Story Idea: Warranted Paranoia?

           Somebody, please put this in your thriller or horror. It's an unexciting snippet, but what if you could use it during a flashback to help make your protagonist more strategic, more intelligent. Girl, I haven't been able to come up with anything more, and why have a decent snippet go to waste. To get from A to C, play with the details in between. No need to be too formulaic. 

 

        Inspired by a TV clip I saw here, and the idea is simply a character getting a moment alone with a cop, one with whom they have no relationship, and they take a chance, handing the officer a sheet of paper with some names on it, an innocuous item, stating that they have reason to fear that most of those names belong to people whose energy/behavior invites suspicion, also stating that the first character fears that they will be framed for a crime. Maybe this first character owns a gun. Maybe they have a big blot on their legal record. Even if they don't, I'm curious about the thoughts, the tension, the energy between this person and the officer in such a moment. Would the cop take this seriously? Would they hold onto that piece of paper for days, or just until this fearful citizen had left the building? I'd prefer that the paranoia be well-founded. The first character could also say that the name separate from the others is their own, that they acknowledge the strangeness of this moment, but...they're forced to have these oddly/poorly-behaved individuals on the list in their life to some degree, and, well, they believe it's best to get a little ahead of whatever is coming. With that, they politely leave. 

 

          Anybody want to use this? I hope so.   

Compatibility and Self-Respect. A Note Inspired By Casting On 'Nobody Wants This'.

 

           Something that recently became a blip on the celebrity news radar has inspired me to leave this note: When you're in a friendship or a romantic relationship that has been unhealthy all along, and you contemplate ending it, you might reach a point where you're ready to not prioritize emotion, and instead sort through lists of pros and cons, and if you get to that point, I recommend including a higher perspective. 

          My example comes in the form of two couples. As of this writing, Netflix has a series going called Nobody Wants This, starring Kristen Bell and Adam Brody. Their characters are building a healthy romantic connection, while the actors are in respective marriages that are unhealthy. I respect Bell and Brody as performers - they are so talented - and they're real humans, each with young children, so I'm not excited about getting gossipy here, but their fantastic chemistry in season one of the show prompted me to ask my Higher Self a little about it, and an important point I got is that they were meant to take on those roles.

Wanna Tell Me Who I Am? First Make Sure You Can See Me.

 

 

          It would be reasonable and correct to assume that my parents are unaware of what an empath is and the fact that their daughter is one. For example, they rewrite my discomfort with amusement parks as a symptom of my A.D.D.! Something else that they are unaware of is that at a young age, I got in the habit of matching Mom's energy if she came in the room highly stressed or angry, as if that's where I should be just because I'm the offspring. As a little kid, I had my parents up on pedestals and I wanted harmony in the household, so I thought I was taking on one of my responsibilities. My parents didn't try to manipulate me into doing so, and if they'd known about it, they would have simply said once, "Don't worry about it, honey", and moved on, as if now my reacting to Mom would be a non-problem. 

 

Over the Influence

 

           I was trying to figure out how I’d make a certain point in this essay and – ta da!  – Christina Lopes, DPT, MPH posted something to her YouTube account that helps to get me started. On the image are the words, “Non-attachment is the most loving thing you can do”, and the post goes on to say,

“Why do we cling so hard to people, things and titles?

It’s not just because we love them.

It’s because they hold our self-image together – like emotional super glue.”

 

"Salad", a poem.

 

          Salad.

 

This is easier than I expected.

You now only want to have dinner with me once every five or six months.

Last time, you tried to argue about what counts as a Caesar salad.

What a relief that we have let go to this degree, each freeing up important seats at the other’s table

You deserve to have more fun and I deserve the art, nutrition, the dog

This is key growth, something actually sustainable

Far better than ignorant insults at a small glass table.

2.25.25

 

  

 (I'll come back to this piece sometime for edits)