Category Archives: Daily Writing

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Daily Writing, Errant Literary

My billboard

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Daily writing prompt
If you had a freeway billboard, what would it say?
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There is this quote from Dr Martin Luther King Jr that I recently read. I hadn’t seen it before but it really struck a cord with me. I think my billboard would have this plastered on it.

“Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”

I am starting my Spring semester of college now and this will likely be my last year of study before graduating. At times it feels like just yesterday that I first enrolled in college. Other times I have this surreal sense that school is an experience without end.

I am still as uncertain as when I started this degree program as to where it will take me. Now I ask myself, what further challenges await?

Daily Writing, Errant Literary

My first day at work

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Daily writing prompt
Tell us about your first day at something — school, work, as a parent, etc.
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After graduating from the Job Corps center in 2007, I moved to North Carolina. After a long job hunt, I got a position at a local pharmacy chain.

I recall being told by the store manager not to discuss my wages with the other staff. I knew from my training at Job Corps that this rule wasn’t valid; it violated the National Labor Relations Act.

Discussing wages and hours is are protected activity.

That first day, I was indeed asked about my wages by the woman training. I gave an honest answer without much thought. She ended up getting angry at the manager, and I was taken aside and reprimanded later that day.

The drug store chain is no longer in business. I can remember many things that were not right about the way they were operating, the treatment of staff, differences in pay for men and women, and a lack of diversity overall.

After about 6 months in that job, I left to do work more in line with my training in building maintenance and landscaping. Although I eventually ended up going back to pharmacy work later on.

I spent 13 years of my life working in retail pharmacies. I am ready to move into a different industry. Hopefully, once I finish my business degree, I will be able to secure some appropriate employment.

Daily Writing, Errant Literary

What’s your favorite cartoon?

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Daily writing prompt
What’s your favorite cartoon?
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I don’t think that I can pick just one show that is my favorite. I have liked so many shows since childhood. What I can do, though, is create a Top 10 list.

The Simpsons

Johnny Bravo

The Boondocks

Afro Samurai

Dragon Ball Z

Dragon Ball

Fruits Basket

Samurai Champloo

Gundam Wing Zero

The Vision of Escaflowne

Daily Writing, Errant Literary

Just a Shy Guy

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Daily writing prompt
What is something others do that sparks your admiration?
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I’m always impressed by public speakers and streamers. I get quite camera shy and forget what I wanted to say.

Even when I use the phone, I tend to write out what I want to say and any talking points to cover. I much prefer communicating through email where I have the time to “get it right.”

Of course once I run out of things to say then there are long awkward silences. Those make me want to hit the pause button and go write out a new script.

If only life had a pause button like my old Sega Genesis.

Daily Writing, Errant Literary

Year in retrospect

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Daily writing prompt
What positive events have taken place in your life over the past year?
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There is no such thing as an uneventful year. However, some events are simply unremarkable when viewed with the passage of time.

This year I,

  • Got my drivers permit (test in 2024)
  • dropped some college classes while acing others
  • planted out some fruit trees
  • our house was repainted
  • replaced old boards in the back deck and stairs
  • put up 10′ fencing around the garden
  • turned 38 this year.

Nothing really feels super impactful. Maybe next year will be a stunner, who knows.

Daily Writing, Errant Literary

om nom nom!

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Daily writing prompt
What are your feelings about eating meat?
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I love to watch mukbang videos on YouTube. In particular, I enjoy watching tzuyang devour samgyupsal (pork belly).

I don’t really give much deep thought to eating meat now that I am older. If I find I am hungry, well then, whatever happens to be in front of me may well become a meal.

Mediterranean Foods

I can recall a phase in my youth when I took exception to meat and limited my diet to fruits, grains, and vegetables. I don’t recall when that ended, but think I was like that for a couple of years.

Another time for about 4 months I stuck to a Rajasic Yoga diet, eating only foods that are given, such as milk, nuts, and fruit. That didn’t turn out well. I gained a lot of weight and my blood sugar was really high.

My doctor told me to stop it. I can’t even recall how I got into it in the first place.

Images: Hot Dogs, Ground-Beef Nachos, Pork-Fried Rice, Japchae, Korean-Style Deep Fried Corn Dogs.

With the passage of time I have become something of a simple creature.

If I see food, I will generally eat it.

When I get hungry I will wander into my mothers kitchen in search of grub. If I can’t find anything left out, then I will usually have a bowl of cereal or a pot noodle.

Daily Writing, Errant Literary

What are your fondest memories of the library?

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I can recall near the back of the kids room there was a section for graphic novels. They were somewhere between comics and books. I think they were the perfect bridge between children’s books and adult literature.

I enjoyed reading Tin Tin and Elf Quest.

As I grew older, I began reading the fiction books on the spinning book rack on the second floor. These books were later relocated to the kids section after remodeling.

We would often borrow VHS tapes from the library. I remember the library had full sets of Red Dwarf and Black Adder. I watched these often. I think this is where I got my peculiar sense of humor.

I actually got to attend a Red Dwarf convention in Seattle. I remember meeting Craig Charles and the cast, getting autographs, and showing off my own dread locks to Craig. It is a cherished memory from my childhood.

Daily Writing, Errant Literary

What is one thing you would change about yourself?

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I’ve been on medication for my cholesterol since 2020. I had made some attempts at changing my diet and exercising more often, but I just couldn’t keep it up.

Thankfully there are inexpensive generics available for my medicine.

But, I would like to change my lifestyle.

I watch YouTube channels like Julien Kang and Gym Jong Kook and I envy their dedication to fitness. I would love to be able to maintain that kind of lifestyle.

Since I am not working and I don’t have a vehicle or any current activities beyond the grounds of the property I have become quite sedentary.

I spend most of my day studying in front of the computer. Afterwards, I might head over to the living room and sit down to watch episodes of I Am Solo or My Little Old Boy on Viki.

We have an exercise bike and there’s even a BowFlex in the basement. I sometimes, very occasionally, take walks around the house and sometimes the property.

One summer, a long time ago, when I was still quite active I made walking paths all around the property and graded them with gravel. There are flower beds along some of the paths, but they don’t really get enough light.

I even dug out a small watering hole for frogs. I taken to referring to it as the “pond.” Although, now it is surrounded by a bamboo grove, but I still hear the frogs each season.

I’ve run off and lost my point.

If I could change something it would be my lifestyle. I want to lose weight, improve my diet, and get off medicine permanently.

Daily Writing, Errant Literary

Do you ever see wild animals?

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We regularly get squirrels and deer each season. The deer are always trying to get into our vegetable garden and most years they succeed!

  1. Racoon
  2. Interesting Moth
  3. Red-Tailed Hawk
  4. Eastern Cottontail Rabbits
  5. Abandoned Kitten

Racoon

I have this old photo from my hometown. This is at Fort Warden State Park just outside the Cablehouse Canteen, circa 91′.

Interesting Moth

This fellow was found inside our greenhouse one afternoon.

Red-Tailed Hawk

They stalk prey under the canopy in the early mornings.

Eastern Cottontail Rabbits

There are three species of rabbits native to North Carolina. In my region, we get these Eastern Cottontails.

Abandoned Kitten

Well, this wasn’t really a wild animal. But it did take a while to clean him up and find a nice family to adopt.

Daily Writing, Errant Literary

Do you have a favorite place you have visited? Where is it?

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My favorite place? It’s hard to choose just one. I’ve been to so many places.

Many a childhood Summer was spent with my father sailing. We would mostly go up through the San Juan Islands and into British Columbia. Although, once we went to Seattle and used the locks to enter the inner-bay.

We never made it as far as Alaska, not that we didn’t want to, we just lacked enough available time to make the journey.

Later in life, after finishing my tour at the Job Corps Center in Astoria, OR, I travelled again with my father, to visit my uncle in England. We stayed and visited with family for a time before shoving on to the next leg of our journey.

We flew down to the city of Toulouse in France and rode the trains, stopping off in small towns along the way. I got to visit castles which I was always fond of since a child.

WyrdLight.com, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

After France, we took a bus into Spain and then another train as we made our way into to Barcelona. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with the journey, culture shock, and the language barrier by this point.

My father and I decided to head back at this point. We travelled northward along the Mediterranean coastline and sampled those foods unique to the regions.

photos by Stephan Audiger of Hotels.com

Eventually we got back into France where we rented a car and returned to visiting yet more castles. I still have my commemorative coins from the sites we visited; there were little coin-operated vending machines supplying the collectibles.

I think my favorite place was Villandry. It has these elaborate decorative gardens, and Japanese koi swimming in the waterways around the grounds.

The last site we visited was Mont Saint-Michel. We took a bus from the port town and spent the day there. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many tourists in any one spot as at Mont Saint-Michel. The parking lot was packed with buses and the causeway up the hill was full of people.

photos by Robert Lio

I lost all of my photos from the trip quite sadly. I had uploaded them to an early cloud-storage site which traded hands a few times before going out of business. They were asking for outrageous sums of money to download my own photo catalog before the server shutdown.

We took the ferry from Saint Malo back to Portsmouth where we were met by my uncle. I stayed there for a few days and then flew back to the states. My father returned to his trip. He went down to Portugal and found himself a crew position on a catamaran making the return journey across the Atlantic and back to the US.

Many more trips would occur in the years to follow. But, I’ll save those for another day.