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February Prompts - Part 2
Mar. 6th, 2023 07:59 pm1. In your life do you find that it works better to plan ahead or go with the flow? I need to plan ahead, because there are too many things I want to do.
2. Do you trust your intuition? Yes, I do for the most part.
3. When is the first time you felt like an adult? That’s tough. Probably when I got my first professional paycheck.
4. In what areas of your life are you most successful? I had a very successful aerospace engineering career.
5. What is a skill you have that you’re proud of? I am remarkable good at understanding public transportation.
6. Are there any social events that you don’t enjoy? I don’t like events that are too noisy to carry on a conversation at.
7. What is something you grew out of that meant a lot to you at the time? I was very into playing tennis when I was in high school. Not that I was ever any good at it, but I played pretty much every day. I played a little in college, but it took more effort to get court time (and, for that matter, to find people to play with), so I ended up losing interest.
8. What is a view about the world that has changed for you as you’ve gotten older I don’t think that my world view has fundamentally changed over the years. For example, I think most people are basically good, but it only takes a small number of evil ones to screw things up for everyone.
9. What is a fad you fell into? How do you feel about it now? I’ve done some exercise fads, e.g. Jazzercise. I’ve gone through some clothing fads, especially in my early teens, when I learned to crochet so I could make shrink vests and got a POW/MIA bracelet, and wore elephant bell bottoms. Those things were pretty harmless and I think experimenting with them let me develop my own sense of style.
10. What is something you would like to be able to say no to more often? I’m actually pretty good at saying no to things I don’t want to do.
11. Is there anything you wish you didn’t have to do right now? Housework - especially dusting and vacuuming.
12. If you could go on a trip anywhere right now where would you go? Hmm, time travel would be pretty cool. I would love to visit the 2100’s and see how recent events turned out.
13. What is your best recent memory? I really do a lot of great things. I’d say the best of this year so far was the Moby Dick Marathon.
14. If you could choose between having a personal chef, housekeeper, or personal trainer which would you choose? I probably need the housekeeper the most.
15. What is your relationship to physical exercise? It’s complicated. I know I need exercise and I feel better when I get enough. But I have a hard time motivating myself to get started. I’m working on finding something that is convenient for me to get to that I will enjoy doing.
16. When you were a child how did you imagine your adult life? Until I was 30ish, I assumed I would get married and have children, as well as having a career in scientific research. My experiences in grad school steered me away from the academic life. And I got involved in the world’s longest running brief meaningless fling.
17. When was the last time you surprised yourself? I’ve reconnected with a few people I didn’t think I would.
18. If you could eliminate one thing from your life today what would it be? The clutter in my living room.
19. What is something you'd love to try? A multi-day bike trip.
20. Do you feel like you gained anything from the books you were required to read in school? I gained a lot from some of them. I continue to believe that the reasons o read classics is that they’ve spoken to a lot of people over the years. And, if nothing else, the standard curriculum provides a certain amount of cultural fluency.
21. What part(s) of your work do you enjoy the most? The least? Applying this to my work before I retired, I enjoyed being able to quickly learn a lot about some obscure technical matter (often by talking to the experts on the subject) and explain it to decision makers without the specific background to understand the details, helping them understand the implications. For example, this enabled me to help my customer extend the life of a satellite by several years after an early failure. The part of my work that I enjoyed the least was bureaucracy, especially the ineffective systems for routine things like mandatory training and various reporting requirements.
22. Why do you dress the way you do? Being retired, I can dress for comfort most of the time, which mostly means knit slacks and long-sleeve t-shirts this time of year. I do enjoy some flashes of what I think of as my personal style on suitable occasions, e.g. pins bought at crafts fairs, pretty scarves, and interesting shoes.
23. How old were you when you learned to drive? I took driver’s ed my senior year of high school, but didn’t really drive until my mid-20’s, when I moved to Los Angeles.
24. What is one thing you could change about today to make it more productive? It’s a bit late now, but I could have spent less time napping.
25. How could you be taking better care of yourself? Not eating junk food, getting more exercise, sleeping more regular hours.
26. Do you feel like its ever appropriate to be dishonest? I think white lies are fine at times, especially if we are talking about lies of omission to avoid hurting someone’s feelings.
27. If you could live another person’s life for a day whose would it be and why?
I’m sure that the question was intended to refer to another person, but I think it would be pleasant to be a spoiled house cat for a day.
28. What would you consider to be your love language(s)? Italian. (And, yes, I know that isn’t what the question means, but it’s more fun.)
2. Do you trust your intuition? Yes, I do for the most part.
3. When is the first time you felt like an adult? That’s tough. Probably when I got my first professional paycheck.
4. In what areas of your life are you most successful? I had a very successful aerospace engineering career.
5. What is a skill you have that you’re proud of? I am remarkable good at understanding public transportation.
6. Are there any social events that you don’t enjoy? I don’t like events that are too noisy to carry on a conversation at.
7. What is something you grew out of that meant a lot to you at the time? I was very into playing tennis when I was in high school. Not that I was ever any good at it, but I played pretty much every day. I played a little in college, but it took more effort to get court time (and, for that matter, to find people to play with), so I ended up losing interest.
8. What is a view about the world that has changed for you as you’ve gotten older I don’t think that my world view has fundamentally changed over the years. For example, I think most people are basically good, but it only takes a small number of evil ones to screw things up for everyone.
9. What is a fad you fell into? How do you feel about it now? I’ve done some exercise fads, e.g. Jazzercise. I’ve gone through some clothing fads, especially in my early teens, when I learned to crochet so I could make shrink vests and got a POW/MIA bracelet, and wore elephant bell bottoms. Those things were pretty harmless and I think experimenting with them let me develop my own sense of style.
10. What is something you would like to be able to say no to more often? I’m actually pretty good at saying no to things I don’t want to do.
11. Is there anything you wish you didn’t have to do right now? Housework - especially dusting and vacuuming.
12. If you could go on a trip anywhere right now where would you go? Hmm, time travel would be pretty cool. I would love to visit the 2100’s and see how recent events turned out.
13. What is your best recent memory? I really do a lot of great things. I’d say the best of this year so far was the Moby Dick Marathon.
14. If you could choose between having a personal chef, housekeeper, or personal trainer which would you choose? I probably need the housekeeper the most.
15. What is your relationship to physical exercise? It’s complicated. I know I need exercise and I feel better when I get enough. But I have a hard time motivating myself to get started. I’m working on finding something that is convenient for me to get to that I will enjoy doing.
16. When you were a child how did you imagine your adult life? Until I was 30ish, I assumed I would get married and have children, as well as having a career in scientific research. My experiences in grad school steered me away from the academic life. And I got involved in the world’s longest running brief meaningless fling.
17. When was the last time you surprised yourself? I’ve reconnected with a few people I didn’t think I would.
18. If you could eliminate one thing from your life today what would it be? The clutter in my living room.
19. What is something you'd love to try? A multi-day bike trip.
20. Do you feel like you gained anything from the books you were required to read in school? I gained a lot from some of them. I continue to believe that the reasons o read classics is that they’ve spoken to a lot of people over the years. And, if nothing else, the standard curriculum provides a certain amount of cultural fluency.
21. What part(s) of your work do you enjoy the most? The least? Applying this to my work before I retired, I enjoyed being able to quickly learn a lot about some obscure technical matter (often by talking to the experts on the subject) and explain it to decision makers without the specific background to understand the details, helping them understand the implications. For example, this enabled me to help my customer extend the life of a satellite by several years after an early failure. The part of my work that I enjoyed the least was bureaucracy, especially the ineffective systems for routine things like mandatory training and various reporting requirements.
22. Why do you dress the way you do? Being retired, I can dress for comfort most of the time, which mostly means knit slacks and long-sleeve t-shirts this time of year. I do enjoy some flashes of what I think of as my personal style on suitable occasions, e.g. pins bought at crafts fairs, pretty scarves, and interesting shoes.
23. How old were you when you learned to drive? I took driver’s ed my senior year of high school, but didn’t really drive until my mid-20’s, when I moved to Los Angeles.
24. What is one thing you could change about today to make it more productive? It’s a bit late now, but I could have spent less time napping.
25. How could you be taking better care of yourself? Not eating junk food, getting more exercise, sleeping more regular hours.
26. Do you feel like its ever appropriate to be dishonest? I think white lies are fine at times, especially if we are talking about lies of omission to avoid hurting someone’s feelings.
27. If you could live another person’s life for a day whose would it be and why?
I’m sure that the question was intended to refer to another person, but I think it would be pleasant to be a spoiled house cat for a day.
28. What would you consider to be your love language(s)? Italian. (And, yes, I know that isn’t what the question means, but it’s more fun.)
