Daily writing prompt

What’s the biggest risk you’d like to take — but haven’t been able to?

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I’ve already sort of done this once and I am by no means planning to do it again. It’s just something that if I were in a situation to do it, I probably would.

When I was in my mid-20’s I changed careers. I went from loser working in a warehouse for practically nothing to a career college student. It sounds like I am kidding, but I am 100% serious. Seven years later I changed careers again when I ran out of Computer Science courses to take and let myself graduate. I went from career student to career programmer/analyst.

I am truly happy where I am and I have no plans to change careers again, but in a perfect financially secure world I probably would. If we hit that hypothetical zillion dollar lottery, for example, I would change my career. I would probably open a recording studio and blow my fortune on a dead industry. Either that or I would become a professional photographer of some kind. Again, probably just opening a studio and blowing all of my money watching the business fail. Like I said, these are hypothetical. Career wise I am not going anywhere.

How about I give you a second option as a bonus? Lucky you, right?

I love living in New England, but part of me really wants to give my life long home state of Massachusetts a chuck and move to Southern California. San Diego, or someplace in that vicinity. I fell in love with San Diego at first sight and have dreamed about living there ever since. It’s too much of a risk though. I could never do it. I have too much family and responsibility here at home and I would never be able to let myself let any of that go. So I stay in my beloved New England, which really is where I belong anyway so it all works out.

Daily writing prompt

What are you most proud of in your life?

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This one is easy. What am I most proud of in my life? My family. My wife is a genius and a phenomenal software engineer who is capable of anything. My step kids are both brilliant as well. We have one college graduate and one college student, both of whom have grown up to become fine adults who are on the cusp of achieving great things. I simply cannot wait to see where their lives take them.

I don’t know what I did to deserve becoming a part of this family, but it is clear that I am the luckiest man alive.

Daily writing prompt

What have you been working on?

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I have a number of little projects in the works at the moment, but I haven’t been making a lot of progress on any of them. Here’s a list of a few of them…

• Figuring out whatever is going on with my back pain/stomach pain this weekend. That’s sort of first and foremost in my tiny little brain, for obvious health reasons.
• Binge watching all of the original Doctor Who. I just finished season 20. Only six more seasons and one made for TV movie left to go. I’ve already finished the revival show, all 13 seasons. Will I finish everything by the time the new 60th anniversary episodes air? I think that’s likely.
• Various music, song writing, home recording projects are in the works, but it has been about a mont since I’ve made any progress on any of them.
• Redesigning, cleaning, and furnishing the kids’ bedrooms. I made a bit of progress on this one last weekend, but my pain problems have gotten in the way this weekend.
• The never ending Flickr Photo-a-Day challenge, also known as the 365 challenge… or maybe the 366 challenge this year thanks to the leap year. I’ve finished this four years in a row and we’re 52 days into year five. I’m going to put a stop to this one someday, but not today.

There you have a few current projects that I am working on these days. There are more, but these are the ones that get most of the brain focus. Nothing too serious, apart from fixing the kids’ rooms, but all are important to me to various degrees.

Daily writing prompt

What’s something most people don’t know about you?

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I’ve been oversharing in public blog form since 2008. Is there anything that anyone doesn’t know about me? I doubt it. At least I can’t think of anything.

Everyone knows I am married with two step kids. Everyone knows I play guitar and like photography. Everyone knows I’m a programming supervisor. Everyone knows I like traveling and road trips. Everyone knows I am an atheist and a militant red head and I had gastric bypass (because I never shut up about it).

I mean… what else is there?

Here’s one, I guess… I had a shitty night’s sleep last night and when I woke up (way too early) I had quite a bit of pain in my lower back, on the left side. It was enough that I couldn’t go back to sleep and now I am exhausted, in pain, and somehow need to do my morning exercise.

How does that work? Does that count as something no one knew about me?

Daily writing prompt

Do lazy days make you feel rested or unproductive?

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In my house we have a tradition that we used to call “flake days.” The kids were little and had all sorts of activities on the weekends and we would be running ragged trying to keep up with everything. Every now and then the schedule would work out and we would have a day with nothing scheduled so we’d take advantage of it by just spending the day flaking in font of the TV watching movies or playing games or just reading a book. Those were lazy and unproductive days but they were simply wonderful.

Now that the kids have grown up and moved out I still find the occasional flake day to be beneficial. They are definitely unproductive and I do often feel guilty about that, but Jen and I both work hard during the week and sometimes a quiet, unproductive Saturday or Sunday is just what we need.

I look at energy and motivation and drive as a sort of gas tank. Sometimes you need to take a weekend day off to let the tank fill itself up so that you are better equipped to handle what comes up during the week. Does that make sense? Is that me justifying being lazy? Probably. Do I care? Nope, I do not.