Five Minute Friday - Connect

This week, Five Minute Friday is all about Connect.  Five minutes to write.  No pausing, editing - just full on writing.  OK:

GO!

Source:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mobile_Phone_image..png

We all connect in different ways.  Which one is your favourite?  I now live in Athens, Greece away from my family in the UK and find the best way for me to connect is via Facebook, my blog or email (especially to my father who is clueless about blogs and Facebook).

Others prefer mobile phones.  Sometimes technology can be a bad thing though.  How many times have to witnessed (or done this yourself?) people sitting at a table in a cafe/restaurant all texting and not conversing with each other?  I've been guilty of it - but now when I meet a friend, I turn my phone off so I can give him/her my full attention.

Email is an interesting one: you can say so much more without FEAR.  Without fear of confrontation, recriminations and be a lot more expressive.  I've noticed my 78 year old father is much  more comfortable telling me he loves me in an email.  And ironically, this helps him when he sees me!  He has also become more affectionate & huggy.  I suspect the email has helped him express his emotions.

Me?  I prefer face to face where ever possible.  Things get lost in translation, communication can break down.

How about you?  How do you Connect?

STOP.

Five Minute Friday - Beyond

Today's topic for Five minute Friday is...Beyond. Write for five minutes, no editing, uninterrupted on this topic...OK...

GO!

Well, as you can see from this gorgeous skyline picture, I have spent the last few days in London, UK.  I am very excited by this picture because it doesn't just depict the City skyline, but what lays beyond is the Olympic Stadium!  And we all know the opening ceremony is tonight.

Now then, I was privileged to be invited to a tech rehearsal and show around the Olympic Stadium last Wednesday, but have been sworn to secrecy!  You'll just have to watch tonight.

There's a little lesson here too: always look 'beyond' the obvious and see the other side...look through the immediate to see beyond what's in front of our noses.  This will teach us tolerance and respect, make us better people in the long run.

STOP.

Five Minute Friday (but writing on a Saturday) - "Enough!" with negativity

Today's topic for Five minute Friday is...Enough. Write for five minutes, no editing, uninterrupted on this topic...OK...

GO!

Well, what should I blog about?  I like to try to keep my blogging upbeat, sometimes it'll stray into negativity at times though.

For example, "ENOUGH!" I say about all the negative twaddle that is coming out by the media about Greece & Spain.  Greece is a LOVELY country and perfectly safe for holidays!  I love Spain too - unfortunately these countries have been caught up in a maelstrom of negativity and it's like something/one is trying very hard (doesn't need to try too hard!) to discredit them for some reason.

OK, what else?  "ENOUGH!" about the Olympics! There has been a lot of negative hype in the newspapers about the 2012 Olympic Games regarding security, queues at LHR airport, etc.  But as my recent post shows, I think the up and coming Games might be quite exciting, especially the Opening Ceremony.

So, ENOUGH with the negativity people!!!

STOP.

Five Minute Friday - Story

Source: http://cdryan.com/blog/living-the-dream/

Today's topic for Five minute Friday is...Story Write for five minutes, no editing, uninterrupted on this topic...OK...

GO!

The other day, I saw a trailer for Matt Damon's "We Bought A Zoo" . Now, I'm not a 'weepy' kinda film gal, but the part that made my ears prick up was when the little girl asks her dad

"Daddy, why don't you read me fairy stories anymore?"

"Because we're living a fairy story sweetheart."

I got to thinking about this concept of living your own story, living the dream.  Is it selfish to create your own story and live it?  That's exactly what I'm doing now: teaching and living in a foreign country.  I feel I'm living in a fairy story.  I've been living it for 3.5 years now (learning the language slowly, getting to know the locals, loving the kids and adults I teach and occasionally writing about it) - but because it's not a 9-5 Monday to Friday existence in drizzly rain, I feel like my life is one big fairy story, and I will awaken with a rude bump one day.

But life doesn't HAVE to be like that.  I am slowly coming around to the fact that it's OK to live your life as YOU want, not how others perceive it should be.

So if there's always something you've wanted to do, make that change in your life, live YOUR life.  Make and create your real, living story.

STOP.