#the genie and dreaming of you samples…… her mind

[ruffoverthinksthings]

Prometheus

Short story for @screaminginternallyalleternity involving her OC of Jane’s dad.

There was always an interrogation before and after Jane’s visits to her father, Adrien Castle, or as he was more popularly known, “Professor Prometheus.”

Before, it was always questions of if she knew that “The Stars” had formally expatriated from Auradon, that they were only allowed to practice magic as they were keeping out of Auradon’s proper territories and out of sight, and that she would lose all of her rights, her privileges, and be denied contact with her mother if she defected to whichever cell, out-of-the-way hide-out, or alternate dimension he was living in at the moment.

Always, she would answer yes, yes, and yes.

After, it was questions of if she had any plans of expatriating, if she would now be practicing magic, or if she was thinking of encouraging others to do so.

Always, she would answer no, no, and no.

She wasn’t a child, though her physical form looked the part. She could understand that there was a very big, very complicated, and very dire reason why Auradon was always so concerned about “defection, propaganda, and the influence of subversive elements” like her father and the circles he ran around in.

She just didn’t know exactly why, up until the day she asked her father about it.

She didn’t ask him outright, as she knew enough to shut up about all matters involving Auradon and especially the Magic Ban whenever she was in any of the Star settlements.

But so it was that fate happened to give her a chance, and she didn’t want to waste it.

It started with her father placing an item on his worktable, what looked like a flower in a pot, except it was made of intricately carved rock, crystals, and precious jewels, the closed “petals” made of glass with finely carved inscriptions on it.

Jane marveled at it, from her position standing on a stool and her tiny hands on the edge of the table. “It’s beautiful!” she said, her voice tinny and squeaky.

“Hold your praise, I haven’t turned it on just yet,” Adrien said, smiling as he waved his hand in front of a specific section of the “pot.”

Jane gasped as the petals slowly, delicately unfolded, before the whole device began to hum with magical power, a glowing field emanating from the blooming “flower.” “What does it do...?” she asked.

“This, my Sunshine, is a miniaturized, local anti-gravity field generator, and what it does is that it holds things up in the air for as long as it’s on,” Adrien replied as he tossed a marble atop it.

The ball quickly slowed to a stop as it entered the field, until it was gently bobbing up and down in the center of it.

Jane clapped. “It’s wonderful, daddy!”

Adrien blushed, and plucked the marble out. “Wait till I show you just how much it can lift...”

So a show started, Adrien putting increasingly larger and heavier balls on the field generator: tennis balls, baseballs, soccer balls, footballs, basketballs, until finally, Jane watched him strain and grunt as he lifted an entire bowling ball up and put it atop the field.

Jane clapped her hands over her mouth as it dipped dangerously low, almost touching the glass petals… then, it slowly lifted back up, and the bowling ball was still. She giggled in delight as she clapped her hands once more.

“Great job, daddy!”

Adrien blushed. “Thank you, Sunshine!”

“How does it work?” Jane asked.

Adrien beamed. “I’m glad you asked! First, this relies heavily on the--”

The field suddenly gave out.

The two Fae watched as the bowling ball fell in slow-motion, dipping down a little, almost touching the crystal petals, until gravity got hold of it once more and it crushed the device, flower and pot and all.

Jane screamed as shards of glass, cracked crystal, and jagged chunks of rock came flying out. Adrien quickly grabbed her, hugging her to his chest as he turned away from the mess, bits crunching underneath his aged leather shoes as he ran to the counter on the opposite corner.

“Oh gods, Jane! Are you okay?” Adrien asked as he set her down and began to look her over. “Did you get cut? Do you need a hug?”

Jane sniffled, her heart racing from the fear and the panic pouring from her father. “I’m fine...” she said shakily.

Thunk. Crack.

The bowling ball rolled off the table, and made a crack on the floor. “Oh no!” Jane said. “Your invention and your floor, daddy!”

Adrien groaned. “Jane: fuck the invention and the floor! I can fix both, and if I can’t, I can just get a new workshop with a snap of my fingers, and build a brand new prototype out of my blueprints and notes!”

His voice and his face softened. “After all, I can’t replace you, sunshine.”

“Are you sure it’s not a big deal...?” Jane asked.

Adrien kissed her on the forehead, and smiled at her. “Positive. I love you more than I do any of my inventions, my possessions, or even Science and Magic itself, my Sunshine.”

Jane smiled, and sniffed. “I love you too, daddy.”

Adrien hugs her and strokes her hair. “You just wait here while I get cleaned up, Sunshine...”

Jane hums. “Okay, daddy.”

“Ah, I’m happy you didn’t get hurt, and the field failed during testing rather than during a live use of it…” He said as he picked up the bowling ball, put a wooden board over the new crater in his workshop, and swept up all the glass and rock for recycling. “I don’t want to think of what sort of chaos and unpleasantness would have happened if this was being used to move supply crates around...”

“Did you invent this for the settlement, daddy?” Jane asked.

“Yes,” he replied. “The trolls, the familiars, and the golems can only be asked to do so much before they start asking for or needing more magic than we feel comfortable giving. Gods, if this works out the way I think it will, we’d save ourselves so much time, effort, and resources, free to use them for much better pursuits!

“It’ll be leaps and bounds more efficient than anything they’re using in Auradon, that’s for sure!”

“Then why don’t you try selling it to them?” Jane asked. “Maybe they’ll make an exception like they did with the Animal Translators?”

Adrien sighs heavily as he dumps all of the shattered pieces into a bin. “I seriously doubt it. If there’s anything Auradon hates, it’s progress; just look at Camelot, with King Arthur keeping his entire state stuck in the Middle Ages!”

He grows quiet for a moment. “Frankly though, with all the things he and the others know, I can sympathize with him, even if it’s still a stupid-arsed decision...”

“What do they know…?” Jane asks.

If her mind had matched her appearance, this would have been when Adrien would have copped out with some vague, general, or woefully sterilized account to protect her innocence, and help her understand it in the first place.

As they both knew, however, her clothes, her voice, and her body were the only things even remotely child-like about Jane.

“Let’s sit down for tea,” Adrien said as he put away his dustpan and broom. “This is going to be a long conversation...”

Later, when they are seated across each other with cups of herbal tea, Adrien began his story.

“You know why I got into the business of combining science and magic, yes?”

“You wanted to make it more accessible for everyone,” Jane replied.

Adrien nodded. “Indeed...

“I thought it was the beginning of something beautiful, a miracle when Beast’s ambassadors came opening their rifts into my home realm, when the local government forged an alliance and we joined their ever growing network of dimensions sharing all the knowledge, goods, and culture they had, chattering about making a brand new, better world, together.

“It’s only too late that I realized it was the start of one massive atrocity.

“The Isle’s barrier is just part of it, my most visible failure. No, the true scope of my mistake was that and everything else I helped create.

“When the Great Uniting was said and done, the celebrations and the speeches were over, and us scientists and magicians could finally start collaborating in-person with all the new facilities, associations, and resources available to us, it felt like the start of an exciting new era for Science and Magic.

“There was nothing we couldn't do, nothing we weren't allowed to do, and we were encouraged to do everything we could... and that, my Sunshine, was where it all went to Hell.

“We could have all the resources we wanted, no supervision, no regulation, no questions asked. We had all the willing test subjects we could ask for, along with a huge population of people that nobody would really miss, the scientist's dream of completely random sample spread across ethnicity, gender, economic class, and even species.

“And we did things, Jane—TERRIBLE things.

“It was the Barrier, what I thought was supposed to be just a simple security measure until the Villains could be rehabilitated and re-released back into society.

“It was the fact that we broke the laws of nature and reality, bringing those Villains back from wherever they had ended up and here, what experiments we had to do to prove the concept let alone a completely successful result, and the horrific failures from our attempts.

“It was all the theories, the methods, and the experiments we lifted from overlord’s spellbooks, old tomes bound with mysterious leather, ancient scrolls sealed away in tombs and deep within caves.

“We should have known better. We knew what dark magic could do to mere mortals and even immortal Fae. Genie wasn’t kidding when he said raising the dead was a messy business.

“But we were arrogant, thought ourselves incorruptible, and that was our downfall.”

“What happened?” Jane asked. “Did Evi—uh, morally questionable people get past the vetting process?”

Adrien shook his head and chuckled sadly. “No. We were all good people. But you’ve no idea what happens to even the best of folks when you give them the power to play god, or worse yet, when you make them think that they are ones, like with that arrogant, pompous fool, Beast.

“We all saw the problems, the horrors, the disasters waiting to happen with what we had wrought.

“I’ll admit I wasn’t one of the first who sensed that something was wrong, but as soon as my eyes were opened, I was flooding those communication channels about emergency shut downs, regulation, and more Royal Guards with the others.

“But he refused to believe that things would ever get that bad. Too focused on building his brand new legacy. Too drunk with the idea of all the praise and the love he would receive for authorizing and spearheading these new techniques, spells, and inventions.

“Then Belle, bless her, managed to convince that bone-headed jackass to come down to the facilities and see what we were working on, and bring all the other monarchs with him, see what we were doing with all that gold from their treasuries and supplies from their kingdoms.”

Jane frowned, sensed the unease, the horror, the disgust welling up inside her father. “… What happened…?”

Adrien sighed, and hung his head. “It was the End of that glorious Era, and the start of that farce you and so many others are forced to live in.

“The Royals sensed something was wrong when on the days leading up to their visits, personnel started to go missing, entire facilities were going radio silent, and there was an aura of gloom and unease gnawing at the pits of our stomachs.

“Then, Beast ordered teams of Guards to open up the locks, force us all to show them everything we were working on—and what they found, what we all found, were things none of us will ever forget.”

Adrien raised his head, his eyes said. “This is why the Magic Ban was really instated, you know.

“It wasn’t any of that bollocks of ‘fairness’ and ‘achieving on your own merits’--it was because they finally realized what magic and science was truly capable of in this new world, when they let it run wild, even in the hands of people who were ‘Good.’

“The Ban was supposed to be temporary, until we could get things under control and bring about better regulations. But like all of his other orders, that tyrant Beast apparently decided it was better if we just swept the whole problem under the rug than mar his shining reputation with the uglier consequences of his actions.

“We protested. We fought. We saw what could be done if you were willing to admit it was there, and convince everyone to roll up their sleeves and get to work cleaning it up.

“However magic and science was abused, this was our lives’ work, and never let it be said that from great horror and tragedy, great things may rise.”

Adrien sighed once more. “I suppose we really shouldn’t have been surprised that he just banished what he could, set fire to the rest, and forced us all into secrecy. That’s what Beast does with his problems, you know: he sweeps them under the rug, or he yells, he bullies, and he threatens until you just grow tired of trying to pull that head of his out from his ass.

“It’s sad, really.

“Our vision was to let anyone have the power and the wonders that were exclusive to the Fae, the Demi-Gods, and the Mages. Erase the hierarchy of mortals being forced to bend to the will of those with power lest they be destroyed. Raise us all to the same plane, so we may all see what new heights we could achieve together.

“We were all supposed to be Stars. Instead, we all turned into slaves.”

It was silent for a long time after that, father and daughter slowly sipping their tea.

Jane put down her cup, opened her mouth, but quickly closed it.

“Something up, Sunshine?” Adrien asked.

Jane debated it for a moment, before she asked, “Do you regret it?”

Adrien chuckled. “No. Strangely enough, I don’t. My work… my work has opened up new horizons, exposed so many to the possibilities they couldn’t have fathomed, like Prometheus stealing the flame of Knowledge to give to man.

“It is an unspeakable tragedy that such potential was wasted and corrupted in such a way by men like Beast… but, I take heart in the fact Alfred Nobel invented TNT, and later started the Nobel Peace Prize.”

He smiled bitterly. “It’s only a matter of time until this farce ends—it always is.”

“Is that what keeps you going??” Jane asked.

Adrien shook his head. “Sunshine, it’s you that keeps me going. When I toil away in my laboratory and immerse myself in research, I do not think about the glory it may give me, the accolades I will receive, the royalties I can earn from patents.

“No, I think of myself as one scientist among many, slowly, gradually helping expand the knowledge of all of us, creating a better world for ourselves and for all future generations to live in.”

He started tearing up. “Jane, my Sunshine, my only Sunshine… Auradon was for you. And I am so, so sorry things turned out this way...”

Jane got up off her seat, walked over to him, and hugged him. “It’s okay daddy,” she whispers as she buries her face in his chest. “I forgive you.”

The tears start to flow as Adrien wraps his arms tight around his daughter.

He would never truly find peace, not now, not ever… but that one person forgave him was enough, if only for the moment.

[awellboiledicicle]

So, weird dream

I had a dream that I got lost on the way home from somewhere and met someone who needed a ride home and i gave her one because it was raining and the road was washing out. She was shivering, so at one of the stop signs, even with the heat turned up and i was warm, i gave her my coat and my coffee because she was shaking. She thanked me and cried. I gave her my bandanna and she said thanks again.So i drive her out to this really remote house and the road looked like it was washing out to the point of a mudslide but she thanked me so much and when i asked if she needed an umbrella too because there was still a walk to the door she cried more and hugged me, and told me she was actually a magical being. Her hug was really damn cold and she didn’t specify what she was till she let go.

She wasn’t like a fairy or anything, which i asked because that was something that made me nervous-- i’m jewish not stupid, but i had been helpful so eh-- and she’d said no, just made of magic. 

But she’d appearantly been trying to get a ride home from town all night and not a single person had given her one, even though it was raining cats and dogs and Niagara falls. She explained she’d been showing up at intervals along the whole 200 mile stretch of highway and no one pulled over, offered her a coat or umbrella or anything. I was the first-- even if i had been really freaking twitchy because hitchhikers aren’t my thing. Honestly the only reason i’d done it is because it looked like she was going to get caught in a mudslide and die, and i couldn’t let that happen. 

And she was so happy with me, that she was going to give me a gift.  Now, in the dream and out i wasn’t sure if G-d had given our people a line about interacting with magical entities and/or if they fell under ‘shit G-d made that we just kinda had to roll with’ so i was just kinda listening politely. 

Thing was, she gave me a list of choices of what does your heart desire type things and, see, i’ve seen these movies. I have read those books. I know the asshole genie and mystical rules lawyer. The choices were:

More wealth than your wildest dreams, wealth beyond counting by any being in this world or the next as repayment for your selfless kindness paid upon total strangers, as you will use it well

The love and devotion and acceptance of all you see fit, as none should look upon someone as kind and generous as you with anything but love and joy in their heart

Immortality so that the fear you cast aside when you came to my aid will never darken your mind again, as someone as gentle and giving as you deserves the assurance of never coming to harm or the shadow of death darkening your travels

Now if you don’t know me, I have always been what you would call not a person to know what to do with these choices. And also not purposely rude. But somehow my response was like, along the lines of like “I don’t wanna live forever bc no. Mind control sounds like a shit move.” She looked amused i caught that. “and i don’t.. i don’t really need that much money, ma’am. Like $20 for fuel if you really feel like you need to pay me back or something, but i don’t really think its needed.” “C’mon, i’m trying to repay you! Besides, what kinda human doesn’t want unlimited money!” I just blinked at her.  “Do you know how fast the government would be on my ass. What would the taxes even be on a bank account of infinity. Is there interest. Do i open my wallet and money just flies out like a bazooka. Does it count as income and if so would i write in ‘paid from magical force’ and how do you file that. Is it just there.” She just kinda got blank faced and stared at me. “You’re thinking about this a lot aren’t you?” “Well, what would i even do with it anyway? I have a house. I have a car. Even if i upgraded my wifi or gaming things or something, ok. Buy shiny things? Ok still... lots of money. Pay off everyone in the country or the world’s student loan debt? Housing loans? Credit card bills? Outstanding debts? Donate to charities in such large amounts they don’t know what to do with it? Pay for people’s citizenship papers and tuition and housing?” “Well, yeah those are--” “No, you know why? Because the government would be on mine and everyone’s ass immediately wondering where all this money came from and why they didn’t have it wrapped tightly around their dick calling them daddy. I’d do it if it were possible, but it needs to be done in smaller amounts than infinity.” “That’s fair.” She sat back in the seat and crossed her arms. “I can’t not give you something though! Pick one.” “Ok, but we’re rewording it.”

Cut to like 6 months later

I was living in New Mexico and had this GIGANTIC mega store-bakery-housing complex-craft market thing that was staffed by over 400,000 people who had immigrated to the United states and i had over 5,000 lawyers constantly fighting the government and we had secure escorts for our workers and their families. Because I employed the people who were in the process of immigrating and those who had, and part of the benefits package that you got for learning a trade at my company was we would pay for healthcare/dental/maternity/paternity/100 sick days and the health care thing expanded to your family and if you wanted to bring your extended family to the US we had a program that you could pay into from you $19/h starting salary to help cover the cost of us helping get the process started. 

I and Vera [magic lady] had started this company and she continually was amazed that my reaction to negotiating down to 20 million dollars a day into my bank account was to do this and then set up various foundations and businesses that domino-ed to pay off college debts and send people to college. To buy homes sitting empty, fix them up and fill them with homeless families. To pay for medical treatments that are being denied to people that were unable to afford them. To feed the hungry and renovate homeless shelters and soup kitchens. To renovate and improve schools in inner city areas and make sure theres not mold and leaky pipes collapsing roofs. I recall there was a part where i rolled hard at local and national legislation on sex work because a law had come down to make it even more criminalized and for a while while the law was in effect, we handed out free condoms, dental dams, birth control, prep, and opened pharmacies in the stores with a nondisclosure polocy that got us in trouble and we poured a lot of money into a legal “fuck you” at the government till the law was repealed.  Every week the 20 million gets taken down to 0, and the profits from the businesses are distributed to all the workers and if the profits are too large for the higher ups, while the lower parts shrink, they get redistributed because the workers need to have money to live. 

Vera kept making noises because the most i’d do is use my pay to buy Judaica and occasionally rocks, and the workers would bring me food and then i’d bake way too many muffins in return. 

I was just patently against letting myself be greedy, partially because it was against my personal morals and beliefs and partially because people fucking needed jobs. 

Also, let me explain how it pissed off Dromled Prump.

Because Drombled Prump was really pissed off that my store continued to function when he talked shit, because he talked shit and his friends talked shit because we were basically paying to have a safe place that would fight immigration from being illegal fucking dicks to legal citizens and people who are literally doing what they need to do. Or who are here, working, and don’t need your shit today gringo, either buy a chair or fuck off. But appearantly what pissed him off more, is that we had better food than the shit he had at his places. And he’d been told this. So he showed up one day, presidential like, to make it all shameful on us that we were such a hovel that we couldn’t make it presentable for him.

AKA he was going to show up unexpected, somehow, with a whole motorcade. 

Well, that’s fine Draino, because we had a magic lady in a sleeveless flannel, cargo-shorts, and 0% amount of fucks about your plans. Also me. Only one of us can clean the whole store with a snap, and the other has an amazing ability to soak their voice in ‘shit eating grin’. 

So, he showed up we pretended to be civil and he wanted free samples from everything. EVERYTHING.  The man ate bread for about 4 hours. Then complained it was dry. So the restaurant brought him some food and he complained it wasn’t “authentic Mexican” because there wasn’t refried beans. The Restaurant was Peruvian.  I made him the beans. With 4 drops of dawn dish soap. Not enough to taste or make him sick, but it’ll make sure he does some thinkin’ later.

He insisted they were the best beans ever and pissed himself in the parking lot because there was a snake. In the south. 

Vera wanted to turn him into a pig but she commented he was already there.

That part woke me up.

[shopgoldensoul-blog]

88 Ideas to Shake Up Your Creative Juices

Idle hands may be the devil's workshop, but an idle mind with fidgety, busy hands also has a special spot reserved in Hades.  When you're itchin' to do something great, but the vision isn't forthcoming, it's easy to become desperate for that spark of inspiration.  Don't run yourself ragged in one direction, though.  Instead, treat your brain to an unexpected experience.  Here are 88 ideas that bring my fidgety hands and creative mind into sync.

Pick one color of paint and do some monochromatic finger-painting.

Shock one, or all, of your senses. Sample a spicy new food, splurge for a hot stone massage, or experiment with aromatherapy.

Go on a hike, sans distractions, and pay attention to what you see.

Create a SoundCloud playlist of inspiring songs and begin listening.

Solve a problem. Yours. Someone else's. It doesn't matter. It will get your brain working.

Sit under the stars and give your favorites names & personalities.

Do something repetitive and mindless for awhile.

Learn a new skill in a day.

Banish distractions for an hour, including all electronics.

Try mind mapping. Here are some free resources.

Swim some laps.

Visit a museum in your hometown.

Complete a random act of kindness, anonymously if possible, and reflect on the recipient's reaction.

Browse your favorite search engine for images associated with the task you hope to complete.

Fake it 'til you make it. Go ahead and start moving, even if it's embarrassingly bad.

Create a visual inspiration board in your workspace.

Turn down the pressure and set the bar at bare minimum. As a result, anything more than basic is success.

Browse and watch a TED Talk that interests you.

Search by #hashtags on #socialmedia using keywords related to your interests.

Remind yourself what a bad ass survivor you already are. What have you already overcome?

Look up song lyrics you like and break down the writer's intentions.

Invest a little time in giving back. Volunteer for a meaningful cause/organization for a day.

Imagine you found a magic genie in a lamp and plan your three wishes. You know the rules; no wishing for more wishes.

Take a few Buzzfeed quizzes to gain personal insight.

Make a list of your 5 biggest influences, either generally or in a specific area of your life, and what factors made them have such an impact on you.

Make a digital photo collage of specific places you'd like to travel. (Take pics of your own if/when you visit these places to re-create the collage, personalized.)

Get down to the brass tacks: authenticity. Share yourself deeper than you are comfortable.

Think of one question and ask every single person you talk to in a day.

Read about personality traits of your zodiac sign.

Ask your family to describe you as a little kid.

Attend an interesting workshop or conference.

Try standing up while you work and sitting down during breaks for a change.

Pop your earbuds in and search YouTube for binaural beats that stimulate creativity, focus, and productivity. Close your eyes and listen for the ideas to start to hit.

Clean up your workspace. Organize an eyesore.

Drink a glass of wine.

Research brainstorming techniques and try them out.

Beautify your view. Spend a little time making what you see when you look out your window inspiring.

Get way down deep in your feels. Do what it takes to get there.

Write a joint bucket list for yourself and your best friend.

Attempt to cook a new recipe. Or an old family favorite from scratch.

Define your audience. Who/What/When/Why/Where are they?

Get spiritual. Pray.

Take a sunset drive in the country.

Look around for something broken you haven't thrown out yet and think of (or research) ways to re-purpose it. (You don't have to actually do it.)

Remind yourself that what other people think of you is none of your business every single time someone else's opinions or doubts cross your mind.

Really let go of all expectations for the end result, and give yourself permission to fail miserably. Not only can you not win 'em all, but, most likely, you won't fail at all. Starting is the hardest part.

Make believe you're a famous musician and design your dream tour bus. Your budget is unlimited.

Read blogs written by people you admire.

Dream big. Imagine what everyday life will look like at your highest level of success.

Purchase some inexpensive flowers and visit a cemetery. Leave them on lonely, forgotten graves. Read the names and dates of who you gave them to.

List your greatest accomplishments for a boost of self-confidence.

Dance without stopping to at least 5 songs in a row.

Dress the part. Change your clothes to those of a person who's already accomplished something you hope to.

Play a board game with your friends.

Play a board game with kids.

Teach an old dog (yourself) a new trick and feel your brain stretching.

Dig into your family history and genealogy. Find out what made you and brought you here.

Join a Facebook group of kindred spirits. Interact almost as much as you creep.

Think of at least 3 reasonable solutions to a problem. Why your dryer isn't working – how to balance the federal budget – any problem will do. The value is in the critical thinking.

Mentally plan a surprise party for your significant other. Focus on what aspects you would need to make this person the happiest.

Experience something scary (but not reckless).

Engage someone in a deep conversation. Try to be the perfect active listener.

Do 30 minutes of cardio.

Paint your nails, pluck your eyebrows, trim your beard, or do some other small grooming task that will make you feel good in your skin.

Remember why you started.

Teach yourself to roll a j, play a little Tom Petty, and have a toke.

Do something nice for someone who regularly does nice things for you.

Look through your grandparents' photo albums.

Pretend you must live in a space the size of your bathroom. Plan how you would maximize the tiny space.

Play a strategy-based game for an hour. Begin to build an empire.

Meditate for 20-30 minutes by focusing exclusively on your own slow, steady breathing. Anytime your thoughts wander into stressful territory, just bring your mind back to the inhaling and exhaling of your own lungs.

Break your ideal project into small, specific, measurable action steps that you can check off as you complete.

Click all the way back to the beginning of your social media timeline and laugh at who you used to be.

Set a kitchen timer for 10 minutes and work like you mean it until it dings.

Phone a friend. Ask what inspires him/her.

Visit a planetarium. Pretend you're in a spaceship.

Learn the art of observation. Homicide detective-style, try to notice details of your environment you never have before without disturbing the scene.

Analyze your sleeping habits. Being well-rested has a monumental effect on nearly every aspect of our beings. If you're exhausted, take a nap. Come back with both eyes fully open.

Plan your juicy reward when you finish this project.

Schedule creative tasks for the AM, when we are proven to function more effective mentally.

Read your hometown's news.

Go on a scavenger-style hunt outdoors – arrowheads, sea shells – whatever occurs naturally in your geographic area.

Drink a cup o' joe.

Don't drink so many cups o' joe that you begin to feel jittery.

Stifle one or more of your senses and attempt to complete typical daily tasks. Instead of quitting, think of innovative ways to thrive with your “disability.”

Go on an outing and photograph everything you see that inspires you.

Read about new tools of your trade and try a few of them out.

Draw or paint your pet's perspective of you. Put the view from it's eyes onto paper.

I'm always interested in refreshing new ideas in this area.  What would you make #89?