I read something interesting on Threads earlier in the day that resonated with me a little, and not in a good way (but not necessarily in a bad way either, I suppose.)
I hope I can do it justice with my explanation because I got caught up in work and didn’t have a chance to save it.
The United States of America, where I live, has a history of change and violence. All major changes have started with peaceful protest, but that alone was not enough and the only way it made a serious impact was when things turned violent. It didn’t matter what the change was, someone always got hurt in the end.
The part that resonated with me comes from this next part.
So, in the world of today, for all who are wishing for change and calling for peaceful demonstrations of protest, where do you stand when you’re expressing those desires? Do you intend to stand among the people that are taking the risk, or are you going to be casually standing on the sidelines as you preach, all while knowing what could come if history is allowed to repeat itself?
Someone always gets hurt in the end.
I just wish people could show each other respect and tolerance, and let one another live and thrive without the need to hurt. Sadly, that is not the world we find ourselves in.
Last year, I answered this prompt talking about real animals, and how I came to love otters as one of my absolute favorite animals. I also ended that post mentioning dragons and phoenixes as favorites, but how they were mythical creatures rather than real animals and that I would discuss them later.
Well, it’s time.
I don’t know that I can really recall WHEN I fell in love with dragons, not like how I can pinpoint it for otters, but they’ve been a favorite of mine for a really long time. Phoenixes I could probably be more precise, as I came around to those probably 15 years ago, partly because Fawkes from the Harry Potter franchise reminded me of their existence but mostly because I learned of how they are opposite dragons when it comes to mythology (and specifically in terms of Yin and Yang in Chinese culture).
For dragons, one of the things that really grabbed me is how prevalent they are throughout world history while maintaining cultural uniqueness. From the different magical elements (like fire and water) to the different physiology’s (two legs, four legs, or even no legs) there is just so much to consider on how they fit into the mythos of our own world at the same time that we utilize them as inspiration in the fictional worlds we create!
As for the phoenix, well, sadly, my knowledge is not as extensive. I know that they are primarily representative of the element of fire, and that they seemingly defy the cycle of life and death through the power of rebirth. I just like how they seem simpler and sit opposite dragons. That’s all, really.
Yet another day where I have to come up with my own writing prompt because I’ve already answered the one provided! That’s okay, though, because that means I have to challenge myself with a little extra thinking about what I want to talk about.
As I was googling for writing prompts I stumbled on an image list with examples that gave me an idea. There were two in particular, not next to each other in the list but still related, that I thought might be fun to combine.
“What are five things you would like to do before you are 20 years old?” combined with “What do you think your life will be like when you are 30 years old?“
I’ve answered similar prompts before but I think I’ll twist it up a bit.
Did you get to do the things you wanted to do by the time you were 20? 25? 30? Etc.
The simple answer is no. There are tons of things that I wished I had done by various points in my life, but also so many of those things I feel like I learned about at the wrong time.
By the time I was 20 I was hoping to have moved out and started what used to be the stereotypical “college experience” of living on campus, meeting people and making friends that might become roommates when you’re no longer living in the dorms. Things like that.
I was still living and working at home (on the farm) until I was about 24. I moved out that year, living with friends for about five or six months, but was still working at home briefly until I finally landed an office job through my brothers. Ultimately, this period of my life, up through 25, felt like I was behind to a certain degree. I watched friends from college doing, more or less, the things I had hoped to be doing. Living in an apartment, working, doing fun things once in a while like occasionally going to the bars (drinking out is expensive, so not too often) or traveling for a short vacation. I did one thing, sort of, before 26, that was something I had hoped to do and that was go back to my home state (Colorado) of my own accord and on my own dollar. It was a short weekend vacation that I took to visit a friend (who moved there from South Dakota, where I met them and we went to college together) for their birthday. So, not all was “lost” in that regard.
Age 26 through 30 went much better, all things considered. I hadn’t expected to start this period of my life needing a major surgery and not having health insurance, followed by losing my job because the company didn’t renew our contracts, but that all happened, and helped spring me towards the direction of accomplishing some of those earlier things out of order.
Somewhere between 24 and 25 I had moved into my own apartment, by myself, but because of the cost of the surgery and insurance complications I had soon opted to move in with a friend from college that I had reconnected with the prior year. So, surgical debt, lost a job and started new one shortly after, which led to moving in with friends to help cut costs all around. Some of this happened only five years out of order from expectations, but hey, it happened eventually!
More things happened in that time before 30 that were closer to when I had hoped to experience them. Temporary gig work which helped get me into my current job, which is stable and has been a very good place to be long term. Making enough money to fund hobbies and enjoy new things, make new friends (which gets harder the older you get) and take brief staycations to play games or spend time with family. Still, all that aside, I didn’t meet anyone that I vibed with enough to start a solid romantic relationship with and explore the idea of starting a family. Another missed target.
From 31 until now, since I’m not sure what “accomplishments or experiences” I should be cutting off at 35, I have had some nice things happen. Still working the same job, still living with the same friend, learning new skills, making plenty of money for those hobbies AND I actually took a real vacation. Unfortunately, still no romantic prospects for me, but glad I’ve been able to watch other friends grow closer together and get married or start families.
So, while I’m not living the original stereotypical “American Dream”, I’m still slowly experiencing things that I hope for, just not always in the expected order. Looking at things from that angle, and then comparing my life to others, I am seeing the same thing for many others and accepting that my lived experience will be my own and shouldn’t be held to the same standards as others.
Super simple question for me today! I can get behind that when I’m getting sucked into playing the hottest new early access game.
My dream job has changed a couple of times between childhood and adulthood. Today, it is becoming a professional author and being able to support myself on that kind of income.
I’m working on bettering my daily habits to write consistently, like answering these daily prompts. I’m over 100 days in a row of writing every day, and I’m getting used to the idea that it is okay to put less important things aside to focus on writing if I hope to improve my habits and reach that goal. Hopefully, someday, I can publish something and be successful enough to quit my job and keep writing. Then my days would be wildly different! I’d have MORE time to do the things I want to do in tandem with writing, because I would end up substituting time spent working in an office with time spent writing.
I know I can do it if I stick with it, and I know I can keep up with writing demands if I look at the results of my NaNoWriMo 2023 daily word tracking. It is completely possible for me to write 300k+ words per year. I just have to dig in and go for it.
With all of the prompts I’ve been answering the last few months, I can definitely say I had not been expecting this one. Not that it’s a wildly different or shocking prompt, comparatively, but just not something I was completely expecting at this point with the general trend of all the previous prompts.
Driving around my city, going to work, maybe going shopping or just getting something to eat, I’ve seen a wide variety of billboards. Some of them are the old style where it is one massive picture and it could be up there for months or even years, but I’ve seen more and more of the digital ones being put up or replacing the old ones. This is a big deal to me when thinking about today’s prompt because duration could play a part in what I would like to have plastered on a massive wall of pure advertisement for the world to see. Since the question is about a freeway billboard, I imagine the duration would be limited to months unless I had a special contract, so I’ll operate under that pretense. Just a couple months of ad space hanging where tens of thousands of people can see it regularly. But what to put on it?
So many choices! I could make it serious, or funny. I could try to just spread a good message to brighten someone’s day, or call out something important that I think the world should be know. Or I could just make it a shameless plug for my content, although that carries some risks. I could plug my Twitch channel (that I rarely use anymore but might return to someday), but then I have to be cautious of people recognizing my face in public or at work. HR might have a field day. The same could be said for if I were to get a novel published and I wanted to use billboard space as part of an ad campaign. I’d have to be ready for the potential consequences. Maybe I should just opt for something funny or inspiring. Oh! I had an idea. Something to really mess with people.
What if my billboard was one of those “Find X differences” images that I used to see on social media, but instead of putting up two nearly identical images with minor changes they’re just both the same image? I wonder how many people would get pissed off.
The Dragon's Grove 