Category: Generic

Nope

Daily writing prompt
How often do you say “no” to things that would interfere with your goals?
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No is a hard word to say. I should learn to say it once in a while.

I’m not what you’d call a people person. I rarely get where they are coming from. I still want to be helpful though. I still want to make things easier for these weird people that I don’t understand. That makes saying no to them tough to do.

It is so tough to do that I rarely bring myself to do it. At work, in personal life situation. I’m rarely able to just say no. That doesn’t mean I don’t do it because sometimes I do. That is when the guilt takes over. I say no to someone about something and then I feel terrible about it for ages.

Saying no sucks, even when it is clearly the right thing to do.

A Particular Set of Skills

Daily writing prompt
What’s a secret skill or ability you have or wish you had?
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I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you.

Liam Neeson in the movie Taken

Skills that I have, or wish I had. That’s two questions in one right there. I’ll take a crack at both.

We are talking about super powers here, right? Well, I am at least. I don’t know what you kind folks are focusing on, but this i smy post so it is super powers. Spoiler alert.

In Star Trek: The Next Generation, everyone in the fandom (mostly) hated the character Wesley Crusher. He was in the original cast but after a few seasons he was gone. Then in the final season they brought him back for an episode to wrap up his story. In that final episode they gave him a sort of super power that I have always been very jealous of. It was kinda neat. Sure, things like invisibility and flying and super strength are cool, but Wesley Crusher could pull himself out of time. Essentially he could stop time’s forward progress for everyone around him but not for him. The universe would freeze in place but he could still move around and interact with everything. How cool is that? Imagine you’re about to get in a car accident. You hit pause on the universe, move out of the way, and then hit play. Accident avoided. Say you needed another few minutes to prepare for a meeting or something. Just hit pause, do what you need to do, hit play and give a killer performance. If I could have a super power, that might be what I would want. That’s a pretty cool skill.

What about a skill that I already have? Well, there is one thing. One super power-esque thing. Based on the name of this little blog site, you already know what it is. I have red hair. I was born that way and at 52 years old I am still a red head*. This gives me a hidden super power. No, really. It does. I have the power to affect the universe around me in positive ways. Most people don’t know this, but there is a type of positive energy called “red head vibes” that only people with red hair can control. My sister and I used to send out these magical red head vibes to people we knew who needed a little positivity boost. Anyone can send happy thoughts, or positivity, but only red heads can send the super powerful red head vibes.

I expect that the Illuminati’s council of red heads will be very upset with me for sharing this information with the universe, but call me a rebel because I am about to hit publish and let you all know what’s what.

*I am 52 years old and I still have red hair, but my days are very much numbered. I see more white in my hair every day. I’ve held on for a lot longer than most people manage to, much longer than my big sister did, but the end is in sight. I’ll enjoy it while it lasts though.

Remember the Jedi Knight I used to do? I had to go to a new AI image generator, but the Jedi’s are back… for today at least.

generate an image of a jedi knight with red hair using the force

That’s not a Jedi though, that’s a Sith. The red lightsaber is fitting though.

Only One Acceptable Answer

Daily writing prompt
What is your favorite type of weather?
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The title of this post says it all. There is only one answer to this question. All other answers are invalid.

Late Spring, early Summer. 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit. Clear, sunny sky. Low humidity. Warm enough to inspire us to want to jump into a swimming pool or a lake or the ocean or something, but not hot enough to be uncomfortable. Plants growing, everything around us alive and green. Yeah, that last one is more seasonal than actual weather but it helps paint the picture.

So basically the opposite of what Northeastern Massachusetts is seeing right now. It’s cold and snowing right now. Oh good. It’s probably more like a mix of snow and rain, and the forecast is calling for the snow to be replaced by down-pouring rain. Oh yippee.

So there you have it, the best type of weather is my favorite type of weather. Basically… beautiful. That’s the best. That’s the only acceptable answer*. You all agree, I am sure.

*In my humble opinion, right? It’s my blog though so from the blog’s point of view it’s the only opinion. Heh heh heh.

Longest Day Ever

Oh man, are you feeling it today too? Has today been the longest day in ages or what?

It’s Friday but I swear the clock is running slow. I think it’s only actually moving forward in time when I am looking at it. When I am not looking at the clock it is stopping itself somehow. I think the universe knows that I am just a few hours away from the weekend, and that I have a sick day booked on Monday (for a doctors appointment) so it’s actually a three day weekend for me… so it (the universe) is dicking with me.

What a jerk, eh? Hopefully it’s only affecting me and not all of you, dear readers. Hopefully your clocks are progressing appropriately.

Good luck out there, folks. It’s a weird one for sure!

Teachers

Daily writing prompt
Who was your most influential teacher? Why?
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Just yesterday my friend Larry sent me a text asking if I remembered the names of any of our high school teachers. My first thought was of course I do. My second thought was me trying to remember them and exactly one came to me. My senior year English teacher. Was she influential? She was brutal. Easily one of the toughest teachers I ever had. She kicked our academic asses on a daily basis and I was able to rise to the occasion. My grades in that class were very good. Unfortunately she was the only name I could remember off the top of my head. Mrs Acone.

Larry was specifically asking about our ninth grade Earth Science teacher. Somehow, magically, I was able to come up with it. Now, the very next morning, we get this question? Are the internets reading my mind again? Is this some X-Files level shit here?

Most influential teacher… okay… Mrs Acone is on the short list. Mrs Adams is too. I was in third grade. I was in the second highest reading group in the class. Mrs Adams, for some reason I am not aware of, bumped me up to the highest level reading group. A little bit of faith in a little tiny me and next thing we know I am an A student all the way into my high school career. Well… in every class except math. My math skills went south at some point, but other than that I was at the start of a very good public education career.

One other candidate for most influential requires me to fast forward all the way to my last time around in college. Dr Canning was my Computing I professor. He asked me for my resume one day. At the time it included a mention of attending Northeast Broadcasting School. He jumped on that and offered me a job in a lab he ran. I wouldn’t be doing anything code based in that lab. Instead he wanted me to start a Computer Science department focused talk show on the campus radio station. I took the job. The result was not only a radio show that ran for the next three years or so, it was that I had a peer group in school that I could study with, and a private, locked door lab space where we could meet to study. It was the key to me finishing my Bachelors Degree with some really excellent grades.

So there are a few influential teachers from my very distant past. There are probably a few more I could add but, as implied by the start of this post, I might not remember any of their names.