Tag: dailyprompt

Losing yourself in an activity is defined as being so interested in something it takes all of your attention. People always think of this as something they really like to do, such as reading a good book or watching a really good movie. Could be even working on some kind of project, whether it be personal or work related. However, there are a few activities that you should lose yourself if you want to live a good life. Driving a car should take all of your attention but rarely does. In fact we almost guarantee that we will be distracted by listening to music, podcast, books or talking on the phone. You had better totally lose yourself in your partner when having sex for the 500th time, if you want to continue having sex period. You should totally lose yourself in eating instead of reading a book or watching TV. Feel and enjoy every bite that goes into that diseased filled mouth because you do not lose yourself into the activity of brushing your teeth. About 4 to 5 times per day you should take a minute and totally lose yourself into breathing. Breathing is something we do unconsciously to stay alive. When you pay attention to breathing you realize what a wonderful thing it truly is. One of most important things to lose yourself in is sleeping. Without it you turn into a creepy curmudgeon. What all of this means is you need to lose yourself in the more mundane things in life, if you really want to totally enjoy all the great things that life has to offer. I’m done now and have to finish my cereal I was eating while I was writing this. But don’t worry, I really lost myself in both activities.

This will be one of the most challenging writing prompts I will have. The challenge will be trying to remember all of them. Remember for 44 years I worked about 45 hours a week. Some of the older movies I will mention the leading actor. So without further ado here I go. Chinatown, Something’s Got a Give, Harper, Paul Neumann, It’s Complicated, The Professionals, Lee Marvin, The Dirty Dozen, Lonely Are The Brave, Kirk Douglas, Garden of Evil, High Noon, Gary Cooper, Soldier of Fortune, Clark Cable, Wedding Crashers, Along Comes Polly, Something About Mary, Heartbreak Kid, Heartbreak Pass, Charles Bronson, North Dallas Forty, Absence of Malice, Prince of Tides, Out Of Time, The Killers, Lee Marvin, Point Blank, Lee Marvin, Silverado, The Searchers, John Wayne, True Grit, True Grit, Hangover I and II, Q&A, Godfather I and II, And Justice For All, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, The Verdict, Out of Time, American Gangster, The Departed, Wall Street, Klute, Coming Home, Midnight Run, Wolf of Wall Street, Rio Bravo, Begin Again, Stand by Me, Presumed Innocent, Regarding Henry, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, Heat of the Night, Look Who’s Talking, Good Will Hunting, Spotlight, The Green Book, Hidalgo, State of Play, Airplane, Police Squad, Big Lebowski, 10 Million Ways to Die, Crazy Heart, Star is Born, Barbra Streisand, The Score, Death Wish, Magnificent 7, 1960, Bullet, Great Escape, Hud, Forrest Gump, Fever Pitch, Anatomy of a Murder, Jimmy Stewart, Days of Wine and Roses, Casino, Good Fellas, The Greatest Game, Bull Durham, The Natural, Rudy, Hoosiers, French Connection, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Unforgiven, Grand Torino, Dirty Harry, all 5, Star Wars, Meet the Parents, Law Abiding Citizen, Driving Miss Daisy, Shawshank Redemption, Tin Cup, Winning Team, Ronald Reagan, Heaven Can Wait, Warren Beatty, Some Came Running, Frank Sinatra, Trouble With The Curve, American Hustle, China Syndrome, Tequila Sunrise, Lethal Weapon I and III, Rocky I andII, On Golden Pond, The Electric Horseman, Stanley and Iris.

That is it, all done from memory. I am sure there are even more. As far as TV series go that one is easy, only one NYPD Blue. As far as remembering all the movies I have seen at least 5 times I think I did pretty good for an old guy. Which one have I seen the most? Chinatown was made in 1974. I have made sure that I watch it at least once a year. You do the math, I am exhausted.

Being superstitious means believing in superstition. Superstition is believing in something magical, irrational, something not based on facts. Basically this all has to do with luck. There is the old saying I would rather be lucky than good. To avoid bad luck don’t walk under a ladder, don’t pass in front of a black cat, don’t step on the cracks of a sidewalk, just to name a few. To have good luck, carry a rabbits foot, have a lucky charm, or keep your fingers crossed. There are some out there who claim not to be superstitious but is anybody really not superstitious? What about praying? Doesn’t that meet the defined criteria of superstition. Thinking there is life after death, especially heaven, certainly meets the criteria for a superstition. It certainly dictates the way one behaves. You had better be good so you can meet a loved one in heaven. How about having a routine? There are a lot of healthcare professionals that think having a routine is good for mental health. So if you get up at 7:15 instead of 7 is your day ruined. Sports are famous for superstitions. Fans think if they turn on a game and their team starts losing, that they had something to do with it. There is the old baseball saying never mess with a hot streak, meaning whatever your doing before the game keep doing it. Being superstitious is just part of human nature. One of the reasons I think this is true is because there are so many things in the world that are unexplainable. How many times have we heard the story about a person, who doctors said only had days to live and they unexpectedly recover and live for years. Do you think their family prayed, held a rosary, or kept their fingers crossed. Just take a deep breath, admit you’re superstitious, and be damn proud of it.

Daily writing prompt

Write a letter to your 100-year-old self.

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Where do they come up with this stuff? When I first saw this prompt, I thought that I would just ignore it and write about one of the prompts I put out there a couple of days ago. Then I thought this is just too weird not to write something. I most likely would be writing a letter to a dead person. There is not much of a chance that I or anybody is going to live to a 100. I know there are a few that do it. As of right now there are a little over 100,000 people in the United States that are 100 years or older. That is about .03% of the population. Not as bad as lottery odds but still pretty slim. Most likely I would be writing to my dead self. My letter would be short and to the point. How does it feel to be dead? If possible, please let me know. Signed your 73 soon to be 74 year old self. Now if somehow, I managed to make it to 100 still alive this letter would also be brief. Dear 100-year-old self. Looks like I even screwed this up because there was no way I wanted to live to be 100 years old. I just hope that I know what day it is, and I can get out of bed. I hope I can control my bowels and bladder. I do not care if I can even play golf at this point. I did it but this has to be the worst writing prompt of them all and there have been some pretty bad ones. At least this one is not something you answer with one sentence. Back to doing my taxes and watching the golf tournament.

Daily writing prompt

What is one question you hate to be asked? Explain.

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I don’t know of any question that I liked to be asked. Let’s look at some of the more common ones. How are you doing? Now you know whoever is asking that question, really does not give a shit how you are feeling. Everybody answers that question fine even if they are not. When I was a kid, it was even part of etiquette to say fine thank you and you? A rehearsed answer to an inane question. What did or do you do for a living? As soon as I said I was a veterinarian two things would happen. They would ask me another question about their dog or cat, to get free advice. It would be real tempting to give them false information, but I never did. The other statement would be, that is what I or one of my children always wanted to be. I stated my feeling about that one in a previous blog. Where are you from? Like what does that have to do with the price of bread. Where do live now? None of your business. If I want you to visit me, I will tell you. What are you doing today? First do they really care and second, I don’t have any idea. Then there are the real nib shit questions. Are you married? Do you live alone? What you do for a living, is it lucrative. When you go to the doctor, they ask you if you are taking your medications? Are you really going to tell the truth on that one. If you’re not, they are going to find out anyway because of poor test results. Where are you going? If I wanted you to know, I would have told you. Then there are the questions that the person who is asking the question knows that you have no idea, but they ask anyway. Where are my glasses? Where is my phone? Do you know where I put my car keys? Are you ever going to do this or that? A better writing prompt may have been, is there a question you liked to be asked? Now that I have asked that question, despite what I wrote in my opening line, come to think of it, there are some questions I do not mind. A question that evokes a discussion about sports. How do you think the Pirates are going to do this year? Who should the Steelers draft this year? On the whole however, most questions are just annoying inquiries into phases of your life that you do not want to discuss with people that you don’t know all that well or at all. When someone knows that their question is annoying, they will say I was just curious. Go read the National Enquirer and leave me alone. By the way, I never ask the questions that I just mentioned above. Yes, I don’t give a shit how you are feeling and so don’t ask. However, you better not give me your damn cold.

Daily writing prompt

Do you enjoy your job?

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Although this prompt looks simple enough it could have lots of different meanings. Maybe a better question would be do you enjoy your career? If you are a member of the so-called professions, do you consider what you do a job. If you do, then you need to find a new job. Let us look at the many definitions of job and answer each definition.  A regular remunerative position. Yes, I can definitely say that I enjoyed my regular remunerative position. A specific duty, role, or function. I did not enjoy every duty or function that I performed while receiving some form of remuneration.  Something that has to be done : TASK. Says who? I can quite emphatically say that I did not enjoy doing anything that supposedly HAD to be done.  An undertaking requiring unusual exertion. I will have to say I might be on the fence about that one. It would depend on what the job was. I generally do not want to exert myself too much but if there was something that I wanted to accomplish that required physical exertion I would do it, but probably not enjoy it. The object or material on which work is being done. This is one of my favorite because it makes me think of nose job. I never thought of what I worked on was the job. I was fortunate enough to do something for 44 years that I loved, veterinary medicine. Of course, I never thought of it as a job. There were lots of ups and downs and some very sad moments over the years, but I looked forward to every day. Anytime I was at a gathering, meeting new people and told them what I did, a vast majority would say that was something that I always wanted to be. I would give some normal polite answer when what I really wanted to say ” Why the eff didn’t you, you shiftless lazy bastard. Now there is a much better writing prompt, wouldn’t you say.

This is really easy. I would be Donald Trump for a day. I would go into one of my buildings, go up to about the 20th floor, and then jump out the window. Seriously, the key words here are for a day. I realize that this is a fantasy but if it was for only a day, I might really like being that person and then when I had to go back to my life, which currently I really like, it might make me depressed. Other than what I wrote before, which would save the world, I have no desire to be someone else, even if it is only for a day.