A Month of Observations, Feb 2016: Part 7

I am focused on my fiction like never before. This is the primary reason I haven't had much of a chance to blog here between our fantastic interviews. I realized that these lists are like a lazy person's diary, however, which I consider therapeutic. So here's my weekly therapy. A few observations from the last week:

• Chocolate placed in a common area that isn't heavily monitored will disappear at the speed of sound (this is an approximate calculation).
• Political debates are about as enlightening as old episodes of Flavor of Love.
• I think the reason many people like to be told what to do and think is because they are exhausted.
• Novels are lethal.
• Writer and reader can connect through story, but it doesn't happen just because the book is entertaining.
• Coming to the end of a good book, or series, is like losing a friend. Or having that friend move away to, say, Texas - if you don't live in Texas - where you will probably never visit her.
• All medications have side effects, even if they're not immediately evident.
• Unexpected and unsolicited praise is likely the only genuine praise.
• You can add $30 to each plate of food if your restaurant spins and you have a decent happy hour.

My book recommendation: My Brilliant Friend (and then the rest of the Neapolitan trilogy) by Elena Ferrante.

Prompt: I stole this one from one of our WIC notebook assignments, but it's great. Write about a cactus that wants to live inside of a balloon. Interpret this literally or figuratively (probably figuratively would work better - but I'd love to read what you come up with if you actually write about the cactus).