Tag: prompts

Everything is New-ish

Daily writing prompt
What’s the oldest things you’re wearing today?
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I lost a whole truck load of weight back in 2022. I lost more weight than I currently weigh. I’m a little less than half the man I used to be… literally.

What does that mean in regard to today’s question?

It means I don’t own any clothes that aren’t relatively new. The socks I’m wearing at this moment might be a year old. Maybe a little more than that. They are the oldest thing I’m wearing, by far.

Now that is assuming we’re taking about clothes. What if we broaden the search a little? My Apple Watch is a little more than a year old, but probably not quite as old as my socks. My glasses are a whopping three weeks old, give or take a day or two. What else is there?

There is one thing, and it’s the winner. Two weeks from now is my 15th wedding anniversary. That’s right, my wedding ring is the oldest thing I’m wearing today and everyday. 15 years and counting, with many more to come.

I love you, Jen. I love you more and more each day.

Complain

Bloganuary writing prompt
What do you complain about the most?
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I complain about a lot of things. I will give you a list and you will see that the things I complain about the most all boil down to pretty much one thing.

  • Fascists and fascism
  • Nazis and nazi-ism
  • Maga
  • Trump and trump supporters and trump sympathizers and trump collaberators
  • Americans whose words and actions are anti-american and anti-democracy
  • Insurectionists
  • Treasonists
  • Anyone who helped or supported or sympathized with the attempt to overthrow the democratically elected president on January 6, 2021
  • Anti-science
  • Anti-vax
  • Anti-evolution
  • Climate change deniers
  • Misogynists and/or incels
  • Bigots
  • Qanon
  • People who abuse children
  • People who abuse their spouses

You see the trend there? That’s the serious list. That’s the real response to the question. Now I’ll give another, shorter (I hope) list that’s more sarcastic and more in the spirit of kidding around and lowering whatever tension I just built up with my real list.

  • People who drive too slow in the fast lane on the highway
  • Winter weather
  • Traffic jams
  • Morning commutes
  • Evening commutes
  • Country music
  • Television commercials, especially the ones that pimp drugs with awful side effects
  • Did I mention snow?
  • Websites that autoplay video, especially when the audio is not muted
  • The New York Yankees or the Montreal Canadians

There… that’s a good lighten-the-mood kinda list… though I should probably delete it and let the serious list stand on it’s own. I feel a bit like a coward leaving the second list, but what can you do, right?

Cats Need to Listen to Me

Bloganuary writing prompt
If you could make your pet understand one thing, what would it be?
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There are a few potential responses to this one, but if I had to narrow down to just one thing I want my cats to understand it would be this:

Just because you can see the bottom of the food bowl, it doesn’t mean that you are about to starve to death. There’s enough food in there to keep you alive for a while, and I will top off the bowl soon enough. Calm down.

Now having said that, Robin Sparkles has an interesting response to the food bowl getting low. She gets extra super friendly. Where she normally barely acknowledges my existence, when the bowl is even slightly less than full she comes to me practically begging for attention. She rubs up against my feet when I am walking by, she head butts me when I am sitting down, she meows at me, the whole works. All the things that cats do to remind you that they are there and to trick you into thinking that they love you. All of it. It’s not enough to make me purposefully let their food get low… but it’s a close call sometimes.

A couple of honorable mentions include the following:

Yes, cats. I am aware of the state of your litter box. I am always aware of the state of your litter box. Relax.

No, cats. You are not allowed in the cellar. Not since Lilly tried to claw her way through the central air duct or when she tried to climb over the top of the ceiling to get behind the wall board where she would get stuck and I would never, ever be able to find her or rescue her. Get out of the damn cellar, both of you.

This last one is going to come up tomorrow, and then again on Thursday. Yes, cats. We have to put you into the cat carrier in order to take you to the vet. It is not punishment or torture and I am not some kind of nazi death camp guard. Stop making me feel like one. It will all be over soon enough. Just be patient and accept my apology. Good kitty.

144/265
144/365

Robert

Bloganuary writing prompt
Write about your first name: its meaning, significance, etymology, etc.
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I’m American and I speak English. We generally don’t name our children based on the literal meaning of the word. It is more often based on how the name sounds when combined with the family name, and family history. My name is Robert because my father’s name is Robert and my parents wanted to name me after him. That’s it. My brother was named after our grandfather. My sister isn’t named after anyone directly, at least not that I know of, she got her name because my parents liked it. That’s it.

Having said all of that, I figured in the spirit of the daily prompt game I would Google the origin of the word Robert. What does it actually mean?

Robert is an old German name that means “bright fame.” It’s taken from the old German name Hrodebert. The name is made up of two elements: “Hrod” which means fame and “Beraht” which means bright. The name was introduced to the people of England by the Normans in the middle ages.

https://www.verywellfamily.com/robert-name-meaning-origin-popularity-5181543#:~:text=People%20Named%20Robert-,What%20Does%20Robert%20Mean%3F,Normans%20in%20the%20middle%20ages.

Bright Fame, eh? Okay. I guess. There’s no fame here, and there’s certainly no bright fame. It’s interesting to know, I guess. It may be what my name means, but it certainly doesn’t relate to me at all. Maybe if I had known the meaning when I was little I would have changed my life’s path a little. Of course I am not serious at all. I wouldn’t have changed a thing. I didn’t know it when I was young, but Jennifer (which The Google tells me means “fair one” which I will absolutely buy) was in my future and I wouldn’t change anything out of risk of not making that myspace.com appointment back in 2006, you know?

Love Must be Earned

Bloganuary writing prompt
What is your favorite animal?
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You don’t have to look far to find my answer to this question. Literally the post before this spells it out nicely.

122/365

It’s cats, of course. Obviously. Cats of all shapes and sizes.

There is none of that unconditional love crap with cats. You have to earn their love. You have to earn their respect. I mean, it’s not that hard to do… just keep their food and water bowls full and their litter box clean and you’re most of the way there. Still, it’s the effort that counts. It’s the process that makes it worthwhile, you know?

Here’s to cats. Also, here’s to easy to answer daily writing prompts that I’m pretty sure are repeats of old prompts that don’t really inspire a lot of… writing.

Meow, brothers and sisters. Meow.

Play

Daily writing prompt
Do you play in your daily life? What says “playtime” to you?
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So… “Bloganuary.” Okay. I wonder, did someone get paid to come up with that name? I mean… if so, I hope they didn’t get paid much. Whatever. 

Do I play in my daily life. I play guitar. Once in a while I play a video game. I guess the answer is yes then. I guess I can stop writing about today’s writing prompt then, eh?

What says playtime to me? This:

123/366 - January 1st

Honestly it’s a pretty good thing that today’s prompt was uninspiring. It is the first post-holidays work day today and I overslept a bit. Not enough to make me late for work, but enough that I have to hurry through my morning routine. I ran in place (yogged) for 45 minutes and I am eating a little breakfast as I type this. Next up is to shower and shave and then punch into work for the day. It helps that I won’t be spending much time on this post. 

Bloganuary, indeed.