Friday, July 31, 2009

Saturday Wordzzle Challenge: Week 74



This is week 74 of the Saturday Wordzzle challenge. Anyone new to the process can refer back here to find out how it works. Thanks again to Carol Pfeiffer (ProArtz) for this week's and next week's words. I have enjoyed the break from coming up with them myself.


The words for this week's ten word challenge were: fair warning, hormones, journalism, philanthropist, burgeoning, running the bulls, saturation, tossed in the towel, whine, indelicate details And for the mini: hard labor, lurid, quick fix, sizable contributions, trumpet




This week's 10-word:


Despite having been given fair warning about the dangers involved in running the bulls, philanthropist George Singlebottom decided to take a break from the burgeoning demands of his daily life and give his excitement deprived macho side (his hormones were raging) a rare chance for exercise. Had he known what was to come he would have quickly tossed in the towel and averted the current catastrophe. He felt embarrassed by his folly, but what bothered him most and made him want to whine like a child was not the pain he was experiencing (bad as it was), but the the saturation coverage - this was journalism? - expounding at length on the most indelicate details of his unfortunate trip and the subsequent encounter with a large bull's horns. There was one positive to it all, though. The beautiful nurse who had tended to him go gently had agreed to marry him. On the whole, he guessed, a little humiliation wasn't such a bad trade-off for that kind of happiness.




The mini:



Max Milikin had been about trumpet to the world that he had avoided not only hard labor but a sizeable contrubution to the local plumber with his clever quick fix when his wife's horrified screams had brought him face to face with a scene of such gross and lurid horror that he knew instantly that not only was his bank account about to see a substantial loss but that perhaps this particular quick fix might just be more than even his good-hearted and devoted wife would be able to forgive. "Maybe I should call a plumber," he mumbled. "Ya think?" she replied rather harshly for someone usually rather sweet. "While you're at it, you had better think of something REALLY, REALLY good to atone for this catastrophe." "Yes dear," he replied. "You know I love you, don't you? I really thought it would work..."




The maxi:



Her hormones gave Maria Shaw fair warming every time Max Montgomery entered the room, that her burgeoning infatuation was not going to go away easily. I mean, there ought to be a law against a man like this, she whined to herself. He was handsome and charming, committed to his career in journalism. Bent on adventure - most recently he had participated in the running of the bulls, an event which repelled her though at the same time his description, a mix of macho participant and compassionat observer had endeared him to her even more. If she could forgive him that, she might as well throw in the towel and just throw herself at him. In general as a writer he was willing to engage in hard labor to tell a true and meaningful story. He wasn't one of those creeps whose stories involved trumpeting people's dirty laundry or exposing the lurid indelicate details of the pain of other peoples lives. He had come to interview her several months ago about her work as a philanthropist. She had expected to dislike him, expected him to be shallow like so many reporters were these days. They had had a wonderful discussion of the media - about the saturation of what information was available in hours of gossip and speculation that actually gleaning information was a bit like finding a needle in a haystack... then - this was his analogy - a drop of chocolate syrup in a glass of milk.... impossible. They had gone on to discuss the sizeable contributions made by insurance cormpanies and other interest groups to politicians and how there was no quick fix for any of these problems that were driving the country rapidly down the drain. Anyway, nothing made her fall in love quicker than a good conversation and the fact that he was handsome and smart just added to it. Miraculously he seemed to like her back, a clear sign in her mind that there must be something truly wrong with him. Luckily for her, he had seen that particular kind of insecurity before and he was not daunted by it. He was in love and she would just have to accept it.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Thanks again to Pro Artz for the words. These she took at random from a book she was reading.


Next Week's Ten Word Challenge will be: reluctant, sacrilege, territory, humiliating, master of ceremonies, gesture, dirty deed, crumbling, thaw, token


For the mini challenge: official portrait, personal bank account, shoulder bone, unbearable, widow




Thanks for playing. For those who are new, here are some guidelines to make the process more fun.



Enjoy! See you next week.




DON'T FORGET TO ADD YOUR NAME TO MR. LINKY!!!!!




10 comments:

Carletta said...

Raven, I think you should write everyday. :)
We don't hear enough about HIS hormones.... :)
'a drop of chocolate in a glass of milk' - loved it!
I can so hear the 'Ya think?'

Those were moments but I enjoyed it all!

Fandango said...

The first and last ones were written but full of your human romantic mush.
The middle one though , that was fun. Great fun. We could see the mess. Whenever you humans think you are so smart you make a mess. You portrayed it so well.

Anonymous said...

This requires some thinking or some thought. I can see that. I just write and it comes out. I think it is a clever idea.

It is a cool, 63 degrees here at 6:00 AM in Ohio on this August 1st, 2009. Not bad. I slept under a blanket last night. We set the coldest July ever recorded last month. I hope you will have nice weather this August.

SouthLakesMom said...

I like the human romantic mush -- I guess dragons have a different idea of romance! Well done Raven!

And I laughed at the mini because I had the plumber here yesterday. He's such a hoot -- he was back to fix something he had fixed before saying, "this will last forever," but which hadn't. So as he finished and walked out he said, "I don't want to bother with a bill -- I have a good book to read at home." You gotta love a plumber that reads.

DawnTreader said...

I agree with the dragons, I liked the mini best! ;) But I think the words were really difficult this week so well done with all of them. I had to rewrite my story/chapter twice.

Richard said...

Raven: three great stories this week. The two romantic bookends and the pragmatic middle were a pleasing combination.

Argent said...

Three great pieces as always, but I'm going to go with the crowd and say I liked the mini best - the humour of it was just great.

CJ said...

Loved your Mega Challenge love story.

I hope you are feeling better ---maybe the home renovations will perk you up. I occasionally have days when I feel like doing nothing. I usually give in to that and just read or sleep or watch videos. But then something pressing comes up that I must take care of and it usually brings me out of the slump.

Stephen said...

I liked your stories, particularly the mini. In the first story, it's good that the man found true love, but on the down side the media will probably be at his wedding asking about the running the bulls incident again. In the mini story, yes, plumbing disasters can be pretty bad, and sometimes you think you know what you're doing when you don't. And sometimes what's happening can be something other than what you think is happening. In the maxi story, I liked the "drop of chocolate syrup in a glass of milk" too.

I have my own stories up now.

Stephen from Scottsdale, Arizona, USA
http://stephen-has-spoken.blogspot.com/

Don't Feed The Pixies said...

Nothing from me this week - just not in the mood :(

Still - i thoroughly enjoyed yours - especially the mid-life crisis man! he he he