Can I Have 3 More ?

Daily writing prompt

Name your top three pet peeves.

This is like when you find the magic lamp and the genie pops out and grants you 3 wishes….your first wish is to ask for unlimited wishes but then the genie says “nope, you only get 3″….. ok fine, 3 pet peeves

The first is technology…..oh technology, my friend, my enemy, my frenemy…… you make everything so easy and so, so frustrating. Need directions, just take out your phone and get turn by turn directions. It’s gotten to the point that I wonder how anybody got anywhere before maps on our phones.

Need to find out which president died shortly after his inauguration because his speech was too long and he caught pneumonia….it’s just a query away on your phone ( I don’t actually know who that was or even if he did die of pneumonia because I didn’t actually look it up but I do remember from history class that did happen )…..my point is before smart phones and Google we had to find information in the encyclopedia or at the library or by asking our parents, and lets be honest 2 out of 3 of those were probably accurate and the other just told you something to get rid of you.

I marvel at all the wonderful technology and information just a few keystrokes away but nothing and I mean nothing gets my blood pressure rising than creating a profile and password for every single stinkin thing on the web. Scan this QR code, create a profile and password, become a preferred member, accumulate points, get a discount………why is it that everybody on the web wants me to be a preferred member with a profile and password. My password book is now multiple pages long and yet most on them still don’t work…… is that all caps for that one or just one capital letter and is that the number one or the special character the exclamation point….UGH, WHY WON’T IT TAKE IT…..I KNOW IT’S RIGHT….my wife’s solution is to just ask for another password and update it…….but I have a book of passwords of multiple pages some of them must work….right ?

My second pet peeve is fake outrage. Everybody is outraged about something and they have a way to express it. Blame the cell phone again or perhaps social media but I blame us, humans for this one. Folks…..are we really devolving into people that whine and complain about everything……please you can’t really be outraged about all the things I see on Facebook or Tiktok or Twitter. I do feel this is just sad attempts at seeking attention for yourself and whatever cause nobody is really paying attention to. And lets face it most things posted on social media are quickly forgotten as people scroll by and there’s so much outrage going on that it’s really just become noise, background noise that people ignore like traffic noise.

The third pet peeve and this one is the cousin to fake outrage…..fake urgency. Just because you can reach me immediately by phone or text doesn’t mean I have to respond immediately. Just because you think your problem is of utmost importance doesn’t mean that I have to solve it right now. Very few things need to be taken care of now….in fact most things can wait, an hour, a day, a couple of days in fact…..so if I don’t answer my phone the first time you call then send me a text but if I don’t answer it right away I’m probably looking through my password book for the right password for my profile so I can become a preferred member and get points and discounts on the web……

Peace and Love

John

Do Something…..

Daily writing prompt

Do lazy days make you feel rested or unproductive?

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I love a lazy morning, in fact a lazy Sunday morning might be my favorite time of the week. Especially when it turns colder in the fall or downright freezing in the winter. Nobody really expects anything out of you on a freezing Sunday morning, so it’s perfectly acceptable to curl up under a blanket and read a book or the paper (although the paper is on my phone so curling up with my phone reading the paper doesn’t sound as romantic as it should)

I’ve never been the type to sit for hours and not do anything, although I have been known to doze off under a blanket in the chair by the fire listening to a podcast awakening an hour later only to discover my podcast has ended and I must decide if it is worth the hassle to go back and listen to it again because I doubt I really grasped the concept of it while napping. Most times I don’t….if it caused me to doze off it really wasn’t holding my attention to begin with.

I’m not the type to binge watch an entire season of the latest and greatest show or even watch more than one episode at a time. No matter what I’m doing on a lazy morning, after awhile I feel this urgency to get up and do something. I really can’t stand the idea of an unproductive day….it seems so wasteful and I feel very lethargic unless I accomplish something…..so yes I love a lazy morning but it almost never stretches into a lazy day

Peace and Love

John

Time

Daily writing prompt

How do significant life events or the passage of time influence your perspective on life?

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This question is obviously heavily influenced by whatever age the writer happens to be at this moment. My answer would be wildly different now than 20 years ago or even 10 years ago. As the experiences of life and events come and go the perspective changes as if one sees a view from a certain height but then the view changes from a different height…..it’s essentially the same view but seen differently.

As a kid I always had time and significant life events couldn’t come soon enough. I actually remember as a kid there were significant amounts of time when I was quite simply bored with nothing to do. But of course I didn’t want my parents to know I was bored because they would always find something for me to do and it usually ended up being some type of chore. I soon learned to regret those moments when I verbally expressed my boredom to one of my parents as I would shortly find myself on the end of a broom sweeping out the garage or with a sponge in my hand washing a car.

And life events couldn’t come soon enough as a kid…… I couldn’t wait to turn 10, that seemed like such a big number, and of course becoming a teenager was a milestone which was soon eclipsed by finally turning 16 and getting a drivers license. Oh the life events come quickly when your young…..graduating high school, going off to college, turning 21, starting jobs and adulthood. A whirlwind of events and milestones marks the passage of time at that age.

The life events of marriage and starting a family mean the somewhat carefree days of being young and single are over, but the milestones are just has significant when shared with loved ones. Watching a child grow up and experience those milestones brings a certain joy and pride that only a parent can relate to.

And speaking of parents, you soon notice that life becomes more difficult for them and plans must be made for their future comfort and the sad inevitability that someday both your parents will pass away.

As I sit here now in my late 50’s and look ahead to the future I’m acutely aware of the time I have left and all the things I want to do. There’s places I want to go, goals I want to accomplish and I constantly feel I don’t have the time. I ponder retirement not that it’s imminently close, it’s more like a daydream, but it feels closer now than ever before. I talk to friends around the same age and we ponder what retirement would be like, a world not ruled by an alarm clock, emails or deadlines. Is there time to do the things you’ve always wanted or are your days just as busy because now you have the time.

When I was younger each life event was like a warm embrace, a comforting milestone on life’s journey…..now the milestones are fewer, the days seem to run together but time passes more quickly…..my son is the one coming into adulthood checking off milestones and experiencing life and I wonder how I will find the time to accomplish all that I want.