My mother told me not to

Hello! I'm back after a little hiatus, and I have a fun little exercise to do that doesn't take long to do.
I think I'll do this one in two parts. I can't read my scribbling where I'd copied this idea down a while ago, so I think this is how it goes. Write down 10 things you were told never to do....then write down ten things you want to know...it can inspire an interesting short story, or perhaps some character development. In any case, you can do it from the point of view of a character you're working on, or perhaps just do it for yourself as a little bit of spring cleaning, getting those pipes working again.
That is what I will do today.
Okay, here it goes.

Ten things I was told/ should never do:

1. watch T.V sitting on the floor two feet away, you'll ruin your eyesight. ( I've done it, and still don't have glasses )

2. perm my hair ( looked like a poodle )

3. eat at Salsbury house

4. wear a wet bathing suit around the house

5. pick strawberries and hold them in my turned up white T-shirt, then try to deny the evidence

6. start a diary again...there are so many half started diaries left around. Plus bad experiences with teen aged girls reading and mocking diaries...better to keep things thinly veiled in poems

7. wear an ill fitted dress to the theatre where you'll be sitting in misery for two hours, in order to look good at the intermission.

8. Walk around Toronto in sandals all day. Sore feet, sore shins.

9. buy anything full price---ever.

10. look at the calorie count on the back of the package. You're eating it anyway, might as well enjoy it.

Ten things I want to know "why"

1. Why is it when I want to go to a movie, it's either packed or sold out...even if I get there in plenty of time.

2. Why can't I look in the mirror and be completely pleased with what I see, rather than focus on minute flaws.

3. Why do tourists always have to carry their cameras around their necks

4. Why can't the weather just cooperate

5. why is cold pizza way better than hot pizza, and even better first thing in the morning.

6. why can't I just find closure when something is over...rather than hang on to it forever, carrying it around no matter how hard I try to expel it from my body

7. why is it that when the house is completely silent I decide it's time to clean or go shopping.

8. why is it I can never stay on top of the laundry

9. Why do the people here inhale when they agree with something

10.Why do the women in my family never age

I have to say that this exercise will bring out strange things you've never even thought about before, it's kind of like a word-association game, where you just kind of say whatever first pops into your mind. If you think about it too much, it will loose its surprising insight. Wow, that opened up my mind, kinda scary to see what's lurking there.

But these are all things that you could end up building as part of a narrative...things you wouldn't spontaneously think of. When you ask an active question, it draws them out, makes you think.

Happy writing!!!