Why Yes, Yes I Have

Daily writing prompt

Have you ever had surgery? What for?

You know, if I didn’t know better I would say that whoever is coming up with these daily writing prompts is basing them on my blog. That couldn’t be it, could it? I mean… really?

Have I had surgery? I’d say that about two thirds of the posts I’ve made here since May of 2022 have answered that question.

Have I had surgery? Why yes, yes I have. On May 4, 2022 I had gastric bypass surgery. A surgeon made a bunch of little incisions into my guts and rearranged my entire digestive tract to make sure I couldn’t fit metric tonnes of food into my stomach anymore.

I have lost a shit load of weight but I can’t eat M&M’s anymore so there are upsides and downsides. (That previous sentence is meant to be dripping with sarcasm, just so you know)

Daily Habits

Daily writing prompt

What are your daily habits?

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Daily habits. I don’t know if I really had any daily habits prior to the whole weight loss surgery thing. Now I have a bunch of them, mostly due to having all of these post-op goals to hit every day.

Have some water and my morning vitamins before breakfast
Exercise every morning before breakfast
Eat a lot of protein for breakfast
Make sure the cats are fed
Make the bed (I fail on this one a lot, but I hate it when I do)
Exercise again during lunch, just a bit
Hit my daily water/liquid intake goal of at least 64 ounces
Hit my daily protein goal of at least 80 grams
Hit my daily Apple Watch Activity app exercise goal of at least 30 minutes, preferably more like 60
Hit my daily Apple Watch Activity app move goal by burning at least 1000 calories
Hit my daily Apple Watch Activity app stand goal by standing for at least one minute each hour for 12 hours
Write at least one blog post
Take at least one photograph, preferably with my Nikon Z5
Most important of all, be kind and loving to my wife
Track my sleep stats with my Apple Watch
Wake up and do it all again

I am sure I am missing a few things. I find the whole exercise and post-op thing a ton easier if I stick to a routine. Like, I overslept by almost two hours this morning and I am worried about staying on target for all of the exercise and food/water goals already. It’s only 7:30am, but I should have a bunch of that stuff done already. It bugs me a bit.

Anyway, those are some daily habits. I may be insane. Just a smidgen.

Sustainability

Daily writing prompt

Are there things you try to practice daily to live a more sustainable lifestyle?

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I’ve only been playing this daily prompt game for a few days, and since jumping on the wagon there haven’t been any questions that required any thought, or made me want to… you know… write anything. Now we have one and the theme is going to be shame.

I am going to have to turn in my hippy membership card after this one because up until recently I haven’t really lived my life in a way that could be in any way considered sustainable. The only exception being driving a car with a hybrid engine. Sometimes. Also, that’s only been a part of my life for a few years now. We have two cars in our household an one is a hybrid. The other… very much isn’t. It gets okay gas mileage but nothing to write home about. I drive a lot and when I am covering any notable distance I drive the hybrid. Other than that…

Until recently I never recycled. I produce what feels like a lot of waste. We order food for delivery more than we should and that always comes with tons of packaging that goes into the trash. Plastic, Styrofoam, the works. Fortunately for the Earth, my city sort of forced recycling upon us not long ago. They instituted automated trash pick up and issued a trash barrel and a recycling barrel to each residence. That put me onto the recycling wagon so when it comes to sustainability, I am pleased with myself for adding that to my personal list, but still disappointed with myself for making it to my 50’s before getting on that particular bus.

So I guess I am doing a couple of things to be sustainable now. I just feel like I should have been doing it a lot longer than I have. I seriously doubt I would make any difference, as my hippy self is often overpowered by my much more insistent cynical self, but as a proud bleeding heart liberal my lack of sustainable habits have always been a major source of hypocrisy.

I’m doing better now though. I will continue to do better in the future. I promise.

Most Delicious?

Daily writing prompt

What’s the most delicious thing you’ve ever eaten?

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Now how can you answer this question? This is completely subjective. The most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten? That probably changes every time I eat anything. I mean, how many magical chocolate cakes have there been? How many magnificent premium steaks at the Capital Grill or Ruths Chris have there been? How many trips to Kimball’s for ice cream?

I mean, how can a guy reasonably narrow down a lifetime of delicious food, especially when he doesn’t really have a stomach anymore and can’t eat many of the things he used to love?

Today’s Daily Writing Prompt

Daily writing prompt

If you were forced to wear one outfit over and over again, what would it be?

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Jeans and a t-shirt, of course. Sneakers too. The t-shirt would either be a Rush tour shirt, or a Bruins shirt, or a Red Sox shirt. You know, something meaningful.

This was a pretty deep question, right? I had to think about it for nearly an eternity. 0.68 seconds, to be exact.

How Important is Spirituality in Your Life?

Daily writing prompt

How important is spirituality in your life?

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This one is easy. It isn’t. Zero percent important. I prefer to focus on things that are real. You know, people, places, and things that actually exist.

Daily Writing Prompt – How Do You Practice Self-Care

Daily writing prompt

How do you practice self-care?

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First, WordPress.com has been putting up these daily writing prompts for a while now and I was on the fence as to whether or not I should play along. I thought yesterday’s response might have been funny so I finally joined in. Now? What the hell, right?

How do I practice self-care? The brutally honest answer is that I asked a doctor to butcher my stomach and my digestive system so that I could lose 200 pounds and not feel like I was on death’s door 24/7. That’s the real answer.

The practical answer is spending time with my wife and spending as much time as I can with the kids now that they don’t live around here anymore. Those and playing the guitar and playing with cameras. Those are the answers that matter, at least on the mental health side.