If you could bring back one dinosaur, which one would it be?
I had browsed through the other answers provided for this prompt and, I have to say, I agree with the people who said that they wouldn’t want to let Jurassic Park become reality; I wouldn’t want to let that movie become reality either and that would be a nightmare to experience. I’m still haunted by the scene from the first “Jurassic World” movie where that lady was grabbed the Pterodactyls and then was eaten by that large aquatic dinosaur whole.
I’ve also watched “Attack on Titan” and remembered season one when Eren Jaeger was eaten by that one random Titan whole and he was just sitting, while alive and conscious, in the Titan’s stomach acid. Even another person was sitting, being boiled alive by the stomach acid, for a moment before she died a slow and painful death.
That is pretty much what that scene from the”Jurassic World” made me think of, except that lady wasn’t the main character, let alone a secondary main character, and the writer’s killed her off in one of the most gruesome ways possible. She was swallowed whole and very likely died slowly and very painfully, alone and afraid and rather unnecessarily. I get that it was probably for shock value, but I had nightmares when I saw that scene.
I refuse to rewatch that one movie only because of that scene. I’ll watch all the other installments, but I refuse to watch that one particular movie. You couldn’t pay me enough money to sit and watch the movie. Not even for one billion dollars! I could tell you what I would do if I had one billion dollars in this article, What Would You Do If You Had 24 hours to Spend 1 Billion Dollars? And I can tell you right now that watching “Jurassic World” IS NOT ONE OF THOSE THINGS!!!
Thank you for taking the time to read my rants. I’ll see you in another one!
The food I’ve always found comfort in is usually sweet, especially if it’s chocolate:
Milk chocolate
Dark chocolate
Dobash cake (I just learned this is the Hawaiian variation of a Hungarian cake, then adapted in New Orleans, called, “Dobosh torte. I didn’t know this was a thing and I grew up with Dobash cake!!!)
Chocolate ice cream
Triple chocolate fudge ice cream
World class chocolate
Chocolate with caramel (Rolo’s)
Belgian chocolate (I WILL go to Belgium for the chocolate alone!!!)
Chocolate Chantilly cake (Hawaiian style, not Mainland style)
Anything that has chocolate, as long as it doesn’t have nuts or mint or coconut shreds or is white chocolate, I’ll eat it. I’ve been made fun of for liking a “very plain” flavor and I just shake my head at people. Like, “Seriously? I don’t make fun of whatever flavor you like and you throwing shade at what I like? Forget you! I wouldn’t want to share anything more with you anyways.”
There might be other types of chocolate that I’ve never heard of, but as long as it doesn’t have any of the things I listed above, then I would like to try it. Everyone has their own way of making chocolate, so I wouldn’t mind getting diabetes (knock on wood) if I got to try the differences in other people’s chocolate!
That should be the reason I should travel, besides visiting the local libraries and bookstores in the area of whatever state and country I would like to visit; I should go on a chocolate tasting spree! I wonder where I could go after visiting Belgium being my first stop. Where else in the world could have really good chocolate treats? If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know in the comment section. It would greatly help me map out the destinations I could go. Thank you!
Some aspects of a typical day followed the same patterns that I barely noticed, though noticed enough, the disruption in said patterns. The day only becomes “atypical” if I believe something has changed, something shifted, and I experience a mixture of emotions all at once:
I felt dread and trepidation because my vacation ended, I have to return to my full-time job that drains me. Yet, I feel relieved that I can step away from the keyboard for a little bit.
I felt hatred and resentment towards myself because not much has changed since taking my vacation; I’m still working for a corporation that pays me well enough being a college drop out, offers great benefits, but kills me on the inside every second I’m present. However, I get to dictate what I want and can do in the day.
I’ve gotten curious to try something’s from Pinterest because I want to be proven right and wrong at the same time. At least, until I can work at my part time rage room job, then I’ll be hating everything and everyone at work. Unfortunately, that’s typical for me until I wake up without the help of caffeine or energy drinks.
I’d want to finish up the work week already, jump straight back to being my days off, so I get to decide how to spend my time without someone looming over my shoulder or dictating me: be it learning, experimenting, or pursuing new outlets and passions.
I feel dreadful that I don’t want to get out of bed, I don’t have much energy to bother, but I have to get up, follow my routine, or I’ll fall behind again.
The main difference from my typical day shifting to an atypical one is mostly from the small progress and projects I hadn’t done before, but gave it a try anyways.
Been working on my story telling and writing skills.
Read and finished 1 more book than the prior years.
Learned and advocated my needs and boundaries, even if that meant walking away from people I used to call “friends”, but they never really called me that in return.
Taking charge and accumulating wins from the moment I wake up to when it’s time to sleep again.
The list goes on and on, it provides a small silver lining within my usual pessimistic and neurotic perspective, yet I am grateful that things are slowly changing. Small acts of courage, even when I feel afraid, has given me another “second chance” I never gave myself years prior. Things can change, are changing, and are becoming something different that I can’t wait to see what and where it could lead to.
I’m terrified, although I feel more courageous to move forward regardless of that fear, and that is the most atypical of a day it could get for me. Wouldn’t that be one of the best feelings in the world to experience?
Slight Change in The “Typical/Atypical” Part:
Update: So, this became an atypical day because a few things happened today:
1) According to my coworker, we had a tsunami watch last week, even though I told her that I didn’t get a notification. She said a lot of people didn’t get it, but lots saw it on Facebook, which I don’t have.
2) The tsunami watch was supposed to have ended the same week it was announced, but it didn’t.
3) Now, the watch became a tsunami threat, so a lot of people were panicking, driving crazy, all because, and I understand, they’re trying to get home to evacuate the coastal areas and move to higher ground or further inland.
Thankfully, I made it home to my apartment, my family are packing everything to move to higher ground or further inland, but this has been the first ever tsunami threat in probably decades. We’ve been able to avoid a lot of tsunamis and hurricanes for a long time now. I guess Mother Nature decided we needed a wake up call, get us to set our priorities straight, and see if we are ready for her violent and vicious visit approaching in a few hours after this update.
I’ll just have to wait and see. Hopefully, everyone makes it to where they have to go safely because I’ve seen first hand how crazy people can get from small inconveniences. I know I would get upset and mad if someone cuts me off in traffic without using their blinker. That’s over an inconvenience.
But when we feel our life, and our loved one’s lives, are being really threatened? That’s a completely different story. But the only thing we can do, especially what I can do, is wait and see. Thanks for letting me rant a bit, but things should be okay for now.
The kinds of food I make are simple and depends on how much time I have to meal prep. Since I’m living on my own now, I don’t have to make a lot of food as I used to when living with family. I wouldn’t want to waste a lot of food too often.The things that I like to make are:
Chicken long rice
Chicken or shrimp pasta with mushrooms, broccoli, and home made Alfredo sauce
Chook or Jook (Not sure how to spell it, but its a rice dish)
Spam, egg, and rice/fried rice
Boiled eggs
Saimen (sorry, Ramen) with egg
Tuna sandwiches
Fried/baked Salmon with asparagus
Chicken or beef (Japanese) curry/stew
Steak and hot dogs
Something simple, something fast, some things can be eaten cold, others are quick to heat up (without a microwave, stoves are good too). I can make enough to last a few days, have for lunch or dinner, and can last me during long work days where I have no time to cook. Adulting is tough, but it’s only making me tougher!
I used to think about this question often in high school and in university, exclaiming, “the world is messed up! It needs to change; politicians need to do better; If only things were done a (vaguely specific way without evidence or driven by assumptions).” You know the kind of rant I’m talking about, right?
I would love to make changes to (modern western) society, but I don’t know enough, let alone properly informed, about what changes are necessary. I don’t have social media, I stopped watching the news years ago, and most of my information comes from people’s opinions. Are they anymore reliable than FOX or CBS News? I don’t think so, but people do provide information to potentially look into.
Otherwise, everything from me would be to ask questions:
What is it about (modern) society that is terrible?
Am I projecting what I dislike or am unhappy with in my situation onto the whole society?
Have I taken steps to solve a real tangible problem in my power to change? If so, what, when, and how did I contribute or could contribute?
Am I listening to the opinions of others who, if asked to elaborate on why they think about X and Y, they would be able to provide clear and concise answers?
It’s likely easy for me to ask questions because, whatever is going on in the world, things haven’t impacted me as harshly as the people in the mainland. I live on an island, we have our fair share of problems, but it’s still problems that need to be addressed.
Infrastructure
Tourism
Homelessness/Available housing
Education
Although, trying to change society is WAY above my pay grade, even if a hypothetical. I’d rather, for now, donate my time, money, blood, and spare resources I could share. I can start small, set a goal for how much and what, research where to donate to, and simply do my part. That’s good enough and easier for me to manage – society is too vast – and engage with.
I wouldn’t know where to begin if I were to describe myself to someone, be it familiar or stranger. No two people would say the same thing twice. I could be anything to anyone at any point in time:
Friendly
Empty
Neurotic
Dull
Lazy
Bitter
Angry
Excited
Loyal
Curious
Inquisitive
Experimental
I could be everything in between or nothing at all to anyone. I could be polarizing, neutral, or static, but the answer changes and it’s never consistent. We’re all the strange phenomena of, “Schrödinger’s Cat” – we’re all walking paradoxes of being both alive and dead – we’ll never know the answer unless we open the box, right?
Even if my task is to describe myself to someone, I wouldn’t be able to. I, myself, have an insufficient vocabulary, so, I wouldn’t have much words to properly express myself well. I am whatever the other person perceives me to be and nothing – reputation or action – could change their mind. I’ve slowly have come to terms with not changing someone else’s mind. Trying to is a terrible waste of time, energy, and resources.
The one thing that I could share though, despite it all, is that I’m still here; I’m still navigating the complexities of life and seeking simple pleasures wherever and however I can. I know I’ve made strides from the person I used to be to be who I’ve grown into, but old patterns linger and have festered when I thought they were gone. Nope. Out of sight, sure, but never far from mind.
So, in essence, I’m still fighting to live, fighting to remain, the only word here is fight. I might not be standing on a blue mat, I’ve been thrown around by life, be it by choice or circumstance: surviving, battered, beaten, bloodied, even without obvious evidence showing otherwise. I get up against my severe need for rest and I keep getting slammed anyways. Eventually, I’ll be able to retaliate, I’m bidding my time and waiting for the chance to strike. I know how far I’ve traveled in my own journey, some people don’t need an explanation, only I do and that’s enough.
The activities that make me lose track of time are:
Daydreaming
Playing Video games
I’ve gotten accustomed to my own company that my mind will wander often. I would entertain the thought of what it would be like to be wealthy and then I could plan my way to wealth; I could imagine being someone of little importance, yet be so well connected that I could have spies everywhere. Just a snap of my fingers and an elite squad of trained mercenaries answering my call.
Or I’d wonder what it would be like to pick locks, steal something, working with computers, opening electronics up and putting them back together again, repurposed or for it’s intended purpose, just being highly skilled at something useful and hiding it away from the world. More for my entertainment than anything. Although, most of these skills I could learn, so it’s not too far from being only in imagination.
This is what happens when someone watches too many movies and doesn’t interact with enough people often.
Then there’s the video games – a past time I got from my dad and one I kept because it’s a solitary activity – the thing that always distracted me. I’ve gotten better at managing how long I play, but when I was younger, you’d have to fight me tooth and nail to get me to turn off my gaming systems.
I’d wanted to level up my fictional character that I never wanted, until recently, to level myself up in real life. I’ve changed my tune, although, I am making up for the years I spent staring at screens. Though I could say that my personal stats are pretty decent. Especially if I use D&D stats to represent how I’m doing, then I could say:
Strength: 4
Wisdom: 4
Charisma: 3
Intelligence: 5
Constitution: 5
Dexterity: 4
I could improve my own stats, but at least my personal stats aren’t 1’s anymore, so that’s an improvement!
If you won two free plane tickets, where would you go?
If I won 2 free plane tickets, I’m traveling solo and both tickets could be used for two separate locations, then I would fly to Texas to visit family and get to see what farm life is like, a real life “Harvest Moon” experience. From there, I could visit that bookstore, The Painted Porch, in Bastrop, Texas, if I could drive there. If it’s far from my aunty’s farm, then I could experience a roadtrip too.
Then my next stop would be a coin toss between Tennessee or Minnesota for the Titanic tours I could attend and cross off my travel list from a different prompt answer Leveling Up Exploration Skill IRL:. I don’t care if I could come out more depressed than going in, I want to see the Titanic in real life, even if it’s a replica. It won’t be the same as the real deal, but it’s a history lesson I want to experience.
Why settle on drinking, drugs, or screen addictions when I could have an existential awakening from witnessing tragedy second hand and then, realize how fragile everything is, do something with myself?
Otherwise, if I could do anything with these plane tickets, especially if the tickets are valid for traveling anywhere in the world, then I would gift these tickets to my parents. My mom enjoys traveling, so her and my dad could continue traveling, enjoying mini-vacations, while they can before they get swamped or stuck at work. A change in scenery would be nice every now and again, and I’m certain that my parents have more places to visit.
Better to let them enjoy traveling abroad than me. I could explore at home and have my own adventures outside, no plane ticket required: visit shops I’ve never heard of, volunteer, or go to every library and bookstore that’s open and browse. Yeah, that would be quite the adventure there.
I’ve preferred dogs over cats, even though I like them too, having dogs around meant security: literally and physically. The area I grew up in is considered “ghetto” by our standards and where I lived is usually where a lot of activities tended to be.
Cops, ambulances, and fire fighters would always show up for something. Not at our property, but rather the properties across from us. It could be in the dead of night and you’d see their colors flashing through the curtains. Having dogs around allowed us to be alerted when someone came near our flimsy fence, whether walking by, walking their pets, stray dogs causing trouble, or people were possibly up to no good. It was better safe than sorry.
Even with security cameras installed outside, I had furry companions to keep me and my family company. My parents, my dad’s older brother, and I lived with my grandma in a 3 generation home. Even though I moved out to experience what living on my own was like, rather out of necessity, I hate myself for leaving because my grandma is over 80. She’s sound of mind and mobile, but my dogs: an older adopted female red nose pit bull mix and one female and one male, both runts of their respective litters, XXL pure blue nose pit bulls, keep her company and watch the property.
Dogs always gave nothing but love: they want to play with you, cause trouble, protect you, even when they rely on us, they have no ulterior motives. Even when my dad and I adopted my old lady dog from the humane society years ago, she used to be a stray and was wild. She would scratch and bite me, but I didn’t care, she was scared.
Even when we brought her home to our other adopted female red nose pit bull mix, they constantly fought until we saw blood. I didn’t want to take her back because Bianca, my old lady’s name, would have been put down, even though she was very difficult to handle. It took her time to get adjusted, then she calmed down, and she would take care of our other dog, Minnie, as she got older in age.
Bianca still waits by the front yard for Minnie because my parents took her to the vet to be put down because she suffered a stroke: couldn’t eat or drink without help, she couldn’t move her lower body nor sit up, and it was a very difficult decision for us to make. She was suffering and Bianca saw us put Minnie in the truck, I stayed behind because I couldn’t watch her go like that, as Bianca tried to break through the fence to follow.
So, when I come home, even before moving out, Bianca waits by the fence, she’ll sleep there or in front of our house door, all of our dogs become outside dogs after a certain age, until we all come home. She takes care of our newer dogs; our girl blue nose, Ka’ena, is much bigger than Bianca, but, once Bianca growls or puts her paw on Ka’ena’s head, she immediately listens, then goes into zooming mode. Bianca isn’t young anymore, but she keeps the younger dogs in line.
The boy, Kainalu, gives Bianca trouble. We don’t know why these two fight if we let them out together to play, but they would growl at each other and they have attacked each other a few times where blood was drawn. However, when I saw them out together when I let Kainalu out to use the bathroom and to play while I washed my car, Bianca pushed her way out of her kennel and the two were egging each other on.
I had to put Kainalu back in his house because he doesn’t know how to pop the lock or can push through his gate, yet, like Bianca. Bianca has more freedoms than the other dogs because she’s older and manages herself better than they do.
All of our dogs are knuckleheads, but they’re our knuckleheads, and I love them very much. I feel less lonely with them, even with family, and they tell you what they want by going in their house for food and water, they sit or wander by us for attention, and they play to get energy out to sleep. People are different and tough to read, but dogs are more honest and trustworthy.
What strategies do you use to maintain your health and well-being?
Well-being and Well Practiced:
The strategies I use to maintain my health and well-being vary by the situation. Not every strategy, I’ve come to believe, is a one size fits all and I’m a kinesthetic kind of person. I usually experience things physically and I would need physical outlets to expel as much energy as I can. For example:
I’m feeling excited: I have to differentiate which feeling of excitement I’m experiencing. If its anger, then it’ll manifest as my mind slowly latching on to a perceived problem, my shoulders will tense, a brick will drop in my stomach, my hands will ball into fists, and I’ll have the strong urge to want to break something (or someone).
If I’m working at my warehouse job, then I’ll use it as strength to move more freight than usual, but I won’t be pleasant to be around. But if I’m working at my rage room job, then I can experience controlled chaos vicariously through the customers visiting because I can hype them up.
Otherwise, when I’m at home, I’ll take a walk around the neighborhood, I’ll use my kettlebell and perform: goblet squats, KB swings, KB halo casts, suitcase carry, or Turkish get-ups throughout the day as incidental training sets. I’ll do calisthenics, practice boxing and kicking in my apartment since I can’t practice my wrestling or BJJ without disturbing my downstairs neighbors with my sandbag. I’ll do what I can to keep myself active and fit with the small gym I made in my studio.
Else, if it’s not anger, then I’m feeling ecstatic: it’ll manifest as excessive energy has been injected into my legs. I can’t sit or stand still, I’ll be bouncing on my feet or rocking back in forth in place on my heels to my toes, and I’ll be a human equivalent to a dog that has the zoomies.
This is where I need to do something. If I’m at home, then this could mean anything: I want to watch a movie that looks interesting, I get to work on a personal project, I finally have enough money to attend a gym or an event I REALLY wanted to check out, try out a new skill, I want to explore an idea and I have it written down so I remember it, I get to hang out with somebody, or I’m going on vacation and I have my time for myself.
Although, when my energy is lower than usual, my mind is blank, and I’m not obsessing over something to the point where I think something is wrong, I revel in my slow days too. On these days, I take advantage of not having the compulsion to do something, and I can sit with my other, non-physical interests:
Read a book for 5-15 minutes and get through my huge backlog.
Meditate for between 1-5 minutes a day, at least.
Box breathing with a 4-4-6 cadence for 1-5 minutes throughout the day.
Work on a few sketches: line art, learn to blend color, add lighting, work on backgrounds, etc.
Listen to a daily Alux lesson and contemplate how to incorporate it into my life or how it already has before the lesson.
Journaling what’s interesting, what I liked, what I wished was better, and what steps I’m taking to make and be better.
Playing video games for an hour or 2.
Watch YouTube videos, revisit my online learning experiences,and apply it.
I have a lot of activities that has me doing something; whether it’s physical or mental challenges, I take in the very rare moments where I simply stare at my ceiling – I’m not thinking or dreading, I don’t feel compelled or depressed, I don’t have to feel the need to strive or put myself down – and I simply exist and I’m, finally, albeit briefly, content.
I also enjoy talking stories with certain people, my grandma especially, or I just listen to her talk. If anyone does something for their well-being that is different and interesting, I would love to know what it is that you do to keep yourself sane amidst the noise and chaos. Might inspire something new to explore and try out for fun.
