PROMPT: Childhood Book

Daily writing prompt
Do you remember your favorite book from childhood?

I remember an adaptation or condensed version of Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. The castaway theme probably resonated with my introverted nature.

PROMPT: Three Books

Daily writing prompt
List three books that have had an impact on you. Why?
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

This poetry collection teaches that most challenging of human skills: how to be insanely confident that you can do anything without being a jerk about it. (Also, how to see beauty beyond the societal consensus of what’s beautiful.)

Zhuangzi by Zhuangzi

The virtues of a carefree, spontaneous, minimalist, and down-to-earth approach to living explained through tiny stories.

The Tragedies of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

A master class in things that can turn a life into a tragedy.

Titus Andronicus: Live by the sword = tragedy (An eye for an eye, and everyone dies.)

Romeo & Juliet: Grudges (+ Lust) = tragedy

Julius Caesar: handing your adversary the mic (/ the fickleness of crowds) = tragedy

Hamlet: indecisiveness = tragedy (i.e. On or off the crazy-bus.)

Othello: jealousy = tragedy

Macbeth: excessive ambition = tragedy

King Lear: needing gratuitous signs of affection = tragedy

Timon of Athens: expectations of reciprocity = tragedy

Anthony & Cleopatra: mixing one’s love and work lives = tragedy

Coriolanus: a crotchety old warrior in peace time = tragedy

PROMPT: Friend

What quality do you value most in a friend?

Thoughtful, & conversationally fluent, on a variety of topics.

Must not play the bagpipes.

PROMPT: Religion

Do you practice religion?

Not even a little.

I thought of starting my own, but having seen what people have done with ones founded by genuinely wise and good individuals (e.g. Buddha & Jesus,) I became preemptively disheartened about the prospects for one started by the likes of me.

PROMPT: Internet

Do you remember life before the internet?

Yes. Travel was dicier because you just showed up in a random town and took whatever room you could find. Sometimes going door to door, making inquiries.

But people occasionally paid attention to what they were doing and to other people in their immediate vicinity, so that was kind of nice.

PROMPT: Having It All

What does “having it all” mean to you? Is it attainable?

Being healthy of mind, body, and in one’s closest interpersonal relationship(s.)

Yes. It’s absolutely attainable.

I subscribe to the thinking of Epicurus — i.e. “Nothing is enough for the man to whom enough is too little.” And Socrates — i.e. “The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.”

PROMPT: Legacy

What is the legacy you want to leave behind?

When my body dies, I see no reason to not let my ego die as well. Trying to do otherwise just seems like a futile plot to keep my snowman upright through July.