DIY ambitions

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Describe the most ambitious DIY project you’ve ever taken on.

I’m no stranger to getting my hands dirty and doing work myself rather than hiring someone. I do respect professionals and the work they do, and I’ll ask for their help in areas I know nothing about or am too scared to take on. Sometimes, though, you just have to Do It Yourself.

The most ambitious of these projects was working on my motorcycle last summer. I had been needing to get new tires for it for a number of years but I kept putting it off. In the process of putting it off, I let the bike sit. And sit. And sit. For a good few years. Because of this choice I ultimately had to replace more than just the tires.

Last summer in July I finally got off my ass and scheduled some time to get those tires. I knew I had to do some work on the bike to get it running, and I had a couple weeks to figure that out. I forgot to disconnect the battery when not in use, so I knew that was shot. It was also the starting place for the rabbit hole.

So, I replaced the battery and tried to start it. Nothing. It wanted to crank and turn over but nothing happened. Off to Google and YouTube I went to figure out what to do next. Everything I checked seemed to indicate that it was the carburetor that had a problem.

I spent quite a lot of time trying to get the carburetor off. So much time that I couldn’t get the tires replaced when I wanted. I ended up going through the effort to remove the wheels in their entirety just to take those to the dealership rather than find a way to get the whole motorcycle there.

At this point the bike was on stands, no wheels, no carburetor.

With the wheels in the hands of the dealership to get the tires replaced, I still had time to work on the carburetor. That took quite a lot of work. I had taken the carburetor apart, soaked it in chemicals, sprayed it clean, and reassembled. Nothing. It still didn’t work. So I checked Google and YouTube again. This led me to the carburetor rebuild kit.

This whole project took me weeks to do. Several trips to the auto part store. So many tools and parts purchased and ordered. But in the end, I did it. I got the carburetor rebuilt and reinstalled. The battery was replaced. I even replaced the spark plugs. And it finally turned over! I got it running. Eventually I got the wheels back, complete with new tires, and put those back on.

I think it took about six weeks, beginning to end. So much wait time. Sadly, the Summer was mostly over. I did get to ride a few times to and from work to make sure it ran fine before I put it up for the Winter. This time, though, I properly winterized it and put it up. Fingers crossed it runs again in the Spring without much effort!

The heavy weight of a ban

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If you could permanently ban a word from general usage, which one would it be? Why?

There are so many words to choose from, and many reasons to ban one, but I honestly couldn’t think of one that I would personally choose to ban from “general usage”.

This is likely due to the fact that I am a white male in the USA who does not have to worry about words having significant meaning to me culturally regardless of positive or negative connotation. So, on a serious level, I would have to defer to others that have been situations or live every day with disparaging and hateful words hanging over them.

On a comedic level I’m sure I could pick out a word and ban it from “general usage” so that people stop using it outside of the correct context, like the word cake for example. I’m not sure what word out there this could apply to, but I’m sure there is one that would lead to absolutely silly results as people try to figure out how to describe things again. That could be a good time.

Six month outlook

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What is the biggest challenge you will face in the next six months?

I won’t exactly know if this will be the biggest challenge, but it will certainly be a big one.

For nearly ten years I have lived with my roommate. In that time we’ve had other roommates come and go, and a couple years ago he met his partner. They have multiple pets together, and now they also have a baby. So, the house is feeling a little small.

So, some time in the next six months, I’m hoping to move out. The challenge: finding a place to live that meets my needs and wants. Could be an apartment, but hopefully it’s a house. We’ll see what I can pull off, but the need for my own space is more apparent than ever.

Again, no idea if I’ll encounter a bigger challenge, but that’s what I have my sights set on.

Advice for my past self

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What advice would you give to your teenage self?

I feel like I was asked this question years ago, and I wish I had noted down somewhere the advice I may have thought about giving. Then I could see if there is a difference in what I’m thinking is relevant and important advice.

As for the actual advice I would give, it would be something related to my current life situation or important situations that I’ve dealt with that I feel like I should have handled differently.

Like working out and eating right.

There’s still time for me to work on those things even now, but life in general would be much easier if I had developed better habits around fitness and exercise. My health would be consistently better than it has been, and I would have better self-confidence. So I would definitely tell my teenage self to get in shape and stay in shape. That it takes time and commitment but the rewards would be worth it.

When life gets boring

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What bores you?

I don’t want to say something like “I’m never bored” because that feels a little cliche and unbelievable, but I don’t really run into much that will actively turn off my attention to whatever is in front of me.

With that in mind, I could give an example of a potential situation but it doesn’t happen too often. When I play Magic with my usual group there are times when I run into a situation where I’m not drawing the cards I need and basically can’t play anything. So I sit there and watch, waiting in hopes I draw into a thing I can actually do. I don’t usually let it get to me, because I like to watch them play even if I’m struggling. I can provide commentary, crack jokes, read their cards and think through how everything connects and interacts on each of their  boards. So it’s not like I get BORED bored, but there’s always a chance that I feel like I’ve already seen and done everything I could, so I look for something else to do while I wait.

Situations like I’ve described above don’t happen too often, where I’m in the middle of something but am powerless to do anything. I try to make the most of the situation to avoid boredom.

The other thing to mention for all of this is that I also make sure I put myself in situations where I don’t risk being bored. That part can be tough, but it’s doable. Just make sure I’m engaging with something of interest and be knowledgeable enough to get through it. This way, there’s always something for me to do, because there truly IS always something out there to do.

Picking favorites: beverage edition

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What is your favorite drink?

I’m sure if I had one absolute favorite drink I would probably be trying to drink it every day. Sadly, I don’t. Some kind of come close, but not all drinks are created equal and I have cravings for different flavors all the time.

Soda, as a category, is definitely home to a large number of the drinks I enjoy. Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew Baja Blast, and 1919 Root Beer are the ones I always seem to get.

I also bounce back and forth between soda and bubly. Preferably Lime and Pineapple. I can use those with something like MiO if I really feel like I need a sweet beverage.

If all else fails, or I’ve been working out, the go to is always water. Ice cold. I really should just drink more water in general and cut out the sugary drinks, but such is the choice I’ve made.

Those people you love to spend time with

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Who are your favorite people to be around?

Ever have those days where you go through things in a fog of boredom? Not the kind of boredom like you have no energy, but just indifferent energy? The world feels dull and you just plod along. Then you get that chance to spend time with friends or family and suddenly the world comes into sharper focus. Those people who can drag that out of you, they are my favorite people to be around.

My friends that I play Magic: The Gathering with can do that for me. Even though we chat almost daily through messages, things really kick up to high gear when we’re in the same room and playing the game.

My siblings and I have a similar arrangement. Daily group chatting, sharing memes, etc. and then we get together for family time on weekends. Playing games and laughing our asses off at the stupid jokes we come up with.

There’s almost nothing better when it comes to being around your favorite people.

About having favorite shoes

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Tell us about your favorite pair of shoes, and where they’ve taken you.

I don’t think I’ve ever owned more than 3-5 different pairs of shoes or boots at any one point in time that were in active rotation. I might have more than that right now but several are packed away either for emergencies or gently worn donations because they no longer fit my needs.

Black dress shoes and brown shoes for office work, two different pairs of cross trainers for everyday and gym-specific wear, and a pair of steel toe boots. That’s the general lineup of footwear I keep.

As for designating any as a favorite pair? I don’t know that I could. I’ve never had to retire a pair of shoes or boots and thought about how I was going to miss them, or try to replace them with an identical pair only to be disappointed the new pair didn’t feel the same.

I’ve had some shoes that lasted only six months, and others I managed to wear for many years. In fact, the black pair of Asics I have is probably the same pair I’ve had for the last five years unless I replaced them with an identical pair. In either case, those are probably the closest I could get to having a favorite pair. If it’s truly the same pair as I had in 2019 then those ones went with me to Colorado and California (mountain hiking in the former, San Diego for TwitchCon in the latter) so they’ve seen some serious wear.

Aside from that, I honestly cannot think of a specific pair of shoes that I could figuratively cry over because I loved them so much. I’m basically a shoe heathen. They’re just shoes.

One gift of many

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Share one of the best gifts you’ve ever received.

I struggled to come up with a solid example for this prompt. My mind kept thinking “the best” and not “one of the best” which threw me off.

Since it doesn’t have to be the absolute BEST gift I ever received, I think I can manage.

To establish some context, my younger brother and his family have an orange cat named Paul. I am one of Paul’s favorite humans. Over the last several years he has taken to jumping from the ground up to my shoulders where he will perch for a long time, sometimes even just laying across my shoulders and sleeping.

This past Christmas I received a very amusing and thoughtful gift from my older brother. He found one of those neck pillows that was designed to look like an orange cat, and relatively close to looking like Paul.

When I pulled it out of the gift wrapping it only took me a second to realize exactly what it was I was looking at before I burst out laughing. This got everyone else to look at the neck pillow in my hands and they, too, quickly realized what it signified. So I put it around my neck and wore it the rest of the day. 

Suffice to say, Paul was jealous. I tried to put him on the pillow to see what he would do and he didn’t seem too thrilled.

When I came back the next day, he was very happy and possessive of my shoulders.

Truly, one of the best gifts I ever received.

The personal budget

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Daily writing prompt
Write about your approach to budgeting.
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On the whole, my budgeting sucks, simple as that, but I still have some sort of method to follow.

To start with, I have a spreadsheet that I put all my numbers into for tracking, and I keep it up to date almost daily. In this age of technology, it’s super easy to do with my phone. I can access my bank, credit cards, Paypal, Venmo, etc. so that I can keep tabs on any new transactions. Then I also have access to my spreadsheet through my phone, so it’s just as easy to bounce between the apps.

Each bill or monthly charge is tracked as a line item, and I keep track of each of their relative due dates next to them. Those are the first two columns, and I freeze them in place for scrolling for the next part. The rest of the columns have the Pay Dates for the year and the anticipated amount earned on that check. Then I go through each bill and add the amount due for each pay check that will be closest in date before the bill is due. Everything gets calculated at the bottom, and I have line items for Food/Groceries, Gas, and Savings. Those last three are more fluid because there will be weeks I don’t need to drive as much, or I have extra grocery money because I didn’t need to spend extra on something like bulk laundry detergent. This is where I say my budgeting sucks. Because I don’t do a good job with having the extra money that I don’t ultimately put into savings. I take out cash for the food and gas to try and limit myself, but I will sometimes go over or find myself in a situation where I need to pay for something that I can’t use cash for, so it ends up on the credit card (because the bank account would overdraw otherwise.)

There you go. My brief budget rundown.