Just, oh so many of them. Virtually all of them. I’ve succeeded in every breath I took (so far, fingers crossed.)
Tag Archives: Prompt
PROMPT: Change
For a long time, I’d have said that I’d like to be less introverted. However, adjusting my attitude towards introversion, managing it, and recognizing / valuing the strengths that derive from it has been one of the most enlightening and empowering processes of my life. (So, I’m keeping it.)
However, I do have an ulnar impaction in my wrist that I’d be happy to get rid of (if anyone with such powers is taking requests.)
PROMPT: Technology
What technology would you be better off without, why?
That’s a tough question. While not a Luddite, I do think there are a number of technologies that are out of control, figuratively (or may – literally – become so.) But that doesn’t mean I think they should be gone altogether (it just makes me wishful that people can find a way to moderate their use.)
I’ll go with nuclear weapons, the one technology whose only use lies in not being used. I choose them because they result in low-level existential dread and inflated tax bills. [There is the argument that they may have staved off a colossal Third World War, but one can also argue that two really shitty wars in rapid succession led to institutions (e.g. UN agencies & permanent alliances) and approaches (e.g. low-intensity proxy wars) to avert such a war as well (Those things also being extremely expensive, but not so much with the existential dread.)]
PROMPT: Procrastination
What have you been putting off doing? Why?
Answering this prompt, apparently. It’s been around several times now – I think.
Why? No good answer came to mind, before now.
PROMPT: Grown Up
In retrospect, I’d say it was when I was on an airplane headed to Basic Military Training. I left a few days after completing high school classes, and a week or so before our graduation ceremony. That would definitely have been the point at which I had to realize whatever transpired, I was on my own. My problems were no longer distributed between myself and parents or myself and teachers, but it was all on me.
That said, I suspect that as a teenager I would have reported moments long before then, like my first solo out-of-state road-trip. I think a general feature of the adolescent condition is feeling grown up before one actually is in any real sense.
PROMPT: Hobby or Pastime
I don’t collect favorites. I like reading, hiking, writing, swimming, playing, exercise, traveling, cooking… each in its due time for its due time.
PROMPT: Hard Work
In what ways does hard work make you feel fulfilled?
Presuming there is a product or productive outcome, therein lies the fulfillment.
If the work is Sisyphean, it chafes my preference for wu wei.
PROMPT: Athletes
I generally leave admiration for professional athletes to others, as I feel — like other entertainment celebrities — they get an unhealthy level of adoration as it is.
That said, I have been impressed by grappler Mikey Musumeci for the intensity of his training regime and for finding his own way.
PROMPT: Time of Day
What’s your favorite time of day?
Mornings. I’m a lark. It’s when I’m at my highest energy level.
PROMPT: Blog – Change
If I’m being entirely honest, everything that’s come out of this enterprise has been of selfish motive — even those activities that seem like they have broader purpose. For example, I started book reviewing because: a.) I found it disheartening how many books I read that I had virtually no recollection of a couple years down the line, and b.) because, while I felt I knew good writing when I read it, I couldn’t really say what it was that made it good or bad without taking a more analytical look into the matter. (And I was pretty sure good writing wouldn’t come to me osmotically — merely by reading good writing — if I didn’t understand why it was good writing.)
I started recording classic poems to get a better sense of the sound quality of well-crafted poetry (and to become more comfortable with the sound of my own voice.)
I guess the honest answer is that I hope to be smarter and more capable as a result of the practice. It is continuing education, a fostering of the Beginner’s Mind.
