Slowly I Turned

May 18, 2019 by JoAnna 31 Comments

Here’s the prompt:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “adverb.” Start your post with any adverb and just run with it. Have fun!

What popped into my head was something from my teen years. Early teens I think. Or younger. It was a little game we played of suspense with these lines:

“S l o w l y I turned. Step by step. Inch by inch,” one of us would say, drawing out the words with an evil look in our eyes, building suspense….. and then,

“GOTCHA!” We’d grab the other person, maybe tickle them or something. I guess it would work better in the dark, or candle light. A sleep-over with a seance. (Hey, I spelled it right!) I don’t think we ever had serious seances. Just lit a candle and spooked ourselves silly.

Speaking of suspense, I’ve been taking a RAD course (Rape Aggression Defense) like Jami wrote about in her blog.   

There are four classes and they’re FREE at the Sheriff’s Department. I have one more class to go. The instructors who are sheriff deputies said the last class will include simulations where we will be presented with scenarios to practice our skills. It sounds like we are going to be pretend attacked by unknown actors who are really law enforcement people. We will all be wearing padding. And helmets. I’m a little anxious about it. The class is thorough and interesting. It has shown me how much I don’t like conflict. Most people describe me a calm. I guess I am mild-mannered. The RAD instructors, one in particular, seem to try to make us mad, so we will fight back hard. It feels foreign to me, yet once or twice, it sort of felt good to get mad. Like I have this secret dark side. (It’s not a secret to those closest to me who have seen me mad, though not often.)

So it should come as no surprise that I don’t like slapstick (unless it’s Steve Martin) or the three stooges cause they’re always hitting each other. But I got curious about that “Slowly I turn…” business and looked it up. It’s an old vaudeville routine. I found some videos with the stooges that I didn’t look at and thought the one with Lucy would be okay.  Well, there is hitting. She’s so funny and gets triggered by the name of “the other woman.” I guess we all have our triggers.

 

Lucy was always such a good sport.

Yeah, so I don’t fit the stereotype about redheads and temper. But if I get triggered once in a blue moon, watch out!

PS. I should clarify that everything in the RAD classes is completely voluntary and there are plenty of check ins to make sure we’re okay.

PPS. Here’s my plan: practice the moves and cultivate CONFIDENCE.

…

For more on the SoCS, visit Linda’s blog:

https://lindaghill.com/2019/05/17/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-may-18-19/

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing (typos can be fixed), and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. I will post the prompt here on my blog every Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The,’” or will simply be a single word to get you started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours. Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read all of them! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later or go to the previous week by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!