Porthole

Coughing from the smoke

Last minute scurrying around to enter contests due on the 14th.

I entered

STATIC

Pool bot [172] (237 one syllable words)  (18+) < 300 words prompt: wind, three, grass #2228387 by Kåre เลียม Enga

in the Second Time Around Contest because the comments were positive. Also ... I liked it! And writing in one syllable words gives a different feel to it. Mostly Anglo-Saxon-Germanic words if only because French and Latin (in English) tend to be longer.

I entered a poem as well:

STATIC

Verses of the peony  (E) Our words last long after our last breath. We each become the other. #1090632 by Kåre เลียม Enga

It's old but well-liked. This is its last hurrah for a contest but I had to give it another chance.

The Second Time Around is a great contest but tricky for me as I haven't entered many poems/stories in contests at all!

I'm going to try to promote this more: "Crack Kraken's Code Contest [Round Over]"  as a new round has started.

In response to Robert Waltz "Have you picked up any new hobbies or interests since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March?" ...

My answer is similar.

I'm studying Norwegian, but not as diligent as I should be. I'm editing photos but that's not a new thing; I'm just editing more.

I did clean a bit but the last two weeks have been rougher than August which was rougher than July which was rougher than before.

My last haircut was in November in Costa Rica. I'm not in touch with friends like I used to be. A couple have a good excuse; they died; but the others...

My life has become smaller. For me, this is NOT good.

Robert mentions movies. I seldom went out to movies, cannot seem to be motivated to watch the 200 I have on vhs tape. I did watch two on YuYu which had lots of Montana political ad nauseums. (yes, that's not a typo)

Both movies had problems:

"Children of God" felt real and explored the Gay Rights situation in The Bahamas quite well. The characters were fairly well-developed; however, why must someone always die at the end? That didn't trigger me as much as it usually does, but still...

"My Big Gay Italian Wedding" was farcical; think Fellini, but without the skill. The Bollywood ending was jarring, a few characters were 'flat', the setting was interesting ... more so than the anemic story.

There are many LGBTQ films that follow the cliche story lines: "if you are gay you'll be treated horribly and you will die" or "let's party, party, party because that's all 'gay' people do". Both are unrealistic and annoying. It needn't be so. Movies like "Brokeback Mountain" and "Moonlight" had deeper stories and characters.

Commented to Sumojo :

I'm supposed to be grateful. I'm just not feeling it.

I just checked on flights from here to Perth... not before October 25th and about US$1500. Nothing I can afford on my preferred airline until January 2nd. That's pretty much my story these days. All Americans are diseased which is ironic because Our Dear Fool is a germaphobe.

AQI still 165 before I go to bed.

From the LA Times editorial, "Trump, of course, has his diehard supporters, many of whom turned to him out of frustration with a federal government that often can seem opaque and unconcerned with their daily lives. But when you let the bull into the china shop, in the end all you have is a lot of broken china."

It's one of my core concerns. DJT was unfit to be president but there was some hope he would grow into the job. He has not. He's still unfit. In many ways he's just an anarchist with a different hair-don't. He blows things up and burns things down.

Skies still grey maybe glaucous today. Not as dark as gunmetal but with a bit of blue. AQI 163 but may go over 200.

I need to do so many things. Not happening.

My tanka won. That's three times in a row, a hat-trick we would say in hockey. But Judi promised that next time someone else will win. Which is great because I can just enter for fun. The new form for round 79 isn't posted yet.

The short forms are a bit like a puzzle. Heaven help you if you are missing a piece. And one piece too many spoils it. At times I just prefer the vomit of free verse. Of course, to make it suitable the vomit needs to be disinfected and well edited, and sometimes with tweaking it even fits a form! But as my female friends my age will tell you, "it felt good to burn the bra and set my babies free."

I also won the 24 syllable contest. I encourage everyone to try it out. The next one is due Wednesday midnight "Invalid Item" ; the word is plenary. If you are curious, read some of the previous offerings. At times people are quite inventive with so few syllables, including form.

I told Eric Wharton that I need to work on 'brightening the mirror' so I'll need to reread his brilliant entry "You've Got a Friend" 

Good to see Charlie ~ on-line. I wrote a blog entry "Triggered to write ... by Charlie ... again." , in response to his most recent blog, in my own Hoarfrosts from Hell blog; which, by-the-way, has finally reached 3,000 views! after many years of neglect .

For: "Space Blog" :

From: "It's So Easy"  I've known Brandiwyn🎶 for years but for some reason missed the music she placed on you-tube. And yes, I must've known. But 2009 is so long ago... The song says "It's so easy to talk to you. It's so easy to share everything with you."

Me? I met people all over the world that I click with. Like Shaz from NZ that I met in Mexico. We bounced off of each other. But actual lengthy relationships ... *sigh* ... much more complicated. I hold back. I do not easily share. I come from a wounded place. I have my armor, my camouflage and my cave. Seldom do I allow anyone within my fortified walls.

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