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 |    My primary Writing.com blog. |
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Logocentric (adj). Regarding words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality (especially applied as a negative term to traditional Western thought by postmodernist critics). Sometimes I just write whatever I feel like. Other times I respond to prompts, many taken from the following places:  "The Soundtrackers Group"  "Invalid Item" "Blogging Circle of Friends " "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" "JAFBG" "Take up Your Cross" Thanks for stopping by!  |
| "Invalid Item" Andre's Fractured Resolutions Week 2 | Prompt 1 ▼ I was listening to a podcast the other day (Episode 103 of Offline with Jon Favreau titled "The Science of Achieving (and Enjoying) Your New Years' Resolution"), which included an interview with Wharton professor Katy Milkman about the limits of willpower, the science behind habit formation, and ideas for building incentives to accomplish your goals. My big takeaway was that trying to accomplish something by willpower alone is almost always destined for failure. Basically, willpower saps your energy, so trying to "push through" something with sheer force of will usually ends with you hitting a wall, exhausted, and then giving up.The recommendation for those who want to form better habits is to create incentives and alternatives that are appealing to you. If you're trying to eat healthier, get rid of all the junk food in your house and replace it with something better. By creating a barrier to the bad behavior (you have to go out and buy junk food if you want it), you make it more likely that you'll make a good decision. Keep in mind though, that "better alternative" doesn't always mean you have to set unrealistic standards. If you swap our your Doritos for raw kale, you're probably still going to drive to the nearest convenience store to get Doritos when you have a craving. But if you swap out your Doritos with a healthier chip or similar snack, it's more likely you'll say, "Ugh, I'd have to drive all the way to the store to get Doritos... I guess these veggie sticks or mixed nuts will give me that crunch I'm looking for..." The other option is to create incentives so you want to do the new habit. If you hate going to the gym, is there other exercise that you do enjoy? Maybe a hike or a bike ride outdoors? What about swimming instead of huffing away on a treadmill? Or what if you gave yourself an incentive to go to the gym... like if you manage to go every day for a week, you'll allow yourself to have a reward. The optimal solution is to combine both (which is called "habit stacking"), where you create multiple incentives at the same time. Let's say you want to lose weight and get in shape. You could replace the bad snacks at home with healthier options, and sign up for a gym. You could set an incentive where, if you can go five days without slipping (i.e., missing a gym day or eating a bad snack) then on the weekend you can treat yourself to a dessert with dinner. Or have a small serving of that snack you've been craving all week. Maybe the trick is to not make any definitive resolutions at all, because resolutions by definition imply achievement by willpower. Maybe the key to achieving your goals is less resolving to change and more building habits that naturally facilitate the change you seek. (499 words) |
| "Invalid Item" Andre's Fractured Resolutions Week 1 | Prompt 2 ▼ The Muse looked over the contract Andre slid in front of him. "You're selling the Banana Bar?" "Thinking about it," Andre replied. "But... why?" The Muse asked. Andre pointed to and tapped the paragraph that included the sale price. The Muse's eyes went wide. "I had no idea it was worth that much." "Neither did I," Andre said. "But it's certainly worth considering with an offer like that." "Did you read the rest of the fine print?" "Pfft," Andre scoffed. "What for? I'm going to be rich. I can afford to not sweat the small stuff now." "This isn't really small stuff," The Muse muttered, scanning the rest of the contract. "It says here that they reserve the right to use the land however they please, up to and including demolishing the Banana Bar and reselling the empty lot to a company called BLP for conversion into a parking garage." Andre grabbed the contract back and skimmed it. "Wait, they want to bulldoze the Banana Bar?" "Probably to charge the hotels and other restaurants on this street $10 every fifteen minutes to valet their customers' rides." Andre sagged his shoulders behind the bar. "I can't let them do this to the Banana Bar," he lamented. "I was only thinking about selling when I could come back to the bar and enjoy a drink that someone else was going to make for me. I don't want it to go away completely." The Muse watched as Andre tore up the contract and tossed it into the trash behind the bar. "At least now you'll still get those free drinks as part of your for-profit public good company restructure," The Muse said. "Speaking of which, I'll have a Banana Alexander." Andre pulled out two glasses from behind the bar, along with the cognac from the top shelf. "You're trying to make me feel better with one of my favorite drinks." "It's the least I could do," The Muse said, "I'd feel awful if I passed up that much money on a deal." Andre glared at The Muse and subtly reached for the cheaper cognac on the bottom shelf. (355 words) |
| "Invalid Item" Andre's Fractured Resolutions Week 1 | Prompt 1 ▼ "Three hundred words a day?" The Muse scoffed. "That's a piece of cake. I can crank out three hundred words in, like, twenty to thirty minutes tops." "So why aren't you already doing it?" Andre asked, putting the finishing touches on a trio of RumChata Banana Cream Pie cocktails for a pair of patrons in the corner of the Banana Bar. "I'm just saying," The Muse replied, "That twenty to thirty minutes is, what, the time it takes to put in a quick workout at the gym? It's an easily accomplishable daily goal." "Speaking of the gym, how's that resolution going? I know that's not specifically your purview as a Muse, but still a similar 'easy' resolution that's not being carried out by your charge, right?" Andre carried two of the drinks to the patrons in the corner, then returned to his place behind the bar, picking up the third drink and eyeing it thirstily. "Why did you make three drinks if there are only two customers?" The Muse asked. "We just restructured the Banana Bar into one of those public-benefit corporation things. You know, the for profit company with a mission thingies? Like how TOMS gives away a pair of shoes for every pair sold? Or how Warby Parker gives away a pair of eyeglasses each time they sell one to a paying customer? Well, whenever a customer buys a drink here from now on, we also give one away." "It actually looks delicious. Can I have it?" "Sorry," Andre said, throwing back the drink. "The only member of the public the Banana Bar benefits is Andre. It's in the bylaws." "You're a menace." "And you're getting off-topic," Andre observed. "In fact, after all this, you didn't even meet your quota today." "One stinking word..." The Muse grumbled. (299 words)1 Footnotes |
| To qualify for my Watch List every month, the following has to be something that I've watched that's new to me. It doesn't necessarily have to be a current show, but it can't be reruns or rewatches of something I've already seen. So if I'm including it in this list, it means this month is the first time I've watched it. I'll put "DNF" (Did Not Finish) next to anything that I stopped watching and have no immediate plans to finish. Movies  Lion King II: Simba's Pride MigrationTelevision The Continental (Season 1) Halo (Season 1) Reacher (Season 2)I didn't watch a lot of new stuff this month. Lots of Christmas movies that I've seen a bunch of times (National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation will always be a classic, and we've been really enjoying the animated movies Klaus and Scrooge: A Christmas Carol on Netflix in recent years). We've also been rewatching some favorite shows like the Newsroom, so there's just a few things I watched this month that are new to me. I enjoyed Migration (Illumination's newest movie) but I didn't think it was as good as the Sing or Minion/Despicable Me franchises. The Continental was an interesting show... it was three 90-minute episodes, so essentially a trilogy of prequel movies to the John Wick franchise more than a television series. It was pretty good but I don't see myself rewatching it or anything. I'm five episodes in on the new season of Reacher which has been really great so far. It takes everything that was good about the first season and doubles down on it. As a fan of the book series, I was always going to be a fan of the show, but I'm really happy with how well they're adapting it for television. TOP PICK: Reacher (Season 2) |
It's the end of 2023, which means it's time to review all the reading and listening I've done over the past calendar year. Here's how this past year broke down in terms of titles and numbers: = favorite = also really enjoyedBooks (click to expand full list) ▼ After eight straight years of reading over 100 books a year, I intentionally scaled back this year and set a goal of 50 books. Overall, I enjoyed the much slower pace this year; I definitely was able to enjoy and appreciate books more than when I was powering through them at a rate of two a week. I didn't end up writing much more than in previous years or picking up any additional habits, but it was nice to take a more relaxed approach to the things I read this year. I'm looking forward to doing the same in 2024. Podcasts (click to expand full list) ▼ Last year, I wondered if the 900-ish podcasts I've listened to annually over the past few years would be some kind of equilibrium and it seems like it very much is. I listened to about 100 more than last year, but that's probably owed to the fact that there are a few new shorter-length podcasts that I've found and really enjoyed this year, including The Economics of Everyday Things (which are usually only 15-20 minutes long), as well as the fact that Scriptnotes did a series of about 50 mini episodes during the WGA writers' strike this year. Comics (click to expand full list) ▼ I read fewer comics than last year. For some reason, it just never occurs to me to open my comic book app (probably because I have a long list of books I want to read), but like last year, I'm going to resolve to read more comics in 2024 because I really do love the medium and want to get more familiar with what's being released. Scripts (click to expand full list) ▼ I only read about twenty scripts this year, same as last year. I still haven't quite gotten my mojo back when it comes to screenwriting, so it makes sense that I haven't been reading a lot of screenplays lately. I'd like to change that in 2024, but I'm also hesitant to be too prescriptive about what I'm trying to read. If scripts pop up that I want to read, I'll read them. TOTALS: 50 books, 971 podcasts, 13 comics, 18 scripts According to Goodreads, my book reading resulted in the following stats: Total Pages Read: 16,828 Average Pages Per Book: 336 Shortest Book: 78 pages Longest Book: 1,152 pages That's it for my 2023 reading... time to see what 2024 has in store!  |
| To qualify for my Watch List every month, the following has to be something that I've watched that's new to me. It doesn't necessarily have to be a current show, but it can't be reruns or rewatches of something I've already seen. So if I'm including it in this list, it means this month is the first time I've watched it. I'll put "DNF" (Did Not Finish) next to anything that I stopped watching and have no immediate plans to finish. Movies Cold Pursuit In the Line of Fire Leo The Omen Damien: Omen II Omen III: The Final Conflict Trolls: Band Together WishTelevision Parks & Recreation (Season 2) Selling Sunset (Season 7) Undercover Billionaire (Season 1)There wasn't anything I watched in November that I was absolutely in love with. I thought Disney's new animated movie Wish was enjoyable, but not particularly memorable, and In the Line of Fire was a compelling thriller but pretty dated at this point. For some reason I had never seen anything in The Omen franchise, so I thought it would be a fun bit of post-Halloween movie watching and wasn't disappointed. I still have two more entries in the series (the fourth one is about Damien's daughter, and there's a recent remake of the original) that I'll probably get to eventually. My favorite thing I watched this month, though, was Undercover Billionaire (which I talked about in more detail here: "Undercover Billionaire" ), which was an interesting experiment where a very wealthy person (the title "billionaire" is questionable) gets dropped off in a random city in the United States with $100, an old pickup truck, and a smartphone with no contacts or other resources... and his challenge is to build a business worth a million dollars in 90 days. It's an interesting (albeit somewhat flawed) theory about proving whether achieving the American Dream is still a possibility in this country.TOP PICK: Undercover Billionaire |
| It's the end the month of writing a blog post a day (or, more accurately, 30 blog posts in 30 days... some days I had to double-up (or more) to catch up). Overall, it was a surprisingly rewarding experience. Not because I think a ton of my blog entries are particularly great, but because - between this activity and NaNoWriMo - I got back into a daily writing habit for the first time in years and I really felt like I've started shaking off the rust and lethargy. I feel like I'm at the point in working out where you finally get into a groove and start to notice the first signs of not just being totally out of shape and lethargic anymore. A little more energy, a little more excitement... I really don't want to lose this momentum. It's been a long time since I've prioritized my writing and it feels good to make it a daily focus again. I might focus on a screenplay in December, and I'm definitely going to compete in "I Write in 2024" to keep active and make sure that I'm regularly putting stuff out there again. I might try to pick up a few more other activities and challenges to keep me on my toes.I'm happy with all the writing progress I've made this month and look forward to seeing what I can accomplish next month. |
| Today at work we were finally notified of what our end of year bonuses were going to be. They weren't great... but not as bad as they could have been considering the company went through layoffs, austerity measures, and two labor strikes in the past several months. Still, it's kind of a bummer to work really, really hard all year and have the bonuses be underwhelming. It's becoming a bit of a trend too... each of the past three years the job has gotten harder and the total compensation (including bonuses) has been less and less. It's a bit of a bummer, but I'm grateful to have a job with relative security, and that provides bonus compensation at all. I'm just hoping that next year is a little better and that we have better-performing projects that will result in improved financial rewards next year. One of these days, I'd love to actually be able to afford to buy a house... |
| I'll admit, I enjoy getting Spotify's end of the year "Wrapped" report, which summarizes listeners' habits for the year. With the caveat that my Spotify is also used by my family as our primary music-listening service at home, here's how my 2023 sorted out: I listened to music in 56 different genres, the five most popular of which were: Christian Contemporary, Movie Tunes, Pop, Alt Z, and Rock. The place that my musical tastes most identify with is Lynchburg, USA apparently. I played a total of 3,365 songs. The song I listened to most was "This Is How I Thank The Lord" by Mosaic MSC, which I played 76 times. The other four songs rounding out my Top 5 were: "Since You Been Gone" by Rainbow, "Psycho" by Taylor Acorn, "Every Hour" by David Leonard and Josh Baldwin, and "Surrender My Heart" by Carly Rae Jepsen. I listened for a total of 33,370 minutes this year and peaked on August 8 at 384 minutes that day. That puts me in the top 10% of all listeners on Spotify. There were 2,155 different musical artists I listened to last year, and Taylor Swift was - by far - the artists I listened to most with 6,113 minutes (almost 20% of the total amount I listened all year!). The other four artists in my Top 5 were Elevation Worship, UPPERROOM, Taylor Acorn, and Phil Wickham. Taylor Swift had 16 of my top 100 most listened-to songs of 2023. I guess we're a family of Swifties...   |
| I know I'm late to this topic but apparently Patrick Dempsey is People Magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" for 2023. And there's really only one correct response to the choice: That would have been an understandable choice during the early 2000s when he was playing leading man characters... or in the early late 2000s/early 2010s when he was at the height of his "McDreamy" era on GREY'S ANATOMY. But what has he done since he left that show in 2015? A whole lot of minor roles and not much else. Probably the biggest role was reprising his ENCHANTED character in the 2022 Disney+ sequel DISENCHANTED. So why now?  Were more-relevant-to-2023 handsome celebrities like Henry Cavill, Jacob Elordi, or Ryan Gosling not available?  I've always found People Magazine's choices for "Sexiest Man Alive" each year a little oddly-timed, but this one really takes the cake. Nothing against Patrick Dempsey, but it's strange to be naming him a good 10-15 years after his prime. |
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