I created three stories for my audioboo narrative. The first one was rejected by my husband because he said “you sound like a chow hound.” Nice. I thought I had the assignment done and it was good – I even had found an alarm sound effect. I guess it was back to the drawing board.
The second story I wrote after hearing Prof. Banner tell her story about her accident. The visual of the buildings and blue sky and the story really helped me see that my first story was not personal enough. And, my husband was right. I guess I went to the other extreme with story 2 because it made him cry when I let him listen to my recording. He said, “that one’s too sad.” Ugh.
He told me to “tell the painting story.” I opted to tell the “how the painting was sold” story, and I’ll save the actual “how I found the painting” for another day.
The stories are listed in reverse order of creation. I’ve included an image of the painting and a link to the audioboo file at:
http://audioboo.fm/boos/266291-what-a-day-it-was-lbrowne in case you're interested in hearing the story instead of reading it.
~Lynne
Story 3 - What A Day it Was (and the one I used)
What a day it was…
I was feeling awful that Saturday morning. I had a cold, I could barely breathe, and my nose hurt. And even though I felt terrible, I was so excited, I could hardly contain myself. Today was THE day I had been waiting for… for over five months! This was the morning my painting was going to sell at auction. It was one of the most exciting things that ever happened to me – and the outcome of the sale would be known by 9:30.
Since the auction was in North Carolina and I live in New York, I planned to watch it online. It started at 9, so I brought my cup of tea into my computer room and logged in. My painting was lot 74, so I had to sit through 73 other lots before the fun began!
Finally, up came my painting with a reserve of $8,000.
The bidding started immediately, 8, 8.5, 9, 9.5, 10, 11 thousand dollars… While clapping my hands, I shouted at the monitor, “Come on, give me some more!”And the price started to rise again, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17... Text came up on the screen, “This auction is about to close.” Auction closed. Sold for $17,000.
The whole process took about 28 seconds.
The painting with a small hole in the sky that I found sitting on the ground propped up against a plastic container, just sold for $17K. Not a bad investment for $20, and just buying it with the intent of hanging on my living room wall in a $5 frame.
Story 2 - What a Day it Was
It’s hard to forget the day that changed your life forever. My day is Wednesday, February 8, 2006.
I went for my yearly mammogram – well, it supposed to be yearly, but somehow I would skip 6 months or a year, I was young and healthy, so no big deal.
I had my mammo done and they told me to go and sit in the waiting room. I remember waiting, and waiting, and waiting some more. I saw many women come in and put their little cotton tops on and come back when they were done and leave.
All while I sat there. I remember reading Fortune magazine, and thought that it would be a good magazine to subscribe to. Why, I remember that tidbit, is beyond me.
They asked me to have a couple more films taken, and then more waiting. After that, they brought me in for a sonogram.
And I waited some more.
Finally, a woman, or should I call her a girl, told me to go into an office and the doctor would talk to me. The doctor came in and had a weird look on his face. It wasn’t happy, it wasn’t sad. It was just weird.
As I sat there, he explained that there was something on the mammogram. “Now,” he said, “It seems like something is there, but don’t worry. It might not be anything.”
I left his office with a little sheet of paper with a checkmark in the section that read, “suspicious” or something like that.
I went back to work in disbelief. I worked the rest of the day until I got a call from my doctor and she said, “You need to meet with a specialist. What do you want to do? Who do you want to see?”
I replied, “How do I know?” She tossed out a couple of names and I told her to make a decision, since I didn’t really know who to go to. She told me that they would make an appointment for me. And they’d call me back sometime.
My mind was blank. I drove home. I told my husband. It sucked.
Finally, my brain started to work again. I called my sister-in-law who has had “problems” with this type of thing. She gave me a name. I called a friend, she said the same name. I called another friend, and again, the same doctor’s name was mentioned.
It was after these phone calls that I realized that I needed to take control of the situation and choose the best doctor who would get me out of this potential mess. What a great decision. He saved my life.
That was 5 years ago. What a day indeed.
Story 1 - What a Day it Was
What a day it wasI woke up to the smell of bacon wafting down the hall.
Sniff sniff, was that cinnamon too? Mmmmm Mike must be making breakfast.
I got out of my warm comfy bed, and strolled down to the kitchen to find French toast, bacon, and a glass of orange juice. What a way to start a Monday!
After breakfast I got ready for work, and even made it there on time.
My morning was filled with emails and returning phone calls, but nothing major to get upset about.
Lunch was good too – good food, and friends talking about their weekends.
The afternoon was uneventful – more email, more web changes, and no one bugged me.
The ride home was just as good as the ride in. No traffic, and the sunset was pretty. I felt great.
I stopped into the nice and easy and picked up 2 scratch off tickets, one for me and one for Mike.
I got home and dinner was on the table – pizza, my favorite, and a salad, not so much a favorite, but according to Mike, an important part of dinner.
We scratched our scratchies and we both won $5 bucks. Not a million for life, but better than a stick in the eye.
We hung out and talked and watched TV, and then went to bed, saying, “I love you” to each other.
As I laid their reflecting on the great day I had, I drifted off to a nice calm sleep….
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ (alarm clock SFX)
I cracked one eye open to the alarm clock, ugh.
What a nice dream. I guess it’s cold cereal again today.
