flat-screen HDTV out of copra, so that we can watch all the reruns of Gilligan’s Island.

  1. A fishing boat rescues you, but you have to pay Poseidon for safe passage…how do you pay?

I download him a digital copy of the new live-action version of The Little Mermaid movie, but he’s angry that the character of Ariel is played by a Negro girl.   👿

  1. He rejects your fare and throws you across the world…you land safely, but where do you end up?

From the Pacific, I soar over North America and the Atlantic Ocean, finally whistling down into the little English village of Scunthorpe, which Google didn’t used to admit even existed, because of the 2nd through 5th letters of its name.  I crash through the front window of a quaint bookstore and come to rest against a bank of shelves with such a thump, that a copy of Gulliver’s Travels falls out and hits me on the head.  😥

  1. How does your story end?

I suddenly wake up in my own bed, and realize that it was all just an entertaining dream

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Blue Sky One-Liners

Some people are like clouds….
….When they go away, it’s a beautiful day.

Some people try to turn back their odometers….
….Not me!  I want people to know why I look this way.

More wine….
….Less whine.

Cows eat grass….
….Therefore a steak is plant-based meat.

Hamburger helper only works….
….if the hamburger is willing to admit it needs help.

For a woman, romance is roses on a piano….
….For a man, it’s tulips on an organ.

I live for two reasons….
….1 I was born.  2 I ain’t dead yet.

My wife asked me if I could clear the kitchen table….
….I needed a running start, but I made it.

I tried to Google “Directionally challenged”….
….but I couldn’t find it.

Some say ‘Life Is Short’….
….but I’ve been alive for as long as I can remember.

More than four cups of coffee….
….and you can talk to electricity.

Sprinters don’t eat anything before a race….
….They fast.

How to twerk….
….Step 1: Reconsider

I’m unsure which way to turn….
….to get treatment for my dyslexia.

I named my dog ‘Ten Miles’….
….so that I can tell people I walk ten miles every day.

I used to live hand to mouth….
….but cutlery changed my life.

I can’t even be bothered….
….to be apathetic these days.

Don’t give up your dreams….
….Keep sleeping.

If you think adventure is dangerous….
….try routine; it’s lethal.

Laughter is the best medicine….
….unless you have diarrhea.

My wallet is like an onion….
….when I open it, it makes me cry.

Relish today….
….Ketchup tomorrow.

If you’re not good at haggling….
….you’ll end up paying the price.

Just so that everyone’s clear….
….I’m going to put on my glasses

Writing my name in cursive….
….is my signature move.

😀

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Remaking Fibbing Friday

Pensitivity101 said it was Time For Hit Remakes this week.  Who could have recorded the following (your nominations do not have to be singers) or had it for their signature tune?

Cinderella Rockefella

The San Francisco Boys Marching Band, with special guest Elton John, appearing on the Ru-Paul Drag Race TV show.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that!

2.   I want it all

Vladimir Putin!  😳

3.   I’m just a forlorn boy

Axe Body Spray bought the rights, and used the first eight bars in a commercial.  I’m just a lonely boy…. and showed some Incel dork looking forlorn and dateless.  Then the video moved on to show him dousing overly-liberal spraying himself with their toxic chemical miasma concoction, and suddenly he’s surrounded by 6 good-looking chicks, none of whom seem to mind the presence of the other five.

That advert campaign came to a sudden halt when truthinadvertising.com released a spoof version.  It intercut portions of the original showing Young Reekie, the Axe-man, then it showed six hot females gasping for breath, and grasping for N95 COVID masks and running away, showing that they had a sense of smell, and a sense of taste – or distaste.  👿

4.   Here comes the night

The Silicon Valley Bank Senior Management Choir.  Then they do a Patreon PSA video, titled,
What Happens In LA – stays in our Golden Handshake accounts.

5.   All I have to do is dream

Any new parent, especially new mothers.  When the Terrible Twos Twins are simultaneously teething, the police are getting noise complaints from your neighbours – not about your dog, but because of the yowling young-‘uns.  They never seem to achieve unconsciousness at the same time, so sleep is just something that you read about in a book one time, long, LONG ago.

6.   Wand’rin’ Star

That was Edwin Starr, who had a hit back in ‘69 which asked, “What is the good of war?”  Putin recently sent him a text that just read, “Posterity Project.”

Then he sent me one that absolutely, positively denied that I saw a Russian ZIL that read KGB, in last week’s alphabet soup.  Good thing I don’t own a smart phone, and never got it.  🙄

I tried to listen to the Portishead version of it, but the Suicide Hotline called ME, and told me to turn it off.  😦

7.    Rock On

Tina Turner has redone this old song.  She’s 85!  With a big front veranda, (and her house has one, too) and a mint julep, it has taken on a brand new meaning.  😉

8.   Purple Rain

I have adopted this, at least temporarily, as my Life Motto.  I have absorbed so much COVID sanitizer that when I pee, I also clean the toilet.

9.   When will I see You Again?

This is the new anthem for Beijing.  Between COVID masks, and the worst air quality in the word, it’s creating a lot of identity confusion, and causing some people who want to telephone someone they think they met on the street, to Wing the Wong number.

10.  You can’t hurry love

It’s still $4.99 a minute, but when you get as old as me, sometimes you have to change the batteries in your hearing aids.
EH??  What am I wearing?  Depends!  On What??  On my crotch!  I don’t think I trust an adult incontinence product named Depends any more.  I want one called Fer Shur, or Boulder Dam.

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A Fibbing Friday With Connections

Pensitivity101’s theme was song connections this past week.  As usual, I’m a week late, and a joke short.

1. Who recorded Mouldy Old Dough?

It was a lament by Scrooge McDuck, until he managed to get his money vault climate controlled, and the deterioration stopped.  In today’s electronic banking age, all his little digital ones and zeros are spiffy clean and shiny.

  1. What colour icing was on the cake in MacArthur Park?

If it was in MacArthur Park, it would have been tartan.  It slid sideways in the picnic basket, and touched some of the other food.  That’s how we got Green Eggs and Ham.

3. Who sang they were made out of Gingerbread?

Whoever they were, they were likely British of some flavour.  North Americans are so addicted to sugar that we put it in our breads.  USA Americans purchase so much sweet pastries that they can’t even spell Krispy Kreme correctly.  Canadians are a bit better, but our national coffee shop chain, Tim Horton’s, singlehandedly supports the honey industry.

4. Who sang Tutti Frutti?

The 1910 Fruitgum Company??

5. Who recorded Green Onions?

Booker T (Jones) and the M.G. – which stands/stood for Memphis Group.  The hypercorrect incorrect lie was that it was MGs, and referred to hot-damned MG cars, because it was released at the peak of surfer/hot-rod rock.

6. Who had a boy lollipop?

A lot of people!  The girl lollipops don’t have that long stick.  Just think what you’ve been grasping, all these years.

7. What is a Tangerine Dream?

That’s the witness protection alias of a Dutch international banking and financial institution.  They came to North America as ING, and confused lots of people.  (That’s a low bar to clear)  Folks wondered, Are they lyING?  Are they borING?  Are they gougING? So they became ING Direct.  The fog only became thicker, so they suddenly became Tangerine, and the confusion all cleared up.

8. Sugar Sugar or Honey Honey?

Yes please!  But on alternate mornings.  My incipient diabetes can only take so much.

9. Who sang Sugar Pie Honey Bunch?

Kellogg’s Cereals, and Post Cereals, did for years, until consumer protection groups and pediatric nutrition organizations forced them to reformulate their breakfast foods out of psyllium fiber and bran powder, making the boxes more appetizing and nutritious.

10. Do you need Hot Butter for Popcorn?

Not always.  Sometimes I like mine sprinkled with Tex-Mex flavor powder, but only if it’s prepared by the Muppets’ Swedish Chef.

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Big Shot

I hear many some a few couple of you asking, Archon!  Why aren’t you shooting off your mouth about shooting off several handguns, like you promised back in July?”

It’s like being nibbled to death by ducks.  Want to make God laugh??  Tell him your plans.  😦 What follows is a sad tale of Karma and bureaucracy run wild.

The Grandson’s wife phoned Employment Canada on three separate occasions, to assure that his paternity leave would seamlessly kick in at the end of her maternity leave.  NO PROBLEM!  She called again on November 2, to ask if two unused weeks of her mat. leave could be added to his pat. leave.

Suddenly, there was a signed, physical document that needed to have been in their file by Halloween.  Despite having booked off eight weeks with his employer, now the Government would not pay for it – oh, and her two unused weeks were forfeit.

With a young child and all accoutrements, he recently purchased their first (used) car, and is making monthly payments.  Then he got COVID.  Fortunately, neither his wife nor the little guy was infected.  With two main inoculations and a booster, it wasn’t bad, although her younger brother, who is seeking employment, had to come over for a few days to care for two babies.

The woman who had agreed to become babysitter/daycare about the end of December, wasn’t yet getting that weekly payment, so she applied and got a job.  Search and negotiations for a replacement are still ongoing.

Bad enough that the Employment Canada tentacle of the Federal octopus snatched away ten weeks of benefits, the Income Tax Department tentacle now added insult and injury.  The tax return that he had filed, and was accepted, back in April was re-reviewed, and for some reason, he owed $2300 – payable NOW!  There just is not, currently, the $250 available to pay for this gift.

Meanwhile, over at the gun shop….  They finally emailed him to inform that they did not have a previously-fired Berretta 92F, to substitute for a Glock.  The package had to be accepted as-is.  Oh well…. okay.  He and I had both assumed that we could just make a mutually agreeable appointment time – perhaps one afternoon during his time off.

The gun-shop does not want the clerk to be away from the main sales area for a random hour.  They are trying to book enough clients to fill an entire day, but especially with the resurgence of COVID, they are finding it almost impossible to do.  Neither of us is giving up hope.  It’s just that this little dream might not get fulfilled until this time next year.  If it ever comes to fruition, you’ll be the first second to know.  😀

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Flash Fiction #282

PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

SHIVER ME TIMBERS

Drifting and dreaming, neither completely asleep nor fully awake, softly, gently, wafting upward towards consciousness, like a child’s toy balloon.  No blaring alarms, no beeping cellphones, shall I awaken?  What must I do today??

After half a century of faithful service to often unfaithful employers, I serve no man.  Master of my own fate, except for She Who Must Be Obeyed, Captain of my own ship, I chart my own course.  I eat when I am hungry, and sleep when I am tired.  I hear the siren call to compose another blog post.  Avast and ahoy my fellow Friday Fictioneers.

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If you’d like to join the fun with the Friday Fictioneers, go to Rochelle’s Addicted to Purple site, and use her Wednesday photo as a prompt to write a complete 100 word story.