Flame, Glass and Ink are Poems, essays, and reading notes by Stefania Joori Suh

Category: prompts

  • prompt 97

    The most important invention in your lifetime is…

    These days, I’ve been wondering about my living in the two centuries (OMG, do I sound like a centenarian? LOL). Would it have been the same for those living in the 19th and 20th centuries? I bet it would have been nothing like my generation – the Lost Generation- the children of the 1970s Children – because we have witnessed the birth of the Internet and learned to use and enjoyed the privilege of incredible modern technology.

    The offspring of the Internet comes in the form of Kindle, Music, and movie streaming, not to mention AI Personal Assistant Alexa. Kindle is impressive, although many people grimace about it as if it were beneath traditional books and thus unfit for their intelligent taste. Like YouTube, it has popularized the use and habit of reading everywhere, even in darkness. It will die out without batteries, but with it, knowledge and wisdom from time immemorial till today is stored. It is a compact Library of Barbel in my palm, even in my tiny apartment.

    The Internet, however, is not a 21st prerogative because it has already existed in the military world. It was used in military defense for a long time till it became the convenience of civilization. I believe many other technological wonders have been unknown to the public. Who knows, there will be cars that do not require a Driver’s License because they will be auto-piloted. And what about changing faces like the one in the Mission Impossible series? What was once thought of as sorceries are the manifestations of science? Alexa is a ghost in the machine or the spirit of the AI. Maybe.

  • prompt 96

    Describe your most ideal day from beginning to end.

    I want to say my ideal whole day is traveling, hiking, getting together with families or writing and reading profusely. That’s what people think the ideal response should be, or it may seem so. But my ideal day is anything but the ideal, far from glamorous, but existential and small.

    My ideal day would be free from duties and obligations as a Daughter and an Employee at home with my cats. That said, my ideal day lasts from Friday evening till Saturday evening, during which I don’t have to do anything but watch movie after movie with intermissions of playing with my babies. It will be perfect if it is raining during the pleasure time, but it has to be when I am home, not outside.

    Ancient Germanic tribes would drink barrels of beer during the lull in battles with the Romans, according to Tacitus. So, this is my way of unwinding the overdosed adrenaline in the mind and spirit.

  • Prompt 95

    Daily writing prompt
    Something on your “to-do list” that never gets done.
    View all responses

    On my To-Do List for January 2024, all other plans were crossed out, except for reading the book borrowed from the library and losing weight by dieting and exercising. These boxes are yet to be checked with clear and victorious “V” marks, which makes me feel like Marc Anthony defeated by Julius Ceasar or Napoleon lost to Admiral Nelson.

    I still have 11 days to return The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose, for which five readers are waiting. I have already downloaded it on my Kindle, and I check the due date daily like a condemned in a dungeon. My spirit is indeed willing for intellectual stimuli. Alas, the sensory pleasure always wins with the temptation of moving images and vibrant audio in the form of YouTube, Amazon Prime, and NetFlix when I am home.

    As for losing weight, it has become a red herring I never thought I would have when I was on the East Coast. Not that I am obese, but I have gained weight since I moved here to Los Angeles. Blame the food and lack of discipline. But this place has a strange spell to make people gain weight because I have heard similar complaints about being adipose from people moving to Southern California, especially LA. Every place has its own aura or vibe, and this place has an atmosphere that prompts people to test their taste buds to the extent possible. Since eating affects losing and gaining weight more than exercising, before going to the gym, which I hardly go to these days, I need to curtail snacks and dinner after 6:00 pm.

    Here comes Mr. Artistole again: You are what you repeatedly do. Therefore, excellence is not a performance but a habit. There’s no shortcut to achieving my and your goals – even in this advanced 21st century where Elon Musk says we will all have chips on our brains and travel to Mars. So, I have to carry the unresolved plans to this month because I don’t want to pine away for lamenting and regretting any longer.

  • prompt 94

    Write about your first computer.

    My first personal computer was an Apple iBook that my paternal grandmother bought for me in 2005. It was prettier in look and smoother in touch than the current MacBook Pro. That was how I got initiated into the World of Apple, followed by the iPod (I loved it!) and iPhone (I still Love it).

    I had been using other brands of computers at school and work, so for my personal computer, my choice was an Apple iBook. I told my Grandmother in Vancouver, Canada, about it, and she wanted to buy it for me as a gift. In addition to this iBook gift, she was the only one on both sides of the family who showered me with lovely words and gifts. My grandmother knew my true colors and encouraged me to write. Alas, now that she’s departed, and I am an orphan in this cold world that has always been unkind. I know how the Ancient Mariner feels in Samuel Coleridge’s self-same poem.

    Alone, alone, all, alone,

    Alone on a wide, wide sea!

    The history of my Apple appliances has become part of the history of my life. Methinks that perception betokens a microscopic view of how a human civilization evolves as the development of tools or vehicles progresses. Or so it seems.

  • prompt 93

    What’s the thing you’re most scared to do? What would it take to get you to do it?

    Illustration from Google

    I’d be the one who is scared of the stars falling from the sky and the sky ceiling collapsing on the earth. I am also afraid of losing eyesight overnight if my eyes are not adequately moisturized as instucted by my ophatomologist. And what if I take a plane that will crash? Most of all, what if the world I am in now is a make-belive world, something similar to one of the Backrooms? Will all my fearsome misgivings materialize because the curse is not lifted? Are my present fears are indeed less than horrible imagings? These are my litany of fears, full of sound and fury, trying to make sense of them – in vain.

  • prompt 92

    What do you complain about the most?

    I get irritated when things are not going the way they should, so the litany of complaints is as follows:

    • I can’t find what I want to wear – My closet is so tiny that all my clothes are crammed together, making it difficult to see my choice of clothese to wear. It happens constantly, so I must prepare my wardrobe for work at night to avoid the hassle in the morning. The closet has more than clothing because it is also used as a multi-storage room for everything from the food for my cats and parakeet to a set of Christmas decorations to miniature dollhouse articles. Searching for what to wear is like finding a Nemo.
    • The buses are not coming, and I am waiting forever… – I commute to and fro work and home by bus, which used to run on time until last month. But now is a morning ordeal. Either I have to get up earlier than now or leave home late. Either way, I am not late for work, but it’s troubling my yearning for a calm morning. What with attending to Mom’s healthcare attention and tending to the morning needs of my cats, fish, and parakeet, my morning is never in the doldrums.
    • I hate when people do not listen to me or ignore my presence – There is nothing more disheartening than being treated as if I were invisible. For example, when you say hi to everyone but me, I will be very shocked, vexed, and disheartened through a process similar to Kubla Ross’s five stages of dying. I will be more in sorrow than in anger if I am ignored.

    So these situations prompt me to burst into complaints, but my complaints usually dissipate into the echo of the air no one hears.