Mandaris

I really wanted to focus on doing more blogging on my blog. Looking back at the 416 posts from last year, I feel that I did it.

One of my proudest accomplishments was writing a response to all the 50 blog prompts by Lou Plummer. I had originally attempted to do one every day, but I didn’t have a regular writing habit so it didn’t take much for life to get in the way of doing it. It wasn’t until September/November that I really got serious about making this a goal.

I really enjoyed the prompts because it allowed me to write and think about things that I normally wouldn’t put on my blog. It also doubled as a conversation starter with my family.

One draw back about my approach of attempting to finish this by a deadline is that I didn’t give myself and readers to a chance to discuss different topics. For example, someone might respond to a prompt and I wouldn’t see it because I was so focused on a prompt that came later. I feel, that I could probably come back to different prompts to see if I feel the same way about them.

Another thing that I can attribute to doing more posting, is that I’m not as stressed about typos and grammar. I’m still feeling friction when it comes to the writing process, but I don’t agonize over trying to make things perfect. I’m in the mindset that writing more will make me a better writer versus the sitting in the draft folder and not doing anything to it.

Making new friends

I started going to IndieWeb meet ups infrequently last year and I feel that’s helped me increase the functionality of the website and give me a place to be social. Mark and James are great hosts and the time seems to fly by.

I also started to interact with Leon quite a bit. He’s got a lot of cool stuff going on.

Somethings that didn’t go as plan

I attempted to start a weekly podcast, but didn’t actually schedule the time to plan, record, and edit it.

I’ll probably make another attempt with this later this year, but it’s not a priority compared to other things in my life. Sometimes, it’s important to say no to things so that you can work on the things that are important.

What do I want to do on the blog this year?

I want to continue responding to more prompts and making my site something that I would like to read on the internet. I looked into different sites that offer a daily prompt, but I think I’ll stick to responding to different topics that I see pop up from people writing on the internet.

I’d also like to work on a longer piece of writing that is not related to changes on my blog or writing about writing. My longest post is about me debating on whether I should use popovers for footnotes. I’m proud of the writing and the journey it took to make it, but I want to have other things too.

I have been looking for this link for a very long time! I thought it was taken down for whatever reason and kept kicking myself for not saving it. I think it's a very good read as we start a new year

Experience “ū—”: The Last Distraction-Free Writing Environment You’ll Buy. Today.

…

The Ourobouros Fun Factory, LLC is proud to announce a revolutionary new tool for serious artists doing serious work. It’s a distraction-free writing environment that we call “ū–” (pron. “YOOOoooouuuuu…”).

50. Write about a news event from when you were still in school and how it made you feel.

One news event that I haven't written about is the California Energy Crisis of 2000. It marked the first time that I heard the word deregulation and will always have negative connotations for me.

For me, I didn’t suffer too much as the occasional blackout only inconvienced me. For some, such as people connected to devices that needed constant power or were hit with rates that lead to financial instability, it was devastating.

In addition, it lead to a recall of the governor that lead to an absolute joke of a political race that still echos to this day.

49. Do you have a set of rules or guidelines for your life? Did you write them? Why do you use them?

One of the key guidelines that I’ve set for myself is that I treat people the way that I want to be treated. People should be treated with the respect and dignity of being a human being and an understanding that you will not know what their story in life is.

I know at one point it time, I wrote down a series of principles that I’ like to strive for in my day to day life. Unfortunately, it’s in a folder somewhere that I can’t find. I think I should start scheduling time to go over these things in the future.

I’m also getting back into using themes in my life and recently [wrote about my desire to be more intentional.](https://Intention - Mandaris) How am I going to go about that? I haven’t quite planned, I have the concepts of a plan.

48. Have you ever had a brush with celebrity? Write about It.

I once met Arj Barker after one of his comedy shows in Sacramento, CA. I used to follow him a little bit on twitter but haven’t looked into what he’s been doing since I stopped using the service.

It looks like he’s got a new comedy album, so I’ll queue that up for my drive to work.

47. Do you consider yourself to be an international person? Why or why not? If so, write about people you know or have known from other countries.

No.

Most if not all of my identity is made from the influences in my vacenity. Although I do read some comics made in other parts of the world, most of what I work with is local.

Now, I do have some friends that I interact with in different parts of the world, but most of their life is outside of what we talk about.

I tried doing a pen-pal thing this year but it hasn’t really worked out like I thought it would.

Maybe next year, but I don’t think I’ll have any margin to do much as I’ll be too focused on local politics and the fact that my oldest daughter will be graduating high school

46. What is your all-time favorite story to tell from all the jobs you’ve held?

It was New Year's Eve of 1999. I was working the night shift at a grocery store and it was packed with people buying last minute necessities for when the world shuts down.

It would echo again during the shutdown in the heights of Covid.

I think it was one of the worst days working there as I helped people fill their carts with gallons of water at the same time that they grabbed 2 liters of caffeine free diet coke and Twinkie’s. Honestly, if all the computers went down, I don’t think we would make it too long. I haven’t done anything to change it and have hidden away that fear and just hope things don’t go down that road.

45. What do you remember being a big deal to adults during your childhood or teenaged years?

The first thing that comes to mind is the OJ Simpson trail. I didn’t know who he was at the time. All I knew was that he was driving on a white truck down the freeway with the police following him.

I feel that it’s partially because of the verdict that came after the Rodney King beating that some people feel that this was win for us.

But I don’t know who us was in this discussion.

I feel that the discussions about the case have made me a better person as I was learned about different topics related to it. For example, marriage equality and what things do we bring and take away from a relationship; how someone can be found guilty or innocent and continue to have legal issues related to the matter; what is legal and what is justice.

There have been many jokes related to this trial and I’m sure that there are a lot of different takes on it and sadly many similar cases that don’t have the same media coverage.

So, it’s still a big deal to this day.

44. Are you an exerciser? What physical achievement are you most proud of? Ever play any sports?

I know that I’m happier when I exercise. I am the best version of myself when I exercise.

I, unfortunately, do not carve out boundaries to do the exercise that would make me happy. Even the time to do a quick 15-20 minute walk.

If you are reading this, feel free to poke me about this.

I used to play soccer and do cross country when I was younger, but I haven’t done much of that since.

I feel that my proudest physical achievement is when I ran a half marathon. It was a lot of walking, but I was really happy to have done it.

Who knows, in this next year, I might have to get into body building just to keep my sanity.

43. What’s the last trip you took? Was it fun? Why or why not.

The last trip I took was to visit family during the Christmas holiday. I would say that it was fun. There was a little tension in that we don’t all have the same political views, but we put that all aside and just focused on what was important.

The presents.

No, I’m joking.

I got to play my favorite card game, Uno: No Mercy, and was able to completely dominate all the little kids in the house.

We also had a whole lot of food and was stuffed.

I know this isn't Friday, but I really want to finish these post ideas before the end of the year.

42. Write a #FollowFriday with the names of your favorite bloggers or social media follows and why you like them.

Leon Mika

I think I interact with his blog more than anyone else’s this year because he has a lot of things that I’m interested in. I met him via the Hemispheric Views discord.

James’ Coffee Blog

I met him view the IndieWeb European meetup. He writes quite a bit and has a number of experiments going on.

Joe Not Art

I met him from the indie web as well. He’s always doing stuff to help the community and I really appreciate him.

Mark Sutherland

Another person from the Indie web. He doesn’t blog as much but he’s always been very helpful in pointing me in the right direction for web development.

Miraz Jordan

Miraz has a lot of wonderful things to share.

41. What is your relationship with your phone? Does it make you happy or sad? Do you get a new one frequently or infrequently?

When the iPhone first came out, it was the only material possession that I wanted. It had the promise of being everything that I could technically want in one device in my pocket. I wasn’t able to afford it at the time, most people weren’t as it was $600 dollars and I was expecting my first child.

I later got one, but it has never really made me happy.

I’ve been content to be able to while away hours playing games and surfing the internet.

I’m grateful when it give me correct information about traffic and weather.

I do get enjoyment from taking and looking at pictures and I think that is the closest that I come from being happy about the phone.

Because it has come with costs that I didn’t expect.

Interruptions from telemarketers.

Things claiming to be news but advertisements about things that I have no interest in.

Time that I should have been paying attention to other things but was concentrated on my screen.

It’s a complicated feeling and is part of why I don’t get a new one frequently.

I'm actually very happy to have this question.

40. What is the most scared you have ever been? Can you write about it? (Don’t dig up trauma for a blog post)

One event that comes to mind that isn’t very traumatic is a moment when I was first dating my girlfriend (now wife). We were celebrating our one year anniversary of dating and had gone to the Santa Cruz boardwalk. I thought it was going to be a nice trip with us relaxing by the beach and playing the midway games.

I hadn’t thought about rides that are offered on the boardwalk. In fact, we had arrived early and none of the rides were operating at that time and all you could hear was the calming waves of the ocean.

That’s when it happened.

My wife suggested a rollercoaster.

I hadn’t told my wife that I actually was afraid of rides. Maybe some part of me thought that it would never come up or that everyone feels the same way.

I though the best way to get out of this was to go on another ride. A ride that had a shorter line and was right next to the rollercoaster.

How bad can it be?

The ride was called The Fireball.

I thought it just rocked back and forth and did a little spin here and there.

I was wrong.

I flipped 180 degrees. I was upside down and I hated it.

I screamed quite a bit and it became one of the key moments of our relationship as I was VERY honest with her about things that made me uncomfortable. I would try them and keep and open mind.

But man!

I still hate rollercoasters.

45. What do you remember being a big deal to adults during your childhood or teenaged years?

The first thing that comes to mind is the OJ Simpson trail. I didn’t know who he was at the time. All I knew was that he was driving on a white truck down the freeway with the police following him.

I feel that it’s partially because of the verdict that came after the Rodney King beating that some people feel that this was win for us.

But I don’t know who us was in this discussion.

I feel that the discussions about the case have made me a better person as I was learned about different topics related to it. For example, marriage equality and what things do we bring and take away from a relationship; how someone can be found guilty or innocent and continue to have legal issues related to the matter; what is legal and what is justice.

There have been many jokes related to this trial and I’m sure that there are a lot of different takes on it and sadly many similar cases that don’t have the same media coverage.

So, it’s still a big deal to this day.

39. What do you like to read? Books, newsletters, doomscrolling, blogs, paper magazines?

My favorite thing to read are comics. I’ve enjoyed comics since I was a kid and would read the funny pages in the newspaper. When I was younger, my favorites were Calvin and Hobbs, Bloom County and The Far Side. I didn’t quite get all the jokes in Bloom County at the time, but it was so different from things like Garfield and Peanuts that it really stood out for me. It was also easier to grasp the satire for me than Doonesbury. I feel that The Far Side had the most impact on me because of its single panel nature. I had a collection of books, mugs, and shirts with different comics.