I’ll admit, I had to look up the difference between slogans and taglines. I wanted to be sure I had the right understanding of what was being asked in the prompt.
Sadly, as much as I understand the differences, I don’t have a good answer! Taglines are weird. From what I could read in 20 seconds of googling, taglines are like a weird middle ground between slogans and catchphrases, but lean more towards the latter? I don’t know, maybe I misunderstood.
If I had to have a tagline, and it was my choice of what it said, it would probably be something like “Always Moving Forward”. I’ll just leave it at that.
If you had to change your name, what would your new name be?
Names are such a funny thing. I don’t know that I could change my name. Unfortunately, that’s not the prompt!
If I absolutely HAD to change my name I would hope it’s because I woke up in a fantasy world (because I’m sucker for the Isekai trend of manga and anime for the last I don’t know how many years) and my name could be something with a special hidden meaning.
In all honesty, I can’t think of a name off the top of my head I would want to have.
Chocolate is a great flavor in different applications, like sauces or ganache, but I’m not a big fan of just a standard chocolate bar.
I really enjoy Bueno bars, but those aren’t strictly “chocolate bars” to me because of the crispy wafer things filled with cream.
Then there are those that are filled with nougats and caramels. Those aren’t strictly chocolate bars either, based on what I said above.
So, after establishing what I think doesn’t constitute a chocolate bar, I can say that for something to be a “chocolate bar” it needs to be made up of a large majority percentage of chocolate. Not just chocolate coated/covered.
My ideal dream chocolate bar would be an amalgamation of a Kit-Kat and a Bueno. Thin layers of crispy wafer with layers of hazelnut cream, all wrapped in chocolate.
For this to work and be accurately acceptable as a chocolate bar (by my personal standards mentioned above) it would have to have equal layers of chocolate for each of the wafer/cream combos.
Starting from the bottom: chocolate, wafer, cream, wafer, chocolate, wafer, cream, wafer, chocolate.
Given that this layout would retain that firm snap of chocolate, it might still be too much chocolate for it to be ideal for the texture I’m looking. So I’ll just stick to Bueno bars.
List three books that have had an impact on you. Why?
I don’t have a solid answer for this prompt. Mainly because I’m having one of those days where I can’t remember the names of books I’ve read, but also because I’m sure there are books I’ve forgotten that I read exactly one time (versus books I’ve read several times) that have had a great impact on me.
So, I’m just going to pick a few!
Ender’s Game is one because it helped form my love of sci-fi.
Any of the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett because they are each in their own ways inspirational when it comes to wit, wordplay, and portmanteaus.
And finally I’ll throw in the Wheel of Time novels for how they helped form my love of fantasy stories. I won’t settle on one, though, sorry if that goes against the prompt.
Maybe I’ll come up with more later and realize they were better choices and I can write an addendum post.
This is a tough question to answer. I don’t know that I’ve ever really been “afraid” of anything, or maybe it’s just that my personal perception of fear is muted/dampened. That, or I’m repressing some things. Who knows?
I’d very much like to think I’m not afraid of anything, but I know deep down that can’t be true. Maybe the things I’m afraid of are things I’ve managed to minimize and avoid so much in my life that they’re irrelevant to think about, and thus they go forgotten.
Does that count as “overcoming my fears” if I can just avoid them and live a happy and (maybe) fulfilling life?
Describe one simple thing you do that brings joy to your life.
The simplest thing I can do is just smile and try to be kind, because oftentimes it leads to one of two things: being left alone to do my own thing or people returning the kindness.
Okay, sorry, that answer feels like it’s trying too hard to be a “goodie two-shoes” response. While I genuinely try to be kind and smile as much as possible instead of frowning, I find joy in solving simple problems or discovering a new thing (specifically when playing Magic, because it’s neat to find new interactions and break the game somehow.)
Age really changes what we value in so many things, especially in different social climates/dynamics.
When I was a kid, I probably just valued friends I could hang out with because we had the same interests or hobbies. That didn’t change much when I got into my teens.
College and beyond is where things REALLY took a turn.
Heartache and betrayal in the arena of romance changes how you see people and interact with them. It changes what you value in people that you start to forge close relationships with (platonic and romantic alike). We may be going down different paths, meeting new people and getting into different hobbies at this time. Trust and loyalty became incredibly important through most of my twenties because of some of these things. I won’t go into the nitty gritty details of my love life, but suffice to say that there were some ladies that may have cheated or just not been completely honest about their feelings, and the latter applied to platonic friendships as well.
Talking about my thirties now (and I shudder to think that I’m only a few years away from the cusp of 40) I still value trust and loyalty, but I prioritize myself and certain other things differently so that I have more room for forgiveness, because people make mistakes. As long as something isn’t done maliciously and I didn’t put myself in a position to be hurt, I can be flexible and forgive a lot easier. Other things that I value that have come up in these recent years are communication and transparency.
In my mind these four values of trust, loyalty, communication, and transparency (as well as some others that can be tossed in without mention) can all be wrapped up into a singular package value: Respect.
To be clear, when I talk about trust and loyalty, or respect, my friends don’t “owe” me anything and vice versa, so I don’t demand respect be given without respect being returned. I just try to live by that Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have done unto you. Respect me and I’ll respect you.
Technically I’ve been working for about 20 years now, and in that time I’ve worked in about six or seven different environments across 10 or so jobs.
I’ve done farm work, outside in the hot and cold weather throughout the year, usually at home/on-premises, but sometimes involving travel (from local hay auctions to interstate animal transportation.)
I’ve been in retail environments a few times but under very different circumstances. The static environment of a small strip mall video game store, the dynamic environment traveling to different small retail locations within a 50 mile radius of home to install display equipment, and the varied overnights of throwing truckloads of product for big box retail.
There have also been a couple food service jobs, as well as the hodge podge amalgamation of work I did at a truck stop (convenience store retail, fuel, food service, AND hospitality all rolled in one.)
But the one that has taken up the majority of my work life has been office work in IT departments. I’m coming close to accumulating about half of my time working in this area. I’ve stayed local for one job, and another I’ve traveled to locations halfway across the state.
Looking back on my work history, I’ve been through a lot, and I’m always reminded that it was through all those different jobs that I forged my opinions of how people “should” experience life and work to develop a sense of empathy. Too many people take for granted the life they have and don’t respect people they deem beneath them, especially when they’re reaping the benefits of others hard work.
From a technical perspective the internet came before I did, but The Internet that I know was still not very wide reaching or mainstream until I hit middle school.
My life before the internet was a substantial chunk of my childhood. It was mostly filled with cartoons, video games, lots of hand-me-down LEGOs with some new ones, and plenty of running around outside with friends. There were no cell phones for the most part, so definitely no smart phones, which meant we didn’t have computers in our pockets that could connect to us to anyone and everyone across the world. I relied on having a phone book or memorizing a few numbers for friends. GameStop wasn’t around yet, but we did have a Game Force store. I remember the days I could ride my bike down there to spend a couple hours checking out all the new and used games, and even play some for a bit.
Even up until the end of middle school and beginning of high school, when the internet was blossoming into the early stages of what it would become today, I didn’t use it too much. At least, not for what it gets used for today with all the social media sites and “influencer’s” that have come to prominence in the last decade.
Life before the internet was simpler, and in certain ways, much quieter.
The Dragon's Grove 