Written 1st Sentence Exercise

The following was a class exercise where we were given the first line from a book and were told to write a short story based on the sentence we were given.

The Whistle Stop Café opened up last week right next door to me at the post office. It had been a quiet week, when the café opened its doors and welcomed the first customers into the delicious smelling haven. I was curious, I'll admit, but I stopped myself from walking in. I didn't even know the owners. I had barely even known that a new business was going to be opened there. The only clue I had received was the new food truck that had stopped earlier that opening day morning, when I had opened the window to my apartment above the post office. The smells wafted over into the post office, day after day, and into my apartment on the weekends as well. It smelled so good. I was curious. But I couldn't.

Today, the doors opened as usual, but the smells were different. Sweeter, almost. It was like they were baking breads from heaven over there at the Whistle Stop. My lunch break came, and before I knew it, my feet were carrying me to the front of the café. I stopped, realizing where I was. I peeked in through the windows, and saw two other customers in the shop. One was eating what looked like a delightful cheese Danish that may well have fallen from a cloud. My mouth watered. The other was sipping some small cup of espresso-looking liquid and tapping away on their computer. I instantly felt that this place was one of serenity. Looking at the counter, there were multitudes of fresh baked breads, bagels, donuts, Danishes, cookies, and so many other delicious looking baked goodness, I couldn't help myself. I stood there with my mouth gaping open, drool dripping down my face. I must've made quite a scene, as the next thing I knew, the man behind the counter was at the door, opening it and beckoning me inside. He pulled me in, with an arm around my shoulders. He smelled absolutely amazing. I could tell that he had spent much of his day already making fresh baked goods. He sat me down at a table by the window, handed me a cup of coffee and one of the monstrous cheese Danishes I had seen, and went back to behind the counter, bringing out a new batch of dough to knead. I slipped into an almost unconscious state. I felt as if I was in a dream.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

My alarm went off, and I sat up. I was back in my room. Same old blue walls, cream curtains and the cat asleep on the floor.  With a sigh I started my day, wistfully hoping to escape back into that heavenly dream.

The first line I was given was the first line of this short story, which is from Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café.

8th Question

When was your last food craving, and what did you crave?

My most recent food craving was candy, to be honest. And it was earlier this afternoon (March 25th, 2013). I wanted something like Sour Patch Kids... or Swedish fish.... or Sour Gummi Worms.... or even Sour Gummi Bears. I wanted something gummi. But we don't have any of that kind of candy in our house currently. We have two chocolate bars, half a chocolate cake, and a little bit of reese's ice cream. But nothing gummi. Alas. Woe is me, and my lack of gummi candy.

I'm not really that upset by the lack of candy. I'm the one who gave all of our candy away to our friend C. I don't really want candy. :\

7th Prompting

What are your religious beliefs? Have they changed, or have they always stayed the same?

My current religious views are rather.... open. I don't really believe in any particular religion, but I'm not quite an atheist either. I have a belief that something may or may not be out there, 'watching over us' or what have you, but I have my own mind, and my own thoughts and I perform all of my own actions, so I simply don't really care whether there is something out there or not.

To rephrase, I live my own life, so whether there is a 'God' or god, or god-like figure, I don't really care. I'm not saying I'm anti-god, or anti-God... But I'm not exactly a believer in placing all of my faith in 'him' or 'her' or 'it'. I believe in myself. I believe in the world.

I believe in life and love and laughter.

I haven't always thought this way. I used to go to church. I used to believe (full-on belief) in God and Jesus and what the Bible has to say.

My mom always taught me that I can be anything I want, as long as I did the research to know what I was getting into. This teaching went for not only hobbies, potential job fields, and friends.... but also religion. The only religion or belief that she would not ever let me actually do the research for was Witchcraft and Wicca. (I say she didn't let me research these because there were several times I brought home books about Witchcraft and Wicca from the library, and she either returned them that day, or made me return them the same day.)

I looked into Buddhism for a while as well, especially after I took a Japanese Heritage and Culture class in high school.

For now, I'll stick to the present, thinking about now, thinking about my life, where I'm heading, where I've been, and where I am now. I believe in me.

Prompt 6

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be, and what would you do if later on you changed your mind?

Some people would say that "Everyone has something to change about themselves".  But... what would I change?

I'm not honestly sure. Maybe I would change my study habits. Or maybe my eating habits. But... I don't think that's really what this question is asking. These things that I say 'I would change' are things that, really, I can change. I can change the ways in which I study for classes. I can change what, when and how I eat. But is this question really asking that? Isn't it really asking "what would you change about yourself that you can't actually change?"

I'm sure most people would say something about changing an event in their past. Or changing themselves in the past. Well, I can't really say that I would change anything in my past. I wouldn't change anything about how my life has gone, because I honestly, truly love where I am in life right now. Why would I change something that would change how I got to be where I am, and who I am? I wouldn't. That's my honest answer. I wouldn't change a thing about my past that brought to be here. I wouldn't change a thing about my past that's made me who I am. I'll admit I'm not perfect, but I'd like to think I didn't turn out half bad.

I like who I am. I like where I've been and what I've done to get to be where and who I am. I know I've had some bad experiences, and I've done some not-so-great things... But would I want to give up the experiences I've gotten?

I wouldn't. I think if I did change something about myself, I would instantly regret it and want to change myself back. But assuming that you were not able to change your self back, I'd be stuck with that, and I'm not even comfortable with the thought of that.

So I guess my answer would have to be, officially, that I wouldn't change a thing about myself. I wouldn't change who I am or where I've been or what I've done. Everything that makes me me, is because of the choices I've made and the places I've been and the people I've interacted with. I wouldn't change even a split second of my life.