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

Tag: essay

  • 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 50

    What cities do you want to visit?

    Cities are a symbol of civilization and well of culture. It’s cosmopolitan and utilitarian in that all social classes mingle and become a parliament of humanity. I prefer cities to the lesser versions of human dwellings because of these reasons, and there are cities I want to visit on my bucket list.

    Rome – Built by the Rolumus and Lemus, bred by a wolf mother, Rome was an eternal city with boundaries stretching from the east and the west, the North and the south. All roads led to Rome, and I want to walk down the same streets that ancient Romans trod upon with their own stories. So much so that Edgar Allen Poe summarized Rome thus: “The glory that was Greece and the grandeur that was Rome.” People say that today’s Rome is nothing like ancient Rome, but they don’t see that the place memories enveloping the city’s aura are lingering, affecting the minds of the people living or visiting there. Thousand years have passed, but the spirit of the place is immortal.

    Vatican City – My primary purpose will be seeing Michelangelo’s magnum opus on the ceilings of the Sistine Chapel. Reading Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling by Ross King has egged me on to witness the magnum force of art as a manifestation of the ideal appreciated by the faculty of the mind affected by imagination. It would have been much more wonderful to visit Vatican City when Pope John Paul Second was the Bishop of Rome.

    Other cities have histories of millennium years, but Rome and Vatican City still exist with vivacity and alacrity. They may be crowded, expensive, and trivialized, but they were, have been, and will be so in posterity. This also makes me think that our posterity might feel the same way about the places where we live now. Hence are my wishful cities. 🧚‍♀️⭐️🌍

  • Prompt 48

    Tell us about your first day at something — school, work, as a parent, etc.

    Toro Then 🌸

    I can never forget the first time I adopted my first cat, Toro, from an animal shelter when I moved from New Jersey to California in 2018.

    I still remember the first day I saw Toro, who was nine weeks old, at Ventura Animal Shelter in Camarillo, CA, where I lived for the first time in California. They say it’s not you who chooses your cat; your cat chooses you. It is only true because when my brother and I approached the sheltered cats, Toro came to us with his tiny paw, trying to touch our fingers through the compartment’s opening. He was playful, curious, and affectionate. While waiting for my brother to finish the adoption process inside, I could never forget Toro’s eyes becoming curiouser and curiouser at me from the cardboard carrier, full of wonder about the new world.

    I still treasure the first time I met Toro, now three years old. I feel his little heart when he climbs on my back and shoulder, and I am glad it’s not a dream. 🌻💕💫🧚‍♀️

    Toro Now 🌼

    P.S. Something went wrong with my prompt posted earlier today; it was uploaded but then disappeared 🤨 Hence, this is a repost of today’s daily prompt. Sorry for the readers whose likes went with the post🐱

  • Prompt 44

    What’s your favorite cartoon?

    Cartoons and animations are different. Cartoons are thematically episodic and satirical. Animations are a superb vehicle for realizing the ideal to the real that human actors could have awkwardly contrived. Animations effortlessly manifest feelings and emotions to the maximum effect. Hence, my favorite animations. 😃

    The Adventure of Sinbad: A story of young sailor Shinbad who decides to see the world with his sidekick Sarah, a bespelled princess in a bird’s hide. The opening song is still my number-one cartoon song of all time.

    Anne of Green Gables, aka the red-haired Anne: This is the most faithful adaptation of the original novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery. This is one of the first animated films by Hayao Miyazaki during his time with Nippon Animation’s World Masterpiece Theater. Hayao and other artists who created this brilliant animated version traveled to Prince Edward Island and visited the story’s original setting. So, watching this animation alone will amount to reading the novel.

    Kiki’s Delivery Service: Not every witch looks the same with a sullen face and unapproachable ambiance. Kiki is an unlikely witch in training who prepares herself to enter adulthood by moving with her black cat Jiji away from her beloved family and settling in a coastal city. She gets a job as an assistant at a bakery, delivering customers’ orders on a broom with Jigi. It’s a charming and thoughtful coming-of-age animation. Moreover, Kiki and I have things in common, such as similar temperaments, looks, and, most of all, our black cats.

    Howl’s Moving Castle: The original story by Diana Wynn Jones is fantastically transpired by Hayao Miyazaki and his artists in this unforgettably mesmeric animated screenplay. Love is ubiquitous and universal. Forgiveness is abundant, and Magic is real. I am sure the original novel’s author would love to see this stunning visualization of her creation of the make-believe world with a standing ovation. Lost in translation? Not an iota.😉

    My Camille

    In light of the above, I prefer animation translated from novels made by Japanese artists because they are skilled in detailing the characters and backgrounds of stories based upon the study of the original stories empowered by a wide arch of imaginativeness. 🤓✨🧚‍♀️

  • Prompt 42

    What positive events have taken place in your life over the past year?

    Camille: who says I am unlucky? ⭐️

    This year has been good for me because I passed my probation period at a new job with good benefits and better pay. I think my thanks go to God and my black cat Camille, whom I adopted from an animal shelter. Indeed, I love my tabby Toro, who is also from the same shelter, but since Camille has become a member of our family, my luck with finding a good job has transpired. It is said that a black cat brings luck to an unmarried single woman, so I like to think that Camille may be my Puss in Boots. 😃🍀🌻🌎⭐️

  • Prompt 38

    What are your two favorite things to wear?

    Timeless classic
    Effortlessly chic

    My two favorite things I wear for all seasons are a knitted cardigan and a hairband with decorations. They are my staple wardrobe regime that does not sacrifice style for functionality and vice versa.

    The temperature of Southern California, where I live, is similar to a desert climate in which days are hot and nights are cold. So, I always wear a knitted cardigan early in the morning and evening to keep me warm and cozy. And for my thick and sleek hair that tends to lush forward when I write and type, I wear a hairband, preferably decorated with a ribbon or sparkling gemstones, creating a coco Chanel-inspired look. I think a hairband with decorations is a great accessory to vamp up a woman’s look effortlessly in a chic way, regardless of age.

    I want to thank James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, who is credited for creating a Modern-day cardigan modeled after the military waistcoats British Army Officers wore during the Crimean War. My thanks also extend to Coco Chanel, who adorned cardigans with feminine beauty with a finishing touch of charming hairband. ✨🌸🧚‍♀️