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 |  is paved with good intentions... |
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** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Hi, I'm Elle. I'm based in Auckland, New Zealand. I'm the mother of two young adults, the wife of an entrepreneurial gamer and the Queen of Unfinished Projects. This blog will contain poems, short stories, possibly photos and book reviews if you're lucky, and my thoughts on a variety of topics. Hope you enjoy it. |
| An emptiness full of broken promises provides the perfect acoustics for the squelch as she offers me a gift of arguable value. I never liked the word arguable with its lack of specificity and utter vagueness, but it's the perfect word for the value of her heart and I will treasure it, despite (or maybe because of) her own carelessness with it, until the last squelch of my own. 18 lines, free verse. Written for "Invalid Item"  . |
| You’re stuck in an elevator with three book boyfriends... Who are they? This question was recently asked in a Facebook group for people who are fans of Jessamyn Kingley’s D’Vaire series. The question got me thinking (way too hard for such a simple off-the-cuff query!) and I thought I’d share. My first thought was Illium from Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunter series. Obviously. He is one of my favourite characters ever. And when you’ve read over a thousand books in the last ten years, it’s impressive for one character to stand out so strongly. I just love Illium though. His sense of fun, his sense of honour, the way he cares about people, his snark... He’s an angel, which means it’d have to be a pretty big elevator to fit him and three other people, but oh well, so be it. And I’d love to be able to see his blue tipped hair and blue wings in real life, that’d be pretty awesome. Maybe he’d let me take a selfie?  I haven’t been listening to audio books lately, so I haven’t yet finished Archangel’s War. I must buy the kindle version and finish it, although I do love the narration of the audio books.The next most memorable male character for me is Cole Renzo from A Restored Man by Jaime Reese, but I’m not sure I’d want to be stuck in an elevator with him. Yes, he’s very handy and might be able to get the elevator going again, but he’s a little hyper, and I think being stuck in a small space with him wouldn’t be ideal for anyone, so I crossed him off the list. Now I really wanna read that book again though. There are loads of fantastic male characters in Jessamyn Kingley’s D’Vaire series. Dra’Kaeden seems like he’d be so much fun to hang out with, and Aleksander is so super lovely, and loads of them are interesting, fascinating guys. But my favourite is Worth. Worth is a dragon shifter, with a pink dragon, and he’s got a fabulous sense of humour, very little filter or restraint, and heaps of snark. He makes me laugh. His background is kinda heartbreaking, and he’s definitely got a serious side, but he’d be such fun to be stuck in an elevator with. I could think of a bunch of awesome female characters. My favourite female character is Morganna from Jackie Ivie’s Lady of the Knight (the ebook is titled Morganna) but for starters, she’s from historical Scotland in the time of Robert The Bruce, so she wouldn’t be good in an elevator to start with, and secondly, she’s not the type to be cooped up. Plus, I don’t think she’s much of a conversationalist. She’s a take-action type. That book is one of my favourite books of all time, but I don’t think I’d want to be stuck in an elevator with Morganna. There are other female characters who come to mind too. Eveline Armstrong from Never Seduce A Scot by Maya Banks, but again, perhaps not in this circumstance. Once again, she’s from a time before there were elevators, and she’s deaf, which could make conversation difficult. Mercedes Thompson from the Mercedes Thompson series by Patricia Briggs, but again, a woman of action, not a woman to sit still and chat. Elena Devereaux from Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunter series – again, a woman of action. Plus, she has wings now too, and we don’t need her and Illium in the same enclosed space. Plus, she’d steal all of Illium’s attention!  Apparently the female characters I like tend to be kick ass! Maybe Leena from Kingdom of Exiles by Maxym M Martineau? But not sure she'd warm up to strangers quickly enough to be good company.  I’d love to talk to Alex from Static by L A Witt, but I’m not sure how happy they’d be with all the nosy questions I’d want to ask. And Tristan from The World As He Sees It by A M Arthur would be fun to spend time with too, but I’m not sure how happy he’d be to be stuck in a lift with three strangers. I’d hate for him to freak out.  In the end, I went for another character with a great sense of humour – Kato from Amanda Bouchet’s Kingmaker Chronicles. He’s super sweet, but also hilarious. So there you go. Illium, Worth and Kato. I’m pretty sure I’d be sitting there hoping they never got the elevator fixed!  |
![Merit Badge in Music
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Thank you for your participation in the 48-HOUR CHALLENGE: "Carry On by Fun" Media Prompt hosted by [Link To User support] August 2018! We appreciate that you tackled this challenge... *^*Smile*^* *^*Thumbsupl*^*](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/genre-Music-1050.gif) I'm turning 40 in March and to celebrate I'm having a dance party. My lounge/dining room has polished concrete floors, and we're going to empty out all the furniture, set up disco lights and play some retro tunes LOUD. We're going to sing (no microphones!) and dance the night away. I've come up with a starter playlist, but I need to listen to it all the way through and make sure all the songs work the way I want them to. Some are just crowd pleasers, some have good dance beats, and some are ones that my family or friends will be like 'Oh my god, remember when...!' American Idiot by Green Day Another One Bites The Dust by Queen Asshole by Dennis Leary Bad Moon Rising by CCR Believer by Imagine Dragons Bitch by Meredith Brooks Black Sheep by Gin Wigmore Bliss by Th' Dudes Blue (Da Ba Dee) by Eiffel 65 Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke Boom Boom Boom by The Outhere Brothers Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!! by Vengaboys Born To Be Wild by Steppenwolf Build Me Up Buttercup by The Foundations Burning Rain by Midge Marsden Can't Get Enough by Supergroove Come On Eileen by Dexys Midnight Runners Come Out And Play (Keep 'Em Separated) by the Offspring Come Together by Gary Clark Jr and Junkie XL Cum On Feel The Noize by Quiet Riot Dangerous by Roxette Don't Stop Me Now by Queen Don't You (Forget About Me) by Simple Minds Drivin' My Life Away by Eddie Rabbitt Everybody Get Up by Five Everythings Gonna Be Alright by The Babysitters Circus Ex's and Oh's by Elle King Faith by George Michael Fight For Your Right by the Beastie Boys Footloose by Kenny Loggins Freaks by Timmy Trumpet and Savage Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper Good Girls by Elle King Greased Lightnin' by John Travolta and Jeff Conaway Hey Baby by 4-2-4 Hey Mickey You're So Fine by The Original Chin Chins Hey Tonight by CCR Holding Out For A Hero by Bonnie Tyler I Kissed A Girl by Katy Perry I'll Be There For You by The Rembrandts I'm A Believer by Smash Mouth I'm An Albatraoz by AronChupa I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) by the Pretenders In The Navy by the Village People Informer by Snow It's Raining Men by The Weather Girls Knock Three Times by Tony Orlando and Dawn Kokomo by The Beach Boys Kung Fu Fighting by Carl Douglas Let Me Entertain You by Robbie Williams Let's Get It Started by The Black Eyed Peas Lido Shuffle by Boz Scaggs Livin' On A Prayer by Bon Jovi Living Next Door To Alice by Smokie Low by Flo Rida Macarena by Los del Rio Mony Mony by Billy Idol Mr Jones by Counting Crows My Sharona by The Knack Oh Pretty Woman by Roy Orbison One Week by Barenaked Ladies Paint The Town Green by The ScriptBliss Pretty Fly (For A White Guy) by The Offspring Rebel Yell by Billy Idol Reet Petite by Jackie Wilson Runaround Sue by Dion and the Belmonts Runaway by Del Shannon Shake It Off by Taylor Swift Star Trekkin' by The Firm Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond Tainted Love by Soft Cell Teenagers by My Chemical Romance The Anthem by Good Charlotte The Ketchup Song by Las Ketchup The Look by Roxette The Twist by Chubby Checker Tubthumping by Chumbawamba Verona by Elemeno P Walk Like An Egyptian by The Bangles We Like To Party by the Vengaboys We're Not Gonna Take It by Twisted Sister Why Does Love Do This To Me by the Exponents Why Don't You Get A Job by The Offspring Working Class Man by Jimmy Barnes Wouldn't It Be Nice by The Beach Boys Yeah! by Usher YMCA by the Village People You Can Leave Your Hat On by Joe Cocker You Can't Hurry Love by Phil Collins You Gotta Know by Supergroove You May Be Right by Billy Joel You Spin Me Right Round (Like A Record) by Dead or Alive You're The Voice by John Farnham Zombie by the Cranberries Check out "Note: In honour of [Link To Item #1970896] (w..." for your chance to win a Music merit badge!  |
| A new day. More changes. Do you feel every new day offers a chance for better changes in life? ~ "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" Yeah, I do, but today feels like one of those days where it's 'One door closes and another one opens...' At least I hope so. On Tuesday I sent Jayden a text message telling him to come straight home after work, as I knew he got paid, but he owes us quite a lot of money and I wanted to talk to him about it before he blew it all. He said 'ok'. He never came home on Tuesday night. Wednesday night we came home from work, and still no sign of Jayden. We were actually starting to worry, until we realised he'd eaten a bowl of leftover rice risotto out of the fridge. So he'd been home, just not when we were home. Today (Thursday) he finally came home. Steve spoke to him first and apparently he'd been avoiding us. Literally not coming home when he thought we'd be home. But he miscalculated and didn't realise that today was a public holiday and so we ran into him. "Why are you avoiding us?" "I didn't want a lecture." The last time I talked to him, I explained to him that if he actively avoids us, I have to do the 'important' stuff in the few rare moments I can grab with him. If he wants casual conversation, he needs to spend MORE time with me, not less.  Anyway, he finally admitted that he'd been fired from his job. Took them long enough. He's been taking the piss with that job, turning up late every day, often more than an hour late. I don't mean sometimes more than an hour late, I mean usually more than an hour late. Monday he didn't work at all because he forgot to take his steel cap boots in with him, and when he rang Steve and Steve told him there were some by the front door, he couldn't find them. We came home from work and Steve found them 30 seconds later. Jayden didn't bother looking for them because he didn't want to go to work. So he didn't work on Monday, went in late on Tuesday and got fired. So we had a talk. If you can call it a talk when Jayden doesn't really participate. We talked at him. Told him that he needs to go see WINZ (to get an unemployment benefit) and to the doctor for a referral for mental health assistance. He has established (by way of previous doctor visits) that working stresses Jayden out, to the point where it makes him sick or he tries to avoid going to work. But he doesn't DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT! He hasn't sought help or anything. Indeed, he seems to go to the doctor, get advice or medication, then ignore said advice or medication. So frustrating. Steve said it's a form of self harm and I guess it is, albeit subconsciously. It's so hard now that he's 18, because we can't MAKE him do anything, we can only suggest. And we're the last people he's interested in listening to, for whatever reason. He's asleep at the moment, but hopefully with some guidance, assistance, support, whatever from us, he can arrange to get the unemployment benefit while he looks for more work, he will make a doctor's visit and get a referral for mental health support and actually GO and see someone about his mental health issues. It shouldn't cost us much because we have health insurance. It's more that he doesn't want to go, but avoiding it and trying to deal with it on his own isn't working. Ah well, as frustrating as it is to have him unemployed again, maybe this is the opportunity to get him on the road to being healthy so that he can really start to make some progress towards being a healthier, happy, functioning adult. |
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