Tag Archives: Guilty Pleasures

Jefferson Writing Challenge

by Jonathan Hilton

T shirt backIt has long been one of my long standing beliefs that people come into your life for a reason and you merely need to allow things to play out to find out why.   Sometimes they come in to stay for awhile, and some times they just pop in teach you something and then disappear on down the line.

I have been doing a super secret writing project with Hope Rose of Hope is Something You Can’t Live Without, well at least it is super, not really all that secret.  I wanted to take a moment and evaluate our progress.  She wanted to write and needed a little push, and I always like projects.  So I devised the rules which looking at I have broken all the time, but I never liked rules anyway.

Rules of The Project

Hope writes like a dancing machine. Cheap use of the prompt but a use none the less.
Hope writes like a dancing machine. Cheap use of the prompt but a use none the less.

I will provide you with a prompt each day.
You will have a reasonable time to post something,using any creative medium you want, along with your writing. You can take pictures, you can draw pictures, you can paint pictures, you make macaroni pictures, or you can take them from Google, videos from youtube, whatever expresses what you feel inside.  I will also complete the assignment. The commitment is for 30 days, that means until March 9.

But there must be writing that answers the prompt.

So we started this journey of very few rules and no real idea of what would come out of it. I am not sure if I expected to write like I was some sort of dancing machine or what, but it has been interesting.  I have enjoyed it and I hope that Hope has as well.  There are still ten days left as far as I can tell because we missed a few and I see more writing on hope’s blog then there were prompts. But I may be mistaken which one goes with which.

So here are the prompts so far and links to our answers:

#1: A Snow Day

Hope’s

Jon’s

#2 At This very Moment

Hope’s

Jon’s

#3 Beginnings

Hope’s

Jon’s

#4 Vanentine’s Day

Hope’s

Jon’s

#5 Life isn’t Fair or Life is Fair

http://hopeisastateofmind.com/2013/02/14/my-fair-life/

http://www.jonathanhilton.com/inspiration/life-is-fair-get-used-to-it/

6. I looked Into the Fire

http://hopeisastateofmind.com/2013/02/16/girl-on-fire/

http://www.jonathanhilton.com/inspiration/i-looked-into-the-fire/

7. Guilty Pleasures

http://hopeisastateofmind.com/2013/02/16/guilty-pleasures/

http://www.jonathanhilton.com/articles-and-stories/secrets-from-the-vault/

8. I should have Listened to My Heart 

http://hopeisastateofmind.com/2013/02/18/she-taught-me/

http://www.jonathanhilton.com/inspiration/go-ahead-choose-destiny/

9. What If?

http://hopeisastateofmind.com/2013/02/19/itll-make-you-crazy/

http://www.jonathanhilton.com/articles-and-stories/what-if/

10. Looks Like Trouble

http://hopeisastateofmind.com/2013/02/20/771/  – looking for trouble

http://www.jonathanhilton.com/articles-and-stories/looks-like-trouble-tagged/

11. What is In the Box?

http://hopeisastateofmind.com/2013/02/21/gifting/

http://www.jonathanhilton.com/interests/what-is-in-the-box/

12. The Monkey

http://hopeisastateofmind.com/2013/02/22/thats-clutch/

http://www.jonathanhilton.com/philosophy/like-monkeys-building-walls/

13. Why Doesn’t anybody Listen?

http://hopeisastateofmind.com/2013/02/22/i-told-you-so/

http://www.jonathanhilton.com/interests/why-doesnt-anybody-listen/

14. Postitive Thinking

http://hopeisastateofmind.com/2013/02/25/super-power/

http://www.jonathanhilton.com/interests/my-next-step/

15. French Fries and A Chocolate Shake

http://hopeisastateofmind.com/2013/02/25/of-couse-i-want-fries-with-that/

http://www.jonathanhilton.com/articles-and-stories/french-fries-and-a-chocolate-shake/

16. I was so Frustrated

http://hopeisastateofmind.com/2013/02/25/train-of-thought/

http://www.jonathanhilton.com/inspiration/dont-believe-in-luck/

17. Night and Day

http://hopeisastateofmind.com/2013/02/26/night-and-day/

http://www.jonathanhilton.com/inspiration/motivation/feeling-groovy/

18. Above and Beyond

http://hopeisastateofmind.com/2013/02/28/grovers-bad-awful-day/

I don’t know what happened to this one???????

19. Space

http://hopeisastateofmind.com/2013/02/28/space-junk/

http://www.jonathanhilton.com/articles-and-stories/why-do-you-create/

20. Dancing Machine

http://hopeisastateofmind.com/2013/03/01/the-color-of-dance/

For Your Listening Pleasure: Dancing Machine- Jackson Five

Secrets From the Vault

by Jonathan Hilton

There are a lot of people who look at a book and make a judgement based on the cover and fail to even open the pages and read even a little of the story that is contained inside. That is something that I try to avoid doing all the time and I appreciate it when it is done for me.

The insight about me that is offered here is to let you know what my guilty pleasures in life are. These are defined as interests and likes that you have that may be embarrassing for others to know about because of their low brow or uncultured appeal.  Everyone has these interests, here are my top guilty pleasures in life.

The Big Bang Theory

sheldon
There is a little Sheldon in all of us!

This is a show that I just recently became infatuated with. It is the tale of four nerds and their good-looking female neighbor.  Pretty basic plot lines, but I seem to enjoy watching Sheldon Cooper struggle through life.  From his fear of birds to being unable to understand sarcasm.  If this is on and I have a moment I will watch it. I can’t stop myself.

The Music of Taylor Swift

taylorI would not mention this anywhere else, but for some reason the music of Taylor Swift that is about nothing I can relate to, I really like. It has been going on for years and I have secretly liked songs as old as Tim McGraw and as new as We’re Never Ever Getting Back Together.  Her act of continually getting dumped is going to have to end eventually. If it never does, that will be fine with me.

Red Sox Baseball

red sox fightThis is not a shock to anyone who knows me but I love the Red Sox. I watch a part of most games and follow the side stories that the team provides.  Even though I have never played Major League Baseball I am like many people I think that I know what is best for the team.  I have always been infatuated with the statistics of certain players and am not ashamed to say there were a few tears when they won it all in 2004.

Duck Dynasty

Duck
“Everybody, happy, happy.”

Another show that I happened to accidentally see and now I watch them quite often. There is something interesting about watching Grandpa Phil try to kill beavers and talk about the old times being , “Everybody, happy, happy!”  I was born and raised in Maine so there is a bit of red neck in me that I can’t escape from. This show touches this. A lot of the situations are clearly created just for television but that is OK, it entertains anyway.

  Country Music

country MusicUp until I turned 39 I believed that all country music was really a joke. I was one of those that laughed about playing a country song backward, you get your wife, your dog and your truck back.  Then it all suddenly changed as I was listening to a song once and thinking, “Wow, that makes a lot of sense.”

From that day on I was hooked, and even though I enjoy all types of music, country music is high on my list.  Kenny Chesney, Dirks Bentley, Tim McGraw,  you name it and if they have a good song I probably like it.  I think my rural heritage has a lot to do with this, but there is something about a country girl that is indescribably beautiful!

Romantic Comedies

shaI hate to admit this but the more of them I see the more I think I am a hopeless romantic. Recently a fellow blogger had been reviewing her favorite romantic comedies which got me to watch a few. The more I watched the more I liked them. Not all of them but most of them.  I did have someone in my past who liked those types of movies and I would watch them with her.  If I am by myself and Sweet Home Alabama is on I can’t help but watch it.  There are a thousand others but lets suffice it to say this is a guilty pleasure of mine. Don’t tell anyone!!

Learning Stuff

Learning stuffThis is one thing that makes me kind of a super nerd because I find learning new things fascinating.  Especially in the realm of psychology, human behavior, quantum physics, string theory or any science what so ever.  This is not only in substance but I like learning how to do new things as well, particularly in the field of technology.

I am old enough to remember life before there was an internet and having access for the first time and asking,”What do you do with it.”  Even though no one gave a satisfactory answer back in 1996, we figured it out.  I am not one of those who sees technology as something you fear but I see it as something new to master.  I enjoy learning how to do things from working on new platforms to building websites. Learning stuff is fun!

Reading and Writing are a Good Time

reading and writingAlong with the learning new stuff revelation is my love of reading and writing. It probably wouldn’t come as a shock to anyone who reads this blog, but to people who just know me from any endeavor in my life, it would be a shock.  Reading to me is not done to read a story or something like that, it is done to teach me something. Expose me to a new idea. I can’t remember that last book I read for “fun”, it seems I just don’t have time.

Writing is an ongoing process for me, as I expand my comfort with words and let the emotions and thoughts I have in me, flow freely without a filter.  That has been the biggest challenge of writing for me.  The fact that I have a biggest challenge of writing would surprise many of my “friends” from the past.

I am sure that I can come up with about fifty-five more but I am out of time for this writing experience.  So  that will have to do.  I am sure that I am not the only one who has embarrassing interests.

What are your Guilty Pleasures?