I'll Never Say Never Again Again (#BOTB)

      Words like "always" or "never" are overly rigid so I try not to use them, but I'm never successful and always end up using them at some point...

            For the past few years I've considered not doing the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge any more.  It's partly a result of the stress I've felt due to doing the Challenge, but my reluctance to continue is also due to a certain amount of frustration and disappointment I feel about the Challenge not being conducted in a way that is consistent with the Challenge of my dreams.

           Then, each May, it's all over and a lot of people seem happy and excited and I start thinking about the next year.   This past fall I was feeling especially despondent about doing another A to Z because of a number of factors that I won't go into in this post.   Thankfully my longtime A to Z blogging associate J Lenni Dorner got the ball rolling for me.

          Fellow blogger John Holton also provided his technical expertise which got us out of a few fixes that I certainly didn't know what to do with.  I almost feel like I grew up with John as we share many similar life experiences from what I've gathered on reading his blog.

           Csenge has also been helping for several years and was willing to provide her support again. New A to Z Team member Jayden brilliantly handled the lists and even provided helpful technical support to make finding participants more easily. 

             As long as I have other bloggers who want to keep A to Z going then I'm encouraged.  But it's like a lot of things in life.  I've tried to make a conscious effort of not saying that I'll never do something again.  It's a limiting phrase and I like to keep my options open. 

           I'm not going to say that I'll never say never again when there is some possibility that I will.  I might say it, but I try not to. 

Battle of the Bands

    Battle of the Bands is the blogging event started by Far Away Series and now hosted by StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands.   This event happens each month on the 15th and on some blogs there is also a Battle on the 1st of the month.  My blog is one of those with a second Battle on the 1st of the month.   The premise is simple:  Listen to the songs presented below and then in the comments vote for your favorite and tell us why you liked it.  Then visit the links listed near the bottom of this post for more Battle action.


I'll Never Say "Never Again" Again

          Last year I happened upon an episode of The Jack Benny Show (one of my favorite shows from childhood) that featured Frankie Avalon singing a song that I had heard all of my life, but I couldn't exactly place the song.  Then I realized it was actually a meshing of two songs--"Never Say Never Again Again" and "Taking a Chance on Love"--cleverly interwoven.   Battle idea inspired!

         Since I couldn't find anyone else doing what Avalon did, I decided to focus on one song only--"Never Say Never".  Sometime later I'll do another Battle with "Taking a Chance", but that will be like eventually rather than right away.  But I'll never say never!

         For this Battle I'll be matching two very different versions by two artists who were stars of  television shows in the fifties...

Ozzie Nelson  "I'll Never Say 'Never Again' Again"  (1935)

        Ozzie Nelson had a long career as a band leader/singer as well as a star of stage, screen, radio, and television.  I grew up watching the Nelson family in "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet".  Now the music of son Ricky Nelson is more well known than Dad Ozzie, but still those cats back then could really swing...





Dinah Shore  "I'll Never Say 'Never Again' Again" (1957)

        Twenty-two years after Ozzie did it, Dinah did it in her own sultry way.  She'd been a musical star for almost as long as Ozzie and hosted several popular television shows into the 1990's.  Dinah's arrangement of this song is very similar to the one I'd heard by Frankie Avalon so I'm guessing he was basing his version on hers.  It's a sound of the times...





Time to Vote!

         Come on and play. What's your favorite between these two choices? Which song version do you like best? You don't have to know about music to have an opinion since it all comes down to your own personal taste.

         Please vote on your favorite by letting us know your choice in the comment section and tell us why you prefer the version you chose. Then after you've finished here, please visit the other blogs listed below who may or may not be participating this time around. And if you've put up your own BOTB contest let us know that as well so we can vote on yours.

Here are some other places where you might find BOTB posts:

 StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands

  'MIKE'S RAMBLINGS'

'Curious as a Cathy'

Sound of One Hand Typing

Angel's Bark  

Debbie Doglady's Den

Jingle, Jangle, Jungle 

Cherdo on the Flipside 


Winner of this Battle Announced on Tuesday May 22

         That will likely be the next day I post here, but if inspired I will write.   The next Battle of the Bands post on my blog will be Friday June 1st.  Summer songs are a-comin'!


           Have you ever felt like quitting and then were lifted into action by others?  Did you ever say you definitely were not going to do something only to change your mind?   Do you have any favorite old television shows?  

#AtoZ Reflections for 2018

           This was my ninth year at the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge.  It's always been a somewhat frantic time for me in regard to my blog, but invariably some family crisis or event has arisen which made blogging more difficult for me.  But this year--as Frank Sinatra might sing--it was a very good year.

         Thanks to the incredible A to Z Team-- 

Zalka Csenge Virág @ The Multicolored DiaryJohn Holton @The Sound of One Hand TypingJ Lenni Dorner @ Blog of J Lenni DornerJayden R Vincente @ J R Vincente Erotica Writer

--my job was made so much easier and every problem that I was aware of got quickly remedied by the great minds that were assembled to run this year's Challenge.  A huge Thank You to the Team and to all the players who joined us on our alphabetical blog run of 2018.

         There is an excellent survey for A to Z participants and followers alike.  I hope you will follow this link and help us with your input.  There is also some other cool information.  

         Please stop by to thank the above linked A to Z Team members.  They really did an amazing job.

          I look forward to reading some of this year's batch of Reflections.

          Thanks to everybody who visited this blog during the April Challenge or ever any other time.

My Favorite Things (#BOTB) (#IWSG)

          Another successful year of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge is now almost behind us.  The letter posts are done but don't forget to join us in our annual Reflections posts starting Monday May 7th.   And visit the A to Z Blog on May 3rd to participate in our after Challenge poll.  We have some questions for you and want to know your thoughts...





Insecure Writer's Support Group

Join us on the first Wednesday of each month in Alex J. Cavanaugh's Insecure Writer's Support Group--a forum of writers who gather to talk about writing and the writer's life. For a complete list of participants visit Alex's Blog. 

The awesome co-hosts for the May 2 posting of the IWSG are E.M.A. Timar, J. Q. Rose, C.  LeeMcKenzie, and Raimey Gallant! Please visit their blogs to say hello and thank you!

May 2 question - It’s spring! Does this season inspire you to write more than others, or not?

         This is a question that I've never thought about before hence I'm not sure that I can provide any quantifiable answer--that is until the past several years.  One certain thing is that since I've been doing the A to Z Challenge I definitely write more in March and April, even if it is only blog posts.  For me that's writing as much as anything is. 

         Furthermore, with the A to Z writing comes a flood of ideas for future writing and other projects.  I even started some new future blog posts.  I've also been reassessing who I am as a writer and where I should take things next.  And most exciting for me at the moment is that during the past week I've written a song that I think is a pretty darn good one and I'll be polishing that up over the next couple of weeks. 

         When I was still in college I can recall springtime calling me out to read and write on grassy lawns or in one of the student facilities geared toward studious activities.  But then I think I was writing about equally in all seasons.  Now I don't see any connection to writing and seasons other than the A to Z Blogging.   I'm thankful that I've got that event to spur me on.

Battle of the Bands

Battle of the Bands is the blogging event started by Far Away Series and now hosted by StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands.   This event happens each month on the 15th and on some blogs there is also a Battle on the 1st of the month.  My blog is one of those with a second Battle on the 1st of the month.   The premise is simple:  Listen to the songs presented below and then in the comments vote for your favorite and tell us why you liked it.  Then visit the links listed near the bottom of this post for more Battle action.


My Favorite Things

        Some of my favorite things are the Blogging from A to Z Challenge and Insecure Writer's Support Group.   One of my most favorite things is Battle of the Bands which is why I haven't missed a one of these since they first started about five years ago.  That's a lot of Battles with a lot of great music! 

         BOTB co-founder Stephen T. McCarthy (as well as others) and I have pondered the question of why some people like certain things better than others.  The concept of "favorites" can be perplexing at times and probably would require a fairly in-depth study why some of us like certain things while others don't.  If anyone has an answer to this question I welcome your input on this subject.

        In the past few weeks I started hearing a song on a Volvo commercial that sounded vaguely familiar.  I didn't pay too much attention at first, but as the song started securing itself in my brain I started paying attention to it.  At that point I realized I was hearing an updated electronica version of "My Favorite Things" from Sound of Music. 

         I happen to know that this is a favorite song of my friend Stephen T McCarthy because we've discussed it in the past.   On the other hand, as I have mentioned to STMcC, "Favorite Things" is far from my favorite things.  I don't dislike hearing it, but I think it might be something about the lyrics that I don't care for.   As I have conceded to Stephen in the past, I do agree that the melody is very nice which is probably why I like the song better as an instrumental than a vocal number.

       Hearing the Volvo commercial repeatedly eventually earwormed the song into my head--or at least this version.   The immediacy of hearing this commercial decided my first post-A-to-Z blog post.   All other songs in my queue get knocked down a notch as this May Day round matches two versions of the song "My Favorite Things"...
         

Nora Khalif  "My Favorite Things"  (2018)

        I don't have any info on the artist, but this is the commercial version of a recording that presumably is still in the works for a longer version sometime down the road.   At least this version is very short which makes it a good pick for Battle of the Bands...

       






Joe Raciti  "My Favorite Things"  (2010)

        If we're going with odd versions of an old classic, then this "creepy" version seems to fit that bill.   I didn't research to find anything about the artist, but I did watch several of his videos.  He's got some interesting stuff on YouTube if you are intrigued after watching this video.   But first listen to his version of "Favorite Things"--and if you are able to do so you might enjoy watching the video--it's kind of weird, but good...







Time to Vote!

         Please vote. What's your favorite between these two choices? Which song version do you like best? You don't have to know about music to have an opinion since it all comes down to your own personal taste.

Please vote on your favorite by letting us know your choice in the comment section and tell us why you prefer the version you chose. Then after you've finished here, please visit the other blogs listed below who may or may not be participating this time around. And if you've put up your own BOTB contest let us know that as well so we can vote on yours.

Here are some other places where you might find BOTB posts:

 StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands

  'MIKE'S RAMBLINGS'

'Curious as a Cathy'

Sound of One Hand Typing

Angel's Bark  

Jingle, Jangle, Jungle 

Cherdo on the Flipside 


Winner of this Battle Announced on Tuesday May 8th

          Hope you'll stop by for my A to Z Reflections post on Monday May 7th, but definitely if you've voted in this current contest then you'll want to see who comes out on top.   By the way, due to a death in the family I will be away from the computer until Friday May 4th on which day I will hopefully make it around to all of the other BOTB posts.  Hope you'll bear with me on this, but it was not in my plans.

            Will you be submitting an A to Z Reflections post this year?    When you write do you tend to get a renewed creative energy to do more things?   Do you like hearing old classic songs in updated unconventional versions?

Zipperless Trousers ( #atozchallenge )

      I've never used the word trousers when I was referring to pants.  Who actually says "trousers" anymore?   It's one of those words that sounds formal or like something from the past.  And it makes for a curious sounding blog post title...

Trousers (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Zipperless Trousers

      A couple years ago I found a pair of pants that I absolutely loved.  They fit comfortably, they were made of a durable fabric that was comfortable in all sorts of weather, and they had some great pockets.  That summer after acquiring this outstanding pair of pants, I wore those pants as part of my driving outfit for our vacation that year.  They were one of the best pairs of pants I'd ever owned.

        Then after returning home, I went to put on that pair of pants and to my disappointment the zipper broke--came undone.  I tried to fit it back together, but to no avail.  On our next trip to the dry cleaner I brought the broken-zippered pants to be repaired by the little old Asian lady who did such things.  Twelve dollars is what she charged.  Well worth it to me to get that pair of pants back finally.

          I guess I wore them once or twice after getting them back when the zipper broke in the same way.  Maybe the lady just fixed the old zipper or maybe she put in an inferior zipper.  Whatever the case, the pants were not wearable as they were so I hung them in my closet in order to deal with later.

         Therein lies part of the gist of my clutter situation.  I keep things that I think I might fix or might be able to use in the future somehow.  Though I've never taken any count on it, I'm guessing that at least 10% of what I own could be dumped immediately because--let's face it--I'm never going to fix it and it's probably not worth fixing anyway. 

         I've got a lot of work to do in the months to come--I'm taking my time with this project since it's a lifetime project.  Get rid of stuff and try not to accumulate much more of anything.  Goodwill--look out!  I'll be coming your way.

         And so that brings me to an end of this year's Challenge theme--Cleaning the Clutter.   By no means is it the end of my project and maybe as time goes by I'll post updates of any major breakthroughs.   Thanks to all who stayed with me from the beginning of my "Cleaning the Clutter" series as well as to those who dropped by at least once. 

          Now to think about the 2019 Challenge which will be the 10th annual.  We'll have to come up with something big!

              Do you tend to keep damaged clothes that you think you might eventually repair?   Have you done any spring cleaning yet?   Any suggestions about how to make the next A to Z Challenge more special than it already is? 

Younger Days ( #atozchallenge )

Younger Days

         In documentaries about unearthed ancient cities--places like Pompeii--archaeologists are thrilled to find houses that have been left intact.  The artifacts include the decorative items as well as things of a more utilitarian nature.  The people centuries gone now have strangers nosing through what was theirs.  It would be like your house being sealed up for a hundred or even a thousand years and then rediscovered.  Everything that you saw as normal in your world would be curiosities to the excavator of the future.

        Our house contains a record of the past--the story of our younger days.  I have grown older--and by some estimates, old--as the things around me have stayed the same.   There are pictures of a much younger me as well as the younger version of my wife and our kids when they actually were kids.  There are relics of past adventures and remembrances of older days,  Currently I am the curator of my collection. 

          Each box I open contains memories of younger days.  In fact everywhere I look in this house reminds me of younger days.  My wife and I have now lived here for over twenty years.   We each brought a lot of stuff with us and and through the years accumulated more.  We have a lot of older stuff from younger days. 

          If future archaeologists found our home intact as it is today I wonder what they would think?  Here in my time I don't have to think about what they would think.  Besides, I don't think this place will be intact as it is now sometime in the distant future. 

          Do you have reminders of younger days out in the open in your home?    What are your favorite reminders of your past?    Would you like to acquire a house that had been sealed up for a hundred years or more?

Related articles

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• 25 shipwrecks around the world and the fascinating history behind them

X Marks the Treasure ( #atozchallenge )

Life is an ongoing treasure hunt.  Every day there are new treasures to be found if we just keep our eyes and minds open...

"X" Marks the Spot

        Somewhere in this house there lies a treasure, but there is no X marking the spot.  In fact there are many a treasure waiting with nary an X in view.  If I had a map to find my way through life then I'd know what exactly to expect at the start of each day.  But I don't have that map so I go along my way with a determination to live my life the best I know how.

         It all comes down to that treasure hunt.  There is rarely an obvious X to show you where to find what you are looking for.  However there are plenty of other x-es like exploring, examining, and even exhuming.   Often you don't realize that you are searching for treasure--you stumble upon it.   You see, it's not so much that I find the treasure, but that the treasure finds me after which a connection is made with my deeper self and the nature of who I am. 

       I assure you that there is treasure in my home.   You can't see any X, so let's just say that the "X" is on me, on my heart, to the core of everything.   My physicality is the means of reaching hidden treasures so they can find me.   The treasure and I are on a common mission--to find each other. 

        When I find my treasure then perhaps I will give it away.  Or I might keep it for as long as I feel I need it.   Some things I hope will be with me for several more years.   No matter what though, all my stuff is going to be staying behind when I go. 

       Do you give away things with which you have sentimental feeling to people with whom you have some special bond?   What is something you've found from your past that filled you with feelings and memories?   Would you deem that type of a found item to be a personal treasure?

What's in the Box? ( #atozchallenge)

     We've all probably got a few proverbial skeletons in the closet, but when you've got real ones then that might signify a problem.  Unless you're an osteologist an archaeologist, or something of that nature.  In that case you've got a weird problem of bringing your work home with you...

What's in the Box?


          If you've seen the film Se7en then you'll undoubtedly remember Brad Pitt's horrified exclamation of "What's in the box?" at the end of the film.   Nothing quite so disturbing as what was in that box can be found in any of the boxes stored in our home, but one might wonder what exactly is in some of  the boxes you'd find in our closets or our garage.

          Fortunately I started labeling boxes several years ago and now as I continue to purge and consolidate boxes I will label them as accurately as I can.  Now I can visually scan stacked boxes and have a general idea what is in each.  However, when it comes to the detailed particulars of contents then I might have a somewhat more difficult time.  That's when I have to rely on memory which doesn't always work well if I haven't looked in a box for a long time.

          Sometimes if I do have something specific that I'm looking for and can't quite remember where that thing is, then the treasure hunt begins.   There are still treasures to be found.  I will find treasures for as long as I explore the boxes to find out what--exactly what--is in them. 

           That treasure hunt continues in my next post...

       Do you ever think you remember where something is and then realize that you don't actually know at all?   Do you label boxes that you put into storage?    What personal lost "treasure" would you like to find somewhere in your house?  

Volumes and Violins ( #AtoZChallenge )

The volume of stuff in our house is not disproportionately frightful in the sense of hoarding--right now everything in our house could probably fit into our living room with a comfortable pathway to other parts of our house.  But then there would be new space for more things.  That's where the scary starts...

Volumes

      In a number of places throughout our home you can find volumes of books.  Most of them are encyclopedias ranging from child level to adults.  About half of these are in Spanish.  I wonder how many homes still have encyclopedia sets? 

     When I was growing up, we had a set of Funk and Wagnalls encyclopedias that I used from elementary school until college.  That old set sat on a living room book shelf for decades.  Over the years my mother added new encyclopedia sets.  It seemed like any respectable home forty years ago had at least some type of encyclopedia.

      Now I don't know that encyclopedias are an especially wise investment for most families.  After all much of the information one might research can readily be found on the internet.  Still, I find myself looking things up in our encyclopedias.  When that happens I sometimes start getting lost in the book as I read through entries that catch my attention.

       And when that happens I feel like a kid again.  Back when I was a kid the encyclopedia was one of my favorite reading materials.  My reading habits back then probably are partly responsible for my eclectic interests.  A couple of encyclopedia sets might not be bad to have around the house, but maybe we have a few too many.  Volumes of encyclopedias need to go.   Now to find the party who is looking for rather outdated encyclopedia sets that are in very good condition.

And Violins

       I've got a few violins around the house, but I could only easily find one for my photo.  One violin that I used to use in my juggling act is packed with the props in the garage.  My electric violin must be in my office closet, but I'm not about to tackle digging that out quite yet.  Also sitting out in my office are a mandolin, a keyboard, and two guitars.  I could supply a band.   

       Unfortunately, I rarely play any of these instruments any more.  I probably should take the time to fiddle around occasionally, but there are a lot of things that I probably should do.  Like my juggling props I consider my instruments tools of my trade.  No telling when having them around could come in handy.  The violins are staying and that's my verdict!

       Do you still own any encyclopedias?   Did you grow up with encyclopedias in your home?   Do you have any musical instruments that you used to play but haven't in a long while?

Uniquities and Ubiquities ( #AtoZChallenge )

    I want my home to be like a book with pages to be read and lots of stories to tell.  And indeed, my home is like a thick volume that can't be read in one sitting...

         

          Upon first entering our home, a visitor might not find anything particularly unique at first glance.   As with any of our dwelling spaces, the uniqueness of who we are often requires a closer scrutiny.   Perusing the artifacts of a home one is likely to see representations of family history, personal interests and pastimes, as well as those assorted oddities that might leave one scratching their head or could be the opening of an interesting conversation.

          The built-in shelf seen above gives a good idea of certain things that are ubiquitous in our home.  There are books, media (CD's, DVD's, etc), decorative items, and even a set of juggling beanbags.    In nearly every room of our house you can find these same things in an assorted array of formations.  Each room is like a variation on a theme.  My home is my personal symphony--or more appropriately a symphonic duet between my interests and those of my wife.  

           Our home is my comfort zone.  If I were to be plopped blindfolded into my own home I would immediately know where I was.  With a feeling of security I would relax and settle into that homey feeling.  But if my blindfold were removed and I were to find myself in a room at your house, please let there be books, music, or something to explore and wonder about.

          While in your home I want to see your uniquities and I want them to be ubiquitous.  I don't just want to know where I am, but I want to know who I am with.  Excuse me if I look at the things on your shelves or on your walls.  Tell me what this odd little mystery item means to you.

          Tell me a story.  What you have around you provides me the details, but you have to tell me the words.

          Have you ever visited someone and perused stuff they had on display?   Would you be offended if a visitor started looking at what was on shelves or on the walls?   What might the decorative items displayed in a house tell you?  

Traveling and Touring ( #AtoZChallenge )

        Once when I was a kid someone told me to "collect my wits"--that's when I started my collection of Mad magazines and joke books...

       

Traveling and Touring Things


         Travel mementos can be found throughout our house both in the open and stored away.  Refrigerator magnets, curios, pictures, or travel books are likely to be found in every room of our house.  While doing my garage cleaning I ran across a number of things related to my travels or just related to the subject of travel.

        As I've mentioned here before, I grew up in a show biz family who frequently traveled for our performances.  Back in those days I began collecting matchbooks, soap bars, and other freebies labeled from establishments that offered them.  Those items actually got used up after I entered adulthood, but I still have a respectable postcard collection that I started when I was a young boy. 

        Postcard racks used to be prominently displayed in restaurants, variety stores, and any other places that might be frequented by travelers.  When I was an avid collector and cards might be something like six for a quarter, I would buy several from whatever area we were in at the time.  I'd also pick up post cards from motels where we stayed and other places that offered free cards.  Over several years I accumulated a great many cards.

        The bulk of my postcards are in a box in my closet, but I often will notice postcards in drawers or other boxes.  When I was organizing our garage back in December, I ran across a lot of cards which I kept aside and placed in a box to be further sorted in the upcoming months. 

         The post cards are merely one more example of the travel things I have around the house.  In the garage especially there are a great many maps, travel directories, and tour schedules from my years on the road managing shows.    Most of this has been well organized and fairly neatly boxed--it will be easy to go through with some probably minor culling.  Old hotel directories will likely go as will a few of the maps.  Not all of them--but some of them.

         There were always maps in my life and I became a proficient map reader at a young age.  Map reading became a past time for me sometimes just for fun and other times because I was traveling and needed to see where I was going.  At home I can spend a good bit of time studying maps.  I enjoy studying how highways are routed and interwoven.  I like to think about the little towns where I may likely never go or remember the places I have already been.  When people used to tell me that they got confused and couldn't read a map I was somewhat baffled.  Now this response makes more sense.

         Now most of us probably use GPS for telling us where to go.  Sometimes my wife tells me where to go.   Still I like the visual aid of a good map.  And suddenly an idea popped into my head:   I should draw a map of my house and where the main cache of certain things (postcards for instance) are.   This would be good if I started  developing memory problems and needed a prompt.  It would also be helpful when I die so whoever was left could figure things out more easily.

         Not a bad idea perhaps.   But actually I hate thinking about stuff like that.

       Do you tend to collect a lot of souvenirs from your travels?   When is the last time you sent someone a postcard?   Are you good at reading a map?

Statements ( #AtoZChallenge )

Say what you want, but whatever you say is your statement.   Please make it mean something or make it funny...

A Statement About Statements

         Back before this past December I had several boxes of bank and credit card statements going back to the eighties.  After years of delay I finally culled through those boxes and reduced my statement collection into two relatively small boxes, labeled and stacked together on a shelf in my garage.  This was achieved by getting rid of envelopes, advertising inserts, and pages with no relevant information on them.

         You might wonder why I would continue to keep these statements from so far back.  These records of purchases long past and other money flow in bank accounts that no longer exist seems rather non-functional--at least from any standpoint of personal finances.   But for me these statements are a record of something different than my spending and saving habits in the past:  They represent a part of my past life.   Cumulatively taken, these statements are like a diary that reconnects me to who I was and what I was doing.

        If arranged in chronological order, I can read through the statements as though they were a journal that I had kept during that time period.   I can see times of frivolity as well as tough financial straits, I can see what was purchased and where and when.  By deduction and memory I can figure a lot about the times surrounding the statements.

          Now that I've rid myself of the junk portions (it all went into my recycle bin) I have a compact record of facts that I can relate to emotions and events of another time of my life.  This goes into my research library.  This is the memoirist in me--the writer.  Those statements can help set the scenes for stories and even tell stories themselves.

          I don't know if I've convinced anyone other than me that I have some good reason to keep these boxes of statements.   It probably doesn't matter much to anyone but me since these boxes represent my history and my research files for some later time.  That's why I think they are worth keeping for a while at least.  Besides, who is to say whether reading a great or even average novel is more satisfying than reading a stack of receipts.  It all comes down to the story being told and what that story means to the reader--a reader who might also be a writer.

Has a credit card or bank statement ever inspired you to imagine a story?   What kinds of things might  credit card charges tell you if you were looking at someone else's statement?   Have you ever gone back to look at the charges on an old statement?

Receipts for Recordkeeping ( #AtoZChallenge )

        I was just reading my Walgreens receipt.   They put a lot of information on those things.   And in two languages!

My file cabinet laden with receipts.

Receipts and Records

         One of my weird bad habits comes out of an old good habit of saving receipts.  When I started working as an independent contractor I saved any receipt that I could use as a tax deduction.  Also I kept receipts to check against my credit card statements if I had charged something.  And there were the receipts I kept to make it easier to return something if that needed to be done.  There are a lot of good reasons to keep receipts for at least some designated period of time. 

          Now I'm in the habit of tossing receipts on top of my office file cabinet whenever I have them in my pockets.  They pile up until they overflow onto the floor and I attend to the fallen while ignoring the pile.   Periodically I'll weed out some of the receipts or file them accordingly, but the pile seems to grow faster than I can keep up with. 

           I need to come up with system that works for me--probably a neater variation on what I've got now.  For the time being I've cleaned the receipts off the top of that file cabinet.  I like seeing it that way, but a few things on top don't bother me either.  But the neater cabinet top will be an inspiration for at least a few days.

After cleaning receipts from top of file cabinet.

         My father was an accountant so he was kind of a stickler about saving receipts since we could take a lot of tax deductions for our side job as a juggling act.  He ingrained in me the idea of saving receipts.  Old receipts and statements can be helpful for jogging the memory, something which I wrote about several years ago on my memoir blog.  I'll have a bit more to say on this topic in my next post:  S for Statements. 

          Do you save a lot of receipts?   Do you use expense deductions for your income tax?   Have you ever run across very old receipts for past purchases by parents or others?  

Queue ( #AtoZChallenge )

         Having to wait in line seems like an inefficient and uncomfortable way to do things.  A long line is essentially people clutter... 
     

A queue in front of a shop - a common sight in the People's Republic of Poland during the 1980s. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Queue


          At some point in time we all wait in line.
          Lines to buy tickets or buy other things,
          Long lines of traffic when we wish we had wings.
          Waiting our turn at the DMV--
          That's not a place where I like to be.

          Please pick a number, then wait for your turn
          While employees work slow--they have no concern
          About people who wait for hours on end.
          Lines take up time that we didn't intend
          To be wasted on waiting and even more waiting.

          So if you need to do something then what do you do?
          Go stand in a line and wend your way through.
          Through to end of the line you're in now
           And on to the next one as time will allow.

          Time marches on, the days seem to fly.
          Minutes, hours, and years pass us by.
          We're part a system.  What else can we do?
          We're all waiting for something while stuck in a queue.


         What is the longest line you've ever had to wait in?    What kinds of lines do you dislike most?  Can you think of some better solutions than having to wait in lines?
        

         

Plastic Bags ( #AtoZChallenge )

          I still remember when the grocery bagger would ask, "Paper or plastic?"   Now they ask if you brought your own bags or do you want to buy some?  But that's California.  Perhaps coming to a town near you...

Picking P's 

        For the letter "P" I had first considered using "Plethora of Pants" as my topic because it sounded funny to me.  I do indeed have lots of pairs of pants. If I wore a different pair every day I could probably go for a month without repeating.

        "Pieces of the Puzzle" was the next thing that came to mind.  All of my A to Z posts in this series are pieces of a larger puzzle, but I guess all the posts on this blog are pieces of an even larger puzzle.  I like pondering metaphorical puzzle pieces to try to put them in proper place.  However, I decided to postpone the puzzle post. 

         Then I thought about the large plastic trash bags filled with smaller plastic grocery bags.  The bags are something else I have in my garage.  For many years I've saved the bags for utilitarian household purposes such as trash can liners, totes, wrapping, or whatever reason I might need them.  As time went by I kept bringing more grocery bags home than I was using.  They were amassing to an obtrusive degree.

        Eventually I decided to start throwing them in the recycle bin now and then.  That plan came to an end when the California government decided to ban the plastic bags.   Now we had to bring our own carriers to the store or buy reusable bags.   I put a hold on my mission of getting rid of my cache of plastic bags.  Now I'd be using them up.

          The Bag Ban has been in effect for over a year now.   For the most part I've gotten used to bringing my own bags into the store.  At the rate I've been using the old grocery bags I figure I'll have enough to last probably a few years.  They're talking in the California government about banning plastic straws next.   In a few years I can imagine that we'll have to take our own reusable cups to places where they sell fountain drinks.  When that happens I'd say that there will be a big business in selling reusable cups to people who want to buy a drink.

           I think I see where this might be going.  People will get used to it I suppose.

            What do you do with your plastic grocery bags?   Has your local or state government banned anything that you have found to be useful?    Do you sometimes think of your life as a puzzle that you are still trying to figure out?