What change, big or small, would you like your blog to make in the world?

This question feels like it could cause some very telling responses from people.

Does someone’s response give the impression that they might have delusions of grandeur? Or that they might be too humble/lack confidence?

Personally, I’m more realistic. I know for a fact that not many people read what I write (but for those of you that do, I greatly appreciate it!) but that doesn’t mean I can’t harbor a little bit of hope that someone will stumble across my words and find something meaningful or inspirational. That kind of positive impact is all I could ask for, even for just one person, because sometimes one person is all it takes to change the world.

Describe your life in an alternate universe.

If current theories are correct, then every decision point in our lives leads to the creation of alternative universes for each possible choice we could make.

I just got home from a family vacation to Colorado, so in an alternate universe I made my brother start driving this morning instead of just having myself drive the full 12 hours home. The reason? So I could have written a different answer to this prompt in the morning like I usually try to do. That obviously didn’t happen, so here we are!

What’s the most money you’ve ever spent on a meal? Was it worth it?

The most money, technically, that I’ve spent on a meal was during COVID.

Damn DoorDash and GrubHub.

I probably spent $80+ on a delivery order just for myself. Maybe more? Sadly, I don’t even remember what the meal was!

Was it worth it, though? At the time, definitely! In retrospect, nope. Not worth it at all because I could have probably just cooked it for myself if I had just gotten groceries. Oh well.

Scour the news for an entirely uninteresting story. Consider how it connects to your life. Write about that.

Rather than direct readers to a specific article or mention names, I’ll do my best to describe the contents of the news article. Additionally, I typically don’t give these articles a second glance because they all have something in common.

The article, in its most simplest breakdown, is one of those “success stories” where someone is sharing how they got rich, retired early, and want to share their tips or tricks.

As for how it connects to my life? Well, technically, it connects to just about everyone who works for a living and wants to earn enough money to retire someday.

Why I don’t usually care to read these articles? Because the tips make sense, but the success can’t be easily replicated. They also are sometimes accompanied by some sort of grift in the form of “buy my book and you too can be rich and retire early!”

The reason the stories can’t be replicated by just anyone is because there is always some sort of special fiscal circumstance that they try to gloss over or avoid mentioning. This usually is in the form of some kind of inheritance from a relative or some other family connection, or an awesome severance package. The reality is that not everyone is going to just have $80k sitting around to invest in stocks, or reach the level of employment where they can receive a six-figure severance package.

This all makes the articles entirely uninteresting to me.

List 30 things that make you happy.

I don’t know that I’ve got quite that many things that will come to mind. I’ll try, but no promises. Whatever I list is not necessarily in order from greatest to least or anything. Just whatever comes to mind first.

• Food, and more specifically:
  • Burritos
  • Tacos
  • Tortas
  • Philly’s
  • Fried cheese curds
  • Homemade buttermilk ranch (to go with the curds)
  • Fried chicken
  • Red beans & rice
  • Fried rice
  • Teriyaki chicken
  • Egg rolls
  • Cake
  • Ice cream
  • More that I can’t think of off the top of my head
• Magic: The Gathering
  • Buying fresh booster packs to open
  • New decks
  • Playing the actual game
• Video games
  • Single player games with solid stories really get to me. I’m not ashamed to admit that I get emotionally choked up by some of them. Tears have been shed.
  • Multiplayer games with friends
• Books
• Anime and manga (I’ve been a sucker for the Isekai/spirited away/reincarnation themes for years now)
• Music

Can’t think of anything else at the moment. It’s kind of a busy Sunday and I’m a little distracted, but hopefully this list will suffice for now.

What are you curious about?

Everything.

To a certain extent, anyways.

I don’t like not knowing things, and I try to make note of everything around me. I probably look sketchy to some people every once in a while but I like to be conscious of my surroundings as much as possible. On top of that, if something interesting catches my eye then I’ll look a little closer to learn what I can.

Similarly, I sometimes enjoy falling down the Wikipedia rabbit hole (or specific wiki’s for anime/manga series that I want to dig into more) and end up learning all kinds of things.

YouTube is also a good source, typically, for finding information on how to do things like working on cars and motorcycles. I like to watch all kinds of videos because there are so many skills you can learn tips and tricks about from people all over the world.

I really do like being curious about everything.

Write about a random act of kindness you’ve done for someone.

It was winter here in South Dakota when this happened. There was a lot of snow coming down. I was still living at home at the time, and I was driving into town to pick up a couple of things. I saw a car on the side of the highway, flashers on, and a few people trying to figure out what to do.

Initially, I just passed them by because I was going the opposite direction. It didn’t take long for me to pick up the things I was looking for (it was probably just soda and snacks or something) so I was back out on the snowy roads in a couple of minutes. I retraced my driving route and found those people still on the side of the road, and noticed they were trying to deal with a tire issue, so I stopped to help them out.

They were probably a few years younger than I was, somewhere between high school and college aged, and they didn’t fully know how to change a tire. So I offered to help them out and they were grateful for the assistance.

It only took me a couple minutes because they had already managed to get the jack in place, but I quickly got them back in action and safely off of the side of the road during a mild snow storm.

How would you describe yourself to someone who can’t see you?

I guess this depends on whether or not the person on the receiving end of the information is unable to see me because of external interference (like a wall, or over the phone) or if they are visually impaired. I say this because the former might have solid reference material for comparisons while the latter does not.

For instance, I could say I’m average height for a guy (because I am) but what does that “look” like in the mind of a blind individual? Get the idea?

Anyways, yes, I’m an average height guy (I’m assuming 5’6″ is average) with a huskier build. Because of work I typically wear polo shirts and slacks or jeans. Short brown hair, brown eyes, glasses, and a beard for the last several months. I look like a boring yet almost stereotypical nerd. At least, I think I do. No visible tattoos yet, and I don’t wear flannels, so I don’t really look like what people were stereotyping hipsters as looking. Sometimes I wear hats, specifically baseball caps.

I can’t think of anything else to throw out there to describe myself, so I hope this works.