Creative Writing In-Class Assignment 10.26.10 - Best & Worst Gifts EVER

Ten minutes to write about the best gift and the worst gift ever received.

Worst gift ever? EASY!

My godmother, bless her heart, was a bit...oh, y'know...crazy. She was a very dear friend of my parents and of my grandparents; made sense she would be named my godmother. Every birthday and every Christmas, she would send money. OK, she would send a card, but there was money inside and that's what I wanted.

At the age of fourteen, we spent Christmas eve with my grandparents in San Pedro. It was a change to our traditional tradition and I liked it. Mainly because it meant homemade lemon meringue pies. (Hey - that's a contender for best gift!) Anyway, my godmother, stopped by that Christmas Eve. I remember a green-wrapped box and something about giving a gift instead of a card and money. Didn't she know I had plans for that money?! So, there I sat - me, fourteen years old and a green box. I ripped the paper to find...

The Jamie Somers Bionic Woman board game. Seriously.

And it gets better!

The game? Used. Uh huh. Battered box, round yellow sticker with "$1" handwritten on it and two of the Bionic Woman's teeth blacked out.

What a tremendous waste of a dollar.

Best gift ever? I don't even know. Loads of gifts have been the best gift ever at the time...Rick Springfield tickets, Duran Duran tickers, my first dual-cassette stereo, the California King bed I got in ninth grade, surfing lessons...with firemen...in Hawaii - yeah, that was pretty stellar. I'm leaning toward being asked to marry Laura and Jerric. I guess it's a gift, right? Maybe it's a gift from me...? Oh, I don't know. This class is a gift. To me, from me. This journal is a gift. On tour with Squeeze and the English Beat was a gift. Each of you is a gift - well, your friendship is a gift. Yeah, I guess all gifts are best.

And that's how I am wrapping this up.

Creative Writing In-Class Assignment 10.26.10 - writing prompt

Ten minutes to write on the following prompt:

The town is so quiet. Its heart beats just twice a day when the train goes through.

Tumbleweeds roll. Dust clouds spin. Leaves on the trees sway. Jeb had ridden past, ridden through this town dozens of times. Good and bad points to being a hobo. First time through, Jeb fell in love. Perfectly manicured lawns, tidy white houses, blue shutters, floral curtains and porches that wrap around the house. 10:05 a.m. and 6:37 p.m. Number 733 rolled through the town. Ladies waved at the train from doors, windows and porches. Kids waved from bikes, trikes and bus stops. Men waved from corners, cars and lawns. Every day, twice a day. Jeb thought this must be the friendliest place in the world.

He jumped from the 733 and went looking around town. Hadn't he just seen women and kids waving? Didn't he just see a group of men chatting on the corner? Where did they go?

He walked along Front Street, which ran parallel to the tracks. The streets were clean and quiet. He stopped at the corner of Front and Mirage, staring at a tidy white house.

"Aw, hell!"

Jeb jumped at hearing the exclamation. Up the steps, onto the porch, Jeb peered in through the front window. Inside, a little old man rifled through a heavy metal tool box and muttered to himself. The old man was working on some sort of a cutout, attached to springs, that lay flat on the floor. He tinkered and cursed then stepped back. The old man hit a remote control; up popped the cutout from the floor. A cutout of a woman smiling, one hand waving automatically. Jeb slumped against the wall and slid to the porch.

NaBloPoMo 10.5 ~ Play!

When this song came out, the local radio stations changed "play my motherfucking song!" to "play my mother's favorite song!"

I can't sing it the right way.

NaBloPoMo 10.4 - Play!

Kid n Play!

NaBloPoMo 10.3 - Play!

"The girl who can't dance says the band can't play." ~ Yiddish proverb

NaBloPoMo 10.2 - Play!

"I play the harmonica. The only way I can play is if I get my car going really fast, and stick it out the window." - Steven Wright

I have musical parents. Dad is a piano player. Never had a lesson. Ever. He plays by ear. Yeah. After seeing a matinee performance of Phantom of the Opera, my dad sat at his piano and played "Music of the Night." At the age of seven, I took piano lessons. I realized quickly that lessons sucked and I wouldn't be playing like my dad for a long, long time. So, I gave up.

Mom is an opera singer. She trained as a young girl and won several competitions in her teens. When she was in the Air Force, she was part of the entertainment troupe that traveled to other Air Force bases all over the world.

I don't sing like my mom. I don't play piano like my dad. Me? I play the stereo. Like my dad, I've never had a lesson. Ever. And, not to brag or anything, but I am pretty damn good. I can shuffle CDs, change a cassette from Side A to Side B at the push of a button; I can program a few songs to play over and over. I can even switch from radio to cassette to disc then back again! Not too shabby for a self-taught stereo player, huh?

I turn it on then push PLAY.

NaBloPoMo 10.1 ~ Play!

Confucius say: It is better to play than do nothing.

So, I am going to play with National Blog Posting Month!

It's the first of the month - time for me to attempt a blog post every day in October. The NaBloPoMo theme is PLAY! So many ways to interpret the word...should be a fun month :)