Today is One-liner Wednesday at Linda G. Hill’s site, but of course my one-liner will be a bit longer… (https://lindaghill.com/2018/01/17/one-liner-wednesday-jusjojan-daily-prompt-january-17-2018/)  These Jots are not only my 500-words a day challenge, but also part of my  Ultimate Blogging Challenge challenge (http://ultimateblogchallenge.com).

Oh boy.  No theme today, so now I have to decide what to write about.  The 500 word challenge suggestion is to write a manifesto – a statement of purpose that represents what I believe in.  And the Ultimate Blogging Challenge suggestion is to share something from the past – my personal past, my business’s past, or the world’s past.  Hey, is the possessive of business “business’ “ or “business’s”?  Does anyone really know how this works?  I mean, when you say the possessive of business, it sounds like the plural, right?  But in writing we are supposed to add that apostrophe thing, but when a word ends with one or more “s”’s (yikes!) what are we supposed to write?  Where does the damn apostrophe go?

So, since I don’t know what else to write about today, let’s do this.  It’s not a manifesto, but it might turn into a bit of a cause, depending on what I find out as I Google possessives and apostrophes.  Here goes!

According to APA, which is the American Psychological Association citation guide (something I know about all too well, working in academia and having suffered through APA citations for my Masters thesis…), you always add an extra “s” after the apostrophe.  Ok, nice to have a rule.  Of course, every rule comes with exceptions, so the exception here, according to APA, is you do NOT add an extra “s” when the word or name in question ends with an “s” that isn’t pronounced. Sigh.  Like “Decartes’ theory”.  (http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2013/06/forming-possessives-with-singular-names.html).

And to further confuse me (although admittedly, it does not take much to confuse me), words/names that end in “s”, where the “s” is pronounced normally, but the extra “s” of the possessive is NOT pronounced, you don’t add the extra “s” in spelling”.  So, Charles’s cat, as opposed to Bridges’ cat.  Stupid English spelling.  (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/punctuation/apostrophe)

Then, there is this helpful advice Many common nouns end in the letter s (lens, cactus, bus, etc.). So do a lot of proper nouns (Mr. Jones, Texas, Christmas). There are conflicting policies and theories about how to show possession when writing such nouns. There is no right answer; the best advice is to choose a formula and stay consistent. “” (http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/apostro.asp)

So, I guess in the end, just do what you like as long as you keep it consistent.  And never, Never, NEVER add an apostrophe to “it” when it is possessive.  It is NOT “it’s door”, although it is “it’s a door”.  It’s is for “it is” , it is not for the possessive of “it” (was that too many “it is’s” for you?”.  Please, for the love of whatever you believe in, DON’T add an apostrophe to “it” for possession.  Just…don’t.

And now, to end, and this had nothing whatsoever to do with apostrophes or possessive nouns, but I just watched Seth Meyers from last night, and I just had to say that I LOVE Leslie Jones (from SNL). She just make me laugh and laugh and laugh.  I love Seth too, but Leslie Jones?  Man – she is awesome!

“Your prompt for January 16th, 2018, brought to you by the multi-talented Cheryl, is “Contemplation.” Use it any way you’d like in your post. And make sure you visit Cheryl at her blog, “The Bag Lady” to read her post and say hi! Here’s her link:  https://rugby843.blog/“ (https://lindaghill.com/2018/01/16/jusjojan-daily-prompt-january-16th-2018/)  These Jots are not only my 500-words a day challenge, but also part of my  Ultimate Blogging Challenge challenge (http://ultimateblogchallenge.com).

Contemplation

Oh, you’re opening a whole kettle with this word, don’t you know!?!

So, it’s 6:15 am, and I’ve been up for an hour.  Drinking my coffee, eating my bagel, contemplating getting ready for my workout this morning.  Feeling awake now, contemplating a bit of a sore throat, but convincing myself that it’s just the dryness of winter.  Strange thing, living in a city on the ocean, but feeling dry all winter.  Even though it’s the rainy season.  It doesn’t’ rain for 4 months in the summer, but I never feel dry then.  That’s something to contemplate!

The early morning darkness of this time of year is a good time for contemplation.  No distractions from the outside world.  Even the kitties are … hmmm, I don’t know where they are.  That’s something to contemplate.  What are they getting into, or have they just gone back to bed with Kevin – the fireplace in the bedroom is on, after all.

I take a moment to contemplate the day ahead.  Mainly to make sure I don’t have any meetings at 8:30 in the morning.  I try really hard to avoid those.  Then I don’t have to rush after my workout.  I can take a bit of time to get ready for work and to take my longer drive along the ocean.  Contemplation time as I wend my way.

And now I contemplate what to do with the next 10 minutes before I need to head to the gym.  Trying not to contemplate too hard about what I want to do after work.  Running, yoga, meditation.  It will probably be a leftover night for dinner as I can’t contemplate adding cooking onto the list.  Ah, now I see Elliot.  He is contemplating, well, I am not sure what he is contemplating, but he looks like he is contemplating something.  Probably what mischief he is going to get into next.  Although, I am sure he doesn’t think of it as mischief.  Just his kitten duties.

I am close to leaving for my workout.  As I prepare to leave, I am contemplating if I should take some pictures on my way to the gym, and at the grocery store, which is right next to the gym – well, kickboxing studio – because there I could take a couple of minutes to contemplate flowers outside and which ones I want to take pictures of for my blog.  There are always many pictures to contemplate.  What is my flower of the day?  What is my colour of the day?  Today is Gold.  So, what pictures can I take that are “gold”?  Then there are pictures to take of kittens to prepare for Kitten Thursday.  Many, many things in life to contemplate.  Even before I leave the house.

Well, I think this will end my contemplative (yes, a real word!) morning of contemplating what to write for my 500 words today.  Time to stop contemplating and get out there to do some things.  Then, tomorrow morning, I can roll out of bed and begin contemplating for another day.

I leave you with a kitten contemplating the fire.

“Your prompt for January 15th, 2018, brought to you by the lovely Barb, is “Justice.” Use it any way you’d like in your post. And make sure you visit Barb at her blog, “Gallimaufry,” to read her post and say hi! Here’s her link:  https://barbct.wordpress.com/“ (https://lindaghill.com/2018/01/15/jusjojan-daily-prompt-january-15th-2018/)  These Jots are not only my 500-words a day challenge, but also part of my  Ultimate Blogging Challenge challenge (http://ultimateblogchallenge.com).

Justice

Justice.  What a word/topic/theme for a Monday 500 word writing challenge.  The word brings to my mind many, many concepts and expressions.  Supreme Court Justice.  Justice is served.  Social Justice.  Poetic Justice.  Justice League.  Taco Justice (a food truck here in Victoria, ok?).

The dictionary says that justice can be defined as “the maintenance or administration of what is just especially by the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments”.  So, justice does not mean punishment, although I think we often think of justice as punishment for something someone did wrong.  So, justice is sometimes served by sending someone to jail.  But, justice can also be served by someone NOT going to jail – you know, when sending them to jail would have been an INjustice.  Sending them to jail when they are not guilty is also a miscarriage of justice, or perhaps could also be a travesty of justice.

Justice can also refer to a person, like a Supreme Court Justice, or a Justice of the Peace.  A Justice in this case is a judge or magistrate.  One thing I have always been confused by is how judges in the States are elected, not appointed.  Well, some are appointed, like federal judges who are appointed by the President.  Of course, I am sure it is much more complicated than this, but I’m Canadian, and don’t need to know all the ins and outs of the American Justice system.

Poetic Justice is ironic, so kind of like karma.  The example I read during my Justice search was a CEO of a cigarette company who claimed to not believe cigarettes cause cancer, dies of lung cancer due to being a smoker.  Poetic Justice.

You can also do justice to something, so for example, I could have done justice to this topic today, but I am not sure I am.  That is what happens when you wait until the end of the day to do your writing.  It’s much easier first thing in the morning.

Justice League is a movie, a movie that Kevin and I got to go to for free courtesy of VW, and were pretty glad it was free.  Last time we got to go to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them which I would have paid to go to!  And speaking of Justice as it applies to superheroes, didn’t Superman talk about Truth, Justice, and the American Way?  Wonder what Superman would think of what is going on down south of my Canadian borders now?

And to give some final justice to this topic, I will leave you with a supposed quote from Martin Luther King Jr., who is being remembered south of our borders.  “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Ok, I admit it.  I had no idea what I wanted to write about this topic today, and I think it’s fairly obvious that I still don’t.  Poetic Justice for putting off starting my writing until right before I need to start making dinner.  Swedish meatballs and rice, by the way.  Off to make dinner now!

“Your prompt for January 14th, 2018, brought to you by a new-to-me blogger, Itinerary Planner, is “Ultimatum.” Use it any way you’d like in your post. And make sure you visit Itinerary Planner at her blog, “Travel Itineraries: Travel the World for Less” (sounds good to me!) to read her post and say hi! Here’s her link:  https://traveltinerary.com/“ (https://lindaghill.com/2018/01/14/jusjojan-daily-prompt-january-14th-2018/)  These Jots are not only my 500-words a day challenge, but also part of my  Ultimate Blogging Challenge challenge (http://ultimateblogchallenge.com).

Ultimatum

This topic made me wonder, what is an ultimatum anyway?  I mean, I know what it is, but I thought, hey.  I should look it up to make sure I really understand this word before I write about it.  So, I looked it up, and the dictionary says that an ultimatum is “a final demand or statement of terms, the rejection of which will result in retaliation or a breakdown in relations.”  So, basically, it’s someone saying that someone else had better do something or else.  Yeah.  I don’t think ultimatums probably work very well, if they work at all.  Kind of like a dare, or a triple dog dare.  I don’t do dare.  I don’t do ultimatums.  If you have to issue me an ultimatum for something, you’ve got a problem.  If I think something is worth doing, I’ll do it.  But if you have to threaten me to get me to do something, then I think you need to go back to the drawing board.

Also, the idea that an ultimatum is a “final demand”?  How many times have you heard someone say “do that or else”, and then have to change the “or else” because the something didn’t get done?  Does this mean then that it’s not really an ultimatum?  Can you up-ultimatum your ultimatum?  For example, “clean your room, or no supper” … ”ok, you can have supper, but no dessert if your room isn’t clean” … “ok, you can have dessert if you promise to clean your room after”.  And so on, and so on.

Leaders sometimes try ultimatums with other countries.  But who do those leaders (presidents, prime ministers, whatever) think they are telling other countries they can’t run their countries the way they want to?  I’ve always wondered that.  Why not suck it up and talk to each other about the issues?  Just saying, stop that or we won’t send you goods anymore…how often does that actually work?  Do the issues ever get resolved, or do they just fester under the surface until one day they explode in everyone’s faces?

I’m not very good at issuing ultimatums for myself.  You know the kind: go to the gym or no chocolate tonight.  Yeah, I think, good idea!  That will get me to the gym for sure, I think all day long.  Then the end of the day comes, and I’m all like, I can do what I want.  Who’s going to stop me from having chocolate if I don’t go to the gym?  I may feel guilty about it, but I will still enjoy the chocolate.

I hear parents sometimes try ultimatums with their kids.  You know, like the one about cleaning your room and dessert.  I imagine at some point they stop working.  Mom and dad tell me that I liked being sent to my room when I did something wrong because I could just pull out a book and read.  Yay ultimatums!

One thing I can tell you for sure, ultimatums don’t work with kittens.