Tag: dailyprompt

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Awareness

Daily writing prompt
What are the most important things needed to live a good life?
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In order to live a good life, you must strive for the highest level of awareness you can achieve. One has got to realize that everyone is doing the best that they can do at their own level of awareness. How do you become more aware? You must accept all the people in your life for who they are. Everyone has faults, foibles, and beliefs, that may not fall into your line of thinking. You must be aware of the fact that you are not going to change how a person behaves or thinks, so if you want to be a part of their lives or establish some sort of relationship with them you must be able to accept this person as a whole. You must become aware of your own self and being. The only way you can do that is through meditation. It is called taking the inward journey. If you are not willing to take that journey, then you will not have a good and full life. Once you become aware of your total self your life will be much easier to lead. It is not the most important thing, it is the only thing. The good life is only the next relaxation breath away.

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Favorite Books

Daily writing prompt
Do you remember your favorite book from childhood?
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Yesterday’s prompt was what was your favorite 3 books and what impact did they have on your life. I did not have time to answer that one, but since this prompt is about books also, I will combine the two. Pretty clever, huh. I can’t tell you what my favorite book was from childhood, but I can tell you my favorite series. It was the Hardy Boys, good old Frank and Joe Hardy. Another series I read was Bronc Burnett, about a high school football player. These books did 2 things. It got me into the habit of reading, and it got me hooked on books that had a continuing cast of characters or a main character. In my adult life I have read a lot of books. My two favorite authors are Ed McBain and Michael Connelly. I have read other books by them, but their two main series are the 87th Precinct novels by McBain and the Harry Bosch novels by Connelly. The 87th Precinct books started in 1956 and ended around 2005 when McBain died. There are about 52 books in the series and thanks to E Bay I have them all. I would say I read about 30 to 35 of them in various order by the time I acquired all of the books. Then I simply started with the first one and read them in order. Even though the books covered almost 50 years McBain only aged the detectives about 16 years. He also repeated clues from some of his early works to help solve cases. He had lots of little quirky things in these books that made them unique and fun to read. If you only read one 87th Precinct novel, read the one titled Kiss. I don’t want to say why but you will know when you finish the book. McBain was one of the most prolific writers I have every seen. He also wrote under the name of Evan Hunter. He wrote one book under both names. Connelly’s Bosch novels are pretty close to masterpieces. None of them disappoint but again if you had to read just one, I would recommend A Darkness More Than Night. One of the best books he wrote was Blood Work, a non-Bosch novel. If you have seen the movie, don’t worry it is nothing like the book. This book has the best ending of all time. They did not use it in the movie for whatever reason. I don’t know what impact all these books had on me, but I have always enjoyed reading and felt I have learned so much from all kinds of books.

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Just Depends

Daily writing prompt
Do you practice religion?
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Religion can have a lot of definitions. The dictionary simply says the belief in and worship of a superhuman power or powers, especially a God or gods. You could get into more depth like Wikipedia does by describing religion as a range of social–cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural, transcendental, and spiritual elements. Wow! After reading that I am so happy I was never baptized. Then there is the adverb religiously, which can have nothing to do with religion. This means doing something habitually or without fail. That I can get into. I play golf religiously every day if possible. I watch the Pittsburgh Pirates religiously. I stay away from organized religion. Throughout history when organized religion has been the ruling body of a state or country the people have always lived in filth and poverty. Organized religion wants to keep their constituents ignorant and fearful. Follow our rules and you will go to heaven. Don’t follow our rules and you will go to hell. Religion uses guilt as one of their main weapons. The man at the pulpit uses guilt as a method to get more people to go to their institution when the attendance is high, like on Christmas and Easter. Obviously, this does not work as the very next week the institution is lucky to be half filled. I do not know if this would classify as religion, but I do believe in a higher power and I do meditate. I don’t know if this higher power knows what the hell he or she is doing, but there has to be something out there that is controlling or causing things to happen for whatever the reason. Maybe just before we die, we are told what the hell is really going on and then we become whatever we become after death. So yes, I practice but I practice alone.

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None

Daily writing prompt
What is the legacy you want to leave behind?
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Legacy is defined as an amount of money or property left to someone in a will. Other definitions include the long-lasting impact of particular events, actions, etc. that took place in the past, or of a person’s life. It can also include values and traits that you have instilled in your children. The example sentence is, he left his children love and respect. Let’s look at each individual example. You pretty much know if you have instilled values in your children on how they are living their own lives. If you die when your children are very young, then you really won’t know for sure how they will turn out. Most people know, especially today if they are going to have some kind of lasting impact on society. They may not know to what extent their impact will be, but they know that people will remember the things that they have done long after they have passed. This brings us to the last meaning of legacy, leaving someone money or property after you die. This is what a will is all about. I have never understood making sure that you leave a large amount of money to your children or grandchildren or anybody for that matter. You will never see what they are going to do with all that money. Wouldn’t it bring you more joy to see them use the money or gifts while you are alive, even if it would mean you may have to cut back some on your own lifestyle. Do people do this because they think that after they die, they will look down upon earth and see what happens when their loved ones get all of that money. Sometimes receiving a lot of money may ruin some people’s lives. If you give them money while you are alive, you would be able to see how they are handling it. To answer the question, I am leaving no legacy. I am giving my money to my daughter’s family while I am alive and giving more as I age. This is easy to do when your goal is to die a pauper.

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Being Religious

Daily writing prompt
What sacrifices have you made in life?
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Last week it was a fatted calf in the back yard. The neighbors were very upset especially when we drank the blood. We only do this about once a month because I am very religious and follow the Bible to the letter. Last month it was a huge hog and boy was that a mess. Just kidding, right, or am I? When I played baseball, I bunted a lot and that is called a sacrifice so there’s that. I have to say that I have not made any sacrifices in my life. If you look up sacrifice in the dictionary, which obviously the writing prompt did not, it gives the biblical definition first. There is the definition of something given up or lost. The example used is sacrifices made by parents. I am sorry I never looked at it that way. Give me a gold star. I did everything voluntarily and felt I was sacrificing nothing. The loss of life during war is the ultimate sacrifice. A lot of the time this is not done voluntarily. Death is the end of life. Death is the only true sacrifice. Everything else is just a choice that most of the time gives more joy than sadness. How can that be called a sacrifice?

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Gee, Let Me Think

Daily writing prompt
What public figure do you disagree with the most?
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That is the quote from the movie Ace Ventura Pet Detective, when certain payment options are offered to Ace. The bottom line is I refuse to write anything about you know who. If I was going to answer this prompt honestly then the answer would be I disagree with all public figures equally. Back in the 60’s and 70’s public figures that were running for office created and put forth ideas on how the government should be run for the people. Then they went out and tried to persuade their constituency that their ideas were better for the common good than their opponents. Today what public figures do is to take polls on how their constituency feel on certain issues and then spew that back to them when they are running for office. There is never an original idea. They never really answer any question that is directed toward them (listening Ms. Vice President) for fear of offending someone or causing irreputable damage to their career. It is reported that everyone is afraid of you know who. It would be more accurate to say that people in public office are afraid of everything. You could look at this question from another perspective. I could say that I do not disagree with any public figure, including you know who, because none of them do anything that you can disagree with. They may say some things that you disagree with but the fact that they rarely do anything, makes what they say meaningless. I guess what I disagree with the most is that they are getting paid a lot of money to do nothing. You think they would be happy with a job like that, but they do seem to be a bunch of sour pusses. The question is will we be able to survive with that do nothing attitude. I am feeling a little warm at the moment. Goodbye.

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Be The Czar Of Baseball

Daily writing prompt
What’s a job you would like to do for just one day?
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For one day I would love to be the Czar of baseball. I would have complete autonomy over the game and make the following changes. Add two more teams immediately making a 32 team league, forming four 8 team Divisions. The first year I would do it by geography. There would be no American and National League. The schedule would be entirely within the division. Each team would play each other 22 times going back to a 154 game schedule. With each team playing each other that many times a true division champ should be crowned. The divisions would be named Aaron, Ruth, Robinson and Clemente. At the end of the season the division winners would play each other in an eleven game series. The series would run 3, 3, 2, and 2. If after 10 games the series was tied then the team that scored the most runs in the series would have the home field advantage for game 11. If the runs are tied, then there would be other tiebreakers to determine home field. The World Series would be 11 games with the same format. The next year, the teams that finished 1, 3, 5, and 7 in the Aaron division would move over to the Ruth division. The teams that finished 2, 4, 6, and 8 in the Ruth division would move over to the Aaron Division. You would do the same thing in the Robinson and Clemente division. That would guarantee a new division winner in two of the divisions. The fans in each city would get to see four new teams. The following year the Aaron and the Robinson division would make the switch, along with the Ruth and Clemente. Third year Clemente-Aaron, and Ruth-Robinson would be making the switch. Fans would get to see different teams every year. This would put back more significance to the regular season with only 4 teams advancing to the playoffs. It is abundantly clear that baseball is not really a playoff sport with such a long season. For two straight seasons the National League has sent the 6th seed to the World Series. I can envision those tremendous 11 game series right now and crowning a true and deserving champion.

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I Hate Them All

Daily writing prompt
What is your favorite holiday? Why is it your favorite?
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At first, I thought this was a repeat prompt and I was not going to answer it. I went back through the prompts, and the question was how do you celebrate the holidays? That is when I went on a rant about holidays in general. I will write about the holidays I hate the most. There are two by classification. First there are the fake holidays. Ones that are created for the sole purpose of making money. In no particular order they are Halloween, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and St. Patrick’s Day. The winner here hands down is Halloween. It is basically a disgusting and evil holiday that causes kids to eat loads of candy to help rot their teeth and brains. It causes older kids to destroy property and get into trouble. It is based on witch hunting and Pagen beliefs that caused people to be burned at the stake. Enjoy. Enjoy. Enjoy. Of the real holidays, those holidays where the vast majority of people have the day off and we all know which ones they are the one I detest and hate the most is New Years Day and Eve. This holiday brings out every bad trait of the human population. First on New Years Eve people drink to excess, make fools of themselves and do things that they may regret the rest of their lives. Then on New Years Day they make New Years resolutions that they are never going to keep and then just feel worse about themselves for having another perceived failure in their lives. Way to go the first frigging day of the year. Who gives a shit if it is the first day of the year. Even the football games are not as good on New Years Day anymore. Keep those holiday questions coming. I just love bashing the stupid holidays. Live your life like every day is special. You will be much better off. Screw Hallmark and every candy bar that was ever invented. Chew on this.

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Productive

Daily writing prompt
When do you feel most productive?
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Productive is defined as producing or able to produce large amounts of goods, crops, or other commodities. By that definition, I would say that I never feel productive. I haven’t produced a lot of crops in a long time. I can say the same thing about goods and commodities. I haven’t had a cold for a long time either, so I haven’t even been able to have a productive cough. I still feel productive when I’m doing something. I feel productive right now typing out this stupid prompt. My best time to be productive is in the morning. I am a morning person. In fact, other than preparing dinner I do very little after 4:00 PM. Despite this definition of productive, I feel productive most of the time. I feel I am always doing something to keep my mind sharp and making my life better. I am usually up at around 5 in the morning. I feel I am rather productive throughout the day until around 7:00 PM. Then I feel I go into vegetable mode until I go to bed. I guess vegetable mode could be considered crops and from 7 to 10 to be in vegetable mode some people would consider that a large amount of crops. The bottom line is, according to the way I feel about production, I am productive 16 to 18 hours every friggin day. I am special.

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Unwind Slowly

How do you unwind after a demanding day?

Now that I’m retired there are not any real demanding days. I will have really busy days, but there are differences when the busyness is something you want to do rather than something you have to do. A demanding day is often caused by demanding people. When I was that hard working veterinarian leaving the house at 7:30 and coming home at 9PM, which I did 3 days per week, I learned that unwinding is time related. There was no question that some of those long days were tougher than others. It boils down to listening to your body. You can sit down, drink whatever you want, zone out, but the time to go to sleep will be quite variable. When I got home at 9PM, I might get to bed as early as 10:30 but sometimes it might be 12 to 12:30 before I would go to bed. Not ideal when you are getting up at 5am to jog 2 miles before going to work. This was still better than forcing the issue and laying awake in bed for 60 to 90 minutes. When I would go to bed, I would fall asleep in less than 10 minutes. It only took me 15 years to learn this. It’s not how you unwind, but it is how long you unwind, that will make the next day a little more bearable.