I’ve stopped buying quite as much Magic: The Gathering cards in the last year or so, so I guess I HAVE made some progress in doing less of something, but all the rest on the list most definitely still apply.
Okay, so maybe I’ve gotten a little better about giving into those feelings of impostor syndrome and self-doubt. Instead, it’s been replaced by allowing myself to be spontaneously distracted. Perhaps I need to speak with my doctor about the change in medication we did a few months ago, because my attention span for things is all over the place. I’m fortunate that I’ve been able to maintain my daily writing habit as much as I have since then.
So, there’s an update to my previous answer. I could do less of being spontaneously distracted.
Just as I titled my post, I don’t believe it is possible to have a truly perfect day.
Something is bound to go wrong, even in the smallest way possible, and that would automatically disqualify the day from being perfect. That being said, you can still have a really good day, especially if you have a good mental state/approach to everything.
That’s what I believe, and anyways it’s all subjective so it’s not like it matters. Just worry about the things you have control over and make the most of the day.
One thing this prompt doesn’t factor in is the horizontal dimensions of the building, only the vertical. So, I’m going to play with that! I know several buildings in my local downtown that are interconnected, so technically we could take one as an example or just use the full length/width of the downtown city block (minus the alley ways). I think I’d have it be the full length of the city block and only go up to the alley on the width. This would make it roughly 150 feet long from East to West, and roughly 390 feet long North to South. Quite a lot of real estate, especially if it’s five stories!
Personally, I’d start with living quarters. The building is mine to do whatever I want with it, so I might as well live in it. I’d like to have a two- or three-story segment on the south side of the building as my personal space. Maybe 50 feet long, with that longer side facing south, and then 25 feet wide. I could have a massive home in there, with an open concept loft design in part of it. The rest of the third, fourth, and fifth levels throughout the building could be apartments.
Next would be some other form of revenue generation. I’m thinking a bowling alley and arcade could occupy the space beneath my home. I wouldn’t want to subject that kind of noise to the other tenants, so I’d probably make the remainder of the space above it into something other than apartments. Maybe offices? Then I could put restaurants or boutiques/shops on the first two levels beneath the remainder of the apartments.
Okay, so really I just ended up designing my own downtown building that’s very similar to others here. Except the bowling alley. We don’t have one downtown.
Now that I think about it, maybe I’d do a multi-story laser tag arena in part of it? Oh, or maybe multi-story indoor paintball! I’ve always wanted something like that.
I have a bunch of ideas, and now I can’t decide what I would really do with my fictional building.
Sometimes, when I’m having a conversation with people, I feel the need to relate to others in the conversation when they share something that makes them feel insecure or less about themselves in some way. This leads to me sharing a personal experience in hopes that we can connect and they don’t have to feel alone.
Unfortunately, these conversations are usually text-based through services like Discord, and I feel like my responses are often followed by silence from the other person and this makes me feel insecure in a way that says “they feel like you’re trying to one-up them”.
Because of this feeling, I sometimes just don’t share anything anymore and internalize feelings that MAYBE I shouldn’t, because then it starts eating away at me.
Think of something you collect. What is a version of it that you wish to find, or you wish existed? (e.g. I wish I could find my perfect yellow fountain pen ink)
The way Wizards of the Coast is pumping out new product for Magic: The Gathering, it’s only a matter of time before they make a card I feel like I absolutely must have, but so far that hasn’t happened. They might hit the mark with the Final Fantasy collab that releases next year, so fingers crossed!
Other than that, I don’t think there is anything else that I’d be too concerned with trying to get.
I stumbled across this site with some journal prompts that I wanted to explore, but I wanted to start with the appropriate date instead of just grabbing one at random. Unfortunately for me, today’s prompt is related to goals and goal-setting, which I suck at doing for myself.
I’m going to do it anyway.
This December isn’t going to be super productive for me in the writing space. Half the month will be a normal work schedule, so I’ll probably be okay there, but the other half I’m actually taking off of work for a combination of travel and family time. I think somewhere in all of the time I’ll probably try to think a bit further ahead and do some better goal-setting for next year, so I can at least try to accomplish things I keep putting off (or at least the things I keep dragging my feet for because “slow and steady wins the race” means stuff still gets done.)
Also, since we’re talking about goal-setting and how I may not be productive in the near future, fingers crossed I can still push my personal projects over the finish line soon!
It has been a busy week so far, and I’m not feeling up to answering the daily prompt while spending time with my family.
Instead, I’ll just wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving (for those of you who are celebrating it today) and that you also get the time to spend with family!
Before making a phone call, do you ever rehearse what you’re going to say? Why?
I saw this question and felt like it deserved to be answered here.
In the past, I’ve talked about how I’m kind of a mixed bag on consistent planning. I’m good at planning at work, or for other people who are dependent on me for something, but terrible about developing and sticking to plans for just myself.
Except when it comes to conversations.
Rehearsing is technically a form of practice and not strictly a form of planning, but that doesn’t mean you don’t continue planning DURING the rehearsal. You have to try out different phrases, plan for responses, and so on and so forth.
Personally, I go beyond just phone calls. I’ll play out entire potential conversations with different people in my mind and try to anticipate what they might say so I can respond accordingly. I’ll plan for different timings and environments. Like if I’m having the conversation at home or in the car. I try to consider the circumstances as much as possible, like if they’re having a good day or a bad one.
I do this because sometimes I’m not in the right emotional state of mind and I don’t want to spontaneously direct anger at someone. I want to approach things calmly and rationally. Nobody wants to be yelled at or chewed out, but I still need to vent a little and process my emotions so that I can think things through. I think about how to present any arguments or complaints I might have so that I’m getting the most out of the situation without hurting the other person in the same breath, and I try to anticipate different possible directions things can go so that I’m not getting caught off guard.
Sometimes having a conversation, whether in person or on the phone, is tough, but we have to go through it anyways. Might as well plan it out.
My choices of clothing aren’t anything wild, and I don’t dress in any stylish fashion belonging to a specific group like goth, punk, emo, or country (or some mix of two, as I’ve seen before on Instagram). I’m primarily a t-shirts and shorts/jeans kind of guy, with the exception of when I go into the office where I typically wear polo’s and black slacks.
As for WHY I dress the way that I do? Well, I don’t feel the need to put in an exceptional amount of effort into what I wear. I want to be comfortable in what I’m wearing, and I want to be able to just throw something on and go without worrying if it looks good. Again, exception being for work because it is a casual business office environment. However, I still follow a similar philosophy there, because I make sure that when I buy a polo to add to the rotation, I pick a color that will go with the black slacks. I do have some other pants options these days, though, since they backed off the restrictions a bit in our office. I can wear jeans, so I have picked out some polo’s that I can now wear with a couple of my pairs of jeans and a pair of brown/khaki slacks (which I found a hole in the other day, and they are now out of commission until I find a suitable replacement).
So, yeah, nothing crazy in my wardrobe. I just like being comfortable and looking okay enough to not stand out (for better or worse).
The Dragon's Grove 