Wordzzle / Next Week Preview

After missing out last week, I am back to play the Wordzzle challenge again. This is a fun little word-game that is hosted by the very talented Raven over at Views from Raven's Nest. Head on over to her place to check out the rules of this little game, and find out who else played!

A lot of fun and interesting little stories usually come up during the Wordzzle play, so I recommend going around reading those (they are usually much shorter than the PFC stories).

Lets take a look at the normal 10-word challenge: cocker spaniel, penultimate, fetters, warranty, tarmac, quartz, paparazzi, apple sauce, earsplitting, lackadaisical

And this is the story I came up with:

The paparazzi was there to capture the moment of Adam Sanderman's mental breakdown. His lackadaisical approach during the punultimate race to win this years edition of American Idol was front page news on virtually all of the entertainment magazines.

"You're putting fetters on your own chances to win this thing", was one famous line from one of the judges. Up until the final stages of the show, everyone thought Adam Sanderman would win with ease.

His Quartz watch had stopped working. Not that big of a deal. Get your warranty out and go get it fixed. It became much more of a deal than Sanderman would have ever expected. It's one thing to not focus one hundred percent on winning a competition - a whole other thing not to focus while you're driving a car.

Before he knew what had happened, he had flattened an old lady's cocker spaniel to the tarmac of the road. In shock, he quickly exited the vehicle to the earsplitting screams of the old lady, and saw a mass that reminded him of apple sauce under the wheels. He snapped. A blubbering mass of incoherent mumblings, he fell to his knees and started to cry.

The paparazzi was there to capture that moment, and the front page of Celebrity Report sported a graphic picture of Adam on his knees crying, behind him an old lady screaming with her hands held out. A close-up picture of the dead dog was inserted, and the caption read:

AMERICAN IDOL'S ADAM SANDERMAN CRUSHED

What is the world coming to?

Ok... I know. I broke one of the golden rules of writing with this one - and I'm sorry about that. I read in a book on writing once that you should never kill a dog if you want to get the sympathy of a reader. Dogs are man's best friend and all - but I have to go with whatever story line pops up in my head from these words. I hope I didn't offend anyone ;)

Then, there is the mini 5-word challenge: spinach, interwoven, compromise, tennis, intangible

Again... I went for the single sentence approach with this one:

There is no compromise to the intangible rule that success as a tennis player is interwoven with eating spinach.

There you have it. My Wordzzle contribution of the week!

Tomorrow is Funday Sunday, and we'll see what I'll have in store for you then. On Mondays of late I have been running my new 7 Deadly Sins series, but will bump the next sin up until Wednesday or Thursday, as I will give you the pictures for next months Picture Fiction Challenge on Monday, and Tuesday's as you all know is reserved for the Weekly Words Challenge. One of those days next week, I am going to go old-style R.E.H. and tell you a little bit about my current situation.

Looks like it will be a busy blogging week ahead!

Don't forget to read up on my PFC story, in case you missed it!

Wordzzle Saturday

Saturday Wordzzle Challenge time!

This fun little challenge is hosted by Raven over at Views from Raven's Nest. She gives us 10 words from which we are to base a story, including all those words. There is also a mini-challenge, consisting of 5 words. Head on over there and check out her blog, and see who else is participating in the Wordzzle!

The words this week were really tough, so it'll be interesting to see what people have come up with for this challenge. Let's have a look at what I've come up with:

The words for the "normal" challenge were: fruitcake, necromancer, gibberish, marshland, Lone Ranger, hog-wild, effluvia, plaintiff, phonograph, fern

And my story turned out like this:

The plaintiff sat in disbelief in the courtroom, watching on as the trial went from strange to utterly ridiculous. The case against Humberto Valdez, aka the Lone Ranger, was getting out of control. According to his neighbors he was a total fruitcake, and people were sick of the effluvia originating from the marshland behind his property.

"It is a smell of death!", Prunella Simmons exclaims. "It is making the whole neighborhood unbearable to live in!"

Humberto's face is red with anger.

"Of course it is the smell of death! It is the remnants of those who have passed on to the other side which reside out there."

"Murderer!", she screams at him. "I swear the marsh is full of dead bodies. The smell! The smell!"

"I have never murdered anyone. I respect the living and the dead equally!".

"Order in the court! Order in the court!", Judge Lithgow hollers, wanting to get on with the hearings. "Now, tell us again what it is that you do."

"I am a necromancer. I speak to the deceased. The dead come to me through the marshland, which is causing the lingering smells. It is normal for this to happen, and I can't do anything about it. It is important work that I do - many people want to get in touch with their loved ones, and I can help them with that. We should be here talking about that fern on Prunella's property instead. That thing is un-natural, and evil. Many of the dead are afraid to come to me because of that un-godly fern."

Prunella Simmons went hog-wild, listening to his gibberish, and suddenly flies out of her chair lunging at him in the witness booth. It took five strong men to pull her away from him, and pin her down on the floor. The court went into recess for the fifth time that day, to calm things down. There was no progress what so ever, and the plaintiff still sat there in disbelief - thinking the whole thing was like a broken phonograph recording... playing the same thing over and over again.

Would this trial ever be over?

And then there is the mini-challenge words: frozen, history, myrmidon, Shylock, incapacitated

And a teeny-weeny little "story":

The Shylock stared him down. Why was he not following his orders? His myrmidon hitman stood frozen, incapacitated after hearing the history of the man he was sent to murder.

"Why do you refuse!", the Shylock says angrily.

"The man you speak of... he is my long lost brother."

Come back tomorrow for a little Funday Sunday entertainment!

Wordzzle / Dining Table

I almost didn't play the Wordzzle today - because I felt a severe lack of creativity. And, besides - I thought the words were really hard this week.

Well, I pulled myself together, and came up with a little something to post anyway.

For those who are still unfamiliar with the Wordzzle challenge - it is hosted by Raven over at Views from Raven's Nest. She chooses 10 words that we are supposed to write a story from, while incorporating each of those 10 words. There's also a mini challenge, which only consists of 5 words.

So, the words for the "normal" challenge were: arbitration, music, salamanders, frankinsence, trojan horse, balderdash, bottomless pit, fantastic, pugnacious, Trivial Pursuit

And, this is the story I came up with:

When the San Fransisco Salamanders General Manager Tim Weicks realized his star player, Derek Minton, was up for salary arbitration, he knew the team would not be able to keep him. Derek was a fantastic player, and they would need him around to keep from falling into the bottomless pit of yet another losing season.

Mr. Weicks decided to call Minton to his office to try and work out a deal. As the pugnacious star player entered the office the air reeked of frankinsence, and soft music played in the background. The GM suggested they settle their differences with a game of Trivial Pursuit. If Minton wins, they will meet his salary demands, else - he will continue to play on his current salary.

"Deal!", Minton says - and the game begins. After a hard fought battle, Minton lands on the center square. One final question, and if he answers correct, he'll get his desired dollars. Mr. Weicks draws the question from the deck and reads it out to him... his heart pounding nervously in his chest.

"What is the Trojan Horse?"

Minton's smile widens. Victory is near!

"Horse condoms!", he exclaims victoriously.

"HA! No! You lose!", Weick shouts back at him. Minton is furious and starts a balderdash reasoning as to why his answer was the correct one. "Don't even try it, Minton. Your ass is mine, and you're going to help us have a winning season this year... and you'll come cheap for us as well!".

Mr. Weicks lets out an evil laugh, and shows Minton out the door.

For the mini challenge this week, I did the (cheating?) thing of making a single sentence out of them. Not a story, but I enjoy trying to get those five words together in a one liner...

The words were: maniac, video store, telephone pole, flute player, windy day

And my sentence goes like this:

On a windy day, the only surviving witness to the maniac's killing spree at the local video store was a flute player standing by a telephone pole.

I hope you enjoyed this weeks contribution.

**********

I also thought I would join in on another little thing that I've seen around lately. At first I saw Jay do it, and while visiting Freakazojd's blog today, I saw it again - and had the sudden urge to join in.

Apparently it started at the Apathy Lounge, and it asks you to take a picture of your dining table - as is of the moment. I was lucky enough to have my kitchen looking nice and clean as I took out my camera, but I can assure you it doesn't always look as tidy as in that shot. I often leave grocery bags on top, groceries that do not require placement in the fridge or freezer, and ever so often - my left over dinner plate... until I can find the inspiration to do the dishes.

So, what do we see on this picture?
In the window we see four little plants in coffee cups... yeah, I've had them in there to allow them to grow roots, so I can plant them again. The plant had died on me, and I'm trying to resurrect them. They've been ready for re-planting for about a month now... gotta get that done!

There is also my phone...

On the table - my salt and sugar dispensers... always gotta have those ready. I use a lot of pepper, but I don't keep it on the table for some reason... probably because I use a lot of different kinds depending on what I'm eating. Half the table would be full of pepper.

Next to that you see little packets of latte. I bought those because... well, I thought it would be nice to have a cup of latte every now and then... what was I thinking? I like my coffee black. I guess I'll offer it to guests when they come over...

Not much else going on...

Nice and tidy kitchen, huh? ;)

Wordzzle / Game 7

I'm getting ready to watch the game tonight. After being robbed of the equalizer in the very last second of yesterday's game, I am still outraged, and my team better win!

Besides. I read today that a "specialist" team of technicians have been looking at the time board, and they have come to the conclusion that there is NOTHING wrong with it... which means some asshole decided to push the button on purpose to start the buzzer just as FBK got hold of the puck in the corner. I'm sure there will be repercussions, but the result will stand.

Game 7 - winner goes to the semi finals, loser ends the season. I am jacked up for this event tonight! Wish me (and my team) good luck!

Anyway. Quickly threw together Raven's Saturday Wordzzle Challenge, and I hope you'll enjoy reading these really short little stories. The idea behind Wordzzle is to write a story, and you need to use the words she has chosen for us. It's a little tricky at times, but a fun little challenge. Check her blog out to see who else played.

Here are the words we had to use this week: horse shoe, antique chest, marigold, lunatic, science fiction, Oregon, previously, 10 billion, google, tree hugger

And here's my story:

Marigold ran for her life.

She felt like a character in a bad science fiction movie. The odds must've been 10 billion to one that the lunatic chasing her would google her name in his quest to murder every tree hugger on the planet.

She had previously put an ad on e-bay, selling her old horse shoe and an old antique chest, and while speaking to a man from Oregon who was interested in bying, she had told him of her love of mother earth.

And now she was chased down the streets by this raving madman.

Marigold ran for her life.

Short and (?)sweet(?). There was a mini challenge too. Only five words to use in that one, and for some reason I found that one harder to do.

These are the five words: pardon me, feather duster, gathering storm, furthermore, magnolia blossoms

And the story:

"Pardon me."

The hispanic maid at the Magnolia Blossoms hotel put her feather duster down and looked at the man who spoke to her.

"Sir?", she felt uneasy about his presence. Didn't really want to speak to him. He looked like a homeless man to her.

"There's a gathering storm out there. I need a room for the night."

"I no have room. Room is in lobby, speak to man in desk, yes." Her english was not the best, and furthermore she needed to finish cleaning up. She wanted the man to go away from her.

"I'll do that. I'll speak to the man at the desk".

As he turned to walk away, she noticed something in the mirror... he wasn't really there at all.

I'll get back to you all with Funday Sunday tomorrow... I hope I'll be in the right mood to do it after tonights game!

Oh, and yes! Have a happy Easter!

Wordzzle Challenge

Thought I'd do something new today.

A while ago, Dianne made me aware of Raven's Saturday Wordzzle Challenge, which is somewhat similar to my own Picture Fiction Challenge. Except in this case you come up with a short story based on a number of words she has chosen, which must be used in the story. So, it is also a little like the Monthly Commenter Story that I write as well.

I've been meaning to get in on the action for a couple of weeks now, but I've forgotten about it come Saturday. Not this week. Now I'm playing along. I'm not sure I'm going to do this every Saturday, but it will make for a perfect blog post when I don't have anything to blog about, or when I'm badly hung over (in which case I'll have this story prepared for posting come Saturday).

Well... these were the words we had to incorporate: Bolivia, Green Goddess, virtual reality, laundry, ample evidence, matches, your mamma don't dance, sugar, saucy, sofa cushions.

And here's my really short "story":

Standing there in the laundromat, bored out of her mind doing the laundry while singing ”Your mamma don’t dance, and your daddy don’t rock’n’roll”, an elderly man walks by and gives her a saucy comment:

“Lovely singing there, sugar. Could you please tone it down a bit?”

She falls quiet. God, she hates the laundromat… she starts thinking about when she gets home. She’ll break out the matches, light up some candles, turn on her X-Box 360 and cuddle up in her sofa cushions. Then she’ll enter the virtual reality world and seek ample evidence of the existence of the Green Goddess of Bolivia.

Yes, she’ll take gaming over laundry any time of the day.

There was also a mini-challenge, consisting of only five words. In this one, I decided to incorporate all five into one single sentence. These were the words: olive groves, paraphernalia, sausages, moose droppings, store front.

And this is the sentence/short story:

After a hard days work in the olive groves, hungry for some sausages, he stopped by a store front where moose droppings seemed to be required paraphernalia.

“Uh-uh. I’m not buying any food in this place”.

To see some more stories made up from these words - visit Raven's blog and find out who else played this little game.