First thing that comes to mind is a taste tester at Starbucks.
Tag: dailyprompt
The World Stage
Winter– ski jumping, Biathlon, for some reason, maybe hockey and luge. Summertime– certain track and field events, and gymnastics. I’m not as glued to the TV during the Olympics as I used to be.
I’m heartened by the stories of good sportsmanship, and I like the underdog stories– the medal winners who surprise everyone because they defy certain odds and perform beyond expectations.
Civics
Advocate for and support the music and arts efforts and the multi-purpose theater, vote for wise land use and open space; utilize our location next to a river, remind people that we live in a beautiful area that has a certain character and its own bit of fascinating history.
Landscape changes
Daily writing prompt
How have you adapted to the changes brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic?
Remote learning or working from home are no longer things I need to consider. Apart from sometimes feeling apprehensive over when the next one will arrive and if we’ll be close to ready for it, I guess there hasn’t been a lot to which to adapt, personally. The memories are still relatively fresh, though, with regard to supply chain vulnerabilities and the counter-productive divisiveness, i.e. the plethora of opinions that existed and still exist concerning precautions, vaccine efficacy, etc.
Maybe it’s made me more aware of hygeine considerations and taken away the stigma of wearing a mask in public if I’m sitting in the doctor’s office with a cold. I still have and use my Zoom subscription, and I’m liking the contactless payment option when I get gas or check out at the grocery store.
The Coffee Helps
Daily writing prompt
What are your morning rituals? What does the first hour of your day look like?
Get up at 5am, hit the bathroom, pour my cold brew, then head downstairs to write– first in a daily journal I’ve been keeping sporadically for decades, but religiously since 2017, then here in WordPress, until 7am or often after. The first hour is usually taken up with the journal and getting a start on the Daily Writing Prompt, or sometimes completing that.
When I first started what became this routine, I was still a full-time pastor, and I found the early morning quiet time good for the soul, a welcomed refuge. Anymore, it’s still the best time of day, but it’s getting a bit more difficult to answer the bell at the crack of dawn.
I can’t give it up, though. It’s one of the few things I’ve been disciplined enough to turn into a habit.
Endless Variation
Some people can roll their tongues, others can sing on key, and others can’t do those and other things. Beyond those sorts of traits, even identical twins aren’t completely identical, and other factors come into play that contribute to a person’s uniqueness– environment, differences in upbringing and perceptions, brain development, dietary choices, chemical imbalances, and so on.
The twins I know are fraternal, so physical, facial likeness doesn’t exist. They differ in personal habits and preferences and points of view as well, but they appear to be each other’s best friend and confidante.
Apart from twins or triplets, etc. and differences in physical appearance and even vocal inflections and tone, each of us is our own collection of behaviors and perceptions, products of our upbringing, of parental guidance and socializaton or lack thereof. It’s like we each arrive with our own specialized software, slightly or greatly varied, that informs how we receive external stimuli, how we see and hear things, and how we respond and react and make decisions.
In Another Life
Daily writing prompt
If you could have something named after you, what would it be?
Some sort of educational facility– medical research or music.
Why the long face…?
A laughing baby, certain SNL skits and Weekend Update, some animal videos, certain comedians, passages in books, jokes, my siblings, my wife, other members of the family, certain situations or turns of phrase that show up in dreams.
Every now and then, I’ll see something online that makes me crack up. The eyes water, the nose runs– it’s a great release. On occasion, I’ll think of something from a long time ago that made me laugh, and it’s like I’m hearing it for the first time.
Sayin’ Stuff
Daily writing prompt
When you were five, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Hazarding a guess, I’d say a fireman or police officer. The astronomer and meteorologist phase came later. In truth, I don’t think I ever really knew, with any level of resolve, what I wanted to be.
Good Question
Music, love, grace, quantum mechanics, string theory, any language other than the one they’ve been immersed in. That list is long.
In a macro sense, maybe it’s the lack of understanding of how interconnected everything is, how magnificent this planet is, and, at the same time, how impersonal and disinterested it is. The natural forces at work in the world have no regard for us and our needs and wants and lack of attention and care and understanding. We as human beings are always trying to figure things out, trying to make it through the day, trying to domesticate and tailor our surroundings, ignoring the warning signs, or just taking things for granted, while the earth and the forces and systems at work simply… are.
Perhaps most damning of all is, through ignorance or self-serving motivations, the willingness of enough of us to carry on as if our sheer numbers and what we’ve loosed in the way of imbalance and despoiling are having no effect on the planetary systems that keep us alive.
We certainly have filled the earth and seemingly subdued it. But we really haven’t subdued anything. Maybe what many still don’t understand is that we’re paving the way for our own demise. The earth isn’t too big to fail us, and it might be wounded. But it’s resilient enough to still be here, to still be turning long after we’ve sealed our own fate, and this in no small part because we chose not to understand.
