Blogging Ahead – Word Prompt Project

July 3, 2016

A week into our ‘keyword’ blogging challenge and we’ve both fallen hard off the wagon. Perhaps it’s the challenges of the season (July brings a lot of familial obligations and wrap-up stuff at work for me) or it’s other distractions. Whatever the case, I’m banging on the keyboard at 7AM on a Sunday to see if I can chip away at the journaling/blogging to-do list.

Making this one post carry over as a multi-topic missive is my way of catching up without driving myself crazy. Below are the topics we’ll cover here today – stay tuned and read from top to bottom as it might get a little rambling and random. But it will be enjoyable and you will emerge out the other side with a new and positive perspective on life.

Though we began this challenge on June 24, we’ve adjusted the deadlines so ‘Eye Contact’ is due on July 6. That way we’ll have a little cushion and hopefully future posts will come with more regularity.

Outside the Window – done and posted on June 24 – http://jeffcutler.com/social-media-blogs/deciphering-looking-glass

Remaining topics are…

• Unrequited Love

• The Vessel

• Dancing

• Food

• Eye Contact

Let’s jump right in. Paying homage to Dan Shaughnessy, this is taking the form of a ‘mind-pieces’ article for ease of reading and my increased enjoyment.

Here at The Tiny Bungalow we have a couple cats. One is Ducky – the original #meatcat, which is what you get when you name your cats after meat. The other is Merrie. She’s named after meat as well – specifically the Duxbury Merrie Oyster. When thinking of unrequited love, these cats are the champions.

Ducky, my cat, is purely focused on making me happy but she also has a personality and style that ensures minimal contact from other humans. One case in particular comes to mind. The swiping, clawing and bloody puncturing of Carissa’s face when she got too close to Ducky.

Multiple warnings were proffered to Ms. Caramanis O’Brien, but as she owned a cat that looked a lot like Ducky, she didn’t follow her logical brain and decided to reach out and snuggle the devious cat. A less-painful example of unrequited love might be available, but it might not be as memorable or effective in getting the point…errr…claws of this argument across.

Lesson here is that love – even from our pets – can be presented and also taken away. Or not given at all.

Lesson here is that love – even from our pets – can be presented and also taken away. Or not given at all.

What’s the best way to carry your sorries? According to George Costanza, a sack is probably perfect for these things. In fact, vessels as perfect as the sorry sack are hard to come by. See here for what I’m talking about if you’re not of the #Seinfeld generation. Listen carefully at the 37-second mark of this video.

Briefly, there are a handful of other perfect vessels on this planet – and maybe even in our universe. In order of how much they’ve impressed me over time, here they are…

The OtterBox water-tight cases for kayaking or other water sports. I keep a couple of these fantastic vessels in my car and in the belly of my scooter. They’re perfect for holding coins or other items you don’t want flying around willy-nilly.

The easyCover DSLR case. See the entire review here – but in a nutshell, it’s a neat little device/product that keeps your camera from getting dinged and bumped during regular use. It’s easy to use, affordable and comes in fun colors if you so choose to brighten up your traditional DSLR.

The hidden compartment in the MINI Cooper. I can’t share anything more here as the unwritten code of MINI owners is that the features of a MINI are to only be shared with others in that community. Suffice it to say there are some design elements of the MINI that thrill and delight folks who like secret vessels.

That said, when I find something fun and interesting it makes me feel like smiling, laughing, talking, sharing, eating…practically anything but dancing. I don’t know where Snoopy and Woodstock get off in their repeated gleeful displays of dancing, but it’s horrible. Dancing was created by the devil. It promotes hip and knee wear and subsequent injuries. And dancing is quite often connected with promiscuity and other improper activity.

As a former cheerleader, I know how well dancing can convey emotion and work fans into a fanatical state. It’s this knowledge that also allows me to hold fast to my opinion that dancing is not anything I’d like to do voluntarily. Further, one of my base fears is that if I’m ever taken hostage, the fiends behind that action will home in on my fears and make me dance endlessly until I give up state secrets.

Luck is in my favor as I don’t have any state secrets to provide and I’m an excellent dancer – even against my better judgement and training. Considering dancing universally, I don’t mind watching people dance, but I would rather observe from a table where a cocktail and a snack are poised than take place pounding my body into submission by writhing about vertically to music.

Mentioned just now were snacks. In a fantastic twist, the next topic in our blog assignment is food and I’ll use that as a transition to talk about this precious commodity.

I miss food. Specifically I miss the food that used to be served up by restaurants and other venues while I was the brains and beauty behind the NomX3 franchise. If you’ve not had the chance to watch the show, please search on YouTube for it – you’ll find yourself delighted. Here’s an easy link to watch a few of the shows…

That shared, my angst comes from being part of a great project that was derailed because of distance. My cohost Mike Langford decided to abandon the mild winters in Boston (even with global warming making our winters more like pleasant springtime) for the hot hipster land of Austin, Texas. It’s not a move I would have made, but it occurred and now we both languish in obscurity while Oscars and likely Emmys sit on shelves already engraved with our names on them.

C’est la vie and other French exclamations! Which is appropriate because France is a fine place for great cuisine. I’ll try to share a food photo with this post if I can locate one.

That brings us to the final term in our blogging project. I’m almost giddy with excitement that I’ll have accomplished this task today, giving myself more time to go take photos of fireworks and explore the region in my MINI Convertible.

Oh, the last words to focus on are eye contact. The phrase makes some people uncomfortable, but photography has taught me to cultivate eye contact from my subjects and prospective clients. Without a genuine exchange of glances and knowing connection between people – mostly facilitated via visual action – it’s hard to gauge how well you’ve meshed with someone.

Folks focus (pun intended) on eye contact in interviews and when meeting people for the first time. Eye contact is important in clashes with authority. And from a safety standpoint, eye contact could save your life. Don’t quote me, but I believe in some cases – it’s with bears or mountain lions or hyenas – if you break off eye contact with that wild animal, it will promptly eat you.

I hope the 1200 or so words leading up to this conclusion have enriched your life a bit today. If they brought a knowing smile to your face, you’re welcome. If you wanted to crumple up the computer or tablet on which you’re reading this right now, then my job is hardly done. You should stay tuned and watch for even more columns as we move efficiently through the rest of 2016.

Happy 4th of July!