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December 2024 Prompts
Mar. 2nd, 2025 07:25 pmI'm back to the oh so slow catch-up.
1. How Often Do You Leave Your ‘Comfort Zone’? I like to try to get out of my comfort zone, but I probably don’t stretch too far as often as I’d like to.
2. With Whom Would You Share Your Passwords? How About Your Debit Card and PIN? I don’t share passwords or PIN numbers with anyone.
3. What Would You Do if You Won the Lottery? My usual rule of thumb for windfalls is to divide them between charity, savings, and some sort of splurge, usually travel related.
4. When in Your Life Have You Been a Leader? I’ve coordinated planning and organized volunteers for several events - mostly storytelling related, but also involving work projects before I retired. I’m also the chief entertainment organizer for a group of my friends.
5. How Should You Handle the End of a Friendship? It depends on what caused the friendship to end. A lot of friendships end naturally because you no longer are involved in the same activities, in which case I don’t really need to do anything. If there was a serious falling out because of bad behavior (either yours or the friend's),it’s often worth assessing whether or not the situation is salvageable.
6. What’s the Best Advice You’ve Gotten? When I was in college, someone I knew who was a couple of years ahead of me told me I should study whatever I was interested in because there was no point studying something I didn’t like to prepare for a career doing something I didn’t like. Another friend around the same time told me that he always bought season tickets for things like the symphony because it helped him make sure things that he wanted to do got the highest priorities.
7. What Is Your All-Time Favorite Piece of Clothing? I bought a wonderful hand-painted long sleeve t-shirt from a project near Cape Town, which provided work training for women from rural areas. I wore it frequently for about 15 years and was deeply disappointed when it finally wore out.
8. What Small Things Have You Seen and Taken Note Of Today? Does trying to clean out old e-mail count?
9. How Should Parents Discipline Their Kids? My parents relied mostly on the “we’d be so disappointed in you” line to try to keep me from doing something they didn’t want me to.
10. How Do You Get Your Nature Fix? I walk in parks near where I live.
11. When Should You Compromise? I’m willing to compromise on things that are not particularly important to me, e.g. deciding what restaurant to go out to.
12. How Important Is Keeping a Clean House? I think it should be important, but I am very clearly not at all good at actually doing it.
13. Does Stress Affect Your Ability to Make Good Decisions? Stress definitely gets in the way of my getting things done. I think I can still make good decisions, but it really helps if I can talk those decisions over with other people.
14. What’s the Best Gift You’ve Ever Given or Received? I once bought a friend a small pillow made from a West African fabric. I saw it at a crafts fair and it immediately jumped out at me as something he would like. (And he was, indeed, enthusiastic about it.)
15. What Annoys You? It annoys me when somebody calls me and says they have a quick question and then goes on to talk for over an hour.
16. If the World Was Ending, What Would You Want to Do? Say goodbye to various people.
17. What Role Does Procrastination Play in Your Life? I am very good at procrastinating on doing things that end up taking surprisingly little time once I just buckle down and do them. Exhibit A: how long it took me to write this journal entry.
18. Have You Ever Changed Your Mind About a Hot-Button Issue? I’ve definitely changed my mind about things like whether or not I like a particular performer or how I feel about some type of food. I’m less likely to change my mind about political issues, though it can happen when I learn more about the impact of an issue on people’s lives.
19. What Are the Best Things You’ve Watched, Read, Heard or Played This Year? Assuming this actually refers to 2024, I saw a lot of really enjoyable theatre. I’ll write up my year in review real soon with details.
20. Was There a Toy You Wanted as a Child but Never Got? I really wanted a chemistry set, and my aunt bought me a “make your own perfume kit” as what she thought was a more suitable feminine alternative. However, I did get to play with my brother’s chemistry set.
21. Have You Ever Given, or Received, a Perfect Gift? I’m not sure how this differs from question 14.
22. When Is the Last Time You Did Something Nice for a Stranger? I often give directions to strangers, e.g. helping someone understand what metro stop they should get off the train at.
23. Do You Ever Eavesdrop? Before I retired, I had an office across the hall from someone who was much higher up the chain than I was and who tended to talk loudly with his door open. I couldn’t really avoid overhearing him. But I’ll admit I often got useful info from his conversations.
24. What Things Did You Create When You Were a Child? I made things like doll clothes (including drawing and cutting out clothes for Betsy McCall paper dolls, as well as sewing Barbie clothes). I also taught myself to crochet and made granny square afghans and shrink vests and so on.
25. What Are the Best Things in Life and Are They Free? Music, theatre, art, and storytelling are high up on my list. Some of them are free, but I have no objection to paying to support people who create things.
26. How Stoic Are You? I think I’m relatively stoic, largely because I have a higher pain threshold than is probably good for me.
27. As A Child/Teen - Where Did You Think You Would Live When You Were an Adult? Having grown up in a town with a population of under 5000 on a good day, I knew I wanted to live in a city. Boston was love at first sight for me. (And I’d still happily move back there if it weren’t so bloody expensive.)
28. What Role Will Robots Play in Our Future? I can see some utility to robots that assist people with chores, but it would have to be for specific applications.
29. If You Had Siblings - Did Your Parents Treat You Differently? If Not, Did You Wish You Had Siblings? I think my parents did treat my brother and me somewhat differently, but we were different enough people that it made sense for the most part.
30. Do You Look Forward to New Year’s Eve? I generally pay very little attention to New Year’s Eve, mostly because I feel no need to spend time with drunk people. Typically, I end up playing board games with friends.
31. Do You Make New Year’s Resolutions? I do set goals.
1. How Often Do You Leave Your ‘Comfort Zone’? I like to try to get out of my comfort zone, but I probably don’t stretch too far as often as I’d like to.
2. With Whom Would You Share Your Passwords? How About Your Debit Card and PIN? I don’t share passwords or PIN numbers with anyone.
3. What Would You Do if You Won the Lottery? My usual rule of thumb for windfalls is to divide them between charity, savings, and some sort of splurge, usually travel related.
4. When in Your Life Have You Been a Leader? I’ve coordinated planning and organized volunteers for several events - mostly storytelling related, but also involving work projects before I retired. I’m also the chief entertainment organizer for a group of my friends.
5. How Should You Handle the End of a Friendship? It depends on what caused the friendship to end. A lot of friendships end naturally because you no longer are involved in the same activities, in which case I don’t really need to do anything. If there was a serious falling out because of bad behavior (either yours or the friend's),it’s often worth assessing whether or not the situation is salvageable.
6. What’s the Best Advice You’ve Gotten? When I was in college, someone I knew who was a couple of years ahead of me told me I should study whatever I was interested in because there was no point studying something I didn’t like to prepare for a career doing something I didn’t like. Another friend around the same time told me that he always bought season tickets for things like the symphony because it helped him make sure things that he wanted to do got the highest priorities.
7. What Is Your All-Time Favorite Piece of Clothing? I bought a wonderful hand-painted long sleeve t-shirt from a project near Cape Town, which provided work training for women from rural areas. I wore it frequently for about 15 years and was deeply disappointed when it finally wore out.
8. What Small Things Have You Seen and Taken Note Of Today? Does trying to clean out old e-mail count?
9. How Should Parents Discipline Their Kids? My parents relied mostly on the “we’d be so disappointed in you” line to try to keep me from doing something they didn’t want me to.
10. How Do You Get Your Nature Fix? I walk in parks near where I live.
11. When Should You Compromise? I’m willing to compromise on things that are not particularly important to me, e.g. deciding what restaurant to go out to.
12. How Important Is Keeping a Clean House? I think it should be important, but I am very clearly not at all good at actually doing it.
13. Does Stress Affect Your Ability to Make Good Decisions? Stress definitely gets in the way of my getting things done. I think I can still make good decisions, but it really helps if I can talk those decisions over with other people.
14. What’s the Best Gift You’ve Ever Given or Received? I once bought a friend a small pillow made from a West African fabric. I saw it at a crafts fair and it immediately jumped out at me as something he would like. (And he was, indeed, enthusiastic about it.)
15. What Annoys You? It annoys me when somebody calls me and says they have a quick question and then goes on to talk for over an hour.
16. If the World Was Ending, What Would You Want to Do? Say goodbye to various people.
17. What Role Does Procrastination Play in Your Life? I am very good at procrastinating on doing things that end up taking surprisingly little time once I just buckle down and do them. Exhibit A: how long it took me to write this journal entry.
18. Have You Ever Changed Your Mind About a Hot-Button Issue? I’ve definitely changed my mind about things like whether or not I like a particular performer or how I feel about some type of food. I’m less likely to change my mind about political issues, though it can happen when I learn more about the impact of an issue on people’s lives.
19. What Are the Best Things You’ve Watched, Read, Heard or Played This Year? Assuming this actually refers to 2024, I saw a lot of really enjoyable theatre. I’ll write up my year in review real soon with details.
20. Was There a Toy You Wanted as a Child but Never Got? I really wanted a chemistry set, and my aunt bought me a “make your own perfume kit” as what she thought was a more suitable feminine alternative. However, I did get to play with my brother’s chemistry set.
21. Have You Ever Given, or Received, a Perfect Gift? I’m not sure how this differs from question 14.
22. When Is the Last Time You Did Something Nice for a Stranger? I often give directions to strangers, e.g. helping someone understand what metro stop they should get off the train at.
23. Do You Ever Eavesdrop? Before I retired, I had an office across the hall from someone who was much higher up the chain than I was and who tended to talk loudly with his door open. I couldn’t really avoid overhearing him. But I’ll admit I often got useful info from his conversations.
24. What Things Did You Create When You Were a Child? I made things like doll clothes (including drawing and cutting out clothes for Betsy McCall paper dolls, as well as sewing Barbie clothes). I also taught myself to crochet and made granny square afghans and shrink vests and so on.
25. What Are the Best Things in Life and Are They Free? Music, theatre, art, and storytelling are high up on my list. Some of them are free, but I have no objection to paying to support people who create things.
26. How Stoic Are You? I think I’m relatively stoic, largely because I have a higher pain threshold than is probably good for me.
27. As A Child/Teen - Where Did You Think You Would Live When You Were an Adult? Having grown up in a town with a population of under 5000 on a good day, I knew I wanted to live in a city. Boston was love at first sight for me. (And I’d still happily move back there if it weren’t so bloody expensive.)
28. What Role Will Robots Play in Our Future? I can see some utility to robots that assist people with chores, but it would have to be for specific applications.
29. If You Had Siblings - Did Your Parents Treat You Differently? If Not, Did You Wish You Had Siblings? I think my parents did treat my brother and me somewhat differently, but we were different enough people that it made sense for the most part.
30. Do You Look Forward to New Year’s Eve? I generally pay very little attention to New Year’s Eve, mostly because I feel no need to spend time with drunk people. Typically, I end up playing board games with friends.
31. Do You Make New Year’s Resolutions? I do set goals.
