“I believe if you keep your faith, you keep your trust, you keep the right attitude, if you're grateful, you'll see God open up new doors.”

 -Joel Osteen.

It sounds like a lot to do, but it’s actually quite simple advice to follow. If you’re literally seeing a man in a white beard opening up doors for you, you’ve got some true power. You can’t rely on everyone all of the time though. Sometimes you have to muck in and do your fair share, even if it seems that you’ve got to do more of it. But if you doubt it for one second, then the whole deal’s off. Sometimes it can be hard, but you just have to persist. Sometimes the right attitude turns you into a self-righteous maniac as you should be reacting to different things and try to change them rather than just blindly accepting them. It would also look a bit odd if you’re grateful for everything. You might always try and see the positive side, but others will disagree with you. You should never follow blindly.

The Piece d'Resistance

It’s that delicious treat that we all crave. Made with simple ingredients, it’s evolved into many forms. Its light beginnings had had cream, jam, marzipan and chocolate added to it to create thousands of different combinations. It’s still the easiest way to celebrate something or mark an occasion. Even if you don’t get around to eating it straight away, it can make a very nice centrepiece and sometimes it’s a crime to cut it up. Not everyone will be able to have a slice because of dieting restrictions, and that’s good because there’s more for you to have alongside the people who want a second slice. It also doesn’t make you look greedy and you can offer it to other people who aren’t in the room at the time. You can use it to create a message for your team as well instead of dedicating it to just one person. Delish.

Not what it's cracked up to be #devilsdaughter 27

Picking things up with two giant blimps on your chest can be a bit difficult, especially when you need two hands to hold them. Now she knew how turtles felt. She would have liked to use her assets as pinchers but Luke was down there. However, they weren’t the only pair of assets that she possessed. It would be a bit difficult as the gap was smaller than  the front. But perhaps she could toss the camber. Leaning forward, she used her feet to scoop up the bench and used a yoga pose to place it on her rear. Then she attempted a backwards thrust to launch the bench through the window, thrusting her breasts as low as she dared to counteract the weight without touching the floor. Unfortunately, she thrusted a bit too hard, which sent her flying towards the wall where the bench shattered into pieces followed by a large crack which shook the whole building.

The Waiting Room

It’s the land of the rejected. It’s for those who have yet to configure their systems to be compatible with others. We don’t want them to upset the harmony of everyone else. Usually it’s the audio that’s the problem and you have to send them away to sort it out in a private chatroom. But for those who are placed there, you’re doomed to exile, at least until the moderator has agreed to give you a second chance. You feel trapped and isolated, away from the action. You’ve got no idea when you’ll be allowed to grace the room with your presence. It could be a distorted noise that’s taking over the rest of the feed. Or maybe you haven’t figured out your privacy settings. Everyone else seems to have mastered it. It might be the speed and age of the machine. It’s good to see that everyone else is holding up OK though.

Tabled

It’s black. A bit see-through, but it does the job at short notice and there’s not a lot of choice around. Oddly, someone as decided to include ribbon in the packaging. I don’t think it’s for a gift. I think the idea is to give it a sense of luxury, but it’s not as if you’re going to wrap the ribbon back around it every time you put it away. It’s not silky and you can see that from the picture. It sounds big when you look at the dimensions, but we only had a small table and I expected it to dwarf it and it didn’t. There’s probably better cost-effective options out there, but I needed something quick, not for a table itself, but to hide things behind to make more of a barrier. It was used outside, but it’s amazing how much dust it’s picked up over the space of two days.

Birthday Call

 What can you do when it’s someone’s birthday and you can’t go out to celebrate and they can’t come to you? Get them on a video chat. Some of the folks needed help in getting everything set up for the big moment. It just took a call beforehand to get them set up. Unfortunately, we did have a couple of latecomers who could listen in but couldn’t take part. I also hadn’t managed this large a call before; but everyone seemed to keep up. At a time when not much is going on, I should have put a little game agenda together, but the idea of getting people online together to sing Happy Birthday was enough. I also couldn’t get the zoom on the camera quite right. The evening concluded by us breaking protocol slightly with my brother bringing in  cake followed by my nieces dressed as Hogwarts students. Hope people didn’t get too jealous.

Sing the No Body Blues

I’m expecting a humorous philosophic poem. There may be some backing music. It’s probably going to be very short and samely. I can’t imagine it doing her usual voice. It’s going to have to hold a tune otherwise it’s going to be very annoying. I hope it’s not going to imitate the skeleton song. The music is like a lullaby. It tells you what it can and can’t do. It went on for longer than I thought, but it’s still fairly short. Unfortunately, it’s the same song every time, but at least it’s in tune and it rhymes. It’s quite entertaining, but I doubt that it’s AI generated. It’s hard for it to see the positives, but it might make you feel better about yourself as you’re able to do more. There are some positives though. It can’t hum it, but it does try to find you similar genuine blues songs.  

Do Ya Wanna Build a Snowman?

It’s a classic winter scene. Two children are having fun  in the snow while nanny watches on inside in the warm. You can’t deny them the opportunity if they want to. It’s not as if the virus is going to spread in the snow. The poor chap looks a bit thin, but he hasn’t had much to start with. We could have padded him out a bit but I think we braved the cold for as long as we could. Good arms are hard to find. A borrowed hat an old scarf, and maybe a good part of Sunday dinner are all the materials needed to keep them happy, even though it’s a bit basic. But the smiles are worth it, and they look and feel like little Disney princesses. Maybe the little one wated to add some boots as well, or that was her tool of choice. But the next activity is calling.

Terminator: Dark Fate

This is another separation to the timeline. The events are supposed to happen after Judgement Day, but it’s weird how that could happen since they apparently stopped that timeline. Unless Skynet sent a second robot before they were destroyed in the past. But the film  doesn’t even make an attempt to address that topic. What we do see is more of the same story; albeit with another robot who apparently wasn’t melted by lava and instead has chosen to shelter with a family while waiting for new orders. It’s all very confusing. It’s a shame that the finale didn’t reveal some dastardly plot to end all mankind and again focuses on the protagonists. The acting is believable but it’s the plot that lets them down. It’s expected that a war’s still coming, but can we be bothered to watch them on the run again?

She's Got Sass

She’s just been doing online lessons and she has to demonstrate pairs. There were some suggestions of drawing two identical pictures, but she’s done the easy option of drawing two circles next to each other so that she can run back downstairs to play. I don’t know what this means for the future of her education if she’s only doing enough to get by and she’s not putting the effort in. But there’s not much that we can do about it. I did manage to persuade her to build a tower and took a photograph of it for evidence to upload to the class’s cloud, but I’m not sure if this will suffice. As far as she’s concerned, she’s done the job. She might be young, but she knows that she’s got sass and she knows when to use it. Is she blowing us a kiss or is she just posing?

Cabinet Minister rebuffs Streeting's call to join the EU

Hold on. Won’t we need a referendum here? Or is someone else trying to make decisions for us? Is our government trying to cut down on referendums and take away our democracy? It is an expensive method to resolve things. But this is coming from someone who’s just quit their role. It doesn’t give us much faith to trust them. And it’s a dividing decision. If we have faith in these decisions, we need to know that these people have a plan for us and that they’re not going to waste our time. We want to earn our independence, but we can’t keep doing this by relying on our neighbours. Just think of all the import costs. At the same time, we’re not exporting too much while we’re referring to ourselves as ‘this country’ as if we’re ashamed to name it or we’re too confused over it. The trouble is that no-one seems to do what they’re supposed to do. They’d rather get stuck into someone else’s business.

Bringing back fire

I’ve got no idea what to do here. Usually, I’m the techy of the family, but I haven’t encountered this before. I don’t know what the problem is or what went wrong beforehand. It’s been three years since the previous takeover. Will the problem occur again if I install the latest update? Or does he not care as long as everything works? I think he just wants something to play with or hand over to the kids. It was more of a physical hardware failure than a software one. It also means that each app has to be set up and logged into again, though I don’t think that there were any high-profile ones. Most apps will also restore themselves anyway once you log into them. But I’ve never done this before so these are just educated guesses. But if it all goes wrong I guess I can reset everything and start over.

What if everyone in your class could run faster than you?

There’d be no doubt about it. You’d be the slowest. It might have been close, or you could have fell at the first obstacle. You might be prone to teasing. That’s not nice or right, but are you doing the same things as everyone else? But you’d need to prove that you’re better in another field. Either way, there’s some work to do to help you improve. You’d need to train. Perhaps your friends can help or you can change your diet or lifestyle to improve your performance. Is your time or position noticeable? You could change your routine to do better. Or can you excel in another field and claim bragging rights there? Perhaps your parents can help you, or you’ve got friends that want to see you do better and not get left behind. Maybe it doesn’t bother you as you’ve got your sights on something else that’s more important to you.

The Wedding Crasher #dream 219

I’m off to a festival! It’s the first time that I’ve been let loose for a while so I decide to splash out on a taxi to get to the racecourse. Unfortunately, I’ve got Doncaster mixed up with Dorchester, and I’m at the latter where they’ve never held such an event. I’ve hired an Uber but I’ve gone for the cheapest option not realising that there’s no decimal in the quoted fare, and he’s actually taking me down south. After dozing off in the back of the cab, we near our destination and I tell the driver that the event’s at the main grandstand. Unfortunately, he decides to take a shortcut across the track where a wedding fare is taking place. We drive through marquee after marquee, ripping canvas out of the ground as we pass through a corridor of white and crash table after table full of cakes and gifts.

Rocky Robin

He’s just an innocent little robin out for a boogie. He might just be strutting his stuff, modelling for the next line of Christmas cards, or he might be out just looking for food. Either way, he knows how cute he is and the only thing that would get in his way are predators. Mind you, someone could always capture him to keep as a pet. He can’t always underestimate how cruel humans can be. But it’s worth it for all those Instagram pics, especially when he’s just learnt how to do the moonwalk. He’s making a mess of the Cotswold stone, but he probably knows that it’s going to melt away so no-one has to worry about a clean-up. Even the blades of grass have poked up through the snow to see what all the fuss is about. They might even give a wave of applause after his performance.

What makes HR instantly reject a candidate after conducting an interview?

One thing could be appearance. Punctuality could also be an issue. A lot of the time, an employer can only see what’s on the paper, and they’ll need to get a true picture of what you’re like, and whether you’ll be a good fit for the team. Do you bring something that’s lacking? Is there an attitude or philosophy that they can’t agree with or understand? Are you what they’re looking for or is there someone that they’ve interviewed that immediately stands out as being better? Do you seem interested, or are you only there for the dosh and they give a hint that you’ll disappear as soon as you receive a better offer? They want the best value for their buck, and if you’re just going to be a drone then you may not be what they’re looking for. How do you think it went? Take the time to reflect and learn, and if possible, ask for some feedback.

The last thing I saw

It could be the thinnest slice of wood hurtling to me at a perfect angle in the form of a jigsaw piece. It’s been chucked right into my field of vision. It’s like a warning. Who threw it though? Maybe they’re hiding behind the door and they’re frustrated that the puzzle is being completed quickly enough. The table space won’t be available for that long. With one simple pull on the cloth, it could all be undone. Or, if you line it all up correctly with a cardboard tube, it will compact itself enough to hold together. There might be a clue on the floor as to what the puzzle is. Or it could contain another game. I’m sure it’s not a biscuit tin. It doesn’t give a clue to who our assassin is though. It might be a distraction so that they can make a quick getaway. And a shot like that may take a while to recover.

Chasing the Chinese

 A strange way to do business. They only take cash. And it’s not exactly a big place. They used to run a second operation from another site that offered delivery, but that all fell through. They haven’t embraced the best of technology. The elder ones never smile. There’s a high counter, and beyond a beaded curtain, you can hear the food sizzling away and being tossed. You might get a sile from the younger server. If you’re lucky, you might get given a bamboo calendar as a gift. Phone them up and they’ll usually have it ready for you. It’s not too long of a wait if you order over the counter instead. Plus you’ll get to meet your fellow neighbours. Or at least catch up on the national news and hear what other people are ordering. There’s been something shady going on but they’re not there any more. A renamed business did pop up for a while, but it didn’t last long.

Insert Glass

I’ve just put the washing up. The breeze comes through where the window used to be. It’s a lot easier than having to take everything outside. I can just thread it on and move the line along on a pulley. I don’t even have to get up. I’m just doing tea towels and knickers at the moment. The problem is that the wind comes through and gets them in a twist. I think I’ll try that miniature plant next. Maybe it’s just a decoration and there’s a cocktail inside. I can also chuck the mistletoe on to get me into the spirit of things, but I’ve missed and it’s gone out the window. And there’s so much light coming in. I’ll be all right so long as I don’t look directly at it. But if you could close the curtain, I’d be grateful. I just can’t look out there and I can feel myself heating up.

The Quiz Goblin Rides Tonight

You wouldn’t expect a goblin to be in the centre of Birmingham. It could be someone who just has pointy ears with  lot of earrings and wears leather. Does he go round from venue to venue asking questions in an evil voice? Does he punish people if they get the answer wrong? Perhaps he’ll keep asking question after question and won’t let people leave the pub. The landlord isn’t going to argue as people are just going to keep buying supplies from him. Maybe the goblin himself has to buy supplies. I wonder what he’s riding. Is it a motorbike, or perhaps he has a fancy glider to get around like in Spiderman films. Perhaps it’s a warning to stay out of his way. When he does get out and he can’t host any more, he likes to explore the coffee shops to search for victims to answer his questions.

Tinted

Is the fireplace trying to mimic the TV or vice versa? I think the fireplace is winning. All the TV has managed is an orange glint in the corner. The fireplace could be a TV screen displaying a fireplace. Even my shirt is trying to join in with bits of orange displayed. Maybe it’s going to combust into flames. The golden clock has begun to glow. Is it the cause of all this? Maybe it will melt. The picture in the mirror has also caught the bug. The carpet has started to glow white and will set fire at any moment. Flames are creeping up behind the TV and around the curtains, or at the very least, it’s smoke. And I wouldn’t be surprised if something shot out of the bin. Outside, the flames are starting to lap the window. And all we can do is carry on. Maybe there’s no escape.

 

"It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light."

-Aristotle Onassis.

I’ve been sitting in the dark for too long getting distracted. I’m not focusing. Instead I’m avoiding things. I don’t want to give up, but it’s easier not to do nothing. But nothing happens and I don’t go anywhere or do anything new. I’ve got to try. With a little bit of effort, things become easier. And if others can see you trying, they’ll pitch in too. You need to be very careful of how you manage your time, as it might not always be yours to waste. You need to be doing something, even if it’s the wrong thing, to demonstrate how important things are to you. You need to keep going. You might need to rest occasionally. At other times, you need to go all out otherwise you’ll feel that you’re sinking into a hole and you’ll never achieve your objectives. You must find a way to fight.

A few moments earlier...

We might have even had the grace of being passed over for sharing a learning moment. Something right behind us might not have been so lucky. It’s not quite a pair of feet left behind, but it could be shoes. She just could be learning grid references. We’ve evolved from dressing up to making things to wear to learn all in the space of a morning. We might even be recorded by the black box next to the TV. Will I let her win, or will I let her learn? But there is another child somewhere. We probably need to tidy up a little. We might have ducked unnecessarily and have gotten lucky. Family photos look on proudly as if they’re satisfied that we’re doing our best. It’s been thirsty work. The hands seem bigger than the body. Is that a second long finger sneaking under the black sleeved arm? Perhaps that’s why we need two flasks.

The Advance #vampress 26

For a moment, she considered an outsider who could provide an honest opinion with the willingness to get the job done to earn some cash. She’d later betray them by taking them into the fold to avoid paying, but she’d have to make sure that others would not come looking. People who had visited before would surely note that the topography had changed, but inviting new people from further afield would also attract attention. Perhaps someone young who would be keen to move to make a good impression and create a reputation? Perfect. She would send her subordinates to the cities to see what they could find. She couldn’t demean herself to a lower life form, but she would have to bestow intelligence upon someone, and provide him with some protection as well. Perhaps there was a way of transporting herself further inland by slowly integrating her minions into another community.

Sharp Scratch

It’s not just the middle of the picture that has had this scratch. The same angle has been placed on the picture frame and in the window. The mark will remain scarred forever and it’s going to be very difficult to restore it to its previous state. It’s as if someone’s stabbing to erase us from the picture. What will they replace us with? Or is their mission complete as we’ll have very little chance of recovery? We can’t get that back. It’s not like we can paint over it or peel back the damage and tape it up to heal. Our antagonist(s) might be in a protective sphere outside controlling the scratching via a satellite beam. Or that could be their getaway vehicle and their hair could be hiding behind the portrait, unless it’s echoing the central scar. It’s all heading to the left. It’s the gravitational pull. There’s no way it’s going out the window into the sky.

GDK

It’s as if McDonald’s started to do kebabs. I opt to download the app where I can get my food made before I arrive and I’m instantly treated to a discount kebab but I can’t get my voucher to work. It’s not entirely clear if you’ve selected any options via a dial at the bottom. The fries look interesting so I go large so as not to miss out on anything, but the drink option is a bit basic. It’s just a can of pop. And despite using an Apple device to create an account, I can’t see a way to pay with Apple Pay. I’ve been given an estimate collection time but no instructions on what to do when I get there. I can see a kitchen with a bag on the counter with my name on it. Do I just grab it and go or do I need to check in with someone? Two days later and I’ve still got the taste of onions in my mouth.

Got Your Nose

Something’s going for her nose. It could be a new feature installed in the armrest so that you don’t have to handle dirty tissues. Or she could be trying to bat a spear away from her as it passes too close for comfort. She might even be attempting a military salute. Or she could be attempting to hide her face from the camera. She doesn’t look like she wants to be involved. There’s also something creeping around the back of her neck. This will slowly drape onto her shoulders until she realises that something’s there, and when she turn around to investigate it’ll tighten around her neck. She’s dropped the flyer that she’s been reading as her survival instincts kick in as she needs to start thinking about defending herself. Perhaps the patch of light next to her is about to head towards her face. Look carefully, and you’ll see a claw or a jaw reaching over her leg. 

Yak Yak

This could be a long one. I hope they’re still going, and I’m expecting to have a list of games that are good with words. I’ve no idea what any of them are. I doubt that I’ll be chased by yaks, though that’ll be interesting if that does happen. I like the concept of saying it to play it, though it should have recognised that I haven’t played before. I’m presented with a list of jazzy theme tunes including celebrities or Deal or no Deal. I thought that it was Voice of the Dead but it turns out that it was of the day. I recognised the voice and got it right on the first go. I now rank about 1 in 189,000-something, and I can come back tomorrow to improve my leaderboard. Until then, I’ve got another game to choose. I’ve actually played the others that it’s suggested before. The next batch of games involves a subscription which I deny, before heading onto a quiz.