If given the opportunity to see how different choices would effect your life, would you proceed with it?
Absolutely, not even a question. I would like to make sure of things because I do the “what-if” thing enough to drive myself crazy. So yeah, given the opportunity, I think I would totally do it.
The other thing is, it would be nice to know what else I should have done when I was younger, so I can learn from the mistakes that I have made in the past.
But I would really like to know if there is anyone who wouldn’t take advantage of something like that, if it was really possible.
Until tomorrow…
Category: NoJoMo
I started doing this on the now-defunct OpenDiary in 2010. I’ve done it every year since.
21
What inspires you to keep writing?
Right now? That I’m waiting for these repairmen to return, finish the job I hired them for.
More generally? It keeps me somewhat level. I can sit back, close my eyes, and pound something out.
For Novembers, it allows me to reflect some on where I am, correct mistakes I’ve made, and find some peace in time for the holidays.
The stretch from September of last year until July of this year is a complete blur. (Well, that’s the case of many, many things, on account of my failing vision, but….)
I think I still can do some quality work, although I have to approach things differently. Things really scream by. I hope that I haven’t disappointed too many people.
My desire for revenge is kind of gone. Things do occasionally pop up that I have to look into, dig back through my archives, and inquire whether there’s something that might bite me.
So much of what’s coming out in the news is about behavior I just can’t comprehend. Have I done things I regret? Absolutely. Is any nearly as bad as what (long string of celebrities) did?
Not by a longshot.
I still haven’t had the opportunity to delve into stuff from 2012 thoroughly. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe Friday Who knows? For tomorrow: How do you feel about people’s need to post every detail of their relationships on social media? Are you guilty?
11.20.17
Have you ever had someone tell you not to do something, only to turn around and tell someone else to do it?
Yes. There was a time when I was younger that I was not in a good place mentally. Maybe it is just regular teenager stuff, but I thought there was something very wrong with me and wanted to talk to someone about it.
Told this to someone I trusted, and they told me it was stupid because it would place a stigma on me for the rest of my life.
Fast forward a few years, and this same person is telling someone else that if they feel like something is wrong, they should go talk to someone. No talk or stigma and no hesitation.
What I have learned from this experience is to keep my thoughts and feelings to myself against most people. There are only a few chosen people who I let my guard down for completely.
Until tomorrow…
11.19.17
Do other people try to control you?
Yes, all the time it seems. Even strangers seem to think that they have the ability to tell me what to do. I have Thanksgiving plans, but I should change them to accommodate someone else. How about no?
I am always getting told what the best way to do something is or how my way of doing things is the wrong way. No, most often it isn’t wrong, you yourself just don’t do it that way. If you have a genuinely good way of doing something, I will consider it. If not I will continue to do it my way and you can go away.
Until tomorrow…
20
I was reminded to write this after participating in discussions with people at the office.
Oh yea! I need to write aobut that1
*checks football games*
Well, the Vikings-Lions game will probably be good, at least.
I am going to cook a turkey on the grill. Going for the whiskey sour sorta glaze.
It also gives me an opportunity to use the flavor injector I bought years ago.
Butter
Sour Mix
Bourbon
Sugar
Indirect heat, with the grill temperature at about 350, and use the grill just like an oven.
Hickory to smoke.
Yeah, that’s what I’d plunked out when i had a minute. I was going to elaborate more after I took a nap, but recruiters have been blowing up my phone really since I got out of the office.
I guess it’s nice to feel wanted, but neither gives me a big charge, honestly.
I have no idea what I might want to write about tomorrow. So, to my stash of prompts, most courtesy my wife……
What inspires you to keep writing?
19
Resampling more, but here goes.
NoJoMo Day 5 – 11/5/2012
Double duty again today, because I would like to say a little about each.
1. Are you an extrovert or an introvert? Both? Do you wish you could have more of the other characteristic?
I’m terribly introverted. Have been since about puberty. Some of it is related to how physically unattractive I view myself as (fat kid syndrome). Some of it has to do with a low overall opinion of many others.
At the same time, very few people understand what makes me tick. Fewer, still, agree with me. Whether that makes me disagreeable is up to you. If you don’t wish to keep my company, whatever. The reverse is also true.
I don’t feel obligations to some people that I probably should. Especially those who don’t even attempt to understand what it is I’m going through. No, I can’t stand in one place for five minutes without wobbling. Yes, I used to be able to march in a straight line; I can’t anymore.
There’s nothing that’s going to fix me. There’s not even really anything that’ll make life halfway normal. How the hell can you explain to someone who’s never experienced it what it’s like to have to remember to breathe? How do you explain to someone that there’s no glasses that’ll make your eyes work better?
This is just not stuff most people can comprehend. But it’s reality for me.
2. If your younger self could time travel and meet the you of today, what would they think of you? What would you tell your younger self?
See the answer to question number one, but….
You’re a jerk. A complete assholekneebiter. Use that to get them to figure out what the hell is wrong with you when you’re 22 instead of 30.
Maybe you’re being self-destructive right now; don’t worry so much about it. Have a little fun, asshole. You’re too old for your age. Enjoy being what you are; you’ve only got one chance at it.</p
Are you an extrovert or an introvert? Both? Do you wish you could have more of the other characteristic?
Still very introverted. Who wants to speak to an ugly guy with a cane, anyway?
I do stand up for myself more than I would have when I was younger, though. In a work situation, I can concentrate more on quality. If something is being done incorrectly, I’m going to say something about it.
If your younger self could time travel and meet the you of today, what would they think of you? What would you tell your younger self?
I don’t know. I probably would tell myself to rent from the bankbuy a house I couldn’t afford at the peak of the first housing bubble. I certainly wouldn’t have paid more in Federal Income Tax in 2009 than I grossed in 2003. Pay close attention to what I said, there. No, I’m not talking about “payroll taxes.” Income Tax.
Tomorrow, I’ll detail my Thanksgiving plans. On Friday, I’ll detail how things went.
11.18.17
Opinion piece: Gun control and illegal drugs
Recently there has been more talk on gun control, due to the shootings in the past couple months.
Tonight on the news, they were talking about a 12-year-old girl who is suing AG Jeff Sessions because she was forced to move to Colorado so she could get cannabis oil for epilepsy. She wants to make it legal to have in all states so she and her family can move back to Texas.
Sessions argument against legalizing drugs like marijuana is that people will start selling it on street corners if it is legal (yes, he is that out of touch with reality).
This got me thinking about the possible gun control laws that want to ban all guns. In my opinion, if you make true ban laws for guns, what you are essentially doing is making it so law-abiding citizens have to jump through hoops to get what they need, but the bad guys will still be able to get guns easily, because they don’t follow the proper outlets to get them. This will put citizens at a greater risk and may lead to more of these mass shootings.
Until tomorrow…
30
Recap, reaction.
Well, sixth year complete.
I’m not terribly satisfied with what I’ve written, but I did it again.
It really has gotten the writing moving again. This summer’s month didn’t do that as much.
Same goes for work, which is sorta kicking my ass at the moment. But at least I’m getting paid sort of okay again. It would be nice to have some paid leave, other benefits, but…..
(And a bitchy quip deleted.)
I did have most of my prompts ready before the month started. I had to rearrange several, which I’ll touch on later.
So, what went well…
- Getting it done
- Post strategy (first the blog, which sucks, then Prosebox)
What didn’t go so well….
Getting the prompts on the right daysSpelling (excusable by the mode of writing a good portion in a text terminal, and I forget to run ispell)Some of the answers to prompts where I had a lot more to say when I came up with the prompt, then forgot when it came time to write
Obviously, it’s been an incredibly eventful month. I’ve seen some things I never thought I’d say. Most of them I never wanted to see.
(When you see someone changing his profile pic on FB to the Anarcho-syndicalism flag, and more quotes from Noam “Distortions at Fourth Hand” Chomsky, you know it’s been rough.
I also grew just a mustache for the first time since I was a teenager. Ostensibly, it was for November. The reality is that I still can’t grow a beard. I thought that this close to forty, I’d be able to pull that off by now. But bald spots, sideburns that don’t connect. Even just the mustache, I have every natural hair color sprouting.
November is finished, though, and I hope I get some time to relax next month. I need it.
29
What are your holiday plans for Christmas?
There’s not a lot set in stone so far. I know my brother and his wife are coming down to my mom’s place, so we’ll head up there at some point to see them.
We will also go visit my in-laws.
Plan to take a trip with my wife sometime after she finishes her semester. Probably just a couple of nights in DC; maybe a weekend. We’ll see.
I don’t have any leave, and will essentially have to take Christmas as an unpaid holiday.
It’d be nice to go somewhere that we don’t have to worry about much for a week or so, but finances and her school commitments don’t allow it.
Similarly, Bud Light is having a sort of golden ticket promotion for the NFL. Get a golden can, and you win season tickets for your favorite team for a year.
How many Saints’ games could I justify attending?
Is it worth buying a twelve-pack of canned Bud Light?
Would it be better to say I’m solely a Redskins’ fan just I could get more use out of the tickets?
Decisions, decisions.
Now the DC trip has me thinking about Indian food, which is what they serve at the place where my friend works.
28
Free Write.
I thought I might be able to recycle some of what I wrote last week here. I looked, and none of it seems to fit. Oh well.
It was largely about my employment travails over the past almost four years. It comes back to what I wrote about regarding forgiveness. Should I, can I, and will I?
I’ve really had to think more about those with what happened with the four-letter company. The answers are still “no,” “yes,” and “maybe.” I understand what happened. I understand that they were lazy and cheap. But, hey, they’d been doing this a long time, and had all the answers for how to do the work. It’d go perfectly, because of their expertise.
And they got to that level of expertise by wearing white-collared colored shirts, suspenders and a belt, and proving how good they are at <strike>playing minesweeper</strike>buying certifications. (If I had some motivation, I’d find a way to strike through that “buying,” to replace it with the more palatable “earning.”)
I don’t want to talk about that anymore, however. My focus right now is doing what I am paid to do, now, and deal with the remnants of the previous disasters as I have an opportunity. Still progressing through my OODA loops, wishing I could act on several things at once. Unfortunately, my physical limitations definitely affect the length of my OODA loops.
Like today; I was just completely out-of-gas by about 1600.
That sort of explains why this was a little late today. Two more days. I will make it.