Photo by Shirly Niv Marton

It’s a bit strange when I think to myself: am I really living the best life I possibly can? I am trying to. Am I trying hard enough though? I actually want to say “I don’t know”, but at this point, the better answer is no, not yet, I’m not.

I can do better. The whole world seems to be in a slump, but that’s really no excuse.

What do you think? Am I just viewing things through dark gray lenses?

Inspired by: Continue | The Daily Post

Some day, you’ll see!

Today is the first day of the rest of your life.

Today is gonna be the be the day that they’re gonna throw it back to you.

Take life one day at a time.

I’m participating in the A-to-Z Challenge! Today’s letter is D. You can find out more about it here:

D

Copper is an interesting metal. It’s fairly common, so it’s used in many ways, from currency to electronics. It’s also an element I never give much thought to, except to recall that when it oxidizes, you get the greenish color.
I just recalled that it’s also one of the words in the English language that can refer to a police officer, although it’s not one I hear often, being an American. I do read some literature, so that’s the last place I recall seeing it.
All this talk of copper got me thinking about pennies, so here’s a couple of sayings I’m aware of:

Find a penny, pick it up, and all the day you’ll have good luck.

–Unknown

A penny saved is a penny earned.

–Benjamin Franklin

I’m participating in the A-to-Z Challenge! Today’s letter is C. You can find out more about it here:


featured photo by Joanna Kosinska

It begins with a step out the front door. Then, I step off the porch and walk to the rough driveway, where my noble steed (car) awaits.

I’m usually parked next to the outer edge, so that’s right next to a pretty tall hedge. This hedge, depending on the season, sometimes sheds blossoms on my car. That’s the reason I usually get this spot – my car’s not anything awesome to look at. The tiny flowers stick amazingly when wet, so that’s the only annoying part of the parking spot.

At any rate, I get the car going and back out, slowly. Extra slow because it’s super hard to see the road on the right (tall hedge.) Once I’m out, the first decision, up or down the hill?

Up (east) can be blinding in the fall and summer due to the sun, but sometimes, it’s faster since it’s usually a route with less freeway time. Morning traffic is often heavy in the local area, so a bit more street time can pay off to avoid the freeway crawl.

The route is a bit of a branching set of options until I’m nearly out of my home city and into the canyon, which narrows the trip down to 2 choices – the freeway, or the canyon road that shadows it for about a mile before veering westward. If the freeway is especially clogged, the canyon road is the only option to avoid a huge delay.

The next major street for the canyon road is the one my office’s building is on, so I turn eastward onto it and drive a few more blocks. Or, if on the freeway, it’s an exit and quick turns, right then left, onto the same street. A few blocks down and the building looms on the right. I turn in and proceed to the rear, where there’s a parking structure. Nearly every time, I park on the second floor, the top. Most of the bottom is reserved parking, and I’m not an exec. It’s cool because I need my steps.

It’s a brief walk to the building (the left of a set of almost identical structures) and an elevator ride to the proper floor. I electronically key the door nearest my wing and enter. The coolest part is that, upon getting within proximity of my station (an inside office), my computer unlocks, and its desktop is ready to go (usually – unless it had to reboot for an update.) I clock in and get to work for the day.

I often wonder if other commuters have a more enjoyable trip.

Your turn!

Describe the way you get to school or to work every day. (Source is #92 on the list, 100 Prompts For Writing About Yourself)

Featured image credit: Jannik Selz

My room is still a mess. It’s slowly coming together, though. I chip away at the piles of “stuff” whenever I get a solid block of free time. That’s usually on a Saturday or Sunday with no events or evening events.

The more I do this, the more things I realize don’t have a high nostalgia value and are just clutter. Tossing them out feels pretty good. I’ve already got a couple of laundry basket loads of clothes for the local Goodwill. It’ll feel excellent not to be laundering those anymore.

After I conquer my room, I think it’ll be time to get to the inside of my car and its trunk. Those have both been suffering for a long time. They’ve also been hiding a few useful items, preventing them from being used or cared for.

On a somewhat related note, I also started regrowing part of my beard, after a trim of the wild stuff that’s my cheek areas. I’m getting more serious about it now, making sure to take care of both the hairs (with beard oil) and the skin underneath. I want it to look and feel good to the touch, so it’s the least I could do.

Your turn! Be inspired by the word clean.

Prompt: Clean

Bonus: Guess what day it is again…

Photo by Markus Spiske

I’d already posted recently about my intentions for the new year, so I’d like to add another one. It’s a renewal of previous year’s attempt to post daily. I simply did not push myself hard enough to do over the past year. There are no excuses, and this post is me being accountable for it. Now that I got that out the way, here’s me renewing my intention. If you know me personally, I really want you to nag me about this. I should see “did you write today?” messages and texts if it’s getting close to the evening and nothing’s up on the blog here.

via Daily Prompt: Renewal