Tag: Life

Need to update my personal screen time policy

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How do you manage screen time for yourself?

Something I started doing, and in hindsight I should have known better, is playing my daily NYT games (Wordle, Connections, etc.) while in bed if I happened to be awake after midnight. This has been a problem for several months now. I’ll go to bed late, can’t fall asleep, see the time, and play. Then my brain is awake because I’m trying to get a daily habit done early.

It also doesn’t help that I installed a scissor-arm mount near the head of my bed so I can hold my phone above me without fear of dropping it on my face. I really should take it down and put it back on my hobby desk and get my old tablet running again. (Then I just need to make sure my phone isn’t next to me when I lay down.)

Life in three years: a one year check-in

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Daily writing prompt
What will your life be like in three years?
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It’s been almost a year since I answered this prompt the first time and I wanted to do a small check-in at this point.

Last time, I mentioned that I suck at planning for my own future, and this still holds true, but let’s see where I’ve made progress.

  • Do I own a home yet? Nope, but I still have a couple years to go.
  • Same goes for publishing a novel. I have a couple projects I’m working on simultaneously (which is kind of bad because then I’m not being consistent enough to knock one out yet) but I have a plan for distributing one of them at least!
  • The student loans thing? Well, as it turned out there was a major class-action lawsuit taking place over the last several years that finally came to a close which led to the federal government forgiving my student loans (and, to be clear, this is NOT in any way associated to whatever the president had been trying to accomplish).
  • Romantic relationship news: still nothing, but again, as far as the “three years” thing goes, I still have time.
  • Visiting friends in other States and countries? Very soon I’m going to a wedding in a different State and meeting some of those very same friends I had planned to meet! Which includes the ones in another country!!
  • The motorcycle is a low priority, especially if I’m hoping to buy a house, so I honestly forgot I had that listed. At this point, if I can get the house thing sorted out, I’d probably settle on renovations for the home so that I could have a proper hobby space.
  • A second novel is definitely not happening, at least not in the same vain as the first.

I mentioned in the end of that first post that I didn’t have plans and I still really don’t. I’m just kind of winging it. Again.

A double South Dakota wedding!

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Yesterday evening was an interesting experience. It was my first time at a double wedding.

Some people are going to have their imaginations spike and see churches or cathedrals (or really expensive event centers), flowers everywhere, lots of people dressed in formal attire, extraordinary fancy food and cake.

Well, not here in small town South Dakota.

One of the grooms is a long time friend of mine (and previously a roommate) and he and his bride wanted to share their special day with her sister/best friend. So that’s just what they did!

It was a beautiful ceremony. Nothing extravagant, like at a huge church, but they held it at a very nice little lodge and event center on the edge of a small town (literally, the population of the town itself was below 1,000 people.) There was plenty of room for the four families and friends that attended, which was probably around 50 people or so? Dress code was practically non-existent, as people showed up in everything from blue jeans and a hoodie to something more formal. (I was worried about this part myself, and had asked my friend if it was a tie/no tie event and they said whatever we’re comfortable with.) People were very understanding about children, and even laughed and rolled with it when some struggled to stay quiet during the ceremony itself. Lots of little informal quirks during the ceremony that got laughs from everyone, including the brides and grooms. Like putting on a ring moments before being told by the officiant, or the officiant saying the other groom’s name incorrectly only to be corrected by both bride and groom (and a few others from the family section, which again drew laughs from all present).

The dinner was delicious, and again I know some people might think fancy catering, but here in South Dakota we apparently do family barbecue. The step-father of my friend’s bride/now wife had smoked something like 50-lbs of brisket and pork loin, and had started it at 2:00AM that morning! Absolutely amazing. Aside from the meats, there was baked beans, coleslaw, corn, and chips. For the dessert they didn’t do a massive wedding cake that everyone would get pieces of, but instead did cupcakes! (Personally, I think cupcakes is the way to go for events regardless of it being a wedding.)

The dance part of weddings was never my thing, but I made sure to stay for each couples first dance before I needed to leave. My roommate had also been invited (because the one groom had lived with us both at the same time) and although he wasn’t feeling well throughout the week prior (throat problems, not contagious, I promise) he felt well enough by the day of the wedding to join, so I drove us, but he was still struggling and was fading by that point, so I didn’t make him stay. It was already getting late and we had an hour long drive home.

I’ve been to multiple weddings (and part of a few) in my life, but this double wedding was my first and it was still a good time.

Some favorite websites in 2024

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Daily writing prompt
What are your favorite websites?
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A year ago when I answered this prompt I had a very different mindset going into writing out my thoughts. Reddit had changed a bunch of things that really upset the general public, so I no longer actively use it except when it pops up in Google search results. (Maybe I’ll go back to it more frequently someday, I don’t know.) I also brought up different social media sites and how I had been using Instagram more.

This time around I want to share a few quick links to some actual websites instead of talking about social media.

Crunchyroll is where I’ve been getting my fill of anime. I’m a huge sucker for the Isekai trend, even if the anime isn’t really that good or has trashy writing.

I’ve been watching a LOT of stuff on YouTube, particularly on the channels Dropout, Dimension 20, Nerdforge, and Mythical Kitchen (just to name some of the most common ones on my list).

On the more creative side of things, I love Inkarnate for the world building/map making stuff, and then World Anvil for the writing parts. These tools are super handy for visualizing and organizing my thoughts.

I think I’ll stop there, or else I could potentially just go through all my bookmarks and that would just be tedious and overwhelming.

Today’s little temptations

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What tempted you today?

There’s a couple things that tempted me today (and sometimes they tempt me everyday.)

My bed tempted me to stay in and not work.

My phone tempted me to keep hitting snooze on alarms and not get up from a nap.

The cookies I baked yesterday, sitting on the stove waiting for me to walk by to go back to work, tempted me but I had to remind myself I’m full and the desire is spurred on by boredom and a weird need for temporary distraction.

Video games tempt me everyday but I’m always working on ways to get around the desire to game instead of being even slightly productive. Like right now as I type this up! (Monster Hunter Wilds demo calling my name.)

I’m sure there are, or will be, others that will tempt me throughout the day, but these are the most common that popped into my head.

Halloween 2024

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Nothing special today! I’ve been busy the last week and a half or so, and my schedule has been royally messed up, so I’m just going to enjoy the evening.

Happy Halloween everyone! (For those of us that celebrate it. I think I heard that Australia doesn’t????)

Knowledge for all – Round 2

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Daily writing prompt
What’s something you believe everyone should know.
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Last time I answered this prompt I mentioned some things I like to make sure I know how to do (for the most part) like navigating. I’ll be taking a trip to a new city in a couple of months and I’ve already been looking up places and street names to try to familiarize myself with the area.

Some other things I think everyone should know include:

  • How to read instructions (and I mean REALLY read them)
  • How to take instructions from people via email and not just act like they know better (I’m looking at all you folks who like to email tech support/help desks and not follow instructions when they’re trying to help you appropriately diagnose your issue. I don’t care if you think you’re tech literate. Do as your told.)
  • Similarly, how to give and take criticism!

Too many people think they know better, and they wind up screwing themselves over or hurting other people.

Sharing some life lessons

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What are the most important things you have learned in life so far?

I’ve got a few I can share, and I’ll keep this post simple by not going into too much detail or history behind what they mean to me.

You are the center point of your own world, but you are not the center of THE world or anyone else’s. Every step of the way through your life, you are the only person guaranteed to always be there, so remember to take care of yourself.

We may not always have someone else around to be there for us, but nobody gets through life alone. Unless you are somehow making absolutely everything you own from scratch, someone else is always providing something you have/want/need, so be grateful for the things you have that others put time and effort into making.

Don’t assume that everyone has their eyes on you, cares what you do, or even knows you exist. Don’t worry about what other people are thinking or doing except when you know your behavior/decisions will have an impact on the outcome of whatever you are doing, and vice versa.

I think about these few things near daily so as to remind myself of how to act as a decent person and not be a greedy, selfish, and cynical asshole.

A return to wishes

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Daily writing prompt
You have three magic genie wishes, what are you asking for?
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The last time I answered this prompt was almost a year ago and I think I still stand by those three wishes.

However, between then and now I watched a funny video on YouTube about trying to craft the perfect wish with no loopholes. Seriously, you should give it a watch. It might make you rethink how you word your genie wishes, just in case.

I really liked the way they handled the first wish to help determine the ramifications and loopholes that a sneaky genie might manipulate to mess with the person making the wishes.

Personally, having that kind of foreknowledge would be crucial in that exact case, but since we’re still dealing with a fictitious situation I wouldn’t worry about it. I might still go over my original three wishes with a fine tooth comb just in case there are unintended slip ups that aren’t intentional on the genie’s part.

For instance, the first wish, originally worded as such: I wish I could safely hop in and out of the stories I read so I can experience them as if I were really there.

I have a better idea of how I could wordsmith this one, especially after also having watched a TTRPG Live Play from Dropout and Dimension 20 called Never Stop Blowing Up which reminded me of the big premises of the anime Sword Art Online. Reworded, my first wish might go something like this: I wish I could safely choose to hop in and out of the stories I read, whenever I want, so I can experience them firsthand, choosing which character perspective I take, and never risking actual death due to the event of a character death because I would be safely ejected from the story so that I can choose to re-enter in the perspective of another character.

I think I’ll the other two wishes from the original post alone. Not because I think they’re perfect and have no loopholes, but because trying to work those ones out could be messy and I don’t want to spend the time trying to “Rules Lawyer” them to death.