Author: Mary

Things and such.

Sidequest Week 24

On By MaryIn SidequestsLeave a comment

This week’s sidequests included making my bed, writing a 5 star review for a local small business, and learning and playing a new board game.

I didn’t get very wordy with the review, mostly just left an emoji heart, but I did leave 5 stays. I let it on Google for a local business alled Dragon Leaf Tea Bar – they serve boba tea and mochi donuts, and I love to treat myself to their stuff on occasion.

The board game card I have left in play for a few weeks because I was meeting with friends in OKC for the OKC Zoo’s 21 and over Sip and Stroll night. The plan was to do the zoo thing and then hang out at the hotel and play a new board game. However, Friday night was incredibly hot, and by the time we left the zoo we were all too zapped to play. Instead I semi-cheated by teaching someone else how to play Munchkin while refamiliarizing myself with the rules.

Making the bed was pretty easy. Typically I don’t make my bed – I don’t mind if it’s a mess, and it stays unmade until I wash the blankets. But before leaving to OKC overnight, I decided to make the bed to protect the sheets from the cats, in case they puked or something.

Again, very simple sidequests for this week, and an exhaustingly heat strokey weekend.

Sidequests Week 23

On By MaryIn SidequestsLeave a comment

A lot of this week’s sidequests include a more “you’ll have to take my word for it” vibe. They involved changing up my style for a day, practicing an impression of a celebrity or character, and looking in the mirror and saying my great qualities out loud.

My impressions are awful. I’ve never been good at them at all. Efforts were made, but I’m not providing proof, and there was like… zero improvement.

The style change wasn’t hugely significant, but not one I wanted to take pictures of because it was more a nighttime style change than an out in public one. That probably shouldn’t count, but I’m going with it. Bwahaha.

And then the self-compliments again! Those are hard for me. But I did force myself to look into a mirror and repeat a few compliments that I’ve gotten from other people. Ick.

So all in all, a short update. Sometimes the weeks are pretty simple.

The Odds

On By MaryIn Prompts, WritingLeave a comment

The cards for this week were “lottery winner” and “lightning.” The result is super fucking obvious, and I didn’t pull together the ending well, because it was so obvious where it was going that I kind of lost the will to put in the effort at the end. Because it’s obvious. Obviously.

          Toby couldn’t believe it. He stared in amazement at the numbers, checking and double checking them. Then he checked and double checked the date for the drawing. The date was right, and all six numbers matched. He trembled slightly, trying to remember what the grand prize for the lottery was these days… he bought the tickets so regularly that he hardly even tracked what the jackpot was. Last he had heard, it was hundreds of millions… and that was after all the estimated taxes.

          It seemed too good to be true. For a moment, he felt like it had to be a strange joke the universe was playing on him. He crumpled the ticket and pushed it deep into the pocket of his jeans. He needed to clear his head somehow, really think about what this could mean for him and his life.

          Toby wasn’t sure where he was going at first, and didn’t really care. He walked down the street at a brisk pace, ignoring the overcast sky. His mind raced so fast that he could hardly comprehend the thoughts themselves until he slowed them, turned them over in his head, examined them. He stopped at a park, empty, probably because of the worsening weather.

          Instead of making his way to the bench he usually sat at, he meandered over to the swings. It was a strange nostalgic feeling – he hadn’t actually sat on a swing in years. When had the last time been? When he was a kid? Older than that? He gripped the metal chains tight. The small piece of paper seemed to be burning in his pocket, filling him with a strange sense of paranoia, as though someone were watching him this moment, and knew exactly what he had on him.

          Still, so much money… could be a good thing. He could pay off his debt. He could pay off his parent’s house, and his brother’s… He could live anywhere he wanted. He could walk in tomorrow and say “fuck you” to his boss and spit in that smug bastard’s face and do anything he damn well wanted after. He could donate to good causes, put his kid into good schools and leave a hefty trust fund to take care of him, probably do the same for his nieces too…

          The first light drops of rain hit him and he lifted his face to the welcome cooling water. His life was going to completely change. The lives of the people he cared about were going to completely change. All for the better. All thanks to his amazing luck. His paranoia and anxiety washed away in the rain. Taking a deep breath, he stood from the swing, determined to return home and enjoy the rest and best of his life.

          As he pulled his hands from the chain, the world around him flashed, then dimmed, then tingled, then stopped. A sudden pain crumpled his spine, from the top of his skull to his tailbone, as though an invisible giant had suddenly crushed him underfoot and straight into the wood chips of the playground, turning him to instant mush. He felt his heart give one wild thump, and then squeeze tight, so tight that he gasped, but the gasp was hardly more than a smokey cough.

          The news headlines the next day read, “Lottery winner struck by lightning.”

Sidequests Week 22

On By MaryIn SidequestsLeave a comment

This week’s sidequests included decluttering my work space, binge watching a favorite show, and taking a picture of something in my house from a new perspective.

Decluttering the work space aligned perfectly with a project I already had going where I was rearranging furniture in the rooms and reorganizing what goes into each closet space. The office was the last area of the house that I had to get to, where I had piled some of the remaining stuff to sort. (Technically I also need to organize the shelf in the garage, but eh… we won’t count that)

So I finally sat down and got most of the clutter spaced out. In this case, I did not think to take before or after pics, but it is much nicer. Except for the bookshelves. And the closet in the office. I mean, it’s close enough. The work areas are decluttered.

For the binge watching, I decided to start How I Met Your Mother all over again. I’m not sure that I would call it my favorite show of all time, but it is definitely up there, and one that I’ve re-watched a few separate times. So watching it again is no problem. I’m only halfway through the first season, so there’s quite a bit more to go.

Taking a picture of something in the house was a bit odd, because I’m not sure how many more perspectives I could do of random objects. I did notice something technically outside of the house, but that I thought would be nice to capture. I’ve been using a particular seed mix the past few years, and there’s a flower that grows from it that never seemed to open.

The other night I stepped out to throw something in the trash, and discovered that it blooms at night. Since I typically don’t take pictures of flowers at night, that seemed like a nice change, and a way to show the full beauty of the flower. Also, from what I’ve been able to research, it might be a form of tobacco?