STUFF  HAPPENS

1. Telephone Issues

Are you getting pestered with calls lately?  Yesterday I received over 20 cell phone calls in two hours, all from different, but similar telephone numbers.

I don't answer calls with numbers that I can't recognize.  Too many scammers out there.

But I did research a few of the calls and they all came from a new teen-age cult.  I will not mention it in writing because I don't want to give them any publicity.

I still also use a land-line phone and get about ten irritating calls a day from "Unknown Caller."  I never answer such calls. Sometimes they will leave me the "Goodby" message or try to send me a fax which I do not allow. At times, they will fill my message box with loud sounds designed, I suppose, to deafen me. Usually they hang up when they get no response.

Who are these "unknown" callers?  How do I rid myself of this irritant?

2.  A New Creature

Suddenly, without an invitation, Seymor Spider took up residence in a corner of my bathroom, not far from where Cookie lives.  He is three times her size and would probably enjoy her as a tasty repast - if he could catch her.

Meanwhile he hangs there on his pathetic little web, waiting patiently for "no-see-ums" to get caught in his trap.

Unfortunately for him, sooner or later, one of our bathroom cleaners will notice him and he will suffer an inevitable dunking.

3.  Sleepy Time

 

"My dreams are getting better all the time."

Lately I think that my REM-time dreams are becoming more memorable.  For instance, last night I had the following dream after consuming an enormous amount of high-priced but delicious  salad:

 I dreamt that I was standing at a food counter in the Westminster mall, and a beautiful red-haired young lady was asking me what food I wanted to order.  In her hand was the largest pork chop that I had ever seen.  I told her that I would like some of it.

She asked if I wanted "fixings" too.  I said, "of course!"

When the meal arrived, "Red" handed me the bill. It was for $25.

"$25!" I yelled.  "I'm not paying that for a little meat and a few ounces of salad!"

"Put him in jail!" Said the young lady to a policeman that had just appeared, and, suddenly that pretty redhead shrunk down and turned into a "Wicked Witch" from "The Wizard of OZ."

This dream was so real, I woke up planning how I would "beat the rap."

4.  The Freytag Pyramid

No, its not like the "Klopfman Curse."  Gustav Freytag (Friday) was a 19th century German playwright who expanded on work by Aristotle to create "Freytag's Pyramid."

This is "a paradigm of dramatic structure" outlining seven key steps to successful storytelling:

Exposition - meet the characters and locale

Inciting Incident - introduce conflicts and threats

Rising Action - announce plot twists and activity

Climax - tell the rest of the story - release tension

Falling Action - tell what's left of the activity

Resolution - tie up loose ends

Denouement - explain remaining matters -  clear up plot "strands"

Most storytellers follow these steps, but some don't, according to the professor in the interesting  Great Courses Writing Class that I am monitoring.

One could consider the "pyramid" when relating personal incidents.

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