Tag: Rambling

My favorite kind of music

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What is your favorite genre of music?

My musical tastes have changed a lot over time, and it’s hard to pick just one genre. Some songs, bands, or even whole genres have fallen off the radar when I go to make new playlists because I just don’t find them as audibly appealing as I once did. Some hold a special place in my heart even if I don’t listen to them much anymore. 90’s and early 2000’s Alternative Rock, Punk, and Ska used to be my genres of choice when I was growing up.

Today, my favorite genres haven’t swayed too much from back then, but they’ve definitely evolved to include some new flavor. Alt-Rock, Punk, and Pop Punk (and maybe some Emo) are the heavy hitters of my current playlists.

Future worries

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Daily writing prompt
What are you most worried about for the future?
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To be honest, this prompt made my head spin a little and gave me a smidgen of anxiety. Why?

Because there is so much going on all the time. So many things happening outside of our control, and for many of us it takes everything we have to just keep putting one foot in front of the other with such uncertainty staring us in the face. We worry so much about those things that we can’t control, and for good reason in some cases, because they can be as dire and drastic as life versus death (literally and metaphorically.)

Bringing it down to a more personal level (without going into TOO much detail) in order to answer the prompt more appropriately, I’m going to focus on things that I have control over. What worries me about the future? That the decisions I make (or hold myself back from making) don’t lead me to a future I will like. That I am simultaneously the source of, and solution to, all of my problems, and that I need to accept that to make progress in directions I want to go, there will be sacrifices and changes that may be uncomfortable to make.

There is something that I used to remind myself of, and could stand to keep reminding myself of more often again. It sounds weird until you put things into perspective, but hear me out.

Change is the only universal constant.

Change happens all the time whether we want it or not. Even the rates at which things change can themselves change. Things happening faster or slower than predicted. Change is something that we need to face and accept. Yet, sometimes, it’s hard to do that. There is only so much of the future that can be predicted, because even the futures we envision for ourselves can change dramatically. This is why I tried to remind myself of change being the only universal constant, because it will happen whether we like it or not and we just need to roll with it.

A real pain in the side

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Have you ever had surgery? What for?

This story takes place in April of 2014. At the time, under the Obama administration, they had established rules for healthcare that students could still be covered under their parents health insurance plans up to 25 years old. (I’m sure there was another stipulation but it escapes me right now.)

Unfortunately for me, I had just turned 26 a couple weeks prior.

It was a Friday evening and I noticed a pain in my right side. I thought it was just gas or something and I was just going to try and sleep through it. No matter how I lay in bed I couldn’t get comfortable enough to fall asleep. The pain got so bad that I decided to go to the Emergency Room.

It was late in the evening when they admitted me and I hadn’t messaged my family yet because I was waiting for lab results and scans. Eventually the doctor on duty came in and explained what the scans showed and why it took so long. It turned out that my appendix was in an unusual position. Normally, the human appendix hangs down, but mine was sort of tucked upwards behind the intestines, but once they found it they were able to diagnose that I had a case of appendicitis!

So, they booked me for surgery the following morning and the rest is basically history. Was in and out real quick, my parents came up that morning to help me pick up prescriptions and get home, and then I was recovering at home.

Living sustainably

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Are there things you try to practice daily to live a more sustainable lifestyle?

Personally, I don’t put in a lot of conscious effort into “sustainable living”, and maybe I could do more, but there are a few things I do habitually that likely fit the bill.

I’ve had the same metal water bottle for almost five years now and it goes with me everywhere. I use it everyday so that I don’t have to use too many cups or other drinking containers, at least when it comes to plain water.

I do try to be a little more aware of what I’m recycling, like making sure I’m not putting greasy cardboard in the bins.

I’ve also been trying to minimize my driving, but that’s moreso because of time consumption and not environmental resources/pollution. My car gets great gas mileage, so in the event I do have to travel a lot (like my recent trip back to Colorado, I hit an average between 40 and 50 miles per gallon) I can fill up less and therefore sort of pollute less.

Outside of those things, I can’t think of anything else off the top of my head that qualifies, but I know I could do more.

Something memorably delicious

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What’s the most delicious thing you’ve ever eaten?

As much as I like food, I can’t say I recall specific memories of eating something that was (in the moment) the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten.

I’m a notorious sweet tooth, or at least I used to be, but I also love savory and herbaceous things. It’s hard to decide which direction to go because both sides offer different experiences, and even within those two flavor profiles you can have dramatically different styles. I’ve had some amazing stuffing/dressing on Thanksgiving. I’ve also had some amazing Tiramisu.

If I had to pick something, it would be something more nostalgic than anything. In that case, I would land on the breakfast burrito I loved growing up in Colorado. I recently went back and was able to have one for the first time in YEARS and it was just as good as I remembered it being even though they recently went through a change in ownership.

I wish I knew the secret recipe to those burritos. I might just have to go visit again and see if I can try to figure out the flavors and ingredients. Good thing I’m going back in the near future!

Wearing the same thing forever

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Daily writing prompt
If you were forced to wear one outfit over and over again, what would it be?
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If I really had no choice but to wear one outfit over and over again (except that I seem to be allowed to choose what the outfit is) then it would be fairly simple. Jeans and a t-shirt.

I don’t need anything fancy, and the prompt doesn’t say that I’m not allowed to wash the outfit in the event that it needs washing, so I’m not going to come up with some elaborate getup to be forced into forever.

Jeans are comfortable enough, socially acceptable, and fairly durable. A t-shirt is a fairly standard piece of clothing that can be worn anywhere (even a boardroom, as long as you’re the owner/president/CEO of the company) and the only thing I would actually be concerned with is what may or may not be on it for a design.

Maybe I’m approaching this prompt to simply, but that’s the way I’m going to run with it because I don’t see a need to make things unnecessarily complicated.

The importance of spirituality

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How important is spirituality in your life?

I have constant mixed feelings when it comes to spirituality, primarily because of how strongly it is tied to organized religions in today’s world.

There is nothing wrong with spirituality, let me make that point as clear as possible right now. Even as fairly UNreligious as I am, I do sense (from time to time) that there is SOMETHING out there. We just don’t have anything that can accurately measure or detect whatever it may be. (Looking at you Ghost Hunters…) The human body and mind is probably the most complicated and sophisticated “measuring device” we have in that regard, and even THAT doesn’t do anything for us because people can’t agree on anything nor can everyone do these things equally (if at all) which creates such inconsistent results.

Anyways, tangent is done, and all that being said, it’s not important to me on any fundamental level of how I live my life. The world keeps spinning, we all keep living our lives and doing things in the ways that we believe are best. That’s all we can do.

That’s my stance.

How I practice self-care

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How do you practice self-care?

Sometimes, I just go do my own thing. Reading a book, playing a single-player game without chatting to friends. Just disconnecting to get some quiet time, basically.

Like the last few days! I was maintaining my usual daily activities (Duolingo, daily writing prompt, some daily NYT games like Wordle) but otherwise didn’t answer messages most of the time. It helped that I traveled out of state to visit friends, which I did so by driving for roughly 10 hours one way while listening to video essays and educational materials related to science fiction and fantasy writing. Was in my own little world and not worrying about anyone else (except other drivers, obviously.)

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Time wasting

Taylor Burian1 Comment

How do you waste the most time every day?

The older I get, the more I recognize that I’ve wasted time on so many things, and I can’t get it back.

That being said, sometimes you just can’t avoid it so you might as well embrace whatever it is you’re wasting time on. Like time spent in bed or the bathroom.

I love sleeping in, so much so that there are days I’ll sleep until noon or later. Although, I probably stayed up late the night before.

Time wasted in the bathroom is usually because I’m on my phone, but in those cases it’s possible I’m doing something productive as well. Any other time spent in the bathroom is fairly short, like showering. (I have what I believe to be a solid shower routine and can be done in less than ten minutes.)

Those are the most common things I do that are time spent in a way that is wasteful, but I’m sure there are other things I’m just not thinking about.

Childhood Nostalgia: Food Edition

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Daily writing prompt
Which food, when you eat it, instantly transports you to childhood?
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Growing up, my family was fortunate enough to have Schwan’s in the area. If you don’t know what that is, it’s a frozen food delivery service. They drive around in these utility type trucks decked out with coolers/freezers and emblazoned with company logos and art. You could either call them up and place an order or schedule a monthly or weekly stop where they come to your home, hand you a magazine of products for you to select from, and then give you whatever you want so long as it was on the truck. (It wasn’t cheap, mind you, but not exorbitantly expensive like today’s food delivery services that took over the gig work industry during and after the pandemic.) We didn’t order/buy from them very frequently because of the cost, but there were a select few items that we would get once or twice a year (I did say not very frequently) and those were a kind of highlight to my childhood, at least when it came to food.

The one item that would top the list of foods that transport me to my childhood, the thing I enjoyed most often from those Schwan’s trucks, was those little single-serve vanilla ice cream cups that had a swirl of strawberry. Those cups that come with the little wood spoon. I still see them around today, and have even had little flashbacks just from LOOKING at them.

It’s not like they were a staple food/dessert/treat of my childhood, but my family loved those little cups of frozen joy.