Daily writing prompt

How have you adapted to the changes brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic?

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Covid-19 arrived about a year and a half before I retired, so we did have remote worship for a while– a pre-recorded service uploaded to YouTube. Committee meetings were held via Zoom, and we eventually gathered outside for worship when the weather cooperated. YouTube services are still a thing, but most are live now. And my siblings and I– mostly my brother and our spouses– still Zoom regularly, something that we started during Covid.

I’m more aware that wearing a mask isn’t as taboo or weird as I once thought. I see folks anymore wearing a mask as a routine when they have a cold or want to protect themselves in a crowd. Maybe there is a heightened awareness and greater acceptance of the benefits of and wisdom in social distancing, or just taking sensible precautions.

I know that there were changes to supply chain planning, that remote work has taken hold in a big way, that some brick and mortar businesses really suffered, to the point of not coming back.

The practices put in place to minimize the spread were unpopular but needed, and maybe will help protect us from future microbial assaults– especially in light of ill-advised vaccine protocols pushed by RFK, Jr. and others.

Realistically, many were in such a hurry to return to “normal” and were chafing so badly over being told they had to modify their behavior for a time that they may have not learned a thing. You know– because true-blue Americans don’t really value the advice of scientists and medical experts, nor do they bend the knee to any microscopic spike protein that kills people when they’re gathering in close proximity to one another.

Daily writing prompt

What are your morning rituals? What does the first hour of your day look like?

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Hitting the snooze button, usually once, struggling a bit more to get out of bed, then bathroom, coffee, journaling, and writing in here. Sometimes I look at YouTube clips, if I’m not in the mood to write something.

It’s been the routine since 2017, but it’s getting harder to answer the call. I’m thinking about moving the alarm back to 6, instead of 5, though maybe I’ll wait until the end of summer to do that– it’s gonna start getting light pretty early, and I’ll probably be awake anyway.

Daily writing prompt

Which aspects do you think makes a person unique?

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I don’t believe there is any such thing as cookie cutter humans, though there may be humanoids who come off an assembly line at some point.

Even though people seem to migrate and stick together and grow to have similar mindsets– political and otherwise– and at an organic level we’re all made of the same stuff, humans are like snowflakes, with their unique physical features, personality quirks, upbringing, genetics, manners of speech and tones of voice, hopes and desires, motivations and senses of humor or lack thereof. Doppelgangers and twins, etc. may look alike, but those similarities are only skin deep.

Daily writing prompt

If you could have something named after you, what would it be?

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The urge is not strong for such a thing, but for the sake of this prompt, maybe a funded music scholarship at my college alma mater. Or how about a lifesaving technique, maybe a comet, or a star?

Daily writing prompt

What makes you laugh?

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Babies laughing, a good joke, a fart in church, the mostly unintended hilarity of an out-of-left-field comment from one of the grandchildren, the banter on certain TV shows, funny baseball videos, funny pet videos, occasional comments from my wife.

As far as derisive laughter goes, Donald Trump has a corner on that market.

Daily writing prompt

When you were five, what did you want to be when you grew up?

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By that time, I might have been reading about Clyde Tombaugh and how he discovered Pluto. I’m not sure I ever wanted to be a fireman or a police officer, but the story about Mr. Tombaugh grabbed my interest and I periodically thought about studying astronomy.

Maybe that was a bit later. My distant past is getting kind of fuzzy. It was around that time, though, that I got the bug for stargazing and looking up.

Daily writing prompt

What’s something most people don’t understand?

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Quantum physics, String Theory, algebra, religious faith, why we’re here and how we got here, why we can’t just get along, how computers work, how the brain works, how people can still be enamored of Donald Trump, along with three or four (million) other things.

Daily writing prompt

How has technology changed your job?

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I’ve been retired for almost five years, and I consider technology my friend. Even at my somewhat advanced age, I use my laptop every day. I find myself drawn to my iPad and, to a lesser extent, my smartphone, especially the camera.

During the years of being a parish pastor, there was an increasing dependence on technology, between updated desktop computers, printers, copiers, digital cameras, and audio/video options– especially during Covid. The software for newsletters and bulletins was always improving, becoming more versatile and useful. Bookkeeping programs, spreadsheets, etc. tailored to the annual statistical reports we had to submit made that tedious job a bit less of a chore.

I’d say technology smoothed out certain rough edges, but we always needed to find a person or persons who were well-versed in the tech and were willing to learn along the way.

Daily writing prompt

How often do you say “no” to things that would interfere with your goals?

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I don’t think I’ve ever had bona fide, lofty goals, other than the macro, cliched things like graduating high school, graduating college, finding work that provided a paycheck. There have been unstated hopes and desires, like finding a woman who could love me, being a good parent, and making enough money so we wouldn’t have to worry about money, which hasn’t really happened.

Anymore, seeing that my goal most days since retiring is to tend to whatever I feel like tending to, I say “no” or turn up my nose on occasion to a sudden change of plans, and I do that probably more often than I should. This isn’t a quirk of my personality. It’s something I need to work on, even at this late date, and it’s not easy.

So, it’s happening. I’m getting set in my ways. Or maybe I’ve always been that way.

Saying “no” to things that interfere with your goals has always struck me as being a bit selfish, its own form of going through life with blinders on. But anyone who’s ever achieved anything of note has had to do just that.

Kind of confusing to me.

Daily writing prompt

What’s a secret skill or ability you have or wish you had?

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I wish I had the ability to write words that were succinct, that penetrated the soul and cut to the chase and were so convincing that despots would be convicted and evil would disappear and wars would stop and the human race could get on with the work of tending the garden.

Since that is unlikely to happen anytime soon, I’d settle for being able to sit at the piano and sight read any piece of music.