Mandaris

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.