THREW Mikes EyEz

What are 5 everyday things that bring you happiness? – Asks the daily writing prompt.

1. I’m always happy waking up each day.
2. A Coke in the morning.
3. Talking with family and friends.
4. Food
5. A hug and kiss.

What is the most fun way to exercise? – Asks the daily prompt.

Besides the obvious one we all enjoy. I’d say basketball was the most fun I had exercising. But this body doesn’t play much anymore so I like to walk with my camera. I did about 4-5 miles yesterday.

Weightlifting is fun. I always enjoyed playing baseball as a youth but never thought of that as a lot of exercise.

Working on my home and yard is good exercise. Sometimes too much.

Detailing my car is fun exercise.

But the MOST FUN way to exercise for me is playing with my grandchildren.

The daily prompt asks – If you could be a character from a book or film, who would you be? Why?

I would like to be the grandfather in the book my kids gave me called Grandpa’s Wish List. It’s a book I can read to the young ones on all the things I’d like to do and build for them and adventures to go on. It’s a short children’s book but one that reminds me to be that person for them. Not that I have much problem remembering their importance to me.

The daily prompt asks a question that isn’t one of my favorites – How have you adapted to the changes brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic?

Fine I get my shot each year. Just like I get my flu shot every year. I believe in science. I know it’s not exact. Not much in life is.

What are your morning rituals? What does the first hour of your day look like? – Another personal question from the daily prompt.

I’m not a coffee drinker so my morning beverage is Coke. Sometimes I eat a large breakfast and sometimes nothing at all.

A little stretching to release the old body. Most days some light dumbbells. Some days the treadmill.

Check email and text, start my first blog post of the morning.

Look at the sunrise if there is one. Listen to the wildlife outside if it’s not winter.

I usually turn on the TV but try not to sit in front of it. Sometimes music which I’m trying to make more the norm.

Pretty much every morning I’ll write my kids a short email.

A good morning to my better half.

I’ll look around my office and change something. Then to the to-do list and update.

I’m trying to remember to watch or read something funny to start the day.

Which aspects do you think makes a person unique? – Asks the daily prompt.

In some ways, just about everything about us is unique. Appearance, speech, mannerisms, smell, taste, interpretation and more. And in some ways, we are all the same.

Everyone laughs, just a little differently and maybe sometimes at different things. How a person grieves is unique. A lot of it may look the same but it’s personal to that individual and them only. The memory of that event will be their own and different from yours. The way we experience things is unique.

That is what makes all our interactions so special because other people can’t replicate it.

That is something AI can’t replace – our uniqueness.

We are like leaves on a tree, looking the same, but no two alike. Headstones all similar, yet a different story underneath each.

I also answered this question in a previous post 2 years ago called Uniqueness.

What was the best compliment you’ve received? – A fairly simple question from the daily prompt.

I’m not sure which is exactly the best, but when my children say I love you Dad or my grandchildren say I love you, Papa from doing something for them, that is the best. It can be as simple as sharing a snack with the young ones or sharing a meal with the kids. Usually with the young ones, it’s from spending time playing with them. Or the kids saying thanks for our family week at the beach.

When friends belly laughs at my humor that’s a great compliment. When a friend tells me years later how important some photos I took and gave him are to him.

I haven’t been on the professional side for a while now, but I used to like when managers were perplexed in how I saw systems in trouble so early or how I fixed things so fast at times. Or when we discovered fixes that weren’t in the manual or tech data in the early years before the internet. I remember vendors coming to us at times to see what and how we were using their equipment or software.

What strategies do you use to cope with negative feelings? – An interesting question that we all should ponder.

Music helps me with negative feelings. So does driving my Miata. Writing or photography helps at times. Exercise helps a little but not much. Watch some comedy clips. Call a friend to laugh with. Sometimes though, being alone to sort through things is what I need.

I have gotten better at turning around negative feelings more quickly than in the past. A best friend reminds me that you can’t control what happens to you always, but you can control how you react/respond to it.

How you respond sometime is even more important than what causes negativity to enter your life. I’m glad my friend reminds me of this every so often in our conversations. We’re pretty good at picking up when each other struggles.