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 My primary Writing.com blog. |
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Logocentric (adj). Regarding words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality (especially applied as a negative term to traditional Western thought by postmodernist critics). Sometimes I just write whatever I feel like. Other times I respond to prompts, many taken from the following places: Thanks for stopping by!  |
 Day 3928: What is your favorite ice cream dessert? While I usually prefer ice cream by itself, and can appreciate ice cream-based desserts like ice cream sandwiches or ice cream cakes or sundaes, if I were going to pick a dessert that incorporates ice cream but isn't comprised of a majority of ice cream, I think I'd have to go with a basic fresh-baked cookie/brownie topped with ice cream combo. There's just something about a warm, gooey chocolate brownie or cookie topped with cold ice cream that you have to rush to eat before it melts that's just so comforting and delicious. If I'm feeling really fancy, I might go for one of those chocolate lava cakes where you cut into it and molten chocolate flows out. Top that with some vanilla bean ice cream and drizzle it with chocolate sauce and maybe put a couple of raspberries or strawberries on top for garnish?  Great, now I'm hungry and want some ice cream...   Day 2647: "I haven't lived a perfect life. I have regrets. But that's from a lifetime of taking chances, making decisions, and trying not to be frozen. The only thing that I can do with my regrets is understand them." — Kevin Costner. Do you often regret things and what do you do about your feelings of regret, if you have any? When it comes to "regrets," I make a distinction between big regrets and small regrets. I consider big regrets to be life-defining regrets that will stay with you for years, perhaps even a lifetime. Regrets like, "I wish I would have spent more time with a loved one before they died." Or, "What if I had taken such-and-such a risk earlier on in my career?" Or, "What if I had asked out my high school crush instead of just pining over them for four years?" On the other hand, I consider small regrets to be the little day-to-day things that just happen in the course of living life. Regrets like, "I wish I had been more patient with my kids rather than yelling at them." Or, "If I could rewind time by fifteen minutes, this is what I would have said instead." Or, "I should have stopped and offered my leftovers to the homeless guy with a sign asking for food." Generally speaking, I don't have a lot of big regrets. I always wonder about the "what ifs" of life, but I'm also very content with the life I'm currently living, so I don't often look back at the things that have happened in it with a lot of regret. I mean, sure, there's the occasional, "I should have stayed at this job instead of going to this other job that didn't work out," and "OMG why didn't I buy a house when I had a chance even if it would have been a stretch?" kind of things, but I'm one of those people who sees value in the experiences we have, so I don't regret those decisions as much as just wonder what would have been different if I had taken that path instead of my own. When it comes to small regrets, I have those all the time. A thoughtless comment I regret making, or a poor choice that I wish I could go back and do differently. Nothing that I think would drastically change the course of world events or anything; just things that I regret not handling better in the course of the day.  Prompt: What advice would you give to a new believer about developing their relationship with Christ? The advice I'd give to a new believer about developing their relationship with Christ is the same advice that I'd give to a nonbeliever who is interested in learning about Christ from outside the faith. Which would be to simply read the gospels in the Bible that detail Christ's time on Earth. The centerpiece of a Christian's faith should be his or her relationship with Christ, and in order to have a relationship with Christ, you have to know who he was and what he believed in. Unfortunately, I think that's something that a lot of longtime believers and established Christians need to do too, because many of lost sight of the foundational principles of the faith. Too many have prioritized the accumulation of wealth and influence, or sought the power to control others, or who have ignored the basic tenets of Christianity in pursuit of a sociopolitical outcome. Regardless of your stance on topics like abortion, immigration, religious freedom, etc., if you're not pursuing those objectives with love, compassion, forgiveness, and acts of service, then you're not pursuing them with a Christian perspective. I fear that a lot of reputational damage has been done to the Church (and by the Church!) by deviating from Christ's teachings. If someone is interested in developing their relationship with Christ, they should first read about what Christ was like and what he said. It all starts there; everything else is a distraction at best, and a mischaracterization at worst. |
Day 3924: I'm looking at the forum and the daily response is me, occasionally another blogger but primarily me. Neva and I take time to do the prompts. I'm trying to decide whether it's worth keeping the group active. We're pledged to help with a WDC Birthday celebration but after that who knows. I've asked before for your thoughts, I'm asking again. Why you aren't blogging? I am blogging, I'm just really bad about posting in forums to let people know that I've been blogging and responding to the prompts.  I'm also guilty of being pretty selective about the prompts I respond to. I keep tabs on a variety of blogging groups and will peruse the topics almost every day, but will only respond to the ones where I immediately think to myself, "Yeah, that's something I want to write about." That's been paired with a tendency to respond to a single blog prompt in more of a longform format (i.e., more than 500 words). I have been thinking about shifting to a more regular blogging habit where I push myself to respond to more prompts more regularly, albeit with shorter form answers. I'll give it a try for a couple of weeks and see if that's a better format.Day 3925: What is the most viewed movie of all time? Look no further than the groundbreaking 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, one of cinema's most famous efforts. Legendary for its famous scenes, memorable characters, oft-repeated quotes. The movie was actually a commercial bomb when it first came out - making less than a million dollars over its budget. Have you watched The Wizard of OZ? More than once? Who's your favorite character and why? I've seen The Wizard of Oz a number of times (most of them in film school where it was required viewing for more than one class!). More than the film itself, I think I enjoy all the behind the scenes stories about how they actually pulled off a production that advanced for its time, back when they didn't have visual effects and when even practical effects were in their infancy. It's a really impressive movie in that respect, even all these years later. In the original movie, I always thought the Wizard of Oz was the most interesting character. There was such an air of awe and mystery about him that I enjoyed that aspect of the original film. And then, of course, Wicked came along and gave audiences a whole new take on the characters of Glinda and the Wicked Witch. I really loved that musical, because it was such a unique take on this familiar story. Day 2645: On this day in 1977, American singer Elvis Presley, known as the “King of Rock and Roll,” died of a heart attack brought on largely by drug abuse. Were you an Elvis Fan? If so favorite song? How about a few trivia questions about Rock and Roll? Who was the first rock-and-roll superstar? What singer was inducted three times in Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? What was the first rock song to become famous around the world? Which single was the last number one given by Elvis Presley in 1969? I'm not a huge Elvis Presley fan. I definitely appreciate his career and there are quite a few songs that I really like (particularly, "A Little Less Conversation," "Burning Love," "You're the Devil in Disguise," "Suspicious Minds," and "Can't Help Falling in Love with You"), but he's never one of those artists that I ever really intentionally decide to listen to songs from. If something comes on the radio, or if someone else is playing it (I have a friend who loves Elvis and listens to his music almost every day), I'll listen to it and enjoy it, but I can't remember the last time I put an Elvis song on one of my playlists. The one time in recent memory I got into a bit of an Elvis groove was when the ELV1S: 30 #1 Hits album was released in 2002, which included the JXL Radio Edit Remix of "A Little Less Conversation" which was a huge hit and popularized by it use in the 2001 remake of Ocean's Eleven starring George Clooney, as well as (I think) the show Las Vegas. That was also the same year that the original animated Lilo & Stitch was released in theaters and it just seemed like Elvis was resurgent for about a year and a half. Like I mentioned earlier, I enjoyed that year and a half and still like his music; I just haven't really made a conscious effort to listen to Elvis more than here and there since. My guesses for the trivia: Q: Who was the first rock-and-roll superstar? A: I'm not even sure when rock and roll became popular... the 1950s? Ugh, my knowledge of "oldies" is admittedly not that great. I guess I'll go with either Chuck Berry or Bill Haley. Q: What singer was inducted three times in Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? A: I'm assuming it's someone who was a member of multiple musical acts, so I'll guess Eric Clapton... or possibly Paul McCartney or Phil Collins. Q: What was the first rock song to become famous around the world? A: Same answer as the first question. I'll go with "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley & His Comets or something by Chuck Berry (I think "Johnny B. Goode" was later... so maybe "Roll Over Beethoven"?). Q: Which single was the last number one given by Elvis Presley in 1969? A: I want to say "Suspicious Minds" but I'm not totally sure on that. Prompt: Who are your favorite Christian singers? What are your favorite Christian songs? I've been listening to a lot of Christian music over the past few years. The singers that I really like (i.e., not considering entire worship bands or someone's instrument playing or songwriting ability) that have really impressed me recently are: Taya, Jon Reddick, Ryan Ellis, Elyssa Smith, Tauren Wells, and Brooke Ligertwood. There are so many artists I really enjoy, but I think the vocal/singing ability of those six are phenomenal. I can't think of a bad song that any of them have done. In terms of favorite songs, that's something that changes from season to season. At the moment, my favorite songs to listen to are: "The Father's House" by Cory Asbury "Goodbye Yesteday" by Elevation Rhythm "Loved By You" by Riley Clemmons "Move Your Heart" by Maverick City Music "Open" by LO Worship "Sinking Deep" by Hillsong Young & Free "Time and Time Again" by Bethel Music & Josh Baldwin |
Prompt for Day 2639: Bored? “I’m never bored anywhere; being bored is an insult to oneself.” — Jules Renard. Do you feel bored sometimes? What bores you? Like anyone else, boredom is a thing that happens to me occasionally. Sometimes there are moments when I'm not particularly motived to do anything and find myself succumbing to boredom, but not all that often. As long as I have certain amenities — internet, someone to have a conversation with, something to read, etc. — I can keep myself occupied for long stretches of time. There are almost always several projects that I'm fiddling around with, things that I want to research or learn about, and random activities or interests that I'm eager to look into. There literally are not enough hours in the day to do all the things I want to do, so I don't often find myself bored when I have time to kill; that's just time I can be using to check off one of the many things on my to-do list! The things that do bore me are situations where I'm not particularly engaged or interested in what's going on, but can't (or shouldn't) pass the time by focusing on other interests. I often find myself bored at social functions, in meetings, during school events, etc., especially if those things are slow-moving. The bane of my existence is corporate nonsense like town halls or training modules. A lot of that stuff is just so predictable and goes so slow I find myself easily prone to boredom in those situations. It's one of the reasons why I actually really like remote work; it's so much easier to pass the time and keep myself engaged in other interests when I can have a corporate all-hands Zoom meeting up on one screen, and a couple of websites up on another. |
| To qualify for my Watch List every month, the following has to be something that I've watched that's new to me. It doesn't necessarily have to be a current show, but it can't be reruns or rewatches of something I've already seen. So if I'm including it in this list, it means this month is the first time I've watched it. I'll put "DNF" (Did Not Finish) next to anything that I stopped watching and have no immediate plans to finish. Movies  Deep Cover Eddington The Fantastic Four: First Steps Fountain of Youth G20 Heads of State Sinners SupermanLet's get the bad out of the way first: G20, Fountain of Youth, and Deep Cover were all pretty forgettable streaming titles that were fine to watch but didn't really impress all that much. Of all the streaming titles, Heads of State was probably my favorite and while not a good movie by any stretch of the imagination, re-teamed John Cena with Idris Elba. Their not-so-friendly competition was the best part of 2021's The Suicide Squad, and they picked up right where they left off, this time as a President of the United States and British Prime Minister that detest one another. There was a solid amount of comedy and the action was well choreographed, which helped offset the fact that there wasn't much character development or a sophisticated plot. It was a fun way to spend two-hours if you don't think about it too much. The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Superman were both pretty good. I'm partial to the first, for obvious reasons, and I'm glad to see it doing pretty well. This one was really, really challenging to make (owing to a lot of last-minute decisions and changes), so it's always nice when something you worked really hard on is well received, as opposed to working hard on something only for it to bomb. Superman was probably the best movie out of DC Studios in a long time, but I think it kind of highlights the limits of James Gunn as a filmmaker. I think he has a high floor and a low ceiling as a director (i.e., rarely makes a truly bad movie, but doesn't have many really great ones either), and I think he sacrificed his greatest asset (his sense of humor) trying to make a more "serious" movie this time around. I think it's definitely a step in the right direction for DC Studios (it'd be hard not to improve over the more recent offerings), and I'll be curious to see how the rest of the franchise unfolds. Supergirl should be fun next summer. My highs and lows of the month were Sinners and Eddington, respectively. I thought Sinners was a really creative, fun take on vampires from Ryan Coogler who continues to impress as a filmmaker with a unique point of view, and the soundtrack was incredible. I've been listening to it a lot on its own even after finishing the movie. The performances were all great (especially Michael B. Jordan, who plays dual roles as twins), and the ending with the time jump really made the film. I'm not normally a horror movie guy other than on Halloween, but I really thought this one was great. Eddington, on the other hand, felt like a complete mess. I went to see it without knowing a whole lot about it other than that Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal play a small New Mexico town sheriff and mayor, respectively, at the height of the COVID-19, and compete against one another in the mayor's race over differing views of how to handle the pandemic (Pascal's mayor being in favor of mask mandates and other safety measures, while Phoenix's sheriff thinks the whole thing is overblown). Honestly, the first half of the film was really compelling and did a great job of capturing what a bizarre time that was in all of our lives. But the second half went completely off the rails when... spoiler alert... Joaquin Phoenix gets COVID and is humiliated to the point where snaps he kills Pedro Pascal's character (and his teenage son). And his wife joins a cult. And Antifa militants associated with the corporate interests trying to break ground on a new AI data center in town are dispatched to blow up the sheriff's deputies and run through town shooting everything up.  There was literally a point during the movie where I leaned over to the friend I was watching the movie with and whispered, "Is this whole thing going to be a dream? Like, Joaquin is going to wake up on a ventilator or something and we're going to realize this is all a COVID hallucination?" But nope, that's actually how the story of the movie played out. It was so absurdist and divorced from the hard-hitting realism of the first hour that I found it jarring and completely bizarre. And maybe that was the point, but if that's the case, it wasn't a good choice for the film, in my opinion.Television Ballard (Season 1) Blindspot (Season 1) — DNF Dept Q (Season 1) Hightown (Season 1) — DNF Poker Face (Season 2) Slow Horses (Season 1) — DNFLots of DNF television this month. Blindspot definitely felt like a show from the 2010s where it has a great premise that probably would have been better as a movie because they just seemed to be dragging it out episode after episode. The actual episodic stories in the show weren't particularly interesting, and after watching a half-dozen episodes and seeing how many seasons of this show they made, it seemed pretty clear it was going to be a "let's see how long we can string this out" situation and I figured I would just read the Wikipedia plot summary rather than sit through another 100 hours of programming. The other two DNFs this month were Hightown and Slow Horses, neither of which were bad; they just weren't very compelling either. Hightown was sort of interesting (and very clearly a show where Monica Raymund was looking to do something more risque after more than a decade on a network procedural) but the characters and the storyline just didn't really grab me. And Slow Horses was good — maybe I'll even go back and finish it at some point because I like the concept of a bunch of spy agency rejects working a case — but the show was aptly named because "slow" is exactly the word to describe it. After three episodes, it seemed like the story was only just getting started with the main plot. Sometimes I'm in the mood for a slow-burn show, and this month I just wasn't. Dept Q was okay; it feels like they've remade this book series from Jussi Adler-Olsen, but every single time they start with the same book: The Keeper of Lost Causes. I haven't read any of the other books in the series, but it makes me wonder if they're any good because this is the same specific book they keep using every time they reboot the franchise. I guess we'll see what happens if they get a Season 2, now that they've used their most popular and prominent storyline for Season 1. The second season of Poker Face was a real miss, in my opinion. Twelve episodes and only two or three of them were interesting or even connected to the main narrative. The rest seemed like one-offs where a bunch of famous guest stars would show up for an episode completely unrelated to the main story. It's really a shame because the first season of this show was excellent, and it seemed like they were really coasting for this one, relying on the charm of Natasha Lyonne (who I don't find that charming) and the appeal of the sheer number of stars who would show up in episodes. If they make another season, I really hope they put as much effort into the story as they do the casting. Ballard was easily my favorite show of the month. What can I say? I'm a sucker for Michael Connelly's characters and the world he's created. This is the second spinoff of Bosch, and I'm kind of fascinated by the idea of having a world of shows that run for a handful of seasons before a "new" show starts, spinning off with a different character and main cast, while still bringing others back in for cameos from time to time. It doesn't hurt that Michael Connelly has a lot of books with great plots, so this seems like a franchise that will continue for some time. Probably three or four seasons of Ballard, and then maybe they'll spin it off with a Ballard: Legacy show, or move on to one of Connelly's other protagonists like Terry McCaleb, Rachel Walling, or Cassie Black. I'd love to see the last of those; Void Moon was one of the first Connelly books I read and still one of my favorites. TOP PICK: Sinners |
 Prompt #28: If you could create a charitable foundation with billions of dollars in resources, what causes would you try to tackle? If I were answering this question a couple of years ago, I probably would have said that I would fully invest an entire fortune in championing education. It's something that my wife and I really believe in, and it's been so disappointingly underfunded for years. The availability of public education is one of the greatest things that this country has ever done, and it's a shame how underfunded and under-prioritized it's been for years if not decades. The conditions is some of the schools are horrendous, and it's unacceptable that so many educators are paid so little and have to invest so much of their own resources into their classrooms. Even if my current vision of a charitable foundation weren't entirely focused on the field of education, I think I would definitely have some form of program or initiative that addressed that. Most likely a subsidy for teachers to help with their classroom expenses, or for families whose kids need extra support (tutoring, after school care, etc.) but can't afford it. Future generations are too important to just abandon and hope they figure it out for themselves. That said, in recent years I've been doing a lot of reading about a lot of different problems in the world, and have been really discouraged by the lack of progress that's being made on pretty much every front. It seems like there's always some established enterprise that has a vested interest in making sure things stay the same. As a human race (and particularly as Americans), the progress — if you could call it that — we've made on things like climate change, income inequality, poverty, pollution, gun violence, corruption, etc. have been abysmal. And I'd be really hard pressed to identify a specific issue or couple of issues that I'd want to invest in, because so much of it seems so awful right now. It's no secret that I'm fairly progressive in my politics. And I don't mean that strictly in the sense that I'm on the "radical left" side of the political spectrum or that I don't hold moderate views on a number of topics; the actual definition of progressivism is just the belief that the human condition is most likely to be advanced through social reform. And I am the kind of person who thinks that things can be better, and that we should try to make things better. There are very few areas of society where I think we've just absolutely nailed it, can't possibly improve, and where it's therefore not worth trying to improve things. I think a lot of that change can potentially come from our current system of government, if we can fix two things about that current system. The first is the sheer amount of money that's in politics right now, and the second is the "team" nature of our two-party system that prioritizes party loyalty over all else. It may sound strange to fight that problem by throwing more money into the system, but I have a feeling it's one of those "you have play the game before you can change the rules" kind of situations. It's actually relatively cheap to invest in local-level politics (as opposed to national-level politics), so I'd probably want to start a foundation that supports other organizations like Run For Something (which is focused on recruiting and supporting young progressive candidates who want to run for down-ballot offices), to encourage candidates to enter politics who aren't part of the current system and who believe in actually serving their constituents and effecting change. I'd want to use that model to show that it can work on a local level, in order to then make the case to voters that the same thing on a national level would be good for people's interests. Over the years — and especially in recent years — I've come to realize that we have a lot of elected representatives who care more about the power and wealth that comes with their position than they care about the constituents they represent. I really want to see more elected leaders who take seriously their oath to represent the People. It would most likely be a very long-term project, and maybe even one that isn't realized in my lifetime, but if you could recruit a new generation of elected officials who don't feel as beholden to national parties or monied interests (and I fully acknowledge that would require my organization to be clear that there's no strings or expectations attached to the financial support we would give), and who would vote for reasonable legislation that would prevent things like political gerrymandering, campaign finance reform, etc., we could get Congress back to being an institution that represents the People first and foremost, and which sees the job as public service more than personal enrichment. Which I think would, by extension, then have a dramatic downstream effect on the kinds of people who get put on the judiciary and appointed in the executive branch. It's hard to convince people that government is useful when all three branches are unpopular. And Congress' approval rating hasn't been above 50% since June 2003. Which means that it's been 22 years since the People have had a positive opinion of the branch of government that represents them. That needs to change, and if I had billions of dollars to pour into a charitable foundation, electing people who are committed to getting that approval rating back up would be a worthy cause to fight for. Because it's what all the other changes in the world I'd like to see could potentially stem from. |
Prompt #75: Do you enjoy going out alone (e.g., to dinner at a restaurant, to see a movie, etc.)? Why or why not? I actually really enjoy going out and doing things on my own. I've never had a problem sitting by myself in a movie theater to watch something, and about fifteen years ago I went on my first business trip where I had to eat alone (a city I don't live in, and none of my coworkers from that branch were available to go out), and ended up enjoying the experience. I'm a naturally introspective person and someone who likes to observe the world around him, so it's not really that big a deal for me to sit by myself for a meal, or be out and about in the world by myself. There are definitely a lot of times when I want to be around people (I'd rather go see a comedy movie with a friend because we can laugh together about it, and I'm always up for some quality dinner conversation), but I've definitely reached a point in my life where the backup of a solo outing isn't something that bothers me. For example, it's really common for me to tell my wife that I want to see a movie that's in the theater, and if it's one that she actually wants to see, we'll go see it together. If it's not one that she wants to see, I'll go catch a late showing by myself one night after the kids are in bed while she stays home and does her thing. I sometimes wonder if the reason I like that stuff, though, is more for its novelty than anything else. My wife and I have been living together for twenty years, so it's rare that we have a moment where we're not together, outside of the usual work schedules, errands, etc. I think we can both probably count on our fingers and toes the number of nights that we've spent away from one another since we've been married. So going out and doing something on my own is a bit of a novel experience compared to my usual day-to-day lifestyle. I honestly don't know if it would be the same if circumstances suddenly put me in a place where isolation was the norm. For example, if I were to suddenly have to live alone for some reason, would I still be inclined to do those same things on my own? Would I still find novelty and enjoyment in eating alone if I did so two or three meals a day, every day? I suspect that my preferences would reverse, and I would then seek out more communal activities. I have a few friends who are still single (or married and they have a lot of free time because they and their spouses have radically different schedules or interests), and they're always the ones texting and going, "Hey, want to grab dinner tonight?" or "Does anyone else want to go to that concert that's coming to town next week?" I suspect I'd probably be "that guy" if I were living alone, where I'd be looking for opportunities to connect with people. At the end of the day, I think I'm all about balance. I don't mind going out alone currently because I'm very rarely alone at any given hour of the day. But if I were alone as a default, I imagine that I'd probably be less inclined to do activities solo and would more actively look for companionship for whatever I wanted to do. |
Prompt #95: If you were to join a "trivia night" at a local bar/restaurant, what topic would be your specialty? What topic would you be completely lost on? I suppose if I had to choose a specialty topic that I'd be an expert in, it would probably be movies/television. I used to keep up on everything way better than I do currently, but I'd say most of my random trivia knowledge probably falls into the general entertainment or pop culture category. Movies, television, books, games, music, etc. are all things I tend to invest time in, so unless we're talking about a super-specific type of trivia question, there's a good chance that I'll know a fair number of general questions about this particular field. After that, I'd say that my strongest trivia game knowledge categories would be politics/current events, geography, history, or technology/innovation. I couldn't go too far into the weeds in any of those specific areas, but I think I have a strong enough general knowledge that I could do pretty well if the specific topic of the trivia night was like, "departments and branches of the U.S. Government" or "countries of the world" or "past presidents of the United States" rather than something highly specific and specialized like "legislation passed by the U.S. Congress" or "flags of the world" or "cabinet secretaries from the 1950s." Where I think my true strength would be as a trivia game competitor is that I'm more of what you'd call a "jack of all trades" (and master of none), where I know a little bit about a lot of things, rather than a lot about one or two things. For example, with sports, I'd be an asset to a trivia team if you didn't know what sport you'd be asked questions about. I'd probably be able to answer general questions about anything from baseball and football, to tennis, to Formula One, to the Olympics, so I'd be great in a situation where "Sports" was the broad category and anything could go. I'd be less great in a situation where the sporting category was ultra specific, like, "Quarterbacks of NFL Teams" or "Record-holders in the NBA" because I don't follow any one sport that religiously. Which is why I tend to prefer games like Trivial Pursuit over trivia nights, because I enjoy being challenged on a breadth of knowledge... and a lot of trivia nights these days get ultra-specific because that's how you draw a crowd. If you have a "Friends Night" that's all about the TV show FRIENDS, that's great and all, but I'd be of very limited use if the trivia questions get ultra-specific about the names of specific episodes or during which season a particular storyline happened. Disney has a lot of trivia games like that too, where they have to make it super-tough because some competitors are fanatics that know the smallest nuances of the company's history. And I'd rather compete in a trivia environment where it's like, "This round's question is to name a particular movie, but the next round might be asking you a home improvement question, and the one after that might be to name one of Obama's Chiefs of Staff, and the one after that might be to name any of the ten countries with smallest population." I think I'd be a big benefit to a team where the questions could come on any particular topic. The areas of knowledge I would be terrible at, though, are anything involving fashion (most of the time, I can't tell one designer from the next), college sports (just not something I follow), and anything requiring more than a surface-level understanding of science and mathematics (not my strong suits when it comes to academic subjects). |
Prompt #67: If you couldn't live in the state, country, etc. that you currently live in, where would you want to live instead? With the caveat that I absolute love living in California and really don't see myself living anywhere else, I do often think about where else I would possibly want to live as an alternative. Given that it's a California we're talking about, affordability is far more likely to be the driving factor than anything else. Which is a bummer, but at least I'm not in a situation where I might have to move based on the political activism of my state or anything along those lines. If I did have to live somewhere else in the United States, my top three regions would be: 1. Pacific Northwest 2. Colorado 3. New England I like colder weather and I have a feeling I wouldn't want to constantly fight against a regressive or overly-conservative state government, so looking at relatively blue (or at least purple) states, I think Washington and Oregon would be the top choices. I've been to the Pacific Northwest multiple times and I love it every single time. I've never been to Colorado but it looks gorgeous and living nestled up against the Rocky Mountains would be a nice change of pace for someone that's lived a couple hours (or minutes!) away from the beach most of his life. And I've always loved the New England area, although I'm not sure exactly what area. After a lifetime of living in a massive state with a huge economy, I kind of like the idea of living in a smaller, quaint little state like maybe Rhode Island or Connecticut... and I might be convinced to move as far south as Maryland. The idea of a seaside town on the Eastern Seaboard is appealing to me because I do really love the ocean. If I had to live somewhere outside the United States, I'd probably want to choose somewhere with cultural similarities and an entertainment industry that I could work in, which means I'd probably be looking at: 1. Canada 2. United Kingdom 3. Australia Canada would probably be the easiest transition, especially if I just hopped over the border to Vancouver. Australia would probably feel the most similar as there's a thriving entertainment industry in certain urban centers, and it would be interesting to spend a little time in the Southern Hemisphere for an extended period of time. But the one that I think would be the most intriguing would be the United Kingdom, not just for where I'd be living, but for the proximity to the rest of Europe. I could see myself using it as a launching pad to check out a lot of neighboring countries and cities that I've always wanted to visit. Part of me thinks it would be fun to live somewhere absolutely unexpected and off-the-beaten path. Maybe not for a lifetime, but for a few years anyway. I suppose if I were to choose places along those lines, a few of the places at the top of that list would be: 1. Singapore 2. New Zealand 3. Switzerland 4. South Africa 5. Japan With the exception of #5, almost all of these follow the same process as states I chose for the experience of being smaller after spending so long in California. If I had to leave the United States, I think it'd be interesting to be a part of a smaller country (both geographically and from a population standpoint) that still has a decent diversity of people and influences. I haven't been to any of these places so I can't say for sure whether they'd be a good fit, but I'd definitely consider them if I suddenly had to get out of the United States and had to randomly choose another spot to lay down roots. |
| Day 5 is coming to a close here in Costa Rica. We have two full days and a morning left before we have to head back to real life in California. Last night, we ventured outside the resort to try a local restaurant, and boy did it deliver. It was right on the beach, about 600 yards from our resort, so we decided to walk. Which ended up being a very smart decision because it was the end of the day and the road we were walking on was a very narrow beach road that had dozens of cars backed up and trying to get through as others tried to get out from their parking spots on the side of the road as drivers were looking to leave the beach. We ended up threading our way between cars the entire way there. The restaurant was an open-air place with a sand floor that was right across the street from the beach. We started with coconut shrimp (paired with a mango-jalapeno dipping sauce) and local sea bass tacquitos with a spicy aioli, and both were absolutely delicious. If it was possible, the entrees themselves were even better... I had what seemed to be a local variation on paella with fresh mussels, shrimp, octopus, catch of the day, lime, coconut milk, and herbs and spices. My wife had fresh sea bass with seasoned rice, mango-avocado lime salsa, and a beurre blanc sauce. And while my six-year old opted for a traditional mac and cheese and fries, my ten-year-old experimented with churrasco (seasoned strip loin and vegetables that are served with a heated volcanic rock to cook them on, and chimichurri for additional flavor). Everything was amazing, and we actually took the leftovers home so that my wife and I would have something delicious to eat while the kids contently settled for burgers and chicken strips at the resort's restaurant. Today we went horseback riding on the beach, which everyone loved. And I know Kåre เลียม Enga  has traveled extensively here, so I'll give some more details than I usually would for his benefit.  A car took us from our resort in Playa Flamingo to the nearby Playa Brasilito. A guide walked us down the beach, then over the hill to Playa Conchal where the Westin and W hotels both have (very expensive) resorts. There were a lot of local vendors selling things, and we traveled down the length of the beach (all the way to Playa Puerto Viejo), then back along the horse/ATV trails that parallel the beach behind the hills. The beaches were stunning, as were the jungle areas. The kids got a kick about riding on a horse for the first time, as well as all the wildlife that our guide pointed out, including an iguana, monkeys, and a stingray in the water near us. We arrived back where we started a little saddle-sore, so we spent the rest of the day at the resort, enjoying a little more pool and boogie boarding time. Now that we only have two full days left, we're trying to decide what else we want to check off the to-do list before we head back; tomorrow we'll likely head to a nearby animal sanctuary to see some sloths and other animals, and then we're debating whether we want to do zip-lining or maybe a sunset catamaran cruise for our last day. Either way, I don't think we can go wrong; everything we've experienced in Costa Rica so far has been really fun. |
It's the end of our third day here in Costa Rica, with five days of our trip left. The first day was quite an adventure. We got to the airport with plenty of time and the flight was pretty uneventful — other than being seated in the midst of an entire group of friends or family reunion group all traveling together, whose kids lost their minds screaming and roughhousing for the last hour of the flight — and we even landed a little earlier than scheduled. We opted to fly into Liberia International Airport, the smaller airport in the northwestern part of the country, and way closer to our destination than the capital city of San Jose, which it four and a half hours away.We got our bags and found the rental car shuttle we needed to be on without issue, but that's where the issues ended. The rental car company we opted for (Sixt) was one that we had an amazing experience with in Maui a couple years ago, so we decided to give them a try here too. Apparently not all branches are equal, because the shuttle drove us out to a small strip mall in the middle of nowhere (not quite the "short distance from the terminal" they advertised), dropped us off, and immediately took off again. At that point, the rental car agent pulled the, "Oh no, it turns out that the minivan you reserved is actually this one..." and points to a manual-transmission cargo/delivery van in the corner of the lot. And then goes, "Unfortunately we don't have any other cars available at the moment, except this much smaller vehicle which is actually more money because it's a 4x4... otherwise, you'll have to wait for a couple hours until someone else turns in a car and we can clean it for you." I was tempted to just take the van to spite him (I do know how to drive a manual transmission), but ultimately I had read that some of the roads in Costa Rica are quite gnarly (unpaved mountain roads, etc.), so I didn't want to chance it and just paid the $125 for the "upgrade" to a smaller car with an automatic transmission. Then he tried to sell me on additional insurance (he claimed the insurance I purchased for the rental online wasn't valid in Costa Rica ), and when I didn't pay up, he got quite testy and just wanted to get rid of us.We left the car rental place about 30 minutes later than we had hoped, but still had plenty of time to get through the hills before dark and enjoy our first sunset on the beach. Unfortunately, we exited the strip mall directly into traffic because there was apparently construction on the small two-lane highway we needed to take. What was supposed to be a 45-minute driver ended up being a three-hour drive, which meant the sun went down and it got dark just as we were driving through the hills. The highway through those hills was super narrow and full of tiny little towns where people were randomly walking down (or across!) the highway in the dark, all while cars were whipping along the road at 40 miles per hour. Several sections of the road were unfinished and had unclear markers... it made me very glad that I opted to upgrade to the smaller vehicle with the automatic transmission, but it was probably one of the more terrifying driving experiences I've ever had. We rolled into the resort with just enough time to check in, have dinner, and go to bed. Service at the resort has been amazing so far. Everyone is super friendly and we got a free upgrade to a suite (and put on the all-inclusive plan, even though we didn't ask or pay for it). The resort is right on the water; we can walk less than a hundred meters and end up in the Pacific Ocean. The ocean is delightfully warm, and the beach has good boogie boarding waves but is still calm enough for the kids to play in the surf. We've spent the past two full days basically alternating between playing in the ocean and playing in the pool, and eating at the different restaurants around the resort. After an unpredictable journey to get here, we're finally starting to unwind and relax, with plans to book a few excursions in the coming days. Each member of our family picked one thing they really want to do while they're here, so we're looking at doing some horseback riding, zip-lining, food eating, and sloth sanctuary visiting. I'll update more as those experiences are had. |
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