Pat Ritter. Books

[patritter]

Thank you dub for your thanks. Here is the story for today: 'Awesome - OMR - Stories' - Page 28:

Memories From Address Book.

Until the concept of the internet, I’m afraid to admit I never used an address book. When I was twelve years old my mother gave me an address book as a birthday present. Unfortunately instructions didn’t go with it and I failed to make an entry.
Searching the inner most thoughts of my mind about memories of an address book can only be prompted when I think about sending or receiving e-mails on the computer. Otherwise my mind is void of such events in my life.
In 2001 I created my website. Each month I published a newsletter. This newsletter contained information about books I’d written included my writing journey. It’s interesting to note looking back to the time; it was unethical to elicit e-mail addresses unless the user voluntarily provided their e-mail address.
When I commenced publishing the newsletter to my interested readers, only ten users received it. Future figures rose to a couple of hundred as word spread. This newsletter contained a two page newspaper format. It was attached to an e-mail and sent to group members. The monthly newsletter was included on the website to keep as a reference and for any person to read if they went to the website. This process worked for a number of years with the expansion to users throughout the world. If a user viewed a newsletter on the website they could register and receive the next newsletter via their e-mail address.
Along came Facebook. How did we ever survive before Facebook I would never know? Facebook uses the e-mail address of each member to connect them to their social network. It is the largest address book in the world. Since the intervention of Facebook I’ve deleted the newsletter section on my website and now directly interact with those e-mail users on Facebook. At first I found there were a few old fashioned users who would rather read the monthly newsletter; however with time these users dwindled and now the numbers have again build using Facebook.
E-mail is our latest address book and I wonder how my mother would feel now after fifty years when she gave me my first address book. Although I didn’t use it – the book continues to hold a deep feeling of love in my heart because it was given to me by my mother.
Word count: 395.
TO PURCHASE THIS BOOK PLEASE CLICK ONTO THIS LINK: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/120881.

[patritter]

'Awesome - OMR - Stories' - Page 29:

I Dare You.

The words ricocheted through my mind and instantly I visualised the television advertisement about the commercial ‘Dare Milk’. There have been a number of these commercials produced and screened on television, one of which comes to mind. A couple are seated at a table of a restaurant. The male had a look on his face as if he was about to propose marriage to his female companion.
The camera projected onto the female actress who said to her companion, ‘I’m pregnant – your father is the father of my child’. Without a blink of an eyelid the male actor listened and heard the female actress tell him she also had a venereal disease. He was holding a carton of ‘Dare Milk’.
Another commercial shows two male actors standing on the footpath – one holding a carton of ‘Dare Milk’ and the other appeared to be his boss. ‘You’re fired,’ the one who looked like the boss said to the young fellow holding the ‘Dare Milk’. He takes a drink from the carton.
When I first viewed these commercials I actually thought they were funny, until I looked inside of the commercial to see what the marketing strategy could be. Obviously by drinking the brand of ‘Dare Milk’ gave you instant courage to say what was on your mind and dare the other person to tell you their thoughts.
If only by drinking a carton of ‘Dare Milk’ would provide sufficient courage to tell another what you actually thought of them. ‘I dare you’ is a challenge to another to either carry out the dare or to walk away. Does it make you a lesser person to ignore ‘the dare’ and not carry it out? Or do you carry out ‘the dare’ and hopefully don’t make a fool of yourself. It is purely dependent upon the person who either accepts or denies ‘the dare’.
Speaking for myself – unfortunately I can’t play these type of games because knowing me and my past life experiences if I carried out ‘the dare’ I would lose. I’m a little slow in the brain compartment. There are many other ways to deny the other person the satisfaction of ‘the dare’ by ignoring the proposal in the first place. It takes greater courage to walk away from an argument or confrontation than to become aggressive and carry out a stupid act controlled by the other person.
If it means being humiliated and disgraced by not carrying out ‘the dare’ then so be it for it is easier to carry your head high than to be placed in a position of not having control over your actions.
Word count: 443.
TO PURCHASE THIS BOOK PLEASE CLICK ONTO THIS LINK: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/120881.

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'Awesome - OMR - Stories' - Page 30:

First Encounter.

Do you know how our mind works? I’d love to know because life would be easier to understand. For instance, after I left the writer’s group last week and began my journey home, I thought about the title of this story ‘First Encounter’. Nothing flashed into my mind to give me ideas of what to write.
Our mind is a wondrous and magnificent appliance to have in our brain. However, this issue of not knowing how our mind or thoughts affect us has left me wondering over many years. It’s a bit like intuition. When we think a thought; I know because my mind never stops thinking thoughts, of what is on my mind at the time, the number of times the thoughts actually become true is amazing.
Let me explain. In this case on my journey home I constantly thought about ‘first encounter’. The title didn’t spark any magnificent channels of vision, nor did it give me anything to start the story, until I began to watch the television programme ‘Diagnose Murder’. Each day whilst I have lunch I watch the television programme ‘Diagnose Murder’ starring Dick Van Dyke as Doctor Mark Sloan with his offsider Doctor Jessie Travis.
On this particular episode, Doctor Jessie Travis was captured by aliens and locked in a cabin in the bush. After escaping from the aliens he wandered through the bush; finally rescued and taken to the hospital where Doctor Mark Sloan examined him. Doctor Jessie couldn’t remember anything during his absence and at times when he looked directly into light his memory returned vividly seeing men in space suits.
It was creepy crawly stuff for a large part of the programme until Doctor Mark Sloan discovered Doctor Jessie Travis had been drugged and everything he saw became an illusion. It turned out Doctor Jessie Travis had discovered a new drug which would have revolutionised medical science and pharmaceutical companies may have lost a lot of money. One of the pharmaceutical companies hired a ‘hitman’ to discredit the character of Doctor Jessie Travis. Doctor Mark Sloan came through again to solve the issue.
Doctor Jessie Travis honestly thought he’d witnessed his first encounter with aliens but when Doctor Sloan explained everything to him, he finally understood it was not aliens he thought he saw but visions and illusions whilst under the influence of drugs given to him by the ‘hitman’.
What surprised me about this story is the coincidence of thinking about the title and when viewing the story only a short time later how Doctor Jessie Travis thought he had his first encounter with aliens. It boggles my mind to think a thought could actually turn into the event I was thinking. What are the odds to determine the chances of seeing a programme on television showing a scene as an example of the title of this story of what I about to write. It’s either a remarkable coincidence or are there aliens out there?
Word count: 499
TO PURCHASE THIS BOOK PLEASE CLICK ONTO THIS LINK: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/120881.

[patritter]

'Awesome - OMR - Stories' - Page 31:

Object Of Desire.

There it stood, black in colour, of German design, tough, solid and made to withhold the roughness for a twelve year old boy. The man said he wanted five pounds to sell his pushbike. The boy’s throat filled with glee.
‘I’ll give you a week to come up with the money or there is another who wishes to buy it.’ The owner expressed to this excited twelve year old child, eyes bulging from their sockets at the thought of owning this particular pushbike.
If he owned this pushbike he would show it off to his school friends, beat them up the hill where they raced. He would be the king of the kids. How could he buy this pushbike, he pondered. Five pounds was a lot of money. It was a week’s wagers his father earned.
With excitement churning through his mind he ran home to speak with his father in the hope to purchase this wonderful pushbike. All he could see was a vision of riding this pushbike to school and showing it off to his school mates. Some had new pushbikes but the majority of them had old broken ones recycled from the local rubbish tip.
‘How can I afford to pay five pounds for a pushbike?’ his father bellowed in an angry voice when asked about the purchase.
‘Can you at least have a look at it Dad?’ The son pleaded in hope once he saw the pushbike he may change his mind.
‘Alright, we’ll have a look at it but I don’t know how I can afford to buy it. It’s a week’s wage.’ His father informed him. Father and son visited the pushbike’s owner and while the son was immersed in looking at the pushbike and dreaming of owning it, his father and the owner discussed the purchase price.
The owner walked over to the son and said, ‘I’m sorry I’ve decided not to sell the pushbike. I’ve changed my mind.’
Shock erupted through the veins of the twelve year old boy with a lump in his throat suddenly nothing could stop tears rushing from his eyes. He sobbed. On their way home the father explained to the child there was nothing certain in life and to make it up to him he would look for a cheaper pushbike.
It mattered not to the twelve year old boy for the father had made many promises before and had never carried out one. Although the pushbike was the object of desire for the child, his father for the first time did carry out his promise.
In the following weeks the child witnessed his father rebuild a gent’s 28 inch pushbike from parts he obtained from the rubbish tip. After it was painted a bright red and white the child was pleased to have a pushbike he could show off to his friends even though it wasn’t the original object of his desire.
Word count: 492.
TO PURCHASE THIS BOOK PLEASE CLICK ONTO THIS LINK: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/120881.

[dub]

"G'day cobber!"
Awesome - OMR - Stories
Object Of Desire.
A lovely story Pat, plus a beautifully and convenient enjoyable digression from a full on schedule.
A refreshing story to read at break-time
'Food for thought?'
Word count: 492

[patritter]

Thank you dub for your kind comments. I appreciate your feedback. Here is the story for today: 'Awesome - OMR - Stories' - Page 32:

A Brush With Fame.

It was 12.30pm on 29th August 1989 at Parliament House Brisbane. Top State Queensland was proud to organise the event of the book launch ‘Closing The Gap’. The Honourable Brian Littleproud M.L.A., Minister for Education, Youth and Sport officiated.
If ever a dream came true for the authors, it was at this very moment. Who would have thought when one of the authors, a Detective Sergeant in charge of Juvenile Aid Bureau Petrie, a Brisbane northern suburb would became so frustrated with an issue of ‘teenagers running away from home’ that he and his fellow author wrote and published a book to help all parents improve communication with their teenager.
Three years before the launch, the journey began when the Detective Sergeant couldn’t find an answer to ‘teenagers running away from home’. His superiors couldn’t help. By accident, he enrolled in the local TAFE to participate in a management course. A lecturer, his co-author, taught him a subject named ‘Behaviour’. One weekend the class attended a two day workshop on the subject performing role plays in communication, stress, motivation, and conflict resolution.
After the first day of the workshop the Detective Sergeant returned to work. He received a telephone call from a concerned mother. Her daughter was stealing money from home and spent it at school. Instead of passing off this telephone call as a ‘family issue’ the Detective Sergeant listened to the caller. During the day he remembered the techniques taught to him by his lecturer in communication and applied these techniques to the caller. He suggested she sit down with her daughter and ask the reason why she took the money.
After attending the second day of the workshop he returned to work and received a telephone call from the concerned women he’d spoken to the previous day. She spoke with her daughter about their issues and came to a resolution.
The thrill of helping this caller rose through the Detective Sergeant’s mind like a tornado erupting endorphins like a volcano of hope. He couldn’t wait to tell his lecturer about finding a solution to his issue of ‘children running away from home’.
Over the next twelve months the Detective Sergeant mentored parents and their teenage child each time there was an issue with parent-teenager relationships. Success grew so fast the Lecturer suggested they write a book on the findings. This book became ‘Closing The Gap’ giving the authors a brush with fame.
Word count: 412.

TO PURCHASE THIS BOOK PLEASE CLICK ONTO THIS LINK: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/120881.

[patritter]

'Awesome - OMR - Stories' - Page 33:

I Wish I Had Known That When I Was Young.

Hindsight is a wonderful tool to have in one’s life toolbox. Imagine if we could look into a crystal ball to see our future. I, for one, would know the winning numbers of next week’s lotto or keno.
Memories from an early age; reminds me of what my parents and grandparents did. They wagered their well earned money on betting, may it be on a Saturday afternoon at the races, or playing poker with their friends. My mother loved to have a wager on a horse as did my grandmother who, on a Saturday afternoon bet fifty shillings each way on a horse in each race at a meeting.
One Saturday afternoon I accompanied my grandparents to the Brisbane Races. Before we left home I sat and studied the form guide to pick some winners. We always went to the Flat Section of the course because it only cost one shilling to enter. This day I backed a horse named ‘Pete’ at the price of 20-1. I won one pound and thought ‘how good is this’?
Out of habit I too played the evils of betting. At Sandgate Pier, a holiday spot I visited as a ten year old child; was a penny slot machine. By placing a penny into a slot, turning a small thumb handle, the penny dropped into the machine and if you were lucky you received either two pennies or lost the penny you invested. Naturally being a gambler I lost, however, I never gave up. The machine wasn’t going to beat me.
Inheriting the gambling bug at an early age I wagered my hard earned cash either at the races or any other gambling I could find. Was it the excitement of winning which caused me to chase that rainbow in the sky?
Looking back at the time, I think it would’ve been highly unlikely if I would’ve listened to any neither advice nor stop from trying to win the big prize. What caused me to continue in this way?
I could blame a thousand people throughout my life who I saw try the same as what I was doing. It was fun; exciting and plain bad luck when I didn’t win. On the other hand when I did win, which was fewer times than I can imagine; the risk was worth it.
Often when revisiting these times I shudder at the thought of how wealthy I would’ve been had I invested the money I wagered into a growth managed investment. If I knew than what I know now, would I have changed anything in my life? I doubt it. I’m still chasing the golden rainbow in the sky and one day I’ll reach the pot at the end of the rainbow to collect the prize I so richly deserve.
Word count: 478
TO PURCHASE THIS BOOK PLEASE CLICK ONTO THIS LINK: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/120881.