Getting Back to Real Life

I am finally more or less recovered from traveling for nearly a month (a 25 day trip, which I left on only a couple of days after a 5 day trip). So I have a lot of catching up to do.

Expect to see several entries over the next couple of weeks, though I also have a short trip (4 days) coming up shortly.

One quick annoyance today had to do with an investment. I have two brokerage accounts for various reasons. There's one stock in both accounts. Both brokerages sent me thick prospectuses (prospecti?) re: an opportunity associated with this stock. Brokerage A had a cover letter telling me the deadline to reply to them was August 16th, but, when I tried to act on it, they told me the deadline had been the 14th. That was in an email they sent, but I assumed the letter that accompanied the prospectus was correct. Brokerage B had a deadline of the 17th, but made it difficult to figure out how to act on it. In the end, I managed to do this with a phone call, but it was annoying that I couldn't do it on their website (which is poorly designed in several ways). This also included the annoyance of having to listen to their ad for a credit card reward program.

July 2023 Prompts - Part 1

1 – Second Half of the Year Day: How would you rate the first half of this year? Are there things you could change going forward to make the second half of the year better? I did a lot of fun and interesting things, but I also had to deal with financial fraud (check and credit card stolen from a mailbox at the post office). Without the latter, it would have been an A, but I’ll have to lower it to a B+ rating. The main thing I could change to make the second half of the year better is to actually spend time cleaning and organizing.

2 – I Forgot Day: Are you forgetful? Do you have trouble remembering holidays, anniversaries, birthdays, doctors' appointments, etc.? Do you have any tricks or aids to help you remember important dates? I usually remember things I have to do. But I am also heavily dependent on my calendar and on to-do lists.

3 – International Plastic Bag Free Day: Some localities are banning the use of plastic bags or charging a small amount for each one used. Is this an initiative where you live? Have you taken steps to reduce or eliminate the number of plastic bags that you use? Is there something for which you use plastic bags that you can't think of anything else that you could use for that purpose? We have a county fee of 5 cents to get a plastic bag at a store. That has gotten me to be pretty good about taking reusable shopping bags with me. However, I can’t completely eliminate plastic bags because my condo complex requires their use for throwing out our trash. I also find zip-lic bags useful for packing toiletries when traveling.

4 – Alice in Wonderland Day: Have you read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and/or Through the Looking Glass? What about the various film adaptations -- have you seen any of those? Alice is the best book ever written about almost every subject and I reread it regularly (typically twice a year). The Disney adaptation was just okay. I’ve seen a couple of ballet versions and the only memorable thing about them was that one of them had a very clever way of doing the caterpillar.

5 – Mechanical Pencil Day: Mechanical pencils are inherently superior to regular pencils if only for one reason: you don't have to sharpen them. Do you, or did you, use mechanical pencils at school or on the job, or just out of personal preference? I use mechanical pencils out of preference, particularly when doing puzzles.

6 – Fried Chicken Day: Do you like fried chicken? Do you make your own, or do you prefer take-out? What's your favourite place to get fried chicken? I don’t particularly like fried chicken and only eat it maybe every two years ago.

7 – Tell the Truth Day: What would happen if everyone on earth spoke only the 100% truth today -- no sugar-coating or lying by omission? There would be violence and chaos everywhere. We can’t handle the truth.

8 – SCUD Day: SCUD Day stands for "Savor the Comic, Unplug the Drama" Day, and encourages those of us whose lives might have a touch too much drama to step back, relax, and enjoy the funnier side of life. Is there too much drama in your life right now? Even if there isn't, what would you do to turn the drama down a bit and enjoy a good laugh instead? I have a problem with this assumption that drama and comedy are opposites.

9 – Dimples Day: Only 20-30% of the entire world population has dimples. Are you one of these rare individuals? What type of dimple do you have -- dimple on both cheeks, chin dimple, one-sided cheek dimple, corner of the mouth dimple? I have a chin dimple.

10 – Don't Step on a Bee Day: is an important reminder that the fate of the common bee lies in the balance – with bee numbers in some countries having halved in the last decade with no apparent cause. Some localities are taking measures to help the bee population, for example, planting wildflowers by the side of roads/on road medians or encouraging residents to move away from a manicured lawn to a yard full of flowers. Are you aware of any such measures where you live? Do you agree that if bees disappear, life would change significantly for humans (and not in a good way)? I’m aware of our need for bees (as pollinators, for example), but not aware of any specific measures to help them around here.

11 – World Population Day: World Population Day comes along each year to remind us that our present rate of population growth is unsustainable, and the present social and logistical issues we are experiencing to meet the demand of that population will only get worse if we don't do something. What can be done to slow population growth? Can we effectively fight climate change without addressing the global population issue? Addressing the reasons people have large families would be the most effective brake on population growth. My understanding is that this is largely a function of high levels of infant mortality in the developing world. If we can find ways to ensure children grow to be strong, healthy adults, there will be less demand for large families.

12 – Simplicity Day: What steps could you take to declutter your life, both mentally and physically, and keep things simple? I have lots of things to get rid of, for a start. I also really need to consolidate a lot of financial things - I have more accounts than I should, for example.

13 – Embrace your Geekness Day: A geek is someone who is completely obsessed with one or more subjects, and can speak fluently on it for hours, sounding like a walking encyclopedia of geeky facts. In what ways would you describe yourself as geeky? Where do I start? I am totally geeky about several things including folklore, musicals, polar exploration, and travel.

14 – Mac & Cheese Day: Macaroni and cheese is a comfort dish for many, an old childhood favourite. In Canada, it's practically a national dish if you're referring to good old KD -- Kraft Dinner, or Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Dinner. Even upscale restaurants are featuring gourmet variations of this classic. Was mac & cheese something you ate as a kid? Do you still eat it regularly, or occasionally? If you've tried restaurant variations, what is the most interesting take on mac & cheese that you've come across? I don’t remember eating macaroni and cheese as a kid, but it may have been something we had once in a while. (One could probably consider the dairy version of lukshen kugel, i.e. noodle pudding, as a variant of it, but that is made with egg noodles, not macaroni. And I don’t think we ate it very often either.) I think we probably did make it in home ec class in junior high. It’s not something I have particular feelings one way or the other about. I am fairly sure I’ve only made it once in my life.

15 – Give Something Away Day: What is one thing of yours that you would consider giving away to someone in need? I have way too many t-shirts and those could easily be given away.

16 – Personal Chef Day: If you could afford it, would you like to have a personal chef? Would you have them cook all your meals, or only supper/dinner? I think it would be nice to have somebody cook one or two meals a week for me, but I’m mostly fine with cooking for myself.

17 – Tattoo Day: Do you have any tattoos? If yes, how many, what and where are they? If you don't, would you ever consider getting one? Is yes, where on your body would it be, and what would you likely get tattooed? If no, why not? I do not have any tattoos and would never get one. It’s contrary to Jewish values.

18 – World Listening Day: Rather than simply listening to other people talk, World Listening Day was created to draw attention to the way humans need to be listening to the world around us, including environmental awareness, soundscapes and acoustic ecology. What does the world around you sound like right now? One thing I like about where I live is that I hear a lot of bird songs. I also hear weather related sounds, e.g. wind and rain. But my favorite environmental sounds are at the ocean.

19 – Daiquiri Day: Do you drink daiquiris, or any other cocktails? Do you make your own at home or are they something you reserve for an evening out at a restaurant or other social event? I drink daiquiris now and then, but my go-to cocktail is a gin and tonic. I sometimes make cocktails at home but I’m more likely to get one when I go out to dinner with friends.

20 – International Chess Day: Do you play, or have you ever played, chess? I played chess for a while in the early 1970’s, mostly as part of the Bobby Fischer related fad for it. I haven’t really played it since at least high school. However, my grandfather had a cousin (so my cousin twice removed) who was the Lithuanian women’s chess champion in 1954 and 1955 and the Israeli women’s chess champion in 1957.

21 – Junk Food Day: What is your favourite junk food? Is this something you eat regularly, or is it something you turn to when you're stressed, or that you reserve as a special treat or reward for yourself? I tend to like salty snacks like corn chips or popcorn or nuts. Though I do also like ice cream, which is more of a special treat.

22 – Day Of the Cowboy: Do you like Westerns (either books, movies, or TV shows)? What about country and western music? I’m not a big fan of Westerns. Nor do I like most country and western music.

23 – Peanut Butter and Chocolate Day: Match made in heaven or something to be avoided at all costs? This can be a delicious combination, though I prefer other chocolate treats.

24 – Everybody Deserves a Massage Week: The third week of July is Everybody Deserves a Massage Week. Do you go for regular (or occasional) massages? Have you tried different types of massage: Swedish, Shiatsu, deep tissue, etc.? Do you have a favourite? I’ve only had a few massages in my life. The best was a hot stone massage, which I found especially relaxing.

25 – Hot Fudge Sundae Day OR Wine and Cheese Day: Which would you go for? Neither is really on the top of my list, but I guess I’d go for the hot fudge sundae.

26 – All or Nothing Day: If it was your last day on Earth, what would you do? Panic? I suppose I’d want to spend time with my favorite people.

27 – Refreshment Day: What is your go-to refreshment on hot summer days? Is this something you enjoy year-round, or that you mainly drink in the summer? Something citrusy. I love Bitter Lemon, but it’s often hard to obtain in the U.S. Polar makes a diet dry orange soda which is a pretty good alternative. This is, indeed, more of a summer thing, but I’d enjoy at other times of year, too.

28 – Talk in an Elevator Day: If you're with another person (or a group of people) and you get into an elevator, do you continue any conversation you were engaged in, or do you wait until you step out of the elevator? Does it unnerve or annoy you if someone starts talking to you in an elevator? This depends. Is this just a random elevator in some office building? Or is it somewhere I go frequently? If it’s a familiar place, I’d probably go on with the conversation, but not if it’s a more public setting.

29 – Rain Day: Do you like rainy days? Does it rain a lot where you live? Have you ever been caught in a torrential downpour? I like rain when I’m inside. It rains a fair amount where I live. More importantly, the rain is distributed more or less evenly throughout the year, instead of having a rainy season. I’ve been caught in more than one torrential downpour, most memorably as a teenager riding my bike home through what turned out to be an early rain band of a hurricane.

30 – Whistleblower Day: Part of living in a country with a fair rule of law is making sure that corruption and misconduct do not go unnoticed. A whistleblower is an individual who reports suspicious activity, such as violations, exploitation, misrepresentations, or other infractions. The activity may be within an organization, either public or private. If you witnessed, or were aware of, corruption and misconduct in your workplace, would you speak up about it, even if it meant potentially losing your job? If I was aware of serious misconduct, I like to think I’d speak up about it.

31 – Picnic Month: July is national Picnic Month. Have you ever been on a picnic? Do you enjoy eating outdoors? If you were organizing a picnic, what foods would you bring? I’ve been on several picnics in my life. They can be enjoyable. To me picnic foods are pretty much anything that doesn’t require reheating - cold cuts and salads, for example.