Tag: dailyprompt

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

Taylor Burian2 Comments

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.

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.

To work for free

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Daily writing prompt
What job would you do for free?
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I’m going to keep this Friday post brief since I ran short of time today.

So long as people need to provide for themselves in a way that requires an exchange of goods or services for other goods and services, then no “job” should be done for free.

That being said, if we lived in a future where our every need is provided for in a way that we DIDN’T have to worry about money and living paycheck to paycheck, where we could pursue whatever work we wanted, I would probably do all the writing I want to do but don’t really have time for now!

It would be so easy to just sit down to write for hours and hours without worrying about money.

Happy Friday!

What Olympic sports I like

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Daily writing prompt
What Olympic sports do you enjoy watching the most?
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My family used to watch the Olympics, both Summer and Winter, a lot when I was younger. As a kid I wasn’t all the interested and it was just kind of something that was on. We would naturally hope that the athletes from the USA would do well, but I never cared much.

As an adult, I still don’t care much, but I have a much deeper understanding and respect for the athletes. The things they do for training, the lifestyles they have to lead, just to be able to perform at the “Olympic” level is fascinating and also a little sad sometimes. So, for the events/sports that I do end up watching, I can appreciate the action better and actually feel somewhat invested. That being said, I don’t typically watch a lot of the Summer games (and there are a LOT of events for the Summer Olympics.) I much more prefer watching the Winter games, especially the ice related ones.

I did a little bit of skateboarding and snowboarding (briefly) as a kid, so I naturally gravitate towards those events for the Olympics, but I’ve grown to enjoy most of the ice-based sports for the Winter games, which means I watch a substantial portion of the events as compared to the Summer games. The Summer games I enjoy, outside of the skateboarding and BMX events (which go hand in hand for me as part of the “extreme sports” grouping I grew up with), are typically the martial arts ones. On occasion I do enjoy seeing the archery and fencing events, but they aren’t top of the list.

A final note on all of this, though, is that despite me saying I enjoy these events I’m not a big sports guy to begin with, so it should go without saying that I don’t follow the teams or individual athletes and have no vested interest in their practice, progress, and success. I just watch whenever I feel like it (when the games are on, of course.)

Community improvement

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How would you improve your community?

This is a tough question…

On one hand I can approach this less seriously and throw around (potentially) lofty ideas regardless of feasibility, and on the other I could do what I usually do and analyze the hell out of it while only sharing a small amount of my thoughts.

I’ll just stick with the “lofty idea” one.

Lofty idea: more public events/classes for teens and adults, like the fun ones through the library system. Space/class sizes would still be limited but if there were more of them then people wouldn’t have to miss out too often because the classes/events wouldn’t be “one and done” on an annual basis (because it already feels like they don’t exist.)

Meeting people and making friends as an adult is already a challenge, and modern dating can be even more of a challenge, especially when it feels like the only thing to do out here is go to the bars. (I live in an area where there are, on average, more bars than churches by a fair amount.) So, why not introduce more ways to be social without breaking the bank AND finding people who might have common interests? Or even just having activities for date nights that aren’t just going out to dinner and maybe a movie? How about an hour long class on archery? Or a two hour stained glass session?

A community is only as strong as the bonds we forge together in a personal way, face to face. Not digitally where everyone can hide behind a keyboard and avoid reality. (I say all this knowing full well how introverted I typically am and avoiding social outings with strangers.)

My life post pandemic

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Daily writing prompt
How have you adapted to the changes brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic?
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I’ve talked about it before multiple times but only really as brief mentions for other topics.

The way I adapted to live during and after the pandemic.

During the pandemic, I ordered a LOT of food through DoorDash and Grubhub. An embarrassing amount, considering I was basically confined to the house and could have cooked my meals anytime I wanted. Afterwards, when restrictions lifted and I was going back into the office nearly everyday, I try to avoid that and remind myself of just how much money I could be saving by not using those apps, but I still do use them on occasion. It’s nice to be able to have something delivered to the office (on very rare occasions) when I know I’m going to have a busy day full of meetings. It’s also nice to use those apps purely for reference too! I can pull them up, see nearly every restaurant near me, and check what hours and menus are for each. Then I can either order for pick up or remind myself I’m not really THAT hungry to warrant ordering out. The cost of convenience is not really worth it anymore.

Technology and the home work setup changed during and after the pandemic in a way I never really thought I would feel okay with accepting. I need my separate spaces for work and home. During the pandemic this sucked because I basically lived in my bedroom for 20+ hours a day. Work, eat, play, sleep. At the time, I built a room divider to help separate my bedroom into sleeping area and gaming/working area. (It’s just a 4×8 sheet of wood cut to a 4×7 shape with a cube storage shelf screwed onto it for stability and organization.) After the pandemic was more or less ended, I moved my computer setup back into the basement along with the room divider so that I could kind of shut it off from the rest of the basement for some privacy and to serve as a backdrop for when I was streaming.

Before the pandemic hit and everything shut down, I used to go to Walmart and other late night stores all the time. 2:00AM and can’t sleep? Walk around Walmart and do some light shopping. Although technically I did that a lot anyway because I enjoyed the peace and quiet of shopping when nobody else was around. Now I can’t really do that, unless I wanted to spend time at gas stations that are open 24/7. I’ve had to adapt to the idea that I’ll just have to be quick and methodical about my grocery shopping excursions and plan them as best I can at times of the day when the crowds are lightest. That usually means early mornings are an hour or two before close.

I’m sure there are probably some other ways I’ve adapted to life post-pandemic but if I can’t think of them off the top of my head they probably aren’t as broad or significant as the things I mentioned above. Oh well, life changes all the time and I’m sure I’ll have to adapt to new things again in the near future.