Changing colors, dropping temperatures, pumpkin spice lattes: do these mainstays of Fall fill your heart with warmth — or with dread?

Source: http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/autumn-leaves/

If you know me, you know that I like everything in moderation and balance. So, I think it would be un­sur­pris­ing when I say that I like spring and autumn a lot more than winter and summer.

Au­tumn is actually my favorite season. Based off what I just said, it’s obvious that my favorite would be either spring and au­tumn. Spring is nice and exciting and foretelling of growth and expansion, while au­tumn is like the evening of a day when you look back at what you’ve accomplished and feel the relaxation of winding down and resting for the night.

Although I like getting inspired to complete great things and finish great projects, I like seeing the results of them even more. Autumn seems to reflect the moment when everything is done and you know that the pleasure of your completed work is on its way. It signals the calm that’s about to come, and I think the calm and peace is very important after a hard day of work.

Less figuratively and more literally, I also like autumn because it’s when my seasonal allergies end. I usually have allergies around August and early September, and autumn is right about the time when my allergies go away. On top of that, the weather is fitting for me to wear a t-shirt, long jeans, and boots – probably my favorite outfit because it’s so simple and comfortable, yet neat.

So, going back to the prompt, autumn actually doesn’t fill my heart with warmth – it actually cools it down. But of course, I like cooling down rather than warming up, so that’s a good thing.

“Your blog is about to be recorded into an audiobook. If you could choose anyone — from your grandma to Samuel L. Jackson — to narrate your posts, who would it be?”

Source: http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/voice-work/

Although this sounds a bit narcissistic, if I could choose anyone to narrate my blog into an audiobook, I would pick myself.

If I were to ask someone else to narrate my blog, I feel as if they would not be able to portray the im­plied emotions in the text properly, while I could (seeing as I wrote all the posts). So, I think that every­thing I was feeling while writing the posts – excitement, frustration, etc. – would not all accurately be portrayed by someone else at all the appropriate and relevant times.

Of course, these emotions aren’t all portrayed explicitly through the text either. However, because that emotion is not specifically described and written out, it is open for interpretation. Even if someone were to guess an emotion associated with a post or a sentence, there’s no way they can prove if they are right or wrong. Thus, even after a guess is made, that interpretation is still available, and acts as a challenging element to encourage people to question if they are actually right in their interpretation.

On the other hand, in audiobooks, that emotion is explicitly portrayed through the tone of the voice. If the narrator were to read a sentence with the wrong emotion, (s)he is explicitly portraying it incorrectly. There is very little room for open interpretation while listening to the sound of someone’s voice, so if the narrator is wrong, they are simply wrong, and there is little questioning and doubting to do.

Thus, in order to eliminate the chance for error, and for the most accurate possible representation of the content of my blog, I would pick myself to be the narrator. Now, hopefully I won’t forget what I was feeling at the time of each of my 1,000+ blog posts and portray my own work incorrectly.

“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.