Tag: dailyprompt

Bloganuary 29th: Watching vs Playing Sports

Taylor BurianLeave a comment

What are your favorite sports to watch and play?

It should come as no shock to anyone that, given my hobbies, I do not play a lot of sports. However, I DO play some sports. I don’t invest heavily in them, but I enjoy them well enough as is. I also do not go out of my way to watch any particular sports, even if I do like to play them.

First off, sports I enjoy playing are bowling and golfing.

Bowling started around age 10 when a friend of mine invited me to join his youth bowling team. His mom talked with my mom, they got things squared away, and I played two seasons. Of course, my younger brother needed to join us as well, and it was fortunate that my friend has a younger sister about the same age, so they were on a team in their age bracket. Unfortunately, life took some odd turns, so we only played those two seasons, and then we stopped. I did still enjoy bowling in high school and beyond, though, and it was an odd stroke of luck that when my family moved to South Dakota we found a couple of the small farm towns in the area had their own bowling alleys. So I got to play, sometimes even for free because I had friends who worked part time there.

I didn’t pick up golfing until high school. My Dad gave me a set of used clubs and I happened to have a friend who liked golfing, so I was able to go with him a couple times. Of course, again, it wasn’t for long because we moved to South Dakota shortly thereafter, and in another odd stroke of luck the small farm town where I finished high school has a golf course. Sadly I didn’t make any friends that golfed, so all I did was hit the driving range a few times now and again. Then I took like a ten year hiatus because I moved around a bit during college. Now, my oldest nephew is getting into golf, and I’ve gotten to go with him and my sister’s a few times!

Outside of actually playing those sports, I don’t watch them in any way. I occasionally watch soccer and football with friends and family, but I won’t go out of my way to do so. Same as with any other sport. It’s just not my thing.

Bloganuary 28th: The Lottery Plan

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What would you do if you won the lottery?

Winning the lottery would be life changing. Who wouldn’t want to win a massive amount of money? The things you could do…

Well, over the last 15 years or so I’ve talked at length with a few select friends and a couple of family members about such a wildly improbable scenario. I’ve done my research, and even read the news articles about past winners, to help devise a very serious plan.

The first step would be to not tell anyone. At all. Nobody can know if I had won the lottery and won hundreds of millions of dollars.

The second step would be to sign the back of the ticket, ensuring nobody else can claim it over my dead body.

The third and fourth steps are crucial. I would store the ticket somewhere safe, and then get in contact with lawyers that specialize in large estates. Preferably from a reputable law firm with offices all over the country.

Then the real planning could begin.

Evaluating my current life situation, from debts to threats and all things in-between.

Paying off debts is a no-brainer. Don’t want to leave yourself open and give anyone a way to collect more than they’re owed. Figuring out the necessary safety and security measures for myself and loved ones is incredibly important as well.

I’m sure some of you have seen the memes.

“If I won the lottery, I wouldn’t say anything, but there would be signs.”

I’d try to minimize those signs, for safety.

I would obviously do a few things to elevate my situation, such as buying a house and some toys. Then, with the help of the lawyers and accountants, set up for the future. Regular disbursement of funds for bills, investing, charity, etc.

That’s the gist of it!

Bloganuary 27th: The dreaded reading backlog

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Bloganuary writing prompt
What books do you want to read?
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So many books to read, so little time! I have a decent list of books to read that I’ve picked up in the last couple of years, and I actually put that list into a personal OneNote so I could track purchases. Below is the list of most recent books that I’ve purchased and added to my backlog. There are 33 books in the list, and I’ve grouped some based on series. Are any of them on your list?

  • Mistborn Era 1
    • The Final Empire (Read)
    • The Well of Ascension
    • The Hero of Ages
  • Mistborn Era 2
    • The Alloy of Law
    • Shadows of Self
    • The Bands of Mourning
    • The Lost Metal
  • Elantris
  • Warbreaker
  • The Stormlight Archive
    • The Way of Kings
    • Words of Radiance
    • Oathbringer
    • Rhythm of War
    • Wind and Truth
  • Brandon Sanderson Secret Projects
    • Tress of the Emerald Sea
    • The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England
    • Yumi and the Nightmare Painter
    • The Sunlit Man
  • J.W. Wells & Co.
    • The Portable Door
    • In Your Dreams
    • Earth, Air, Fire, and Custard
    • You Don’t Have to Be Evil to Work Here, But It Helps
    • The Better Mousetrap
    • May Contain Traces of Magic
    • Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Sausages
    • The Eight Reindeer of the Apocalypse
  • Defenders of Lore
    • God of Neverland
    • Queens of Wonderland
  • The Flanders Panel
  • Death by Cliché
  • Obsidian
  • The Beholden
  • Starter Villain (Reading)

Bloganuary 26th: Family traditions, new and old

Taylor BurianLeave a comment

Write about a few of your favorite family traditions.

The parents get older, the kids become adults and go off to start their own lives. Parents and other older adults pass away. The younger adults start families, have kids of their own, and the cycle repeats itself. And within that cycle are traditions that get handed down through the generations.

That’s how it is supposed to work, anyways. My family has had traditions change because of all the things mentioned above.

We still get together for most holidays, except the family has grown and we celebrate at my brother’s house instead of at our parents. Thanksgiving is still turkey and sides, Christmas is a little different every year but we have a couple of different meal plans that we juggle depending on what everyone is feeling.

After the passing of my stepmom a couple of years ago we started a new tradition of getting together on Sunday’s for lunch or dinner, depending on the time of year and weather. Winter is hit and miss because of travel conditions.

Nothing special or exciting, we just want to spend time together.

Bloganuary 25th: my leisure time

Taylor BurianLeave a comment

What do you enjoy doing most in your leisure time?

I’ll probably have to rank my activities/hobbies of choice for this prompt because although I currently have one in particular that dominates the top of the list, I have others that would take its place under different circumstances.

First and foremost is video games. I spend a lot of time playing a variety of games both with and without my family and friends. Puzzle and Room Escape games by myself help me stretch my brain a bit, and Survival Crafting games with friends to learn, problem solve, and manage things while exploring strange new environments. These days the family games are typically Fortnite, but occasionally we dabble in other games as we find common interests in the many different genres.

After that, if I had the time and capacity to, I would play Magic: The Gathering with friends for more than just a few hours every couple of weeks or so. If we could play a couple of times a week then I would definitely be playing video games less. Also, since I’ve recently managed to get my two brothers and a nephew into Magic, I’d hopefully play with them more frequently as well. Especially considering my nephew is still very new to the game and there is so much to learn.

I would most likely then spend a lot of time reading if I didn’t feel so drawn to spending time with friends near and far for the above activities. Sadly, my back log of books keeps growing. I’ll probably have to commit to reading through a few soon just so I can keep adding to it and not feel too guilty.

I’ll stop at the top three there for how I would prefer to spend my leisure time, otherwise I could just keep going on and on.

Bloganuary 24th: Fun close to home

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Bloganuary writing prompt
Name an attraction or town close to home that you still haven’t got around to visiting.
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I’ve now lived in South Dakota for about 19 years, and there are still so many things I haven’t done. Maybe it’s because of my lifestyle or just lack of interest in general, I’m not entirely sure, but there are some that I really should go do and visit.

If you’re familiar with South Dakota, then you probably know that it is the Mount Rushmore State. I still haven’t visited Mount Rushmore. I’ve been nearby in that part of the state but was either working or passing through, and it isn’t an “attraction” that is top of my list. I’ll also include in the list some non-South Dakota places that are popular around my area.

Among the list of attractions or towns that I have NOT visited:

  • The Black Hills
  • Wall Drug
  • Des Moines, Iowa
  • Le Mars, Iowa (The Ice Cream Capital of the World – home to Blue Bunny Ice Cream)
  • Valleyfair (amusement park just outside Minneapolis, Minnesota)

If I wanted to get REALLY specific, I could do some that are actually close to home, but I’d rather not. If I didn’t visit them, they weren’t that popular to me or my lifestyle so they aren’t worth remembering or mentioning, but I’m sure there are more that people would get mad at me for not including. Oh well, such is life!

Bloganuary 23rd: Doing things for fun

Taylor BurianLeave a comment
Bloganuary writing prompt
List five things you do for fun.
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Personally, everyone should have a hobby, and preferably a creative one if possible.

Unfortunately, while I do have a handful of things I do on a regular basis for fun, I also have a penchant for dabbling in new things. Maybe it’s just because I’m looking for something else to add to my skill sets or list of substitute hobbies.

Anyways, the five things I like to do for fun.

On the creative side of things I like to paint miniatures for tabletop games, although I’m slowly running out of mini’s because I’ve forbidden myself from buying more games that we haven’t played. So I’m also working on 3D printing things to paint. I also enjoy putting together those 3D wooden objects, like the ones made and sold by UGEARS. They’re kind of like adult LEGO’s at this point, except permanent and not transformable.

On the non-creative side, I like to read and play video games for fun, especially sci-fi and fantasy stuff. I would separate out puzzles but most of the time those are part of the video games category because of the medium I choose to do puzzles in, such as the game Escape Simulator which is designed around the category of Room Escape games. Not to sound I actually started playing them probably sixteen years or so ago when they were still Flash-based and were a big thing coming up in Japan.

There is kind of a middle ground between the two, creative and non-creative, is Magic: The Gathering. The reason being is that on the non-creative side I get to consume media. Lots of reading of the cards and the backstories. On the creative side I get to flex my brain a bit and try to figure out how to play with new cards and new mechanics of the game. Creating a cohesive deck with lots of synergy between the cards to try to find win conditions is a lot of fun and often takes up a lot of time when I get the itch to build a new Commander Deck.

That’s all I’ve got for major hobbies that I do for fun. I have some other things I probably could add to the list but I don’t do them as frequently so they’re not as important. Still, it helps to make sure I’m never without something to do with my free time.

Bloganuary 22nd: Breaking through the pet language barrier

Taylor BurianLeave a comment
Bloganuary writing prompt
If you could make your pet understand one thing, what would it be?
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This would be an amazing prompt if I had any pets of my own. I do, however, live with roommates that have pets and I visit family regularly who have several pets. Between the two groups there are five cats and five dogs.

One of my brother’s cats, named Paul, has picked me out as one of his favorite humans. I don’t typically have a problem with him, except when he finds it necessary to jump from the floor onto my shoulders.

He’s not the real focus of this post, but I wanted to share anyway.

No, the real focus would be on the dogs. My roommates two dogs are generally very chill, they sleep most of the day, play some, run around the yard, doing dog things. Including bark like maniacs when they see someone walking up to the door, even us, or if they here a vehicle door slam closed from one of the neighbors. In most cases, it’s alright because it makes for a good alarm system of sorts. They protect the house! If there is just ONE thing I could communicate to them it would definitely be something along the lines of “all clear” so they will stop barking their heads off after I’ve come to confirm that nothing is wrong.

Fairly simple thing, to me anyways.

Bloganuary 21st: Origin of a name – Taylor

Taylor BurianLeave a comment
Bloganuary writing prompt
Write about your first name: its meaning, significance, etymology, etc.
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My first name is fairly common, or at least very commonly known courtesy of Taylor Swift, but the etymological background might be lost on the current generations.

Per the website Find My Past:

What does the name Taylor mean?

“An Anglo-French occupational surname, Taylor is thought to have arrived through the Norman occupation, derived from the Old French ‘tailleur’ (cutter of cloth) or English ‘tailor’. The surname Taylor is common across the British Isles (fourth most common in the UK overall – fifth most common in England) and other countries traditionally colonised by the British, though far less common in Ireland (where it mostly exists only in Northern Ireland – potentially brought over by English and Scottish settlers). Taylor can sometimes be found as an anglicised version of the German word ‘Schneider’, a direct translation of the same term.”An Anglo-French occupational surname, Taylor is thought to have arrived through the Norman occupation, derived from the Old French ‘tailleur’ (cutter of cloth) or English ‘tailor’. The surname Taylor is common across the British Isles (fourth most common in the UK overall – fifth most common in England) and other countries traditionally colonised by the British, though far less common in Ireland (where it mostly exists only in Northern Ireland – potentially brought over by English and Scottish settlers). Taylor can sometimes be found as an anglicised version of the German word ‘Schneider’, a direct translation of the same term.”
– Findmypast.co.uk

All I was ever concerned with is that it was from the English occupation, but the fact that it has ties to the similar spelled/pronounced French occupation makes sense.

Unfortunately, I am not very ambitious with cloth, thread, and needle, so I don’t actually concern myself with the occupation. That doesn’t mean I’m averse to sewing, though, because as an adult I have very much needed to fix up some clothes when I didn’t have the money to buy new.

So there you have it, a quick and dirty post with little extra exposition from me because the information already exists elsewhere on the Internet for any and everyone to read if they were so curious.

Bloganuary 20th: Dreams of going pro as an author

Taylor Burian1 Comment
Bloganuary writing prompt
What’s your dream job?
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Super simple question for me today! I can get behind that when I’m getting sucked into playing the hottest new early access game.

My dream job has changed a couple of times between childhood and adulthood. Today, it is becoming a professional author and being able to support myself on that kind of income.

I’m working on bettering my daily habits to write consistently, like answering these daily prompts. I’m over 100 days in a row of writing every day, and I’m getting used to the idea that it is okay to put less important things aside to focus on writing if I hope to improve my habits and reach that goal. Hopefully, someday, I can publish something and be successful enough to quit my job and keep writing. Then my days would be wildly different! I’d have MORE time to do the things I want to do in tandem with writing, because I would end up substituting time spent working in an office with time spent writing.

I know I can do it if I stick with it, and I know I can keep up with writing demands if I look at the results of my NaNoWriMo 2023 daily word tracking. It is completely possible for me to write 300k+ words per year. I just have to dig in and go for it.