PROMPT: Advice

Daily writing prompt
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

“Never argue with a stupid person. In the end, they’ll still be stupid, and you’ll just be frustrated.”

PROMPT: Excited

Daily writing prompt
Tell us about the last thing you got excited about.

Being able to read Chinese, even if is dumbed-down stories for beginners and I still have to look words up every few sentences. But it feels like I’ve stumbled upon a door to a whole new universe.

PROMPT: Positive Emotion

Daily writing prompt
What positive emotion do you feel most often?

Curiosity. I exist in a state of perpetual perplexity. For example, is curiosity an emotion? If so, is it a positive one? I know it includes a feeling that drives me to make a decision or take an action, which would be an emotion by definition. But I don’t see it on a list of emotions. I consider it positive, but I also try to avoid putting value judgements on all things. Maybe it’s neutral. Can an emotion be neutral?…

PROMPT: Sell

Daily writing prompt
If you were going to open up a shop, what would you sell?

Experiences and lessons.

PROMPT: Curious

Daily writing prompt
What are you curious about?

Everything… except mid-18th century Dunwich Haberdashery.

PROMPT: Authority

Daily writing prompt
On what subject(s) are you an authority?

Absolutely nothing. I’m more of a mile-wide-inch-deep type than a mile-deep-inch-wide type, which is to say a generalist rather than a specialist. So, I do have some insight into how to think about thinking about matters diverse and sundry.

PROMPT: Teacher

What makes a teacher great?

If students choose the teacher, that is an excellent first indicator. In the typical top-down selection of teachers, it is easy to produce an abundance of shitty teachers. Of course, there is still the danger of charismatic bullshitters and easy people-pleasers, problems ever-present. But among students (as opposed to followers) they usually reveal themselves in time.

PROMPT: Friend

What quality do you value most in a friend?

The ability to converse intelligently on a wide range of subjects.

PROMPT: Job… for a day

Daily writing prompt
What’s a job you would like to do for just one day?

“Maker of pies” leaps to mind, but then it occurs to me that any baker who worked at it for just a day would be the worst. It seems to me that any job that is interesting would be one that a person would be terrible at if that person did it for only a day. Conversely, any job one could successfully do for just one day would be tedious and unrewarding.

“A learned man came to me once” by Stephen Crane [w/ Audio]

A learned man came to me once.
He said, "I know the way, -- come."
And I was overjoyed at this.
Together we hastened.
Soon, too soon, were we
Where my eyes were useless,
And I knew not the ways of my feet.
I clung to the hand of my friend;
But at last he cried, "I am lost."