Where I like to eat

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What is your favorite restaurant?

Alright, first thing, this sounds like another one of those prompts that sounds like a security question for your account and the information could be used maliciously if someone decides to scrape blog posts.

If you’re curious how that could work, I couldn’t explain it properly, but the idea would be to scan blogs for the Tag that corresponds to this prompt, making a note of them and any public information, and then scanning the actual blog post to find words that match a database of restaurant names. Boom, list of names/emails and favorite restaurants. Pair that with information from other sources (like those companies that sell your information) and you have potential for security breaches.

NOW, with that warning out of the way, I’ll answer today’s prompt in a roundabout way.

My favorite restaurants (plural) are typically places where I can get fried rice or tacos/burritos.

When I get food from a place that does fried rice it’s usually ordered with some kind of chicken dish or with a fair amount of sauce to drizzle over the rice.

When I’m craving tacos or burritos it is hit and miss where I go because sometimes it isn’t about either of them, but rather something like a really good dessert. I’m a sucker for a good churro or slice of tres leches, so when I’m in the mood for those I definitely don’t go to Taco Bell.

(For the record, I mentioned Taco Bell because I know I’ve never used that as the answer to a security question.)

Anyways, that’s where I’m at when it comes to restaurants. I’ll eat just about anywhere, but those two particular categories are top of the list.

10 years from now

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Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

I’ve never been one to come up with a super detailed “5 year plan” let alone a “10 year plan” but I do hope to be SOMEWHERE in 10 years.

Well, to start, 10 years from now I’ll be 46. Roughly the same age as the eternal mental image I have of my Dad.

With that in mind I think I’d like to see myself having accomplished multiple things. He had worked on and completed his Master’s and Doctorate somewhere thereabouts, but I don’t know that in today’s current higher education system I would want to start down that path. Maybe things will be different a few years from now (to really line up with the relative timing of when my Dad started his Master’s program.) Instead I’d rather see myself having published a few novels regardless of how successful they turn out. Of course, this requires putting effort into my writing projects over my 3D printing and painting projects.

I would also like to see myself in a house of my own within that 10 year window. Maybe even in my second house, which would be slightly larger because maybe I’ll have met someone and started a family!

I’ll leave things there and not saddle myself with too many expectations. Just need to work on one thing at a time.

Minor things in the pursuit of happiness

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What are 5 everyday things that bring you happiness?

It’s unfortunate that happiness can’t be a steady state of mind or being and that we have to constantly chase it, but that at least gives most of us the drive to live.

That drive to chase our dreams and trying to attain happiness can sometimes overshadow the simpler things in life that can bring us happiness. That’s where my mind goes when I think about the “everyday things” in the prompt. Not to overlook simple things that bring happiness when life is hectic.

The first everyday thing that came to mind that brings me happiness is one of my roommates cats. When they first moved in a couple years ago the cats were very shy and avoided me. One of them is very sweet and warmed up to me very quickly while it took months to get to the point where the other would even approach me to sniff my hand. That second one, named Boogie, is incredibly vocal and with the loudest purring I’ve experienced in a cat. What brings me happiness (to get back to the prompt) is the way Boogie will talk back at you, loudly, from time to time. It’s definitely one of those “you have to be there to experience it” kind of things, but that’s one that brings me happiness.

The other four everyday things that bring me happiness are all relatively the same or interconnected.

I love solving puzzles and problems. That burst of joy when something clicks and I make progress is what keeps me coming back. Solving puzzles in games, figuring out a solution for problems with crafting and hobbies, making connections for potential synergy with mechanics in Magic: The Gathering when building new decks, and (on a work related note) solving a problem at work that involves scripting or formulas. All of these are interconnected because of the way my mind works and processes information, and each one can bring me happiness in their own ways.

I’m sure I could come up with more “everyday things” to throw out that bring me happiness but then nobody would want to finish reading this post so I’ll end it here

Happy Friday, and I hope you all have or find those “everyday things” that bring you happiness!

Something learned in high school

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Describe something you learned in high school.

I think I’ve forgotten just about everything I learned in high school (which isn’t difficult to do considering I procrastinated, napped, and slacked off the whole time.) In some ways it’s a miracle I graduated at all.

However, there are still some things rolling around upstairs that I can dig out.

The opportunities I had in high school in Colorado were different from the ones I had here in South Dakota. For instance, Physics was a Senior only class out here but I had started it in my Junior year before moving away from Colorado. After we moved (and an additional few weeks or so off) and I was able to go back to school I found out that the curriculum was a couple months behind what it was in Colorado. Similarly, reading and English was a little behind. It had never occurred to me before then, but that’s when it dawned on me that educational standards varied across the country.

Another variation: small farm towns in South Dakota prioritized offering Agriculture and Farming classes, as well as some practical skills. I didn’t retain much from the Ag classes, but I do remember a decent amount from the Welding class. (Yes, we had an entire class dedicated to welding, and it was awesome.)

Thinking about it now, I’m curious to learn just how different the educational curriculum is in many parts of the country and the rest of the world. What kinds of information and skills are prioritized?

Making positive changes

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Describe one positive change you have made in your life.

I don’t know where to start. Not because I’ve made so many positive changes that it’s hard to choose, but rather that I don’t know how to qualify something as a positive change versus just a change that eventually yielded a positive result.

Maybe I could just say my mindset regarding being insecure about what people think of me.

A big example I can give is around dental work. The guys in my family have terrible luck with dental problems, and not for a lack of decent dental hygiene. For me, the case was the way my wisdom teeth grew in against the rest. What ultimately happened with them and the way they impacted my other teeth led to me needing several teeth pulled, enough to warrant partial dentures.

This is what led to me being a little insecure at first. Needing dentures in my early 30’s was not something I felt particularly proud of because I saw them as a mark of shame almost. I didn’t want people knowing for fear of being judged.

It took a few years but I’ve more or less gotten over it by reminding myself it could have gotten worse if I hadn’t gone through with all of the necessary work, and nobody is going to know unless I tell them (like I’m telling all of you.) I just need to keep telling myself that shit happens, and this is my lot in life now, so no point in stressing over it when I have more important things to care about. People will naturally accept me for who I am and they will be the ones I can devote time and energy towards instead of worrying over the perspectives of people I may never meet.

There was an attempt: a writing contest

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A couple months ago I saw an ad on Facebook for a writing contest with cash prizes and writing feedback for all entrants, and since I’ve been on this journey of getting back into writing consistently, I thought I might give it a try. I was a little suspicious of how they were going to afford cash prizes until I saw there was an entry fee, but that only made me more suspicious of the whole thing. Was it actually a scam? Unfortunately, at the time, the deadline for signing up was only a day or two away and I knew nothing of writing contests so I had to do some quick research.

Thankfully this particular contest appeared reputable with a long history, so I signed up.

Anyways, the contest itself, through NYC Midnight, was for writing short stories. According to the rules there would be four rounds, and each entrant would have a limited amount of time to write based on a randomly selected prompt setup, of which the final output would be judged and a certain number from each group would move on. The rules also stated that we couldn’t publicly share our work until ten days after results for the round were announced. So, I won’t be sharing my round one entry here just yet.

Sadly, I did not pass round one, and now I’m just waiting for feedback. Cash prizes aside, that was a big draw for me to sign up, so I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of feedback I get on my writing.

I’m always looking to improve, so I’m not going to let this loss discourage me from continuing to write. Once I get my feedback and the ten days have passed I plan on sharing my one short story here, and then maybe you all can also provide some feedback!

We’ll see where things go from here.

Eclipse: a view from South Dakota

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Yesterday was one of those celestial events that I usually miss because eastern South Dakota is typically overcast and rainy around this time of year, and yet I did manage to get some pictures!

We only got to see about 70% coverage as it peeked through the clouds, and on top of that I was taking pictures from indoors at work where the windows have an exterior tint and some measure of polarization which made for some interesting images. Have a look!

Maybe next time (in like 2044 I guess) I’ll get better pictures.

Fitness for fun and good health

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What’s the most fun way to exercise?

For most people, myself included, the thought of exercising for the sake of exercising is off-putting. The best way to get people to exercise is to disguise it as something fun. At least, that’s how I see it all.

For me, the most fun way to exercise is definitely some kind of sporting activity (but I’m sure some people would disagree while doing some suggestive waggling of eyebrows.) I’m not big on running up and down a field, but soccer would probably yield the most results from the exercise perspective, while golf is limiting and not full of a lot of exertion unless you’re hitting the range instead. I’ve definitely left the range with sore hands and woke up with some sore upper body muscles.

I’m calling out sports here because I can think of a couple of other activities that get people moving. Mobile games like Pokémon Go and those scavenger hunt kinds of games (like from CluedUpp Games.) I haven’t played the former much in recent years and the latter only once because it costs money and requires a group.

This all just reminds me I need to suck it up and get back to the gym more frequently.

To read and reread

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What book could you read over and over again?

I haven’t found a book lately that I can say totally qualifies for this honor, but I have had some in the past.

Way back in elementary school is when I discovered Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. I think it was probably around 3rd or 4th grade? I was always reading at a level a couple years above most of my peers, and when I first read Ender’s Game I didn’t know some words or fully understand the context and complexity of the story, but I was enthralled. I read that book several times, taking a couple weeks or months in between reads without reading anything else so that I could digest it before reacquainting myself with the story.

Middle school up to about sophomore year of high school was when I read some Dragonlance stories and what was available of The Wheel of Time, and although I didn’t reread them as voraciously as I had with Ender’s Game, I did reread a few of them at least a couple of times.

Reading Harry Potter didn’t happen for me until book six was released. After that I read them a couple of times, mixed in with more Wheel of Time, and then reread some of them leading up to book sevens release. After book seven I didn’t reread them, and it would be several years before I chose to read and reread something new.

I think the last book I actually reread multiple times was Old Man’s War by John Scalzi. My older brother recommended I check it out. This was probably during the last couple years of college, as I recall reading The Human Division in its serial release format around that time. Even after that I would still circle back to reread that first book. It’s been more than a few years since my last reading of Old Man’s War and now I kind of want to go back and read it again.

Well, aside from all those books I haven’t found anything new. Maybe I’ll find something new to read over and over again soon.

Living in another world

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If you could be a character from a book or film, who would you be? Why?

I think I usually hear this kind of question phrased as which book/film/television world would you live in rather than being a specific character. Why would we want to be a specific character? We already know what happens to them, right?

I honestly don’t know which character I would be if I could pick one. There are quite a lot of book and film properties out there to pick from for just one character.

Maybe, since the question is still a little vague, we get to choose the character we want to be without living through the events of their story. If that’s the case it opens things up a bit, because, let’s be real here, nobody wants to live through the same struggles and hardships most characters go through during the events of their stories.

If I get to be this character while existing in our current world, I would pick someone capable of magic. Maybe Simon from the Dungeons & Dragons movie. Wild Magic sounds like a lot of chaotic fun and could make for great (or disastrous) party tricks.

Yeah, let’s go with Simon.