If you didn’t need sleep, what would you do with all the extra time?

Daily writing prompt

What would I do with the extra time if I didn’t have to sleep? I barely sleep as it is, so things wouldn’t be that different. I think I would still want to sleep if I didn’t need sleep which is again very similar to how things already are. I don’t sleep very much, but I wish I did so… same difference?

It’s not very realistic that if sleep weren’t needed the time we currently use sleeping would suddenly become personal time. If it did I would spend it with my wife and I would probably just watch more TV or surf the web more. If I were smart I’d play more guitar or work on creative projects or work around the house or do more different things with Jen rather than flake on the couch. Things like that.

Let’s be honest though, if we didn’t have to sleep our late stage capitalist society that is driven by greed and avarice would dictate to us that all of that free time would be spent at work. Our eight hour day would be a 16 hour day and there would be nothing we could do about it. We’d make the same wage or salary that we make in our 40 hour week, we’d just have to work 80 hours a week to earn it. In other words, if we had all of that extra time available it would be exploited. Every last second of it.

Name your top three pet peeves.

Daily writing prompt

Just three pet peeves? I hope I can narrow it down, there are so many.

• Fascists, fascist sympathizers, fascist collaborators. You know, anyone who is even the slightest degree of pro-nazi. Disgusting. Un-American. Just plain evil. They are my number one pet peeve.
• People who turn a blind eye to abuse. I’m thinking specifically of the sex abuse scandal in the Boston archdiocese story that broke about 20 years ago. Catholic priests were raping children and when they were caught by their superiors they were not thrown in jail to rot for their evil crimes. Instead, they were reassigned to new towns so that they could rape a fresh batch of kids. After fascism, that is pretty much the most evil thing that I have ever heard of. I’m sitting here getting royally pissed off just thinking about it.
• People who pronounce nuclear, “nucular”. The sound of it makes my skin crawl. I mean, nu-clear. It’s not a hard word to work out. Say it right or shut the fuck up. Damn.

There. Those are pretty much my top three pet peeves. I wonder, did I catch the spirit of today’s question? I think so.

What are your favorite animals

Daily writing prompt

If you have read even a couple of days worth of posts on this oversharing blog then you know I am a cat person. I post pictures of our two cats constantly. For example:

I love cats. It’s true. All cats, even cats that would eat my head for a snack.

Yes, cats are my favorite animal.

The runner up? Deer, probably.

Mostly though my favorites are always going to be our pets. Lily, Robin, and the late great Miss Patches.

Beach or mountains? Which do you prefer? Why?

Daily writing prompt

Do I prefer the mountains or the beach… That’s kind of like asking me which of my step kids I prefer. The honest answer is both. I couldn’t pick just one or the other. One of the great things about living in New England is that we have the Atlantic Ocean right nearby, and up to the North we have all sorts of mountains. All of it is within a couple of hours drive.

I love them both. I love to go visit the ocean and the lakes scattered throughout the region. I love to go to the mountains. I am not the kind of guy who likes to lay out on the beach or go swimming, and I am not the kind of guy who likes to climb the mountains. I like to bring my camera and shoot the views, and I like to spend time with my family surrounded by the best that nature has to offer. I just really like them both.

So given all of that I cannot chose one or the other. I just like ’em both. That will have to be good enough for the writing prompt folks.

What are your family’s top 3 favorite meals?

daily writing prompt

Favorite meals, huh? I can give you the meals that we have most often, but favorite meals vary. They vary by setting and price and complexity and all sorts of fun things like that.

In my house we usually go with chicken breasts, most recently in an air fryer. Sides can be potatoes and a veggie. Sometimes it can be quinoa with stir fried veggies. Another common meal is a sort of disconnected Shepard’s Pie, where we fry up some ground beef, make some mashed potatoes, and add corn and serve them all separately rather than all mixed together. Another regular would be tacos, where we similarly fry up some beef and add veggies and maybe some refried beans and some cheese* and fill up a taco shell and go for it.

Honorable mentions go to spaghetti and meatballs and the occasional pot roast or roast beef that my wife makes shit out of, let me tell you. She also makes the best schnitzel. We don’t have that often, but when we do… chef’s kiss.

Of course if it were up to us and money were not an issue then we’d hit a high end steak house every night. That would probably be THE FAVORITE, but you can’t really do that every day, right?

Of course, today being the day after Thanksgiving, I expect every American to answer this question with turkey and all the trimmings.

Sorry… today’s daily writing prompt response is pretty lame. I’ll try to be more exciting tomorrow. Just be patient. I promise it will get better.

If you could meet a historical figure, who would it be and why?

Daily writing prompt

I get to pick one person from all of history. Well, that’s not going to be easy. Do I pick a musician? Jimi Hendrix or John Lennon? I have all of human existence though, so why stay with the 1960’s? I could pick Beethoven but he was deaf and I don’t know sign language (did he?). I could pick JS Bach. He had something like 20 kids so maybe I could get some relationship advice from him or something.

What about political folks? President Lincoln is the obvious choice, but I’d have to tell him that the republican party that he put on the map eventually morphed into a racist, fascist, nazi party knock off that tried to over throw a legitimate presidential election. That would likely bum him out, big time. Sorry, Abe. I could pick Napoleon, or Alexander the Great, or Julius Caesar, but knowing my luck I’d try to crack an ice breaker style joke and they’d get offended and execute me on the spot. That would suck.

I could pick some random person from a time period that is fascinating. Some dude who lived in colonial era Boston, or Ancient Greece, or Renaissance Italy, or Roman era England, and just learn about how they lived their lives. That would be pretty amazing.

Knowing me the way I do though, I would pick Neil Peart. He’s only been gone for just shy of four years, and he hated interacting with fans, but I’d just tell him that we’re all thankful for all of the music he made and that we miss him. Yeah, that would probably be my choice.

Do you trust your instincts?

Daily writing prompt

Back in the ’90’s I was in an all original music rock band and we had a song called “Instinct“. Does that have any bearing on any of this crap? No. No, it does not.

Do I trust my instincts? Hell no, I do not. I guess I don’t entirely mistrust them either, but generally speaking the first thought I have after responding to a gut feeling is something along the lines of, that was probably a mistake.

As an analyst type of guy who loves statistics, I wish I had some numbers on how often instinct is accurate vs inaccurate. I expect that it is more accurate than not, but who knows.

While I often doubt myself, when I have one of those feelings and share it with someone else, if the other people doubt me I get pissed and stand by my feelings in a nearly militant fashion. Does that make sense? No, no it does not.

I guess I am just kinda screwy that way. I can doubt me, but you can’t. Ugh, what a nut job.

Trust to your instinct
If it’s safely restrained
Lightning reactions
Must be carefully trained
Heat of the moment
Curse of the young
Spit out your anger
Don’t swallow your tongue

Written by Neil Peart, Performed by Rush

What’s your favorite month of the year? Why?

Daily writing prompt

This one is easy for me. I am a summer kinda guy. Spring is nice, fall is okay, winter is an asshole. Summer? Summer is the man. Therefore my favorite month of the year is a summer month. It could really be any of them, but I am going to go with July. Why?

Summer starts in June and June is great. Summer ends in September so September is kind of a jerk. August is great, but while summer doesn’t end in that month, it sort of does. Summer vacation for the kids ends in August so that’s a bummer. Also, the weather often starts cooling off by the end, so that’s depressing. Worst of all is just the knowledge that the good times are about to end. It’s just sad on an existential level.

That leaves July. Also, July has a big summer holiday here in the United States. Independence Day is July 4th. We celebrate with cookouts and family and by just embracing the wonderfulness that is the summer time. I love it. Those are the reasons why July is my favorite month.

How about a couple of honorable mentions. June and August are obviously favorites thanks to the weather. February is another favorite, despite the freezing cold and constant threat of snow. My step son and my wife both have birthdays in February. One of my nephews does too. May is notable too as my step daughter’s birthday is in May. Mine is too, but I’m old so who cares. October is also notable because about 400 of my relatives were born in October.

So there you have it. My favorite month is July. Now that you know that, you can get on with your day. Have a good Tuesday, everyone.

What is your favorite place to go in your city?

Daily writing prompt

Boston, Massachusetts. My city. For my entire life it’s been this shining beacon of awesome sitting 20-30 miles to the South. I don’t have a favorite place in the city. I have a hundred favorite places in the city, maybe more. Here are a few of them, my personal highlights if you will.

• Fenway Park
• TD Garden
• Newbury Street
• Boylston Street
• Commonwealth Avenue
• Beacon Street
• Massachusetts Avenue
• Haymarket Square
• Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market
• Everything on the Freedom Trail
  • City Hall
  • Granary Burial Ground
  • Old North Church
  • Old South Meeting House
  • Paul Revere’s House, even though it’s a tough spot to visit if you’re really tall
  • The Old City Hall which currently houses a Ruth’s Chris’ Steak House
  • The Bunker Hill Monument
  • The USS Constitution
• Rose Kennedy Greenway
• Boston Common
• Boston Public Garden
• Cambridge is not Boston, but there are sites that are close enough to include
  • Harvard Square
  • Central Square
• Lansdowne Street
• Kenmore Square
• The North End

Okay… I am going to stop now. There are probably a couple of dozen more places that I love, but if I keep going I am going to spend hours writing this post and I’ll be late for work. Suffice to say that I love the holy hell out of the great city of Boston. There are other cities that I love, but Boston is mine. Boston is home.