Tag: dailyprompt

Wish No. 1: That mankind would somehow figure it out. For whatever reason humans want to kill themselves or kill each other. They do not care about the earth being ruined. This is nothing new, but it does seem like an easy fix. Maybe that’s the problem, but if the wish came true then a lot of problems would be solved.

Wish No. 2: That I would be able to figure out the game of golf. I have been playing for over 60 years and the game remains a total mystery. This will be the subject of many future blogs but if that wish came true then I would be a contented man.

Wish No. 3: That the Pirates and the Steelers and the Ohio State Buckeyes would win one more Championship before I die. Ohio State, I wouldn’t care if it was football or basketball. I would like to experience that feeling one more time. I have been fortunate enough to experience those feelings multiple times with each team. I still want to see one more with each of them.

Well, there it is, mankind, golf and my favorite sports teams. When you are old you don’t care about money, success or fame. I could have wished for good health for all my loved ones, but this is fantasy time so why bother. The first wish hasn’t a chance in hell of happening in the next 100 years. The other two have at least a chance of happening. Ohio State has the best chance of having a championship in the next 5 to 10 years. The Pirates and Steelers chances are probably around 20% the next decade. As for me figuring out the game of golf. Not likely at all, but it won’t be for lack of trying.

Daily writing prompt

What’s something most people don’t know about you?

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If there is something that most people don’t know about me, and I can guarantee there is, why would I write about on Word Press. In fact, there is a lot more than one. The reason that people don’t know about these things is because that’s the way I want it. Where do you come up with stuff?

Daily writing prompt

Do lazy days make you feel rested or unproductive?

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There is nothing good to say about lazy. Lazy is defined as disinclined to activity or exertion: not energetic or vigorous. It is referred to as encouraging inactivity or indolence. Do we all need a day off or a day of rest. I would say yes, but these days should not be looked at as being lazy. Let’s look at two groups of people. The working group and the non-working group. The working group does not get to choose their “lazy” day unless they skip work. Most people work 5 days a week. The work week could vary from about 35 hours to as many as 50 hours per week. The weekend comes and some people are more active during the weekend than they are on the job. When it comes to the job, either people love or hate what they do. Now, some people will think they are just indifferent about their job, but if you feel that way about what you do for a living, then you hate your job. Most people that love their job do not even think of it as work. They may have less need to recharge the battery. The non-working group may be retired or unemployed. The unemployed better not have a lazy day, go out and get a damn job. Now for us retired folks, we can be busy doing the many things that we did not have a chance to do when we were working. For me personally I never have a lazy day, and if I did would not feel rested. Certainly, I would be unproductive. In other words, to put aside a day to recharge and refresh yourself no matter what the reason, is not a lazy day. It takes thought and purpose to get yourself ready for whatever lies ahead. For me it may be meditating more than one time per day. Taking a long slow walk to gather my thoughts for what I want to do next. Writing some notes on what I might want to accomplish over the next month. Talking to family and friends that I have not talked to in a long time. This might sound a bit strange but in order to recharge your battery and feel rested for what lies ahead, it takes time and effort to plan how you are going to do it. There is nothing lazy about that.

The answer for me is very simple. I would give it to my family. This leads to a totally different subject. I am sure, some people would give to a charity or a cause. In a nutshell, I think charities are just plain wrong. Why should a disease get a lot of research money just because a celebrity has a foundation to help get a cure? Why should there be charities for any cause? Why does there need to be charities to feed, clothe and house the the less fortunate. With all the wealth in the world this should be something that is done by all governments. Society has an obligation to make sure that every human being is clothed, fed, and has a roof over their head. It would be so easy to do. The same with finding cures for diseases. Every government in the world should contribute some percentage of their budget for medical research. It should be a good amount, say 20%. This should be an obligation that is shared equally by all. Having charities as the main instrument to accomplish these goals only accomplishes one thing. It makes people feel good when they give or support the charity with their time. However, it is a very ineffective way to solve these problems because the problems continue to exist. Even though these charities raise millions, in the world of trillion dollar government budgets, this is a paltry sum. We as a people need to put billions toward these problems of disease, poverty and climate change. The simple fact that there are people in the world hungry, is shameful and disgusting. It boils down to man’s inhumanity to man. No amount of charity giving is going to change that. So, yeah, for me, the answer is easy. I would give it to my family.

Another question that is difficult to totally comprehend. First the wording. I admit, I did read some of the answers, and almost everyone answered with details that they should pay attention to. The question was, could you pay attention to. This question implies that there are details in your life that you are completely ignoring, or simply don’t care. There is the issue of what exactly are the details of your life? Is your soulmate a detail of your life? Are there moments of the day when your life has no details? Are details classified? We all know the saying don’t sweat the small stuff. I am going to reword the the question. What is the most important detail of your life that you SHOULD pay more attention to? For me, as an ever growing older senior citizen the answer is very simple. When I am about to pass gas, making sure, that is all I do. It definitely makes my world a better place.

The one thing my father instilled in me during my childhood was the work ethic. In order to achieve anything in life, you had to be willing to work for it. It is one of many things that he taught me and to this day he was my best teacher. It is the highest compliment I can pay my father because I spent spent 19 years going to school and obviously had many teachers over this period of time, but he was by far the best. I was never afraid to put the hours in to get the job done. Things came to me easier than most, but I had to put in long hours to get good grades and build a business. Thanks to my Dad I loved every minute of it. The work ethic is the trait I have carried through my entire life and is by far my most valuable trait.

If I was pursuing jobs, which I’m not, I would do something in baseball, golf, or cooking. Baseball I could do something on the managing, coaching, front office side or announcing. I have always loved baseball and working inside the game would have been fun. Golf, I have worked in, teaching only briefly, but it would have been better if I had gone in early and worked my way up as a PGA professional. I am fascinated by the game and if I had pursued it full time early in my life, maybe I would have figured it out, but that is doubtful since it is something I have just about done 24/7 anyway, failing miserably. I took up cooking in my early 60’s and I think I wouldn’t mind preparing meals for a living. Something as a younger person I would have never dreamed of pursuing. There are plenty of fantasy jobs out there that I have thought about but those three are something that I could have actually done but did not. No regrets because I was lucky enough to do something I loved and was able to do it pretty much my way.

Daily writing prompt

What would your life be like without music?

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What would life be without music? Think of all the great movie scores that would not exist. Would we even think about moving to the beat of a different drummer? Would we even know what a drummer is? It is hard to imagine the world without music. Personally, music has always been a means to a way to get things done, relax, increase the feeling of a good mood, absorb and acknowledge a bad mood. My life would not be near as good or as pleasurable without music. I cannot write much more, because it is something that I cannot even fathom. The best way I know how to sum this up is back in the 60’s NFL Films started putting real cool music to the weekly highlights and the rest is history. All I can say is thank God for music.

Daily writing prompt

How do you celebrate holidays?

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Holidays are the scourge of human society. These are days that are set aside to do things that are kind, caring, and acknowledging that we should be doing every day anyway. I am not going to bash every holiday separately except one that I do not know is even a holiday, but people certainly celebrate it. Halloween is the worst day of the year. It is a holiday of bizarre rituals and superstitions. It has caused people to be burned at the stake. In today’s world, parents send their 3 to 10 year olds out into the neighborhood to get things that they would not let them eat all year. Kids come home with 300 bars of candy and eat them in about 2 weeks, then try and hang the cat upside down on a bungy cord. The candy also rots their liver, destroys their pancreas and they have sleeping disorders until the next Halloween. Getting back to the real holidays. People make promises to themselves that they can’t keep. They go out the day before another holiday and drink so much that they do not even remember what happened and vow never to do it again. One holiday they stuff themselves with so much food that they have to take a nap one hour afterward. Some holidays cause so much stress and depression that suicide rates go up. We celebrate are so called independence with fireworks that make dogs and cats hide in terror and crap all over the house. They may shake and puke for up to a week afterward. Other holidays are to honor our service men who gave their lives for this country and also the current individuals that are serving our country today. However, the other 364 days of the year the government shits all over them. Some people think that this is a great day for families to get together. Why do you need a “special” day just to get together. The old adage of you can choose your friends but not your relatives becomes particularly true during the holidays. I have known some families that have had to have a family meeting during such joyous times. The bother-in-laws and sisters-in-laws were banned. Why does anybody need a holiday to get together, just get the ef together. Having written all of that do I enjoy any holiday. Really, I do not. But I am not going to be the party pooper. I enjoy watching my grandkids open their Christmas presents. I have prepared huge Thanksgiving Day and Christmas meals and loved every minute of it. But the fact of the matter is holidays cause more harm than good and this little blog has barely touched the surface.

I don’t know if you would call it a lesson but I wish I had discovered meditation earlier in life. I started meditating in my early forties and there is no doubt it is the key to life. I would have been a much better person if I had started twenty years earlier. For those of you that don’t meditate all I can say is start. There are many apps that can get you started. Many of these apps have advocated 10 minutes as sufficient to meditate. I disagree. I believe the minimum you should do is 20 minutes. Meditation is like any endeavor, just start out slowly. If you were going to start on a jogging program the first day you would not run 5 miles. Start out by meditating for one minute and over a thirty day period work up to the twenty minutes. You can take even longer but just do it. Your life will change forever.