Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Walking Popcorn


In the last 24 hours, I have been living on the edge. The edge of what? Well, the edge of life itself. Yes it's true. In the past 24 hours, I decided to live dangerously, something completely against my inborn, genetic-lack of any sense of adventure. Adventure, to me involves finding a new and different bookstore in a quaint costal town. Or it involves teaching my dog Togo to "be polite" and wait for my "OK!" despite the fact that her much-beloved food is already in the bowl. But then something changed. I decided to be crazy...to live on the edge. And it all started with a walk and a microwave.

I took my dog for a walk. Ok, I do that everyday (almost everyday...I'd better be honest in case Togo reads this and leaves a contrary comment). So we walked around the neighborhood, our usual route. I came home, fed her and went to the kitchen for a glass of water. That's when I heard a popping sound. Just a few crackles and then more, they got louder and then I heard a kaboom-whoosh! My husband heard it and thought it was fireworks across the street. I thought a tree had fallen or something (good instincts). So we went outside to see that, across the street, where I had just been walking, a huge tree branch...had fallen to the ground, taking powerlines with it. There was no wind. There was no reason, it just fell. We inspected to see that this "branch" was as big as a tree itself. See- I'm adventurous afterall!





So after my brush with death, I decided that a little popcorn was in order. I put the bag in the microwave and surveyed the family as to what kind they'd like; taco flavored, cheese or ranch. Cheese won. So after popping the corn, I innocently put a cup with butter into the microwave. That's when I heard it...it was the sound of adventure...the sound of my life flashing before my eyes. It was an electrical dzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt, which was accompanied by flashing light in the microwave. "It's just a few seconds, it'll be fine." I reasoned. But then smoke started to seep out of the microwave. So I shut it off, unplugged the very hot cord, and spent the next few minutes trying to figure out how I was going to melt butter without a microwave...oh yeah...the stove!

Let's see, how can I make this a profound and meaningful post? Hmmmm...how about this...the moral to the story is this; Life is dangerous; you'd better write today because you never know when a tree might fall on you. Or, Life is dangerous; you'd better write today because you never know when your next bowl of popcorn will be your last. How's that?

Write Now! Karen

14 comments:

Jennifer said...

Wow pictures! Look how far you've come. Seriously I love watching this blog grow and grow. It's neat. And it's double neat the 'branch' didn't kill you dead. That's always nice.

SzélsőFa said...

This is my first time. I like the title that resonates 'carpe diem' within me.
I came via The Quoibler.

Karen Fisher-Alaniz said...

Hmmm...another thing to look up...the Quoibler...I don't what that is. Szelsofa-can you tell me how to pronounce your name? I'm one of those people, who just has to know. Yes carpe diem is a good comparison, I like that one.

And Jennifer...yes it is good to be alive. Can you believe the size of that branch? Crazy, just crazy!

Karen

SzélsőFa said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
SzélsőFa said...

'The quoibler' is http://www.recessforwriters.blogspot.com/ - I do hope I did get her name right, without typos.

My name is Hungarian and its a name I gave myself. I have my ordinary name as people and family. I am Szélsőfa in my individual development path. Sort of an 'indian' name, you know :)
It means 'the tree that stands at the edge of the forest' and it can NOT be shortened.
Here's how to say it:
sz- as 's' in 'sun'
é - as 'a' in 'say'
l - as 'l' in English
s - as 'sh' in 'hush'
ő - something similar to 'i' in 'bird'
f - as 'f' in English
a - as 'u' in Americans' 'sun'.

Karen Fisher-Alaniz said...

Szelsofa- That is awesome. I like the idea behind it. I bought a little coaster today that says, "Climb out on a limb. That's where the future is." Hmmmmm...

I hate to be crazy about it, but where is the accent in your name? Just curious. Thanks for explaining it...so cool!

Karen

SzélsőFa said...

The main accent is on the first syllable, and then there's a secondary one on the third.


Hungarian words almost always have the main accent on the first syllable, and SzélsőFa is a compound of two separate words: szélső (meaning 'being at the edge, outside') and fa 'tree'.

John Robison said...

It's good the branch didn't land on you. If you are surrounded by woods, you should look for weak trees and address problems before they drop.

You can usually see warning signs if you know how to look.

I have two pines right now that I need to take down. I'll cut them, grind up the small parts in my wood chipper and use the rest for firewood.

Anonymous said...

Haha! good stuff INDEED!:)
-Ev

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