“Clothes and toys, recipes and jokes, advice and prejudice: we all have to handle all sorts of hand-me-downs every day. Tell us about some of the meaningful hand-me-downs in your life.”

Source: http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/hand-me-downs/

Unsurprisingly, I don’t really have that many hand-me-downs in my life.

In the literal sense, I don’t have any older siblings (or any siblings at all), so there hasn’t really been any clothing, toys, or other used physical possessions that I inherited. I recall cousins attempting to donate clothing to me about once or twice, but the clothing always ends up being the wrong size or looking absurdly hilarious.

Even in the figurative sense, where I’m being handed down concepts, ideas, or beliefs, I feel as if I am generally underexposed to those as well. I read and gather a lot of knowledge and information from many different sources on a daily basis, but when I gain this information, I accept it in its appropriate context.

For example, when I hear someone’s opinion on a particular topic, I think of it as just that – someone’s opinion. I don’t feel as if I am being handed down their beliefs that I am obligated to accept. Instead, I store that information away and tag it as “something that someone else thinks.”

Overall, I’m very much of a self-doer and self-thinker. Although it’s easy and convenient to look to others for advice, I prefer to work things out and discover things on my own, and choose to do so when time or efficiency isn’t a high priority. For example, if I have a very difficult task to finish by tomorrow, I ask for help; if I have a very difficult task to finish by next year, I take the challenge and figure it out myself.

Flipping this in reverse, I also don’t really like to “hand down” my beliefs as well. When someone asks me for advice, I always make sure to put it in an appropriate context by giving background information and supporting evidence. For example, when advising someone, I will always give a summary on my qual­i­fications in that particular field, as well as the original sources where I got my information. That way, the person on the receiving end can make their own determination if I am reliable or not.

What’s the strangest place from which you’ve posted to your blog? When was the last time you were out and about, and suddenly thought, “I need to write about this!”?

Source: http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/10/12/daily-prompt-strange/

I actually don’t really have any strange places from where I’ve posted to my blog, because about 99% of my blog entries are done at home on my laptop in the comfort of my room (even though the actual geographic location of my room has changed various times throughout the existence of my website).

Occasionally I’ll post to my blog from the library or from some common area when I’m bored, but nothing too ridiculous – it’s already some sort of area where a bunch of people are on their laptops doing something, so I didn’t particularly stand out.

However, one specific away-from-home blogging experience that I clearly remember is on the last day of my junior year of high school. I was sitting in the literacy center, which was a special room all the way in the back of the library that normally is a working area for students who are not up to par with conventional reading standards. Even though my level of reading was fine, I still liked to do stuff in the literacy center because it was so quiet and peaceful in there.

After my last final exam, during the free time I had before heading out to catch the school bus, I wrote a pretty frustrated blog post as an overview to my junior year. Pretty much what I was getting at was that I thought I was a lot more prepared and capable than I actually thought I was. I basically gave myself a misconception that just because I was quicker to catch on and more intuitive than any of my peers, it would make up for me being lazy – which it didn’t.

My grades and overall academic performance ended up being awful, and my blogging at school was somewhat of a symbolic act – although I didn’t exactly know what it symbolized.

Today, writing that blog post over four years ago is still clear in my memory. I don’t know exactly why, because as of today it doesn’t really have much of a meaning to me (meaning that writing that blog post didn’t change me significantly or didn’t set off a catalyst for change), but it still ended up being mem­ora­ble.

Do you like being scared by books, films, and surprises? Describe the sensation of being scared, and why you love it — or don’t.

Source: http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/10/10/daily-prompt-frightening/

I don’t think I’ve ever been scared by a book (except maybe when someone throws one at me), but I have been by films and surprises, and I definitely do not enjoy it.

In normal situations, I always value being in control of everything. Although I do not necessarily demonstrate my control to others, it’s always a thought in my mind. If I notice that something has a potential of doing something unexpected, I think of ways of how I can react to these things such that I can easily regain control of the situation caused.

To me, the feeling of being scared is a feeling of losing control. Something that you weren’t expecting happens, and you are not prepared to properly react to it. As a result, I feel like being scared is a sensation of vulnerability, which I do not enjoy feeling.

I generally don’t watch horror films in the first place, but when I do, I usually have to remind myself that I’m in a completely safe environment and it’s perfectly normal (and intended) to get scared. Otherwise, I tend to naturally begin to overanalyze the film, trying to predict what’s going to happen to prevent being taken by surprise. But even when I do let myself get scared, it brings back feelings of unpreparedness and vulnerability, so I tend not to watch horror films.

In real life, I always have a mentality of reacting, which helps me expect the unexpected. I have also built up some good experience dealing with strange and unusual situations, so even if something catches me unexpectedly, I’m able to react to it properly without getting scared.

Sometimes, we all need a break from these little glowing boxes. How do you know when it’s time to unplug? What do you do to make it happen?

Source: http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/10/08/daily-prompt-unplugged/

I find this to actually be a really funny prompt, because things tend to be the opposite for me. When I know it’s time to unplug, it’s usually unplugging from real life and entering the world of a “little glowing box.”

However, I do guess that there are times when I need to unplug from technology as well. There are literally an infinite amount of things I can do when I’m connected to the Internet – I have a list on my virtual notepad, and it’s actually impossible to finish the list because multiple items can go on forever (a few easy ones being adding more content to my website, and watching other people’s League of Legends streams to get better at the game). So, I eventually need to find a stopping point so I can go to sleep.

Generally, the only time I really need to get away from a computer is when I’ve been on for so long that I can feel myself getting dizzy and need to start walking around. There have been days when I have been on my laptop for around 16 hours straight, from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep, and still haven’t felt exhausted. Normally, the only reason I would feel dizzy while using the computer is if I’m also sick in the process (but that usually means that I’m dizzy regardless of what I do).

Overall, I think I have adapted my life enough that I never really need to unplug, because such a huge portion of my normal life now exists in the form of technology – online in the form of the things I enjoy doing, the things I make for others, and the communication I have with friends.

You receive some wonderful, improbable, hoped-for good news. How do you celebrate?

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/09/25/daily-prompt-celebration/

Because of my somewhat utilitarian and opportunity-based style of living, I actually don’t really celebrate much, even when I receive great news. When it happens, I generally accept it, feel happy for a bit, then move on and continue with what I was doing. If anything, my way of celebrating is to leave some time out for later so I can do some thinking and planning about how this great news will affect me.

Some people wonder how I manage to get along without having any parties or celebrations, but that’s where my opportunity-based style of living comes along. It’s not that I don’t celebrate, it’s more that I let celebrations come to me and I don’t take any extra effort to make them happen.

In terms of my own parties, I don’t have actual parties, but moments of relaxation everyday – I guess you could call them micro parties. Each evening or night, I rest, relax, do something fun, and eat some ice cream and other snacks. I’d rather do this and split up my fun among all days of the week, rather than have a huge party at the end of the week.

Yes, this also means that I also don’t have parties during times most other people do, like my birthday. Instead of meeting up with all my friends at once during a party, I’d rather meet up in smaller groups when the opportunities arise. Some people like to buy themselves gifts when it’s their birthday; I, on the other hand, buy myself “gifts” whenever I see something I need on sale.