Daily writing prompt
If you had to sum up your life philosophy in one sentence, what would it be?
You’re born, you live, you die, and the variables are many when it comes to whether or not you enjoy the ride or consider it one long slog.
Tag: dailyprompt
Life
I’ve been ruminating over this and can’t come up with anything except photos and video clips.
I can’t think of one material possession that means anything to me, other than its usefulness as a pair of shoes or a jacket or a tool. I don’t get misty-eyed when I talk about the 12-year-old Camry I drive.
What I do value is the Shutterfly compilation I made of pictures from my trip to Israel, and the Aura frame we have with what has become a running history of the lives of our children and grandchildren, and some of the events we’ve attended and places we’ve been.
That’s about it, I think.
Anxiety
I can’t recall ever having a nightmarish experience while flying, though there has been the occasional delay or gate change and walk-run to catch a connecting flight. So I’ll have to go with the numerous times we’ve run into back-ups as we drive between Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. Often times we decide to go through Connecticut and that is often where we run into trouble.
The traffic is heavy at various spots along I-84, so slow-downs come with the territory. We know they’re coming but we often just deal with them and rationalize that we’re getting great gas mileage. Still, it’s quite frustrating, so from time to time we’ll take the Taconic Parkway in New York and go out of our way, up to I-90, which adds a good half, three quarters of an hour to the trip but mostly avoids the stress of congestion and crazy drivers who always seem to be in a hurry to get somewhere.
There was one other excursion that ended up being a bit more of an adventure than we might have liked. We had recently been married and were driving from the coast of Maine over to the Franconia Notch region of New Hampshire, on Columbus Day weekend. I underestimated the time it would take to do so, we couldn’t find an empty hotel or motel room, so we ended up sleeping in the back of our pick-up in a rest area outside Concord, NH.
I forgot about that one until just now. We’re still married.
Frequent (enough) flyer
I saw a piece of advice a long time ago that went something like, “Pack everything you think you need and then take out half of it.” I don’t know if I’ve ever followed that, but one thing I’ve found that makes things easier is minimizing the pieces of luggage and, if you don’t have TSA Pre-check, make the walk through security as painless as possible by following their guidelines.
Besides just preparing logistically and familiarizing yourself with the destination, don’t carry a pocketful of change. And enjoy your layover with a drink from your favorite coffee spot, then sit back and people watch and marvel at the the dynamics of take-off and landing.
Sparse
There haven’t been many. We did break down and get a Nintendo Wii a number of years ago, and I think we might have gotten a Tiger Woods golf game. And maybe Super Mario Brothers, though we may have found a version of that to play on our Gateway 2000. Our kids played that one so often that our daughter memorized the theme song and played it on the piano.
I don’t believe I’m of the video games generations.
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Smell Those Roses
Hardly ever. Maybe in broad terms, but nothing along the lines of “Here’s where I want to be in five years… ten years.” That strictness and discipline has escaped me, and I’ve always been averse to moving through life with blinders on, anyway. That has always seemed like a set-up for stress and disappointment and an overly regimented, even self-centered way of going through life.
At this stage of things, any goal I set has more to do with getting the lawn mowed or completing some small project, or getting some steps in so my watch doesn’t offer up its motivational drivel disguised as patronizing compliments.
Don’t Swallow the Hook
I’d like to think that the future isn’t as foreboding and dystopian as current sound bytes might have us believe. It would be unrealistic to think that everything will come up roses, but I think I’ll hold out for more good coming from this technology than bad.
Regulation won’t be a dirty word, or shouldn’t be, and we’re already seeing applications that benefit us in multiple ways. One troubling development is how pervasive AI has become on sites like YouTube and in political advertising, where it is becoming increasingly difficult or at least more frequently necessary to assess a video’s authenticity before subscribing to its message.
And the brains behind some of the big AI companies are to be listened to critically, with a mix of awe and skepticism, because some of these folks appear not to hold humanity in the highest of regards.
Nightmarish for different reasons
Maybe the world of A Christmas Carol or another of Charles Dicken’s stories.
Or how about 1984 or The Handmaid’s Tale? Those seem to be getting a lot of attention lately.
Pleasant Surprise
I haven’t watched a ton of movies, and what one person thinks is good, another person might think, “meh.” Anyway, we recently watched Mr. Church, with Eddie Murphy and Natascha McElhone, among others. I believe it was released in 2016. We hadn’t heard of it but decided to give it a watch a couple weeks ago. I’m glad we did. A sweet, touching story.
Couple Things
Daily writing prompt
What’s something you’ve done that you never thought you could?
I’ve never had the urge to climb Everest or run a marathon. My goals in life have been modest, by most standards. Travel-wise, I never thought I’d have a chance to see Jerusalem and spend time exploring Israel, and that happened in 2013.
On a more personal level, in my mid-20s I wondered if I’d ever marry and make a life with someone. That’s happened, too, and she’s a saint.
