Category: Generic

Perspective

Daily writing prompt
How do significant life events or the passage of time influence your perspective on life?
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Every time I hear the word “perspective” I hear Peter Gabriel’s voice*. 

I don’t know how to answer today’s question. I am a human being living in the physical universe. Things happen in the world around me and I react to them. Physically and emotionally. I think the show Futurama explained this aspect of humanity best…

(Fry and Bender are watching All my Circuits)
Fry: So, who’s that weird-looking guy?
Bender: That’s a human.
Fry: What’s he do?
Bender: Eh, the usual human stuff. He laughs, he learns, he loves.
Fry: Boring.

From the Futurama episode “I, Roommate”

So how do events and time effect my perspective on life? When good things happen I learn from them and want more stuff like that to happen. When bad stuff happens I learn from them and want less stuff like that to happen.

I’m not sure there is any other way to look at this one. Maybe everyone else will come up with a better response, but not me. Not today, at least. Sorry to disappoint. 

*Perspective by Peter Gabriel:

You get a TV quote and a song in this post. Am I over compensating for something?

Yup.

To-Do Lists

Daily writing prompt
Something on your “to-do list” that never gets done.
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I make a lot of to-do lists. I post a lot of them here. I don’t really have an issue with failing to complete everything. My issue is finishing everything in a timely manner. 

How about an example? Okay. Let us say I made a list of things for today, Saturday. Hypothetically it would be a short, manageable list of achievable things. If I put my nose to the grindstone I would clear the list over the course of a day. Instead I get distracted and I procrastinate and some of the things get punted off until Sunday. The same thing happens on Sunday. I make progress, but the last item or two gets punted off to Monday morning. Then it happens again, on a smaller scale, and the last thing gets punted to Monday after work. 

Everything gets completed eventually, just not on schedule. None of what I’ve written so far answers the actual question though so let me think for a second. What is something on my life’s to-do list that never gets done? I never hit a huge mega lottery. That’s been on my to-do list since I first learned what a lottery was. I haven’t completed it yet, but one of these days….

For the Birds

Daily writing prompt
What’s your favorite thing to cook?
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I cook a lot, but I don’t cook a lot of stuff. Does that make sense? It will.

I am a meat and potatoes kinda guy. Unfortunately for my family and their diet, when I cook I cook like a meat and potatoes kinda guy. There are only a few dishes that I am competent enough to prepare without supervision. If I had to pick a favorite it would be boneless chicken breasts. In the oven, in the air fryer (that’s been my go-to since the early days of the pandemic lock down), once in a while on the gas grill outside (though that often ends in fiery destruction), and on even rarer occasions in a frying pan on the stove.  I could seriously have chicken for dinner every night and not complain once. 

Side dishes are a little more varied, but I get into ruts in that area too. Lately it has been instant mashed potatoes or instant stuffing (Stove Top) or maybe a canned veggie. Sometimes I get a little more elaborate and air fry some mini potatoes or a fresh veggie. For a long time (before my gastric bypass surgery) it was almost always a quinoa and stir fried vegetables thing that my wife taught me to make. My new stomach and I have a tough time with quinoa now though so if I make it I can’t eat it. Jen likes it though so I have no problem making it, and I should make it for her more often.

In the interest of mixing things up, for the last few weeks we have been using one of those internet delivery meal prep services a few nights a week. Jen signed us up for Dinnerly. So far we’ve been very happy with it. They send us a few meals on Fridays and we usually cook them together. Jen does most of the heavy work, but I help her where ever she needs. Even with the service, most of what we make is chicken. Chicken is my favorite thing to eat as well as cook. Just call me a bird brain, right?