Daily writing prompt

What are your thoughts on the concept of living a very long life?

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I know the common sentiment seems to be that living forever is torturous because you are forced to watch everyone you love die. Living forever would indeed cause life to lose much of its meaning. But does the misery of a lonely forever overwhelm my fear of eternal nothingness?

I guess that depends on whether or not I deem the end of our physical bodies as nothing but a one-way journey into the void. If I am to admit even a passing belief in the paranormal, I must also admit that bodily death is not the end of our life force. Whether “death” is the end of life as we know it or the transfer of some energy or soul, that’s a thought for another time.

At the risk of getting too metaphysical, I’ll just admit that eternal life does not sound like a curse to me. I can’t imagine a universe without my presence in it. Knowing that one day, my awareness will no longer exist… it just doesn’t grok. I’ve been told by theoretical physicists to think of death this way: imagine what it was like before you were born. It’s just an indescribable nothingness. I never want to be a nothing again.

Daily writing prompt

How have your political views changed over time?

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My political views have undergone significant changes over time, particularly since I was in my early twenties in the mid-aughts. In my late teens, I was somehow introduced to the writings of Michael Savage. For the uninitiated, Michal Savage was, and still is, basically MAGA several decades before MAGA existed. Extremely isolationist, anti-immigration, and anti-progressive, known primarily for his bigoted and controversial political stances. I even wrote cringey blog posts lambasting Nancy Pelosi, as if I actually knew what I was talking about.

I watched Fox News religiously. At the time, the big primetime shows were The O’Reilly Factor with Bill O’Reilly, Hannity & Colmes, and Greta Van Susteren. During this time in my life, I was glued to the TV during these shows.

It just goes to show how easily a young and impressionable mind can be completely brainwashed if it is insulated from diverse thought. Over the following decades, I somehow came to my senses and gradually crept to the left, at one point even identifying as a full-blow progressive. I was damn near socialist.

With a much more mature mind, I can now see how hateful and dishonest the MAGA machine truly is. There is LITERALLY nary a word that comes out of DJT and his activists’ mouths that is complete and utter bullshit. Just complete fantasy.

I have found my way back closer to the center these days. I still veer to the left, but I’m very aware that many of the ideals that extreme progressives hold are just nontenable and disassociated from the reality of what can actually get done.

Daily writing prompt

Share what you know about the year you were born.

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It’s March 17, 1986. Big hair reigns supreme. President Ronald Reagan roams the Earth. Metallica’s Master of Puppets had been released only weeks earlier. Dionne and Friends top the pop charts with the Burt Bacharach joint, “That’s What Friends Are For,” a cover collaboration featuring Dionne Warwick herself, Gladys Knight, Elton John, and the boy wonder himself, Stevie Wonder.

The New York Mets had just won the World Series, their first since 1969, only notable for the fact that I am a Mets fan since birth, thanks to the curse bestowed upon me by my father and his father before him. The classic flick Back to the Future leads at the box office, while the much less classic flick Police Academy 3: Back in Training trails behind.

At around 2:30 in the afternoon, a soon-to-be-named newborn emerges from a surgically placed exit sign, feet first. The legally labeled Andrew Jason enters scene, first and soon-to-be oldest child of Mark and Frances.

In my very rose-colored glasses, the mid-to-late 1980s were the last great bastion of the America we would come to recognize as the “American Dream.” We had survived and prospered through the Industrial Revolution and the coldest times of the Cold War. The wide use of the internet was still a glimmer in Al Gore’s eye, and the iPhone, the game changer, was still two decades away from damaging the natural evolution of our children’s brains.

A suburban life was within the grasp of almost anyone who wanted one. Inner cities were on the upswing after a decline in the late-70s and early-80s. Life felt pretty secure for this very white and very privileged nugget of a human. Now, I wasn’t “trust fund” privileged, but my father had a secure job, and we had enough to get by so that my mom could stay home and be a full-time mother to me. These days, I don’t think that would be possible.

We were starting to see the wealth gap increase and, soon, explode. A tidal wave that never managed to trickle down despite the promises of our political leaders. The tech revolution, which some thought would even the playing field, seemed to widen the gap even further.

Do I long for a return to 1986? Hardly. I, like almost all of us, have become spoiled by the instant access to almost anything. The internet has been so seamlessly sewn into my life that, at this point, it wouldn’t be worth the trouble to pull the threads away. But do I long for a simpler time? I do. And the older I get, the more I long; the deeper my nostalgia runs.

The truth is, we’re never going back. AI is assuring us of that. Some argue that AI will simplify our lives, and I can foresee a future where that is true, but what are we sacrificing in the process?

Daily writing prompt

Is your life today what you pictured a year ago?

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Absolutely not. A year ago today, I was two months into a new job, just at the brink of finishing my training and careening off on my own. As someone who has worked in software sales up until very recently, job security is a fleeting wish. You’re often only as good as your last month’s performance. And if you have two slow months, you can mostly kiss your ass goodbye. And it’s for this reason that SaaS salespeople don’t always have lasting longevity.

Since then, I have been through two different jobs of varying salaries. Did I expect a year ago that I would be where I am today? I didn’t expect job security, but I never could have guessed where I am today, trying to build two side-hustles into a legit, consistent business. These are both tasks of necessity, tasks that were equally part impulsive and part strategic

In most ways other than my career, things are fairly similar to how they were a year ago. As a single parent you try to build your life around routine. Routine helps prevent life from running off the rails. It doesn’t completely halt the insanity, but it adds a sense of order.

My son, who recently turned 13, is certainly much moodier than he was a year ago. The result of hormones running wild and an affinity for independence, the things we all go through as teens. So my parenting role has shifted, but has not changed. But, man, teenagers can be really trying on your patience when they want to be. It’s truly a test of your meddle.

Daily writing prompt

What skills or lessons have you learned recently?

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This is a pretty easy one since the main skill I’ve learned has been put into practical use. I recently received my notary commission and finished the certification to be a remote online notary. Now, this might not sound that interesting since there are quite literally almost 500,000 notaries in the state of Florida alone, but I’ve been doing my damndest to make a business out of this. Or at least a legit side hustle.

So far, I think it’s been going pretty well. My business is “officially” launched, with a listing on Google and Yelp and everything. I’ve been in marketing mode, posting blog posts on the business website, sharing links on social media, and calling local businesses to build a local presence with the community. I’m doing all of the right things.

And even though there are a few dozen other notaries in the area, I don’t think any of them are hustling the way I am to build a legit business. Or maybe they just don’t know how? This is where my experience and my education come into play. I never realized how business savvy or talented at marketing I really was until I scoped out the competition in this market. There really are some clueless “business owners.” And I use that wording very loosely.