Tag: Rambling

Where I like to eat

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What is your favorite restaurant?

Alright, first thing, this sounds like another one of those prompts that sounds like a security question for your account and the information could be used maliciously if someone decides to scrape blog posts.

If you’re curious how that could work, I couldn’t explain it properly, but the idea would be to scan blogs for the Tag that corresponds to this prompt, making a note of them and any public information, and then scanning the actual blog post to find words that match a database of restaurant names. Boom, list of names/emails and favorite restaurants. Pair that with information from other sources (like those companies that sell your information) and you have potential for security breaches.

NOW, with that warning out of the way, I’ll answer today’s prompt in a roundabout way.

My favorite restaurants (plural) are typically places where I can get fried rice or tacos/burritos.

When I get food from a place that does fried rice it’s usually ordered with some kind of chicken dish or with a fair amount of sauce to drizzle over the rice.

When I’m craving tacos or burritos it is hit and miss where I go because sometimes it isn’t about either of them, but rather something like a really good dessert. I’m a sucker for a good churro or slice of tres leches, so when I’m in the mood for those I definitely don’t go to Taco Bell.

(For the record, I mentioned Taco Bell because I know I’ve never used that as the answer to a security question.)

Anyways, that’s where I’m at when it comes to restaurants. I’ll eat just about anywhere, but those two particular categories are top of the list.

10 years from now

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Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

I’ve never been one to come up with a super detailed “5 year plan” let alone a “10 year plan” but I do hope to be SOMEWHERE in 10 years.

Well, to start, 10 years from now I’ll be 46. Roughly the same age as the eternal mental image I have of my Dad.

With that in mind I think I’d like to see myself having accomplished multiple things. He had worked on and completed his Master’s and Doctorate somewhere thereabouts, but I don’t know that in today’s current higher education system I would want to start down that path. Maybe things will be different a few years from now (to really line up with the relative timing of when my Dad started his Master’s program.) Instead I’d rather see myself having published a few novels regardless of how successful they turn out. Of course, this requires putting effort into my writing projects over my 3D printing and painting projects.

I would also like to see myself in a house of my own within that 10 year window. Maybe even in my second house, which would be slightly larger because maybe I’ll have met someone and started a family!

I’ll leave things there and not saddle myself with too many expectations. Just need to work on one thing at a time.

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?

There was an attempt: a writing contest

Taylor Burian2 Comments

A couple months ago I saw an ad on Facebook for a writing contest with cash prizes and writing feedback for all entrants, and since I’ve been on this journey of getting back into writing consistently, I thought I might give it a try. I was a little suspicious of how they were going to afford cash prizes until I saw there was an entry fee, but that only made me more suspicious of the whole thing. Was it actually a scam? Unfortunately, at the time, the deadline for signing up was only a day or two away and I knew nothing of writing contests so I had to do some quick research.

Thankfully this particular contest appeared reputable with a long history, so I signed up.

Anyways, the contest itself, through NYC Midnight, was for writing short stories. According to the rules there would be four rounds, and each entrant would have a limited amount of time to write based on a randomly selected prompt setup, of which the final output would be judged and a certain number from each group would move on. The rules also stated that we couldn’t publicly share our work until ten days after results for the round were announced. So, I won’t be sharing my round one entry here just yet.

Sadly, I did not pass round one, and now I’m just waiting for feedback. Cash prizes aside, that was a big draw for me to sign up, so I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of feedback I get on my writing.

I’m always looking to improve, so I’m not going to let this loss discourage me from continuing to write. Once I get my feedback and the ten days have passed I plan on sharing my one short story here, and then maybe you all can also provide some feedback!

We’ll see where things go from here.

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.

Latest project: a book nook!

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Last I backed a Kickstarter campaign for these Dreamy Mini Alley book nooks, and a couple weeks ago it finally showed up! I opted for the DIY kit rather than getting a pre-assembled one because I love putting these kinds of things together.

Well, I started working on it yesterday evening for a few hours and then worked on it some more today for the last seven or so hours. (This is why I didn’t get around to writing a response to today’s daily writing prompt about pets.)

All it needs to be fully complete are some AA batteries for the lights, and it will be perfect. I did make sure to test the electrical components (by using a 2-AAA battery holder I have for another project)  after they were assembled to make sure things lit up and the switch worked. So I know it should work just fine.

Anyway, without further ado, here are some pictures!

There’s a little mirror acting as the back wall to create the illusion of further depth and to see the other shop door correctly (it was designed to be mirrored.)

Some mistakes were made along the way, and it wouldn’t be a fun DIY kit if I hadn’t made any mistakes, but I corrected them along the way. I think it turned out great!

To work for free

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Daily writing prompt
What job would you do for free?
View all responses

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?
View all responses

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.)