My favorite cars

Daily writing prompt

What is your all time favorite automobile?

I have a few favorite automobiles — in fact, every car I’ve ever driven (with the exception of rental cars) has been my favorite.

Gdansk, Poland – June 5, 2021: New models of Honda HR-V and CR-V presented in the car showroom of Gdansk

My first car was a gently used Saturn SC-2 in plum. I loved its fiberglass body and its look. It drove well, and it had excellent gas mileage. It got totalled by an airport limo when I was struggling on a snowy overpass. (Note: I didn’t learn how to drive until I was 32, and I didn’t have parents putting limits on my meanderings, so I drove 5 hours away into a snowstorm.)

My second car was a 1994 Honda Civic hatchback in red. That was a darling car. I bought it gently used and drove it for 13 years until the engine blew its head gasket twice. This is a young demise for a Honda, but a student from a mechanic family told me it was a weakness of the 94s.

Third and fourth cars were Honda Fits, which I am still certain are the best compact vehicles ever, even though they were discontinued in the US. With their adorable looks, their flexible space, and good mileage, they’re everything to want in a small car. The white 2007 is no longer with us, but we still have the 2009 red one. I think red is the best color for a Honda Fit.

Our newest (used) car is a Honda HR-V. Not the biggest of the SUVs, it’s like driving a tall Fit. It’s in that serene blue that you saw in SUVs around 2019. Very comfortable to travel in. More padding on the seats than a Fit.

So it seems that I make excellent choices in cars if I like every one of them!

My Perfect Writing Place

Daily writing prompt

You get to build your perfect space for reading and writing. What’s it like?

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I would love a perfect spot for reading and writing. My space is not so perfect, being a corner of the living room, where I have a sofa laptop holder pulled up to a loveseat that rocks and reclines. It’s not the most comfortable, because I have to kind of hold myself in place while writing.

The ideal space would allow both reading and writing, and a sense of cozy privacy without being too small. The furniture would be a lot like the living room is set up now — a large recliner couch to read on with my feet up, and a loveseat that doesn’t rock set up with the lap desk. It wouldn’t need bookshelves, because I read exclusively on my phone. But the room would need to have a stereo and decent speakers for background music.

It would need a hot water dispenser for tea and coffee. I would make the coffee in a French press or maybe a Chemex. I would like a small refrigerator for cold drinks to complete the refreshment area.

To be honest, this is an awful lot like my living room, except for the clutter and the problem with the loveseat. Maybe I’m in the perfect place after all.

List? Just a list?

Daily writing prompt

List your top 5 grocery store items.

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Milk
Cereal
Bananas
Coffee creamer
Lottery tickets

Is this all I’m supposed to do? According to the prompt, yes. Have a nice day.

For Fun

Daily writing prompt

What was the last thing you did for play or fun?

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Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

In the living room this morning:

Me (to husband): I love you!
Husband: I love you too!
Me: I love you more.
Him: I love you lots. Is there more than that?
Me: I love you gazillions!
Him: I can't count that big.
Me: It's bigger than ten.
Him: Oh, that's a lot!

When am I Most Happy?

Daily writing prompt

When are you most happy?

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There are so many types of happiness in my life — the satisfaction I feel when I have written a chapter of my book, the relief I feel when I’m done with another semester at work, the contentment of re-reading an old and favorite book. There’s the tiny delight of petting my cat Chloe, who is the quintessential cat, and the amusement of running into a pun.

But what makes me the happiest, the most exuberant, is laughing with my husband. We laugh a lot together. The emotions of laughing range from a sly snicker to a whooping exhilaration, and these moments give me the most happiness. They happen often, making my life one of joy.

If my husband dies before me (something one thinks about once they’ve gotten older), I will miss that joy. I will have to find other sources of happiness. But I don’t think they’ll match the joy of laughing with him.

My life is pretty stable

Daily writing prompt

Is your life today what you pictured a year ago?

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My life is exactly as I pictured a year ago. Life doesn’t change much when you’re sixty, unless it changes in tragic ways with a death. My life hasn’t changed a lot. I write, I publish, I teach, I hope my medication works. I monitor my health conditions.

It is not an exciting life, but I’m okay with that. My life when younger was exciting, but also chaotic and at moments unsafe. I did not always make good decisions. Which is why I hope my medication works.

I don’t expect to win the Powerball (a big pay-out lottery). I don’t expect to make it onto the bestseller list. I hope nothing bad happens. I expect next year at this time to be much the same.

A Good Person

Daily writing prompt

Tell us one thing you hope people say about you.

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I am an introvert; I tend to spend a lot of time on my own because people leave me overwhelmed at times. But I also seek aloneness because I grew up with bullies saying ugly things about me, and I’m always on the verge of remembering that again, especially with the specter of bipolar hanging over my shoulder.

So it’s a worry in my mind what people say about me. I hope, though, that they say I’m a good person.

Too much of mental illness is seen as being bad. And when I am in the middle of an episode, I can be seen as neglectful, overly emotional, and capricious. Not a good look, although I don’t get manic enough to be truly destructive and frightening. I worry about the consequences of my episodes. And I hope that, despite this, I can be seen as good.

Two Big Positives

Daily writing prompt

What positive events have taken place in your life over the past year?

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My life, at age 61, has been calm. Big events have not happened this year; every day has been pretty much the same. I live a low-key life, and I think that makes up for when I was a high schooler and young adult and life was eventful with many events (some positive).

Events in my life are small now, with negative events like drained batteries and almost passing out (the latter a daily occurrence). Positive events are much the same; tiny things that get me through a day. Yay! I got through my least favorite class! Yay! It’s nap time!

There are two things I can think of that are major positive events. One is that I have gone another year without either hypomania or depression. Another year without throwing a wrench into the gears of my life. I can thank a good psychiatrist and good medication for that.

The other is that I have gotten Reclaiming the Balance through all the stages to publishing a book, from proofreading to cover to inserting it into the KDP (Kindle Desktop Publishing, I believe) system to be published on January 1. I didn’t think I would have the guts to publish this one, because the male protagonist is, in the most physical sense, non-binary.

As I said, not at all an exciting life. But overall positive with tiny little things and one big accomplishment.

My First Day as a College Professor.

Daily writing prompt

Tell us about your first day at something — school, work, as a parent, etc.

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Over 30 years ago, I started my first faculty job at State University of New York College at Oneonta, mercifully known as SUNY Oneonta. I had moved out east from the midwest and had noted some of the changes in scenery from the flatness of central Illinois to the hills surrounding Oneonta, but I didn’t really feel the culture shock until I met my students.

After I learned how to use a mimeograph machine (complete with its blue-purple master stencil), I stepped into my first classroom and stood in front of the class. One woman asked me what sounded like: “Aw yew a stew-DENT?” (If you have heard someone from Long Island, this is the best I could render the voice.)

“Is this Consumer 257?” I asked.

“Yeaah.”

“I’m the professor teaching this class.”

“I thought yew were a STEW-dent!” In her defense, I was 29 but looked really young for my age.

I discovered that day that about one-third of my students were from New York City and its suburbs, and one-third were from rural counties surrounding Oneonta, and the remainder locals. Downstate students are very different than rural New York students. The downstate students are livelier, while the rural students are a bit more reserved.

Some of my favorite stories come from that period of my life, the five years I spent as a new teacher in upstate New York. But it started that first day, when I was mistaken for a student.

Up On the Stage

Daily writing prompt

Have you ever performed on stage or given a speech?

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When I was in high school, I did a lot of acting in high school plays. I got the funny roles and did well at them. My approach was to act big and to leave enough time for people to laugh. I didn’t do so well with serious roles, and I never understood why. Probably because I put up a funny front because people made fun of me.

I gave speeches, mostly in the speech class we took sophomore year. I was on the speech team, but was not very good in my event, with no help from the coach, who liked his naturally talented folks. The highlight was winning the county competition Voices of Democracy with a speech advocating conscientious objection. “Did they even listen to this?” my mother asked when I won the award. I think they really liked my voice.

I liked being in the front of the room; this is probably why I became a professor. However, I stepped away from acting and speech when I went to college. I knew I was a big fish in a small pond back in Marseilles, my home town. But when I went to University of Illinois, the pond was full of big fish and I knew I was a relatively small fish. The University is a huge campus, with 40,000 students or so, and is a selective university. We were all smart and came with different talents, and I realized mine were not in the direction of acting. So, other than that speech class in college (which was easy for me compared to the one I took sophomore year of high school), I did not go back to speaking or performing in front of large audiences. Unless you count teaching college.