Creativity Alley - 1

(from the 'Creativity Alley Jumpstart' program) http://writingbliss.com/
Possible Uses For...
This is one of the simplest block busting methods. It stimulates the mind and helps you break out of a functionally fixated mindset. This method involves thinking of an ordinary object and listing all possible uses for that object within a specified length of time. When you use this creative thinking method, you do not think about what that object is normally used for or how it is usually thought of.
For your first creative activity, list at least 20 original uses for tons of punched paper holes. Do this in 10 minutes or less. Describe each use in a sentence or two.
----
1. Confetti, multi-colored would be best. Cheaper than buying pre-made confetti, and a hastle to clean up!
2. Colorful mulch! Maybe, I don't actually know what mulch does.
3. Use along-side bubble stone thingies as decorative filling for vases
4. Can create the illusion of sprinkles on a paper-art cupcake.
5. Can be used to create the illusion of cobble stone in a miniature town structure.
6. Can be used to fill clear balloons to spice them up.
7. Can be used to pad something. Perhaps put them all in a plastic bag with something fragile.
8. Can be used to make a trail to the bedroom, preferably use white, red and pink. :)
9. Can be used as bedding for a small animal (ex: reptile, rodent)
10. Can be used to annoy the shit out of a friend, surprise bomb the inside of their car if they have a habit of leaving the window down! That will teach them a lesson.
11. Can be used in monster make-up to create the illusion of peeling skin or scales.
12. Can be used to make children laugh. Pretend to sneeze and blow it all over the place!
13. Align punches in forms of letters, glue them down, laminate and you have a bookmark!
14. Use them when painting to create a bubbly/raised illusion. (It will probably look shitty though)
15. Make a shit-ton and blow them in front of a fan to create the illusion of SNOW!!!
16. Annoy your friends by sending these in a letter, so while they're happy they got a letter, now they're upset that they have to clean it up and that possibly their animals are at their feet trying to eat it.
17. Create a game where contestants choose a balloon (but cannot touch, just from a distance) and all at once everyone pops their balloon over their head and the one with the hole punches/confetti/big mess all over them, wins! Game of chance.
18. Use them to help teach a child to count or basic math skills.
19. Use them to create snowglobes (probably without the water).
20. Stuff a bunch in a bag for a make-shift pillow.

DCW prompt - Day 7

#211 - "Write from the point of view of a clean sock that was mistakenly placed in the hamper."
----
 I know she probably didn't do it on purpose, it was a mistake. She's been very stressed lately with finals and her boyfriend is being consistent in making it difficult for her to study while he plays his video games at volumes that cause her dorm mates to bang on the door to 'keep it down.' Yes, I realize this, and I recognize that I shouldn't feel personally attacked by her slip up, but it's hard to fight those feelings. While I'm grateful for the towel and pair of pants that separates me from her boyfriends dingy drawers, I still feel a tinge of sorrow for being banished to the dirty clothes hamper.

And really, I don't blame her. I realize my anger is with her roommate. I see him sneak in here every so often when she's not around, he opens the drawer I share with my fellow 'undergarments,' usually to rifle through her underwear; sometimes he sniffs them and a few times I've even seen him try them on. Of course he looks silly in them - Jessica is a slim woman with a shapely rear end and her roommate does not share these qualities. Thankfully, the one's he tries on are also the one's he steals so we aren't cooped up with tainted panties. That doesn't happen often though, and the top drawer (that's us - the undergarments) hadn't seen him in a while, but this afternoon he struck again.


His dirty little pleasure was cut short though because Jessica and her boyfriend could be heard coming up the hall. Her roommate frantically tried to put everything back in order. He turned to make his exit, clumsily dragging his hand towards where I sat on top of the other socks, separating me from my partner and landing us both at the base of the dirty clothes hamper atop a towel I assume she had used that morning for her shower before she darted off to class.


So while Jessica did pick the lot of us up and throw us in the hamper to feel shamed, it's not entirely her fault. I suppose if I was a Jessica, I might do the same thing.

Daily creative writing (DCW) prompt - day 6

#239 "Write about a bucket of distaste."
I think I did a pretty good job on this one.
----
    The horizon was blurred. It was a mix of the tears that collected on the brim of her lower eyelids and the warbly heat rising from the flames in front of her. Darlene ran the back of her hand across her eyes, smearing the mascara that was at risk of staining her cheeks across the bridge of her nose where the trail ended just before her temple.
    A pile of items was stacked to her right. A large bucket was in front of her, positioned in the middle of a firepit which was used every Summer, but never in this way. Darlene grabbed at the top of the pile, bringing it closer to her face. A photograph of three smiling faces looked back at her, no tears in their eyes. A rush of emotion inspired her silent cries to volumize and tears poured out over the brim and mascara trickled down her cheeks. She clutched the photo in her fist and threw it into the bucket where the flames were licking at previously discarded memories, black smoke adding to her impaired vision.
    Darlene continued to grab items from the pile and throw them into the hungry fire, the warmth of the flames devoured the bucket of distaste. Despite watching the photos warp under the intense heat, in the back of her mind she knew that burning physical evidence of memories would not burn them from her mind. She would never forget the overwhelming love and trust she had in Trevor, the love and trust she felt in return. And as wonderful as that feeling was, it would never be remembered on its own. It would forever be tainted by the memory which turned her stomach - her best friend Sharon draped over Trevor, her body trembling and covered by nothing but sweat conceived by passion, and that devious smile she aimed at Darlene who stood petrified in the doorway.
    Darlene, enfuriated by the memory that begun to loop in her mind's eye, began to grab at the pile and throw it into the flames. Concert tickets, wrist bands, more photos, keychains and love letters - all burning together, more black smoke billowing into the sky accompanied by her cries.