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4,100 | Friendly Film | Patricia went to the movies with her friends. She was caught off guard by the prices of the tickets. She stated she did not want to see the movie at such a price. Patricia's friends saw her reaction and paid for everyone's tickets. Patricia was very grateful for her friend's generosity. |
4,101 | Use what you have | Gale was commissioned to arrange flowers for a big event coming up. She was concerned that she did not have enough flowers for this event. She asked her friends for flowers from their personal gardens. Although the flowers did not match at all, Gale tried to make do. The event planners were very pleased with Gale's ski... |
4,102 | Stage Shuffle | Ellen worked in the theater as a stagehand. She was responsible for moving props around between scenes. One time, Ellen tripped and fell onto the scene after setting it up. To act natural, Ellen shouted out a joke in line with the show. The crowd laughed and clapped as Ellen ran to her place backstage. |
4,103 | A change of heart | Heidi worked at a clothing store in the mall. She was usually very sour at work, especially when helping customers. One day, Heidi had to help a young woman with a purchase. The woman was very nice despite how Heidi was treating her. Heidi was surprised, and realized that she needed to be nicer at work. |
4,104 | Bikini Blunder | Stephanie went to the beach the first day of her summer vacation. She was very excited to play in the water and sand. Stephanie had just bought a new bikini to wear for the beach. Her new bikini was a bit big on the top, so she could not wear it. Stephanie had to borrow a bikini top from a friend to go swimming. |
4,105 | Unique tastes | Mary was a baker and loved making pies to sell. She would make a new flavor of pie each day for people to try. Today, she was trying a very unique flavor of banana and cherry. The pie was a complete hit, and people urged her to make it again. Mary decided she would make the pie a regular item in her bakery. |
4,106 | A Little Help | Connor works at a local movie theater. Some old friends of his come in to watch a movie. Connor notices that the coupon they want to use is expired. Without notifying his friends, Connor lets the coupons work normally. Connor's friends thank him and he feels good for the favor he did. |
4,107 | Coffee Conundrum | Jenny was a secretary for the CEO of a big company. The CEO asked Jenny to get him a coffee at a local cafe down the road. His favorite flavor of coffee was unavailable when Jenny got to order. She decided to take a chance and order the CEO a brand new flavor. The CEO was surprised by the new flavor and highly enjoyed ... |
4,108 | Catch of the Day | Beth loves to fish in her spare time. Today, she has gone out to fish with her son in hopes of a big catch. Both her and her son cast their lines and wait for a long time. Just when Beth decides to pull her line back, her son gets a bite! After reeling it in, Beth and her son saw they had caught a huge fish! |
4,109 | Heatwave | Rachel wanted to go outside and play at the park. Unfortunately, the region was under a heat advisory this week. Because of the heat, Rachel's mother would not let her go outside. Rachel was upset by this and threw a small tantrum. Eventually, Rachel calmed down and watched television inside. |
4,110 | From spark to fire | Seth was on a boy scout camping trip. Unlike his fellow scouts, Seth was not good with making a fire. Everyone had to make a fire on the trip, and it was Seth's turn. He kept making mistakes and could not make the fire. The scoutmaster was very understanding and helped Seth make the fire. |
4,111 | Viral Inflation | Anne worked as a computer programmer for a large company. When she arrived at work one day, she found her computer had a virus! It seemed that every computer at her work had this virus on it. Anne decided to investigate and found a way to delete the virus. Anne was able to fix all of the computers at her work! |
4,112 | The Fall | Nancy, an elderly woman, lived alone. Her daughter checked on her daily. One day, her daughter found her lying on the floor. She was rushed to the hospital. She was then transferred to a rehab center where she made friends. |
4,113 | Dogs | Courtney agreed to dog-sit two dogs. She already has two of her own. Then another friend asked her to dog-sit another dog. She had five dogs at once. It was like a zoo. |
4,114 | Shirley | Shirley heard a dog crying outside. She saw her neighbors had chained up their dog outside on a hot day. She couldn't get to the dog, so she called the police. The police came, broke through the fence, and rescued the dog. The dog was taken from the neighbors and lives a healthy life now. |
4,115 | Birthday | It was Jessica's birthday. She was turning 31. Her boyfriend's family threw her a party. She got flowers and cake. She had a great birthday. |
4,116 | Bus Tour | In 1975 I went with mother on a bus tour. A local company in Chinatown chartered a bus. We went to Plymouth and saw the Rock. We walked through Plimoth Plantation before going home. I miss my mother, now departed. |
4,117 | Tow Day | Today is street cleaning day in my neighborhood. A truck drive by announcing the day. Three cars have been ticketed. A tow truck came by and took one of the cars. Another is en route. |
4,118 | Eviction | Last month we saw a constable post an eviction notice on a door. A week later the notice was still on the apartment door. A week after that i saw the constable come by and remove the notice. He said the law required sufficient notice of eviction. The next day, maintenance staff removed the unit's contents. |
4,119 | Eviction | My friend Sue met a man one day. After a month he started living with her. They broke up, but he refused to move. She gave him an eviction notice and he laughed. She called the police and they moved him out. |
4,120 | Towing Drama | Today was street cleaning day. Any car parked across from our building would be towed. At 9 AM, three tow trucks drove up and started towing. A woman ran quickly across the street. She was lucky to avoid being towed. |
4,121 | Read Your Way to Fenway | In 1996, Boston hosted Read your Way to Fenway. Any child who read two books got tickets to a Red Sox game. My son read two books and got two tickets. The City provided transportation to Fenway Park. My son grew up to be a Red Sox fan and a reader. |
4,122 | Diet | I was a heavy child growing up. At 20, I was 60 pounds overweight. One day I went on a boat ride and they had me sit in the center. I was embarrassed and went on a diet. I lost 40 pounds. |
4,123 | Asleep Playing Chess | One day I played chess with a 98 year old man. Frank played a good game. In the middle of the game, he fell asleep, tired. We put away the pieces, marking the positions. The next day we played to a draw. |
4,124 | Move | Our nephew moved out of the city last week. He and his wife have an 18 month old boy. They bought a house in the suburbs. My nephew's family is upset as he is not inviting them over. They feel the wife is possessive. |
4,125 | Little League Troubles | In 1984 my wife's nephew joined Little League. He became a pitcher. He gave up eight runs in his first game. He got depressed after the game. We bought him pizza to cheer him up. |
4,126 | Out of Breath | My coworker's boyfriend had diabetes and heart trouble. He had trouble breathing. His daughter was getting married. They had to pick a quick song for his dance due to his breathing. He died of a heart attack two years later. |
4,127 | Tacky Art | My friend Charlie is a Philistine. He has absolutely no knowledge about the arts. He and his wife bought a summer home on Cape Cod. They decorated the walls with very tacky paintings. I made fun of Charlie, but he took it in stride. |
4,128 | Six Flags | My son went to Six Flags last weekend. He has never liked roller coasters. He went to a lot of rides. At the end of the day he rode the Superman Roller Coaster. He said it was not that bad after all. |
4,129 | Bob | My friend Bob was on the bench today. He is getting forgetful. He was unsure if his daughter was coming today. She showed up a half hour later. Bob waved goodbye and went home. |
4,130 | Hoarder | My friend Frank works in Boston. He is moving down to KY soon. His wife and daughter live there. His wife is a hoarder, but said she was throwing things out. He went down last week and found a complete mess, depressing him. |
4,131 | Knee Operation | My friend's son had a knee operation. He is only 24, but had an athletic injury. My friend told me he was very low, being in pain. I sent him a card and a coffee gift card to cheer him up. He thanked me via email. |
4,132 | Scary Drawing | My niece's seven year old son has anger issues. He often goes on temper tantrums. One day he drew a picture while at a family party here. It was a drawing of a sad child holding a knife. We urged our niece to seek help, but she said it was nothing. |
4,133 | Nantasket | Our son went to Nantasket Beach in Hull, MA last week. He said the water was warm. He spent hours on the beach. He got a sunburn, even after wearing sun screen. His back is sore today. |
4,134 | Overweight Talk | My 99 year old friend Charlie sits on a bench. He saw an overweight person and reacted. He asked me why people cannot control their weight. I told him it is very hard to not eat in this society. I think Charlie is getting senile. |
4,135 | Domestic Abuse | My niece had three children from her boyfriend. He used to hit her when he got drunk. The police were called in twice for disturbances. One night he almost destroyed her apartment. He got sent to jail and she has not seen him since. |
4,136 | Wedding Fight | My coworker got married in 1992. He was 20 years older than his wife. His bride had a large family. During the wedding, the bride's brother yelled at his ex-wife. Luckily the wedding ended without fisticuffs. |
4,137 | Aruba | My sister in law lost her husband last November. He was 90, while she was 69. He never went away for vacations, and kept her at home. After his death, she went to Aruba and had a great time. We were glad she was able to enjoy herself. |
4,138 | OD | My wife's nephew had drug addiction problems for years. He was on methadone, trying to recover from heroin addiction. He celebrated the capture of the Tsarnaev terrorist by shooting up. Unfortunately, he overdosed and died. He was cremated a few days later. |
4,139 | New Cat | On this day in 2011, my sister in law got a new cat. Her 17 year old daughter Maria wanted a second cat. Her parents said they did not want one. Maria took a kitten home anyway. The parents were angry, but the cat is still there. |
4,140 | Affair | One of my ex coworkers had a ten year affair. Her affair was recently exposed. The man left her and went back to his wife. Recently she posted a hotel room photo suggesting otherwise. The photo has people gossiping. |
4,141 | Retirement | My wife is retiring by the end of August. Her boss said she would post a help wanted ad online in July. Today her boss asked her to reconsider retiring. My wife said she had not changed her mind. Her boss was sad. |
4,142 | Elms College | My niece is a student at Elms College. Her club was selling books to make money for the school. She asked me to post some books on Amazon. I posted thirty books and made $100 for the school. She was very grateful. |
4,143 | Crazy Kids | My Facebook friend loves to post photos of her kids. Her daughter is 7 and her son is 3. Today she posted a photo of her kids on the porch. The daughter was in a dress but the son's pants had fallen down. She posted the photo anyway. |
4,144 | On the Bench | My friend Sally sat on the bench with me today. Her granddaughter was visiting her. Sally is 80 years old and legally blind. She said her granddaughter was buying her lunch. I wished her a good day. |
4,145 | Grandparent Visit | My wife's boss is married. Her husband Bob has a biological grandchild. Bob's daughter does not let him see his grandchild often. Last week, he got to visit his grandchild, after a year. Facebook photos showed him looking happy. |
4,146 | Grief | My cousin's son got married in December. Her mother and others attended the wedding. Her mom Lee was still grieving for her husband. I touched Lee's hand and said the Chinese are strong. She broke down into tears. |
4,147 | Bad Wine | We went to visit our daughter and her in laws last week. Her mother in law Harriet had us over for dinner. Harriet opened a bottle of wine and found the cork had dried up. She could not serve the wine, and my wife was disappointed. Harriet had enough of an old bottle to give my wife a glass, however. |
4,148 | Toy | My sister in law is married to Joe, a man 22 years older than she. Her three sisters and their kids were at a cookout one day. The kids were playing with an old toy on the lawn. Joe yelled at the kids and took the toy away. The sisters were not amused. |
4,149 | Getting Old | My 99 year old friend Bob was on the bench. His daughter came to take him to lunch. He stood up, but then sat down quickly. His daughter was mortified, but he got up again. I am starting to wonder if Bob will be ok. |
4,150 | Maggiano's | My friend Joe is overweight. His doctor told him to lose forty pounds. One day he went to Maggiano's restaurants with coworkers. He vowed to eat salad, but ate a huge pasta dish instead. He came back looking guilty. |
4,151 | Snake | In 1993, our four year old was playing near the pool. His four year old friend was looking at the bushes. He picked up a garter snake and put it on the pool floor. We had fun looking at it, and released it. The snake catcher became a state trooper. |
4,152 | Flirting | My friend Harry is unhappily married. His wife lives in KY while he lives in MA. Recently a waitress at the diner he frequents started flirting with him. She gave her phone number. He decided to not ask her out. |
4,153 | Spoiled Child | My friend Harry has two kids. His wife spoils both of them. When the son turned 16, she bought him a car. She posted his reaction on Facebook. Harry had her remove the post, as he thought it conspicuous. |
4,154 | Limo Service | Yesterday we went to Tanglewood, 120 miles away. I am disabled and do not drive well. We hired a limo service, which arrived 15 minutes late. The ac broke down during the trip. We were very hot and not pleased with the service. |
4,155 | Wheelchair Service | Yesterday we went to Tanglewood. I am disabled and do not walk well. The staff had a person wheel me right to the chair. After the concert the same person wheeled me right to our ride. I sent the BSO a letter praising them for their service. |
4,156 | Birthday Gifts | Wednesday is my sister in law's birthday. I bought her gifts from Amazon Prime. They were due yesterday, but did not arrive. I received a late delivery alert, and was worried. But they came this morning. |
4,157 | Weight Gain | The winter of 1993 was bad in Boston. I could not bicycle to work, and rode the trolley. My station stop had a store. I ate a lot of muffins while riding to work that winter. As a result I gained twenty pounds. |
4,158 | Fez | My daughter introduced me to mTurk in 2015. I do mTurk every day, now. For my birthday she bought me a red fez. It was a gag gift, as Turks wore fezzes. I wear the fez on occasion. |
4,159 | Spotify | Today I played Spotify on my Kindle. I forgot to logout. I went to my desktop and played different music my Spotify. Halfway through, the desktop started playing the music on my Kindle. I had to log out of Spotify on my Kindle. |
4,160 | Moving My Fingers | I had a stroke five years ago. I lost the use of my left hand. A year ago I started looking at my hand. I found if I concentrated, I could get my fingers to twitch. I was never able to do much else, however. |
4,161 | Peapod | Peapod recently redesigned its website. I made up an order. My wife went to update it. She had trouble finding the new links in the website. She gave Peapod negative feedback. |
4,162 | Bowling Pins | I was wiping my hands in the bathroom. I moved a towel, hitting a bottle of air freshener. The bottle knocked over a bottle of Listerine. The Listerine knocked over a bottle of Lysol cleaner. I told my wife I had just bowled a strike. |
4,163 | Cleaning Wipes | I use cleaning wipes a lot. I prefer Lysol or Clorox. Recently my wife bought some environmentally friendly wipes. I was unsure, as they did not guarantee to kill any viruses. They seem to be working, though. |
4,164 | mTurk | I was working on an mTurk hit today. I received credit, but got a note detailing grammatical errors. I was mortified, and vowed to be more careful. I installed Grammarly in an effort to be better. I hope this works out. |
4,165 | Giving Up | I had a stroke in 2011. I survived with hemiparesis. We visited friends in December of 2012. My friend encouraged me to keep exercising to overcome hemiparesis. I told him I had given up, saddening my daughter. |
4,166 | Dumpster | I used to sell things on eBay. I would check the recycle bins outside our dumpster. One day a person left a hurling stick. It had some chips but was still solid. I sold it on eBay for $80. |
4,167 | Hurricane Bertha | My sister in law is named Bertha. In 1996 Hurricane Bertha hit New England. One of Bertha's coworkers made fun of her name. She told him she did not like his humor. He apologized. |
4,168 | Book Sale | My friend is a used bookseller. In 2004, i helped him pick up books he bought from a library. The person in charge sternly told me there was no cherry picking. I cherry picked behind her back. My friend made $100 from the sale. |
4,169 | Soccer Camp | My friend Joe formed a soccer nonprofit in 2008. It gives soccer lessons to immigrant and poor kids in Manchester, NH. In July, the organization rented a soccer stadium for a week. They gave free coaching to 100 children. I intend to donate to my friend's group. |
4,170 | Tour of Brighton | I just finished reading Infinite Jest. It is a 1,078 page novel set mostly in Brighton, my home. After reading the novel I drove through Brighton. I stopped at places mentioned in the book. It was a fun, if bizarre tour. |
4,171 | Tanglewood | Yesterday we went to Tanglewood. It is the summer home of the BSO. The BSO played a modern piece, then Mozart. It ended with a Beethoven symphony. The audience gave the conductor a standing ovation. |
4,172 | Headboard | Last night, our headboard came loose. It made creaking sounds. I am disabled and cannot use two hands. I jammed a pillow down, wedging the headboard. The headboard is no longer creaking. |
4,173 | Fruit Cocktail | I was doing an mTurk hit on food. It mentioned canned fruit cocktail several times. I remembered eating this food as a child. I ordered a few cans of fruit cocktail. It tasted very good. |
4,174 | Voting | My son received an official looking letter. It requested that he change his voter registration address. I was about to give it to him. I looked and saw it was from a non profit political group. I ignored the letter. |
4,175 | Ganges River Water | In 2014, I read the complete Mahabharata. It was 6,000 pages long. It took me two months, at 100 pages a day, to finish it. After I finished I bought Ganges River water online. I proudly showed it off on Snapchat. |
4,176 | Short Cut to BC | In 1987 we moved to Chandler Pond in Brighton. It was a twenty minute walk to the BC Green Line stop. One day I saw a person walking through the condo parking lot. I followed as he walked to BC in only ten minutes via a short cut. I was very excited to not have to walk so far. |
4,177 | Jane Monheit | My wife and I like jazz vocalists. Jane Monheit is one of our favorites. Last year we bought tickets to her concert at Sculler's. There was a fire, and the concert was cancelled. We have looked for concerts in the area, and none have been scheduled. |
4,178 | Joey | In 2000, we visited our friends in Buffalo. Joey was about ten months old. He was very shy and did not want to see us. He put his hands over his eyes, hoping to hide. Everyone laughed about Joey. |
4,179 | Sidewalk Chalk | I bumped into Sally and her four year old Joey today. Joey was going to draw on the sidewalk. Sally asked me if I wanted to accompany them. As I was retired, I readily agreed. I sat and watched Joey draw, and savored the friendliness. |
4,180 | Scan | My sister in law has been smoking for 46 years. Last month her doctor recommended a CT scan of her lungs. She was concerned about the results. The results were good, and she was relieved. She continues to smoke, however. |
4,181 | Tool Cabinet | I sell things online. My computer illiterate friend wanted to sell his tool cabinet. I posted it on Craigslist. I sold the unit for $100. My friend bought me a beer. |
4,182 | Bagels | In 1971 i ate my first bagel. My family is Chinese and did not eat Western food much. We lived near a Jewish deli. My brother bought a toasted bagel and gave me half. I was hooked on bagels, and eat them all the time. |
4,183 | Roller Coaster | We went to an amusement park in 1992. My son was too small to ride a roller coaster. We found an old car sitting on the ground. We sat in it and raised our hands. My son posted the photo on FB 24 years later. |
4,184 | Hurricane Gloria | Hurricane Gloria hit New England in September of 1985. My wife was eight months pregnant. Her sister called wondering if hurricanes caused early labor. My wife said she felt fine, and did not go into labor. Our daughter was born in October, full term. |
4,185 | Strange Visitor | I work for a transit authority. One day a man came in demanding to speak to a manager. I went to talk to him, but he said he would talk outdoors. He wanted us to stop using artificial lighting in our subway cars. I said I would talk to the General Manager, and he left. |
4,186 | Anger | I am Chinese. One day an eight year old boy made fun of my race. I stopped my bike and went to the boy. I offered to rearrange his face. He ran away, scared. |
4,187 | Knife | My son in law played with knives when he was ten. One day he was flipping a knife. It landed in his leg. He did not tell his father, who was strict. He waited for his mother to come out of the shower to help him. |
4,188 | Stealing Cable | Our neighbors were poor grad students. One day Joe figured out how to steal cable service. He went to the boiler room and hooked up the cable to his unit. The cable company came by a month later and disconnected Joe's cable. He got away with a warning they will prosecute for theft next time. |
4,189 | Vandalism | We had conservative Jewish neighbors in the building. One day their car was vandalized. The headlights were smashed. As it was Saturday, they could not pick up the pieces. I picked up the pieces and threw them away. |
4,190 | Toad | We live by the edge of a pond. One day we were sitting on the grass. A big toad appeared on the grass. I picked it up and had a photo taken. The kids played with the toad before releasing it. |
4,191 | Teenager | My wife's sister in law was rebellious growing up. One day, when she was sixteen, she went out. She told her mom she was visiting a friend. Instead, she went to a party until 3 AM. When she came home her father screamed at her. |
4,192 | Tanglewood | In 1999, we decided to go to Tanglewood. Our car was dying. I saw an ad online for a bus trip to Tanglewood, by MIT. Even though I was not affiliated they let me buy tickets. We had a good time sitting with geniuses on the bus. |
4,193 | Fussy Cat | We went away all day yesterday. Our cat eats in the afternoon. Our son volunteered to drop in. He came at two pm and put cat food into the tray. We got home at night and saw the cat had refused to eat. |
4,194 | Parking Spot | My brother lives in a densely populated part of the city. Parking is at a premium. He had rented a spot for $175 a month. Last week he lost the spot as a building was going up on the lot. He is now scrambling to find a parking spot. |
4,195 | Assisted Living | My friend Bob is 99 years old. Recently he fell twice. Although he was unhurt, his daughter was concerned. She asked about assisted living, but he did not want to go. She is trying to talk him into going. |
4,196 | Peapod | We use Peapod quite often. Recently peapod changed their website. I did some shopping, then signed off. Peapod said my cart was saved, but in fact it was not. I am mulling over using another service. |
4,197 | Ball | In 1999, we went to the beach with our friend Sally. Sally was 24, with a two year old son, Dan. We drove to Nahant Beach. A dog came up and ate Dan's favorite ball. I talked to the owner and got her to pay Sally $5 for the ball. |
4,198 | Inventory | I sell used books on amazon. Several times a month, I have to review pricing. I adjust pricing or close listings based on the market. Today I had to close ten listings. The used book market is very competitive. |
4,199 | Smoker | My daughter's college friend Sharyn smoked a lot. Sharyn's sister Sue got married shortly after graduation. A year later Sue had a baby. Sue told Sharyn she could not see the baby if she smoked. Sharyn gave up smoking. |
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