Your three words, my little story

/ Jim McDonald / 4 Comments

Alexis’s words: tintinnabulation, cochlear and swollen

 

The TINTINNABULATION seemed to be getting louder, but when Alexis was quiet and concentrated on it, she realized it was monophonic. Kind of like the sound a leaky faucet makes as it drips on a stainless steel sink.

 

However, it wasn’t coming from the kitchen sink, but it was coming from the kitchen. As she was standing in the kitchen it sounded like it was coming from the wall, on the right, that separates the kitchen and bathroom. The noise was steady, but there was no evidence of any water on the floor in either room.

 

Alexis called her friend, Raymond, and asked him, “Can you come over and listen to a sound for me?”

 

Raymond replied asking, “What kind of sound is it?”

 

She said, “I have no idea! That’s why I want you to lend me your ear.”

 

A couple of hours later Raymond walked through Alexis’ front door and put his COCHLEAR to work. He didn’t hear anything out of the ordinary, until she guided him towards the back of the house.

 

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Cocklear, an inner part of the ear.

 

Once in the kitchen he said, “It sounds like it might the supply line to your bathroom. Feel this, the drywall is SWOLLEN.”

 

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Looking at wet drywall from the inside of the wall.

 

“I thought so too, but I don’t see any water.”

 

“If it is a water leak, it could be draining into your crawl space. Let’s take a look.” The moment he peeked his head under the house, he noticed his suspicions were correct. “We need to turn your water off until we find the leak.”

 

The next day, they had a friend, Jim, come over to help Raymond fix the problem. They had to cut out the damaged drywall on both sides of the wall and more to find and fix the leak. Problem fixed and job well done.

 

News Paper: interview

/ Jim McDonald / 7 Comments

News Paper: interview

 

About two and a half months ago, I had an appointment with my pulmonologist in White Plains. When I was getting off the elevator, the Maryland Independent news paper office was across the hall.

 

Since I’m trying to become a writer, I walked through the door and introduced myself to the Executive Editor, Rob Perry. I also talked to the Deputy Editor Sara Newman, concerning an interview about my book. She sent me a questionnaire that week for her Literary Lights section of the paper.

 

Since then, I have three articles published in the ‘Letter’s to the Editor’ section by Rob and this past Friday, Sara published my interview. Here it is.

 

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Maryland Independent, 6-7-2017

Remain Teachable

/ Jim McDonald / 2 Comments

Remain Teachable

 

Here’s my third Letter to the Editor. It was published in my local news paper, the ‘Maryland Independent’. So far I’ve had three out of four submissions published. Not bad for a beginner I guess.

 

Communication is a big deal to me and probably to most of us. A couple of weeks ago, two different people on two different occasions irritated me, because of their inability to know how to communicate.

 

I told an acquaintance of mine, about a dreadful situation I was involved in. When I told her what I was going through, she took the opportunity to force her unsolicited advice on me. She actually told me, “Shut up and listen.” Her advice had nothing at all to do with my situation and if she would have listened to me, she would have realized that.

 

During this one sided onslaught, I looked at my friend Matt and he shook his head. We grabbed our belongings and left, while she was talking. She was still talking while we were walking out of the door.

 

We actually had another engagement and while we were driving there, I asked Matt, “Was that my fault?”

 

He said, “No!” He then asked, “Why didn’t you tell her, to shut up?”

 

I told him, “She probably wouldn’t have heard that either.”

 

Less than an hour later, a guy at our next stop, totally ignored my question and told me, if I didn’t do it his way, I would fail. I must have asked him the same question three or four more times, but changing the wording a little in case he didn’t understand it. He stuck to his guns, while talking about something that had nothing to do with my question. At one time he even told me, “You look like you can miss a few meals, if you can’t afford it.” What he was talking about, was so far from the question I asked, that it baffle me.

 

I looked at Matt and asked, “What going on? Is it me?”

 

He laughed and said, “No. It’s their problem, not yours.”

 

Later that day I wrote, ‘Communication Matters’ and posted it on my website. Several days later I changed it a little and sent it to the paper. Here it is.

 

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Maryland Independent, June 28, 2017

 

Author interview of me

/ Jim McDonald / 4 Comments

This is an interview of me from writer/author/editor Cheryl Holloway’s blog on April 17th, 2017 and I just figured out how to attach it. Hope you enjoy it. Please leave comments.

 

http://www.cherylholloway.net/blog/2017/04/17/guest-author-interview-jim-mcdonald-jr/

Open-Mic night at Urban Bar-B-Que

/ Jim McDonald / 4 Comments

Open-Mic night at Urban Bar-B-Que

 

I feel my first open-mic night went well. It was at Urban Bar-B-Que in La Plata, MD., behind Panera Bread. I was sandwiched between four musical artist’s. With them present the turn out was standing room only.

 

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June 20, 2017 at Urban Bar-B-Que in La Plata, MD

 

I was nervous and under the lights, I perspired more than normal, so that must have been a lot of sweat. Six friends came and three of them brought dates. It was nice to know, that my outing was a source for a date night. Pretty cool…

 

I opened with a couple of jokes, which relaxed me and made me feel a little more comfortable. Glad people laughed and the jokes weren’t duds. After that I introduced myself and my book of poetry, Twilight to Son Shine, then I read two poems from it, Mom and De’ja’ vu. With sweat dripping in my eyes, I read two more poems from my book, Life Changes, which is due out on September 1, 2017. Those poems were called Deadly Drugs and Blue Bench.

 

Sales were good, seven more happy customers and their pictures will follow soon. A couple of friends shot videos, when I get them I will post them too.

 

If you missed the opportunity to watch how nervous I can get, you will have the chance again shortly. Looks like this might be a venue, I want to continue.

 

Remember the beatniks, I’m bringing them back. Don’t forget to snap your fingers.