2016 Prompts

Prompts (final)

Oct. 31, 2016, 5:51 p.m.

  1. Introduction. Why I’m doing this for a sixth year.
  2. My day as a goth kid. (Yes, my wife is planning on doing this to me.)
  3. Collections and Cars.  Write about any collections you have, and the cars you’ve owned.
  4. Write about someone you’ve recently lost.
  5. Write about your siblings. How many? Where are they? What do they do? Do you get along better now than you did when you were kids?
  6. I’m writing about Football.
  7. Write about your parents.
  8. Election Day. Write about your votes.
  9. MOvember.  Write about facial hair.
  10. Armistice Day. I’m going to write about the war Tom Brikaw forgets.
  11. Are you satisfied with the results from yesterday?
  12. Describe your most recent doctor visit. I’m specifically looking for the one(s) you see most often.
  13. Nervousness. Write about what last made you really nervous.
  14. On Being Sick
  15. Find something you wrote five years ago, and tell how things are different
  16. I’m going to write about my trip to be examined for use as a Guniea Pig for research on my condition.
  17. Recap of the trip to DC.
  18. Write about three things you did for the first time in the past year.
  19. Recap of your year month-by-month.
  20. What did you want to be when you grew up?  What are you, actually?
  21. Write about something you’ve had to re-learn.
  22. Write about your recycling habits..
  23. What are your plans for tomorrow, since it’s turkey day in the U
  24. Free Write.
  25. How was turkey day for you. If you’re celebrating on a different day, please elaborate (like my friends in Soviet Canuckistan).
  26. What is your favorite food?  (H/T to someone on PB)
  27. Small Business Saturday.  Write about small businesses you frequent.
  28. Free Write.
  29. What are your holiday plans for Christmas?
  30. Recap, reaction.

One

Nov. 1, 2016, 4:47 p.m.

Introduction. Why I’m doing this for a sixth year.

So, as I fired up EMACS to start writing, I had a 1.txt in my $HOME.

Umm.

Yeah, it was something I’d written long ago; probably in college. How it got there, I don’t know. Maybe something from one of my summer writing bits.

I do enjoy writing. How proficient I am at it is up for debate.

So, to the basics.
I’m 37 years old. Married. Work in Information Technology for the US Federal Government. I’m now well into my sixth year after being diagnosed wtih Multiple Sclerosis.

This is my sixth year doing this. I started on my Diary on the now-defunct OpenDiary (OD) site.

So, what’s kept me doing this year after year?

There’s something about having something to do every single day. When OD was up, I’d often use the prepackaged prompts. As I’ve been writing on my own, I’ve taken to either creating my own prompts or recycling things from previous efforts. (Back to the odd textfile in my $HOME.)

There’s also a bit of a sense of accomplishment in finishing a month. The last couple of years, I’ve done a second stint in the month before my birthday. Is it a countdown? No, not really. Neither is November; if it was, I’d be doing it in the lead-up to Thanksgiving or Chrsitmas.

I’m not doing that, however.

The past few years have been exceptionally difficult. I’m going to try to avoid writing too much about that. On top of my myriad health problems, I’ve seen a marked decline in income. (Checking my SSA statement shows that I’ll be lucky to get back to my 2012 earnings next year.) I’m not going to write terribly much about that; those who need to know do, those who want to know can buy me a beer, and I’ll tell. I’ve been writing a lot lately, in conversation with a friend, about bits of administrivia. There’s a big portion of that discussion that’s been about management. Meanwhile, I’ve also been listening to the Reason Podcast, where they’re discussing a lot of similar issues.

There is no One-True-Way(TM) for just about anything.

Eventually, you have to find your own way to do things. Maybe you’ve been previously inspired by someone or something, but your situation is yours.

Similarly, this effort is something that works for me. I’ll be doing it my way. If you like it, great. If not, that’s fine, too.

So, who am I?  A dude trying to help out the best way I can.  Professionally, I need to keep my irritants from negatively affecting others’ impressions of me.  Having me on your team is a good thing.  Now how do I convince people of that?  (And some of the folks who’ve beautify-illustrated their prowess at taking multiple choice tests by taking certification tests might just be completely worthless.)

Two

Nov. 2, 2016, 4:16 p.m.

My day as a goth kid. (Yes, my wife is planning on doing this to me.)

My wife has decided that I need to be her Goth Boy.