I find I am at my creative best (“best” being a relative term) early in the morning. Get up at sunrise, put on a pot of coffee, feed the cats, scan the headlines for ideas, clean up hairballs, give the cats their various medications, attend to the deep scratch on my hand administered by the one cat who vehemently objects to swallowing his potassium pill, sift the cat litterboxes, reheat my neglected cup of coffee in the microwave and forget it’s there until mid-afternoon…
As writers will tell you — establishing a routine is important to the process. Some routines prove more effective than others.
Anyway… luck — its presence or lack thereof — is the theme in this week’s versifying:
A Clear, Unpleasant Danger (posted May 14, 2021)
Imagine a glass-bottom bridge that stands 330 feet in the air, with 93 mph winds buffeting it. Then imagine who in their right mind would actually walk out onto that bridge in those conditions:
The Longjing (China) city government announced on its official Weibo channel that a tourist had become trapped some 330 feet in the air at an attraction in the Piyan Mountain scenic area Friday, after historic high winds whisked away glass panes from the structure.
The man was stuck for over half an hour as 93 mph winds pummeled the bridge, authorities said. A photo showed the man clinging to the side of the bridge’s remaining metal structure with its glass floor largely missing or shattered.
The man was eventually able to climb back to safety unharmed after a joint rescue effort conducted by police, firefighters and forestry personnel, and was sent to hospital for physical and psychological evaluation, according to local officials.
[Read more here: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asia/man-left-clinging-shattered-glass-bridge-northern-china-n1266907]
I can’t even.
Wince Cycle (posted May 15, 2021)
Many of us fantasize about hitting it big with the lottery; very few of us actually ever will — and even less of us will have that fantasy turn into reality but then misplace the winning ticket:
An unnamed woman probably lost a $26 million winning lottery ticket purchased at a Norwalk ARCO AM/PM convenience store when she put it into the pocket of her pants that went into the laundry, a worker at the store said on Thursday, May 13…
However, in order to get the prize you need “compelling substantial proof you were in possession of the ticket,” (a California Lottery Center spokeswoman) said.
And you can’t use the store’s security-video footage, she added, because the cameras aren’t owned by the lottery center and you can’t be sure of the time factor.
[Read more here: https://www.whittierdailynews.com/2021/05/13/woman-may-have-lost-26-million-lotto-prize-in-laundry/]
It’s not clear to me why the woman waited a whole year before claiming she laundered the winning ticket, and then went into the convenience store to report it rather than contacting the lottery officials directly.
But as far as the idea of finding riches in the pocket of a pair of pants after they come out of the machine? I’ve lost count of the number of crumpled, soggy paper bills I’ve fished out of freshly-washed slacks. It’s like those people who quit smoking but set aside the amount equivalent to a carton of ciggies each week in order to buy a TV or a jet ski; if I added up the amount of sodden sawbucks I’ve retrieved over the years… I guess that’s what the 1040-X tax form is for. Let’s just keep this revelation between us, OK?
This Week’s Words of Wisdom
I have none.
—
See you next week!
JB