I Was A Newbie

This is day 12 of the 20 Days of Chill writing challenge hosted by P. J. at A ‘lil HooHaa. Please join me as we share a month of reading, writing and discovery. Today's topic is Newbies.

Image Source: Bloglovin.com

No matter where we are now one thing is for certain, we have all been a "newbie" at least once in our lives. A new kid in school, a new job, the new player on the team, and a graduate entering the workforce are all examples of a newbie.

A recently licensed driver is also a newbie.  Remember the day you got your drivers license? Things are different now, but when I was learning to drive, I took the drivers ed classes and got my permit at 15.  The day I turned 16, Daddy drove me to the DMV, where I proceeded to take the written test, and then the dreaded road test.  That road test nearly did me in.  I turned the three point turn into four points and a few other minor infractions, but I passed. Afterward...Daddy drove me back home, or to school, I don't remember which.

At that point, I thought I had learned to drive.  I hadn't really driven a lot with my permit, so even though I had the license to prove it, my lack of experience meant I was still a newbie.

Shortly after I got my license, I convinced my Mom to let me drive to school one day.  So cool was I.  After school a friend and I drove the few blocks to Mayberry's for ice cream.  Ms. Cool had left her purse on the chair at school.  No license, no money and driving my Mom's car. Fortunately, we made it back to the school, I collected my purse and drove home with no one being the wiser.  Some things are best left unsaid.

What are some of your early driving experiences?




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Quote of the Week

This is day 11 of the 20 Days of Chill writing challenge hosted by P. J. at A ‘lil HooHaa. Please join me as we share a month of reading, writing and discovery. Today's topic is Word for the year.

Words have no power... which you do not give them. - Bruce McAllister The Village Sang to the Sea: A Memoir of Magic

Words are just an assembly of letters.  Once we assemble the letters into words, we give them a definition. Now that the words have meaning, we use them to communicate. This is where it gets tricky. You know the saying "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me"?  

I see two ways of looking at this. False, of course words can hurt me. Just think of all the cruel things that are said that diminish our self-esteem, leave us feeling isolated, even humiliated. This happens when we allow the words to have that power.  

Or it's true, and words cannot hurt me... if I don't let them.  If we can put aside the hurtful words, we take away their power.  This is not an easy thing to do and many people suffer from careless, thoughtless or malicious remarks.

For this challenge, we were supposed to focus on a word for the year.  Since we're just getting started I don't know which words will be trendy this year.  Last year these ten words made the short list:  Culture, Nostalgia, Insidious, Legacy, Feminism, Je ne sais quoi, Innovation, Surreptitious, Autonomy, Morbidity.

This is my list.

What is your word (or words) for the year?

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The Morning After

This is day 10 of the 20 Days of Chill writing challenge hosted by P. J. at A ‘lil HooHaa. Please join me as we share a month of reading, writing and discovery. Today's topic is The morning after.

"Hey Alex, you don't look so good," observed Charlie, "where were you yesterday?"  Not much got past Charlie.

Image Source: Wikipedia

"I guess you haven't heard.  Well, in a nutshell, I was having coffee with an angel, and the next thing I know I had been manipulated into staking out her lunch date who turned out to be a member of the mob, as was her ex-boyfriend, and she was involved.  They kidnapped us, blindfolded us and took us to an abandoned building.  Since we were outnumbered and to protect the girl, I went along thinking I could gain an advantage but they jabbed us with a needle and it was lights out. While we were out, they took the flash drive and were probably going to come back and finish us off after they verified what was on the flash drive."

"After we regained our senses, it took us an hour to get the blindfolds off.  They took my gun, badge and Jenna's purse. Fortunately for us they neglected to take my phone so I dialed 911. The police traced the call and sent officers, but they were ambushed when they arrived and were pinned down in the alley.  Jenna was freaked out by the gunfire and was screaming like a crazy person."

"The officers called for reinforcements and in the meantime, I tinkered with the A/C vent to see if I could crawl out and free Jenna.  Once up there I saw that it was barely wide enough to crawl through...dang near got stuck a couple times.  I came out in a hallway about the time that SWAT arrived. Nothing like the FBI being rescued by SWAT."

"They thought I was one of the mob at first since they had taken my gun and badge.  After we got that cleared up, we were questioned, and the henchmen were carted off to await their attorneys. Did I mention my head is still throbbing?"

"Well," said Charlie, "you lived to see another day."

"You know what they say...there's got to be a morning after," Alex quipped.

"So, are you going to see her again?" grinned Charlie.

For more adventures of Charlie and Alex:

Risky Business

Aliens, Really?
The Colombians
The Key
Stranded
The Last Laugh

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