My Love for Star Trek Keeps Growing

Photo Credit – Memory Alpha

In search of solace
Before grief consumes your soul
Move to Nepenthe

A few days ago the #haikuchallenge word was Nepenthe and my readers know there was no way I was going to pass up writing about Star Trek. I loved seeing Captain Riker and Commander Troi together again. And later this week when Picard season 3 premieres, they’ll be reunited again. I can’t wait.

A little known fact in 1989 my mom bought my sister and me tickets to attend our first Star Trek convention. It happened to be on our 16th birthday in Buffalo, NY and Wil Wheaton was one of the stars in attendance. Needless to say, Kati was excited (I was too but Jonathan Frakes was my favorite. I had to wait until 1994 to see him at a convention). Still it was fun to go to our first convention and Kati stood in line to meet Wheaton. I never thought we would have the opportunity to keep seeing these characters on the screen over 30 years later. Back then the original cast had only been out 20 years past their television finale. Of course the fact The Motion Picture put TOS on the big screen and paved the way for TNG and all the other Star Trek spin offs, its longevity shouldn’t have been that surprising. As the third and final season of Picard is getting ready to air, my love for the franchise keeps growing. And the person Wil Wheaton has become is one of the reasons – his appreciation of Jonathan Frakes is also a big reason.

See How We Are

I just hope no one says, fire at will; because my family likes to pick on me whenever anyone utters that line in a Star Trek episode or movie.

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#NaPoWriMo 2022 Day Seven

Begin Again

All good things
Come to an
End…

Twenty years
Pass before
Denouement
Really begins

NaPoWriMo Prompt – And now for our (optional) prompt! Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that argues against, or somehow questions, a proverb or saying. They say that “all cats are black at midnight,” but really? Surely some of them remain striped. And maybe there is an ill wind that blows some good. Perhaps that wind just has some mild dyspepsia.  Whatever phrase you pick, I hope you have fun complicating its simplicity. Happy writing!

Good afternoon and welcome to day seven of NaPoWriMo where I let my fangirl out. Yes, season three of Picard was announced on First Contact Day, April 5th. And most years I have written poems about Star Trek on that date. This year I’m a couple days late, but I know Trekkies are aware the finale of TNG was titled All Good Things… so it seemed like the logical 😉 proverb to use. Also I don’t understand why youtube gives you an embed code if they have it blocked. But if you haven’t seen the trailer for season three of Picard, you can watch it on youtube. Im hoping it won’t be a true denouement where Picard dies at the end. They almost did it at the end of season one (they really did kill Picard but then put his consciousness in a synthetic body). I’m aware it’s been more than twenty years since the conclusion of the TV series; but I counted from the release date of Nemesis in 2002. Thank you for reading my day seven contribution and for allowing my enthusiasm to bubble up. Since it is Thursday, I’m off to watch the latest episode of Picard season two.

#NaPoWriMo 2021 Day Twenty Six

Tuck, tuck, tuck yourself gently into bed

Shivering, shivering, shivering, shivering wishing you were dead

NaPoWriMo Prompt – And now for our (optional) prompt. Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a parody. Besides being fun, writing parodies can be a great way to hone your poetic skills – particularly your sense of rhyme and sound, as you try to mimic the form of an existing poem while changing the content. Just find a poem – or a song – that has always annoyed you, and write an altered, silly version of it. Or, alternatively, find a poem with a very particular rhyme scheme or form, and use that scheme/form as the basis for a poem that mocks something else.

Good afternoon and welcome to day twenty six of #NaPoWriMo where I can assure Spock we are not having a good time. Last night Gretchen wanted to watch TOS Wrath of Khan. And I made it through the movie, but about four hours after my shot about 8:30, 9 pm I started feeling miserable. Then this morning I woke up with Row, Row, Row Your Boat stuck in my head. Don’t ask me how I jumped from Star Trek II to Star Trek V; I don’t know. Since the song wouldn’t shut up I rewrote it to match how I feel today.

Bonus Sijo #NaPoWriMo 2021

Smart Refrigerator

New fangled technology is supposed to make life easier
with less hassle
Putting away groceries, my new fridge beeps reminding me
the door is open
Let’s play a game –
one of these things is not like the others

Commander Riker keeping an eye on the macaroons

Okay I may not have the true theme for sijo down, but I am having fun. Yesterday evening Shawn sent a text – I see macaroons have been added to the fridge. Yes folks, the damn new smart refrigerator comes with cameras you can access far away from home. So Gretchen wanted to play a trick on dad. She really wanted to take a picture of her hand flipping dad the bird, but the cameras take still shots and we didn’t test to see if they’d work with the door ajar. Well a few years ago Shawn bought me a Commander Riker action figure and I knew he could fit in the fridge. Gretchen had to pose him looking over the macaroons. Then we snapped a picture and told Shawn he may have to fight Riker for his cookie.

Then this morning after Shawn and Gretchen returned from the store, I was putting away groceries and the fridge started beeping at me. Yes, I know the door is open, I’m putting away food. I think we’re going to have way too much fun with all the new bells and whistles that came with the fridge. 😉 FYI this fridge replaced our original fridge we bought with the house. After having the same fridge for 21 years, we’re all a little enamored with the new toy.

#NaPoWriMo 2021 Day Six

Anchored

Place
Always there
Filled with family
Where we feel whole
Home

NaPoWriMo Prompt – Finally, here’s our daily (optional) prompt. Our prompt yesterday asked you to take inspiration from another poem, and today’s continues in the same vein. This prompt, which comes from Holly Lyn Walrath, is pretty simple. As she explains it here:

Go to a book you love. Find a short line that strikes you. Make that line the title of your poem. Write a poem inspired by the line. Then, after you’ve finished, change the title completely.

I encourage you to read Walrath’s full post, which has some other ideas for generating new poems based on pre-existing text.

Good afternoon and welcome to day six of #NaPoWriMo. Who here is unaware I love Star Trek? At the beginning of the pandemic I was forced to watch episode seven of Picard a few times so the entire family knew what was going on before continuing the season. It was a huge sacrifice on my part. 😉 Actually according to Gretchen, it is rather cruel of me because it happens to be the episode Hugh dies. But that isn’t my fault. So when asked to find a line in a book I love…

“Ardani. That’s Kelu for home.” p. 316 The Dark Veil James Swallow

And yes, I was busy watching all the First Contact Day videos on startrek.com yesterday. I finished up with yesterday’s prompt at the perfect time to catch most of it live.

#NaPoWriMo First Contact Day

Keep a safe distance
First time greeting aliens
Live long and prosper

Star Trek: First Contact 1996

Captain Jean-Luc Picard : The date. Data, I need to know the exact date.
Lieutenant Commander Data : April 4th, 2063.
Cmdr. William Riker : April 4th, the day before first contact.
Lieutenant Commander Data : Precisely.

 

Hello readers and welcome to day five of NaPoWriMo – aka First Contact Day. Sorry for the interruption of your regularly scheduled prompt.
NaPoWriMo Prompt – Our (optional) prompt for today is one that we have used in past years, but which I love to come back to, because it so often takes me to new and unusual places, and results in fantastic poems. It’s called the “Twenty Little Poetry Projects,” and was originally developed by Jim Simmerman. The challenge is to use/do all of the following in the same poem. Of course,  if you can’t fit all twenty projects into your poem, or a few of them get your poem going, that is just fine too!

In other news, we pulled off a very successful birthday celebration yesterday (the day before first contact).

 

Festive ambiance
Wish many happy returns
Casa de Hosking

Decorate backyard
She does not reveal her wish
Quarantine party

The dinner portion of last night’s celebration was a bit tricky. We all went to Hayashi Hibachi for Shawn’s birthday at the end of February and Gretchen actually ate and enjoyed the sushi. She wanted to make a return trip for her birthday and then the stay at home order came. Well even before then, restaurants weren’t offering dine-in services, but I told her there is no problem ordering take-out. Mom was wrong Hayashi Hibachi has virtually no online presence and we could not find a menu to view. Shawn actually drove over to the restaurant; yes management is aware of the sucky online presence but they’re a chain and don’t have much of a say. Dad took pictures of the sushi options and we made our selection here at home; Dad placed the order and then went over to Total Wine to wait. He actually took a picture of the parking lot as no one was around except for the wine store. Yes folks if you have to be stuck indoors with your family for a month and more we all need alcoholic beverages to cope. Of course in my opinion, a little bit of poetry doesn’t hurt. Hope every has a safe and happy first contact day!

Advice from An Expert

Good Afternoon, readers! I ventured outside today to walk down the street to the mailbox. Alas, it was mostly junk mail and a couple bills.  I thought I’d share my National Poetry Month poster from a couple years ago to get everyone excited for next month. I did not get a poster last year, but I’m eagerly awaiting the arrival of this year’s poster.

In the meantime, I wrote a few haiku for today’s #haikuchallenge word – crazy. This first one was inspired by the very cool weather we have been experiencing in Phoenix.

Wake up feeling hot
Heat kicks on at end of March
Crazy time of year

The next two are about an introvert being stuck at home with too many people underfoot.

House is too crowded
Introvert driven crazy
Without solitude

Advice from expert –
Conversations with yourself
Staves off stir crazy

To pass the time I’ve been on Twitter way too much, but I have been enjoying William Shatner’s Captain’s Log tweets about sheltering place; as well as Patrick Stewart’s daily sonnet readings. Of course I watched the season finale of Picard yesterday, twice. Shhh.. don’t tell Gretchen. Since she’s stuck at home with online classes, I told her we would watch the two part finale together. But after Jonathan Frakes tweeted a picture of Captain Riker back in uniform very early yesterday morning, I wasn’t going to wait for someone to wake up and attend her online classes before I watched. Don’t worry when I told her Captain Riker shows up again, I promptly blamed Frakes for the spoiler. She had no idea I watched the episode at the beginning of my day before doing housework. And of course I used the episode to inspire my #haikuchallenge tweet yesterday. It’s a good thing Gretchen does not use Twitter or reads my blog. 😉

Picard finale
Believe in human spirit
Live by example

So my life is pretty much continuing on as usual even with the lack of privacy. Unfortunately it seems that may be a constant until school starts up in August again, keeping my fingers crossed we return to normal by then.

 

 

April Survivor

 

Verse may drive her mad
Desperate poet’s story
April survivor

Good Morning! And welcome to May, aka decompress month. Yesterday was May the 4th and Shawn and I went to the party at the Arizona science center. As we were getting in the car, Shawn asked me for directions to the science center. I don’t know; it’s downtown. It’s not like we haven’t been there before. Shawn looked it up and it said, now closed. I laughed, I know it’s an after hours party for old geeks. You had to be over 21 to attend. I had the Romulan Ale (not Roman autocorrect) and Sonic Screwdriver. Shawn had a Butterscotch Wookie (I think) I can’t remember now. And we basically got to roam the science center without little beings running all over the place. Then we went over to Grand Ave. It was first Friday. That is where I printed the May the 4th be with you poster. Yes, I rolled the printing press myself.

And as you can see, the verse did not drive me mad. I wrote over 30 poems in April, counting the #haikuchallenge poems for twitter. I missed one prompt. But I did more than one poem for a couple of the prompts so over all I’d say it was a successful month. Arizona schools got back to work yesterday. Gretchen had a full day of school again. Yay! But Thursday was Rachael’s last exam for her semester, and still no word on her summer gigs. She is now home. Which will be a good thing for a little while anyway as Gretchen has to take the math placement test at EMCC for her fall ACE course. She was going to take it today after her final Eng 102 class, but she looked it up and the testing center is only open Monday – Friday. Rachael will have to bring her over one day after school. I told Gretchen she should have taken it on one of her days of no school, but did she listen to her mother?

May the 4th story
Doctor, Captain, Wookiee meet
Science with a twist

 

Happy Valentine’s Day

 

I heard Shawn playing this clip this morning. I thought I would give him a Valentine’s day poem to match.

Men read poems and duck
fervent
women release heavy objects

Honestly it’s not my fault, the #haikuchallenge word is release. My tweet was –

Tangled between sheets
beast with two backs in search of
climactic release

Actually these are not far off of previous Valentine’s Day poetry.

Penis Envy

Jackass Artist

Don’t you just feel the love between us. 😉 Shawn did make me a nice cup of coffee before he left for work today. ❤

NaPoWriMo 2016 Day 16

Apropos for April

 

Childhood Dream

At the kitchen table she writes
Several years removed from hometown
Young girl dreamed beneath the starlights
One day she could be well renown

Several years removed from hometown
Housewife prattles poetic verse
One day she could be well renown
Across the world her words traverse

Housewife prattles poetic verse
Inspired by Dear Mr. Henshaw
Across the world her words traverse
Write what you know even when blah

Inspired by Dear Mr. Henshaw
Mother puts down in words her life
Write what you know even when blah
Young girl grew to become housewife

Mother puts down in words her life
At the kitchen table she writes
Young girl grew to become housewife
She still dreams beneath the starlights

NaPoWriMo Prompt – Today, I challenge you to fill out, in no more than five minutes, the following “Almanac Questionnaire,” which solicits concrete details about a specific place (real or imagined). Then write a poem incorporating or based on one or more of your answers. Happy writing!

No more than 5 minutes – I had a hard time with some of the questions. But I have dreamed of being a writer ever since the 3rd grade and I read Dear Mr. Henshaw. Great link to click on, as yesterday Gretchen came into the kitchen and said, You’ll have to say goodbye to me at the door. I replied, Yeah I do that every morning.

But today I’m going to school and not coming back.

Yay! I’ve been trying to achieve this for years.

Mom! I’m wearing a red shirt. The red shirts never come back.

Well yesterday she must have been Scotty because the red shirt did return in the afternoon.

And speaking of prattling in poetic verse, I did say I’d give the pantoum another go sometime in April. Since we are past the halfway point, I thought today was a good day to try.