One of the questions that the character sheet asked struck me, and I paused, asking myself the same question…which was, “What’s your fondest childhood memory?”  (“childhood” meaning under ten years old. There’s a separate question for fondest adolescent memories).  I think I sat there for ten minutes trying to come up with just one.  Lots of snippets popped into my mind, like going to the zoo, or our annual beach trips, or even our jaunts to the local amusement park, but no one memory stuck out in my mind as the “fondest”.  Ha, hopefully that means I had a happy childhood in general. 

Anyway, I thought I’d pose the question here and let you all share.  Can you name your happiest/fondest childhood memory? Is there one that stands out above all others?

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I love flashback stories in movies, if for nothing else, you’re trying to figure out how they got into that sticky situation in the first place. But when it comes to reading, I haven’t found many books that tell stories in reverse order…or even random order.

How do you like to experience stories? Can you recommend some other movies or books that told the story out of order, or totally in flashback, and did so particularly well?

PS…I just realized…TODAY marks ODD SHOTS one year anniversary! I can’t believe it’s been a year. It has flown by.  Thank you to Ilona, Meljean, Jill and Nalini as well as all of you for making this blog a place I visit every day.  Keep up the fun comments and discussions!

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Today, Wonder Woman is still my favorite heroine. And yeah, even now a tiny part of me still wishes I had her abilities. That’s one of the reasons why I write paranormal stories. In my worlds, supernatural heroines exist and they do eventually get their man.

When you were little, who or what was your favorite TV show? Who was your favorite hero/heroine? Is that still true today?

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I love Leonardo DiCaprio, so I settled in for an interesting psychological thriller. I mean, after seeing Inception (Wow, great movie…highly recommended!), I was ready to watch more Leonardo, and he delivered great acting in spades. The movie had twists and turns and ups and downs, leaving you reeling, but the ending, well, it left me scratching my head, because it felt unfinished…and unsatisfying.  Nothing drives me crazier than a story that has a confusing ending that’s left up to interpretation. (yeah, I know what the writers were intending with Leonardo’s last statement in the movie, but it just felt “argh!” to me.)

Have you ever seen a movie or read a book that was full of awesome twists and turns, but you were left going, “huh?” or “aw, man, what just happened?” in the end?

And, just for participating, here are a couple of twisty plot movie recommendations: The Usual Suspects and Taking Lives.

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I posted this as an update to my post from last week, but just in case people didn’t see it, here it is!

Sorry for the delay in announcing the winner. I’ve had the worst time keeping internet going this summer.

Thanks to everyone who participated. Now without further delay, the winner is….

Rebecca M!

Congrats Rebecca! Email me your snail mail info at  patriceATpatricemichelleDOTnet (replacing words with symbols) and I’ll get your books sent out to you.

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To enter for a chance to win, post a comment.  I’ll run the randomizer and pick a winner for this trilogy set this Sunday.

Good luck!

Patrice

UPDATE: Sorry for the delay in announcing the winner. I’ve had the worst time keeping internet going this summer.

Thanks to everyone who participated. Now without further delay, the winner is….

Rebecca M!

Rebecca, email me your snail mail info at  patriceATpatricemichelleDOTnet (replacing words with symbols) and I’ll get your books sent out to you.

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Edinburgh Castle was impressive. I highly recommend visiting it.

Picturesque view from the top of Edinburgh Castle

A unique view of Edinburgh from the castle.

A working trebuchet at Warwick Castle. People have to get inside those big wheels and walk to wind up the trebuchet. It’s in the process of starting to throw the rock. Warwick is another impressive and very fun castle to tour.

This is a young bald eagle and therefore he doesn’t have his white head feathers yet, but look how big he is compared to the falconer.

A view of the back of a kirk in Edinburgh. The highest peak on the mountain in the background is known as Arthur’s seat.

Queen Mary of Scots Castle in Edinburgh.

And just for fun…I was walking past a shop in Edinburgh when one of the products moved. Made me laugh.

“I’ll take the dog in the window, please.”

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I’ve always wondered why beds back in the day were so short. The quickest answer has always been that the people were just shorter, hence the lower doorways,etc. But I still felt the beds were too short…as in 2/3 of an average body length. So I felt validated in learning that the reason the beds were short was because the people slept sitting up. They believed that if they slept laying down, like the dead, that their souls would be stolen while they slept.

The other factoid that I learned is where the word WHARF came from. It stands for “warehouse and river front”.
Of course my first thought was…great Trivial Pursuit question! LOL

What about you…do you have a fun factoid to share? Something that surprised you when you learned it?

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I haven’t personally read the book The Secret or seen the DVD, but many people who have or who have used the LOA discussed in othe books swear by its benifits. The thing is…when I think of really successful people, all of them have one thing in common; being very driven toward a goal they’ve set for themselves. Which makes me think… How is that any different than what the Law of Attraction teaches; believing in yourself and seeking what you want thru subconscious reinforcement? Is that all the Law of Attraction has done…put a name/label to a very old concept in such a way that the masses can understand it…or is it really a revolutionary way of thinking?

Have you heard about the Law of Attraction? What do you think? If you haven’t heard of it…weigh in your thoughts anyway. I’d love to hear your opinions.  

PS I might be delayed in responding since my access to Internet is very spotty, but I will respond. I’m interested in hearing your thoughts on the subject.

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When she was in high school, she got an infection in her eyes (it was something to do with her contacts). She had to have her eyes patched over for a week, but of course she still had to keep up with homework.  I guess it’s a good thing my sister learned to touch type…but can you imagine touch typing on a manual typewriter? Ha! But that’s what she did…she did all her homework on her manual typewriter.

Have you ever run across some old item in a family member’s house? An item that has an interesting story behind it (beyond the fact it’s as old as dirt…and interesting just by the sheer fact it’s so old)?

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