Daily Prompt – Next In Line

A second #RoyalBaby will soon be joining the Windsors in England. Given the choice, would you rather be heir to the throne, or the (probably) off-the-hook sibling?

I can’t say I really care too much about the whole Royal Baby excitement. Yeah, Kate’s pregnant and well, good for her, but I just don’t get people’s obsession over it. But the. Again, they’re also obsessed with Kim Kardashian and she’s famous for nothing.

If I we’re given a choice I don’t actually know what I would choose.

I’d like to be heir to the throne, because it would be a great opportunity to implement change into a country and not be swayed by secret dealings and handshakes and back-room agreements that Are solely for specific political gains. I’d use my powers to do positive things for the country, like pass laws for marriage equality, and invest money into renewable energy sources, and healthcare – the things that are important to people (and myself).

However, that’s not to say being the sibling wouldn’t have it’s perks either. I could be the ‘Harry’ and have a great time travelling to world and just doing my own thing. I could get involved in charities and do all types of community service… or I could stay within the confines of the Castle, and eat and sleep and play video games. Or I could go work or study overseas… knowing that money really isn’t an issue, I could go and do, literally anything that I truly wanted to do.

And that wouldn’t be such a bad thing either. It would take all the pressure off having to run a country, I guess.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/next-in-line/

Daily Prompt – Breaking The Ice

The internet has recently been swept up by the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Is there a cause — social, political, cultural, or other — you passionately believe in? Tell us how you got involved — or why you don’t get involved.

I’m so sick of hearing about the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. I hope that they start getting freezer burn from too much ice.

Daily Prompt – Middle Seat

It turns out that your neighbor on the plane/bus/train (or the person sitting at the next table at the coffee shop) is a very, very chatty tourist. Do you try to switch seats, go for a non-committal brief small talk, or make this person your new best friend?

Given how much I generally loathe people, let alone having to interact with them… I’m sure you can guess what I would do…

Daily Prompt – Object Lesson

Sherlock Holmes had his pipe. Dorothy had her red shoes. Batman had his Batmobile. If we asked your friends what object they most immediately associate with you, what would they answer?

HI-TOPS!!

Daily Prompt: I Walk the Line

Have you got a code you live by? What are the principles or set of values you actively apply in your life?

I wouldn’t necessarily say that it’s a ‘code’ that I live by… values is a better way to describe it.

Growing up in the country and having relatively normal and down to earth parents instilled a great deal of principles and values in me at quite a young age, which have been carried over into my adult life.

By comparison, I look at the youth of today and am completely flabbergasted as to how they are able to get away with a fraction of the stuff they get away with. Now, back in my day (god, even saying that just makes me feel like a grandpa!) if we ever did anything naughty, our parents would have no reservation in giving us a hiding – whether it was a hand, a wooden spoon or a belt. And when I was a kid, if I had friends over and they were being as naughty as I was, my parents had no reservations about giving my friends a hiding as well. And vice versa. I recall only one time was I ever at my friends house, and his mum went ballistic at both of us – she gave us both a flogging with a wooden spoon, broke the wooden spoon and sent us to his room without dinner, and took away his Sega Master System for the night.

Now, once you’re all done picking your jaws up off the ground, let me just make one thing perfectly clear – it was not a regular practice for our parents to smack us, or our friends. We knew we’d gone too far, and we knew what the punishment was for going too far, but we still did it. We knew that it was risky to push those kind of boundaries, but we got what we deserved. And my friends parents weren’t exactly going around smacking any kid that walked through their front door for a sleep-over with their child – our parents were friends, and had already discussed things like punishments etc when we were at each others houses. They would never have laid a hand on somebody else’s child without discussing it with their parents first.

Just thought I’d clear that up before somebody flips out and calls the police!! *lol*

And even then, it would only need to happen once, and guaranteed, we’d never do it again – so clearly we learnt from our mistakes!!

Growing up, I had a very strong belief that everything you do – every action you take and every decision you make has a consequence, and you can do nothing but accept those consequences – regardless of whether they are good or bad; happy or sad. I know I’ve certainly made some mistakes that I have later regretted, but I still completely own them regardless.

I was taught to always use your manners. Please. Thankyou. I beg your pardon. You’re welcome. Manners these days seems like such a foreign concept, which is quite depressing.

I was fortunate enough to a) be rather intelligent as a child; and b) have parents who realised that from a very, very early age, they didn’t need to sugar-coat anything for me. Whatever it was they wanted to tell me, they’d  make sure that they just told me – like they were talking to an adult. If I didn’t understand, they’d break it down and explain it in simpler terms that I could understand. I was the kid who was sitting there reading mum’s psychology text books at age 7 or 8, whilst she was writing her assignments as part of her degree – I didn’t need to be wrapped up in cotton wool like most kids are already expecting in todays society.

Always help others. Regardless of how, there’s something to be said for doing a good deed for somebody else. It could be as simple as cooking dinner for them, or helping them  with an essay, or washing their car / doing their laundry etc. Or it could be helping an elderly person across the road, or sharing your umbrella at the traffic lights who’s standing there in the rain getting wet. Or maybe buying a meal for a homeless person, or donating a few bags of clothes, or donating money to charity – there’s always something you can do to help somebody else. It doesn’t need to necessarily be a big grand gesture – it can be anything!!. Even something as simple as just sending them a bunch of flowers if they’re feeling down can speak volumes to somebody,

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/03/30/prompt-walk-the-line/

Daily Prompt: Karma Chameleon

This just in: let’s pretend that science has proven that karma is a thing. Your words and actionswill influence what happens to you in the future. How (if at all) will you change your ways?

Let’s face it, as soon as you read the heading, this is exactly what went through your mind. It’s okay, you’re only human.

Now, raise your hand if you read the prompt and the first thing you thought of was

Again, I’m not surprised. Admittedly, I did the exact same thing. I really can’t help it due to constantly overhearing it being said, and having it said straight to my face whenever I’ve planned something… unsavoury.

Good ol’ Karma. That one theory that so many people believe in. Every now and then I find myself part of a conversation and somebody will either refer to not wanting to do X-action because they don’t want bad karma. Or on the flip side they believe that if they do something good, or do mutliple good things, then they will get a lot of good karma.

I’m a bit of a fence-sitter when it comes to this… sometimes I believe in it, and sometimes I don’t. It really just comes down to my emotional state at that precise point in time. Hmmm, it seems most things nowadays depend on my emotional state…

I think generally speaking, overall I would say that I do actually believe in karma in both good and bad forms. But then sometimes even whilst I might say I believe in karma, I’ll sit there convincing myself that it’s actually just a bunch of crap, and I’ll probably be due for a truck load of bad karma to come my way (let’s face it, if karma exists, then there’s a whole heap of bad karma with my name on it.) and so as a result, I do something positive instead in some pathetic attempt to balance it out. You know, because 6-months of bad karma is totally going to dissipate when I donate $70 to some charity that I saw on late-night television.

…although in saying that, their commercial was quite compelling and I wanted to contribute. I really should just do that more often so that I stop accruing bad karma points and start earning good karma points.

My approach to good karma vs. bad karma is the same way most people approach the gym: if I go do a cardio class / workout for an hour, then I can totally eat that box of 6 donuts / packet of biscuits without remorse.

Sidenote: if you are in fact one of those people, you need to realise that eating those donuts or that packet of biscuits actually means you’ll need to do at least 6+ classes / hours of exercise just to counterbalance all the calories you’ve ingested. 

Some people take the belief in karma quite seriously… some of them also tend to not believe in showering or not wearing footwear, and only wearing natural (tie-dyed) fibers… I on the other hand take it with a grain of salt. Does it make me want to change my behaviours? Not really. But I at least acknowledge that I need to change my behaviours – it’s just not as a direct result of believing in karma.

…It’s because I’m just a bitch.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/02/12/daily-prompt-karma-chameleon/

Jan 30: Persuading Others

If you could persuade people to do one thing right now, what would it be?

I would actually try to persuade people to have more of a social conscience.

Only in the past few years have I really developed more of a social conscience in terms of being more vocal about things that I believe in – things like animal rights, climate change, marriage equality, boycotting companies that don’t support the same beliefs that I have.

And then we end up with this complete and utter monstrosity, Tony Abbott, as our leader, who is so completely backwards, he almost seems to be determined to try and inflict as much damage as possible, so that when he gets voted out at the next election, him and his Liberal government will then have all this damage and destruction to use as a platform for the incoming government, and use that to make them look inadequate because they won’t be able to fix it overnight, and they wont have billions of dollars at their disposal to start trying to undo all the damage that the Abbott government has, is and will cause to our country.

Without actually thinking about the country that we live in and the world that we live in, people tend to just sit back and ignore or avoid these kind of things because they don’t think it affects them; or they think that they can make a change, (or maybe they don’t want to?!) but the fact still remains, that there is a lot of shit that happens in this world, and not enough people really seem to care about it to do anything to create a positive change. Yes, there are a number of activists out there, but more often than not, they give the actual term ‘activist’ a bad reputation.

What’s the first thing you see in your head when you hear the word activist? I’m just gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that it’s something like a person with some signs / placards, chaining themselves to a fence or a tree, or maybe standing in the way of a bulldozer in a picket line. Perhaps they’re rocking out a giant mop of bushy dreadlocks, screaming into a megaphone, barefoot, with a face full of piercings and referring to themselves in the third person by their alternate non-religious name of Sapphire or Moonflower.

That doesn’t have to be the case. Any body can be an activist without having to resort to that kind of action. You can do little things, small every-day things, that will at least make you feel like you’re doing your part to help a worthy cause.

Personally, I’m not going to go out of my way to go to a rally. Even if it’s for something that I support, I generally loathe them, because you see those people I just described, and they make me want to throat-punch them. Instead, I do my own stuff. I’ll sign petitions; I’ll buy only free-range eggs; I’ve even gone to the point now where I completely emptied my entire bathroom skincare and hair care products for cruelty-free brands. I’ll donate money to charities like the RSPCA, or supporting initiatives for the homeless. I refuse to support companies that don’t support marriage equality, or have financial ties to anti-gay organisations like the christian lobby. I no longer donate clothing to The Salvation Army or The Red Cross because they refuse to help people who are in need that are homosexual. Those people are more than happy to take my hard-earned pink dollars, but if I ever found myself in need of their assistance, it’s so disheartening to know that the people who gladly took my money would refuse to help me.

Why would I continue to support that. Especially when I’d blindly been doing so for so many years. Part of me wishes I could ask for a refund of everything I’ve donated to them, just so I could give it to a more deserving charity.

But I am just one person. I cannot make a big enough difference to influence any change, but I can tell other people about it. And they can tell people, and so on and so forth. But there’s a difference between agreeing that there is a lot of stuff that is wrong in this world and actually stepping up and doing something to make a difference.

So if you were to sit there and make a list of what do you feel strongly about in terms of a broader social aspect, what would you write down? What are your top five issues? What small steps can you take to make a small difference?? And for those of you that believe in it, I think we can agree that by making a positive change for a social cause will bring you good karma.

And everybody wants good karma, right?

Daily Prompt: You’re a Winner!

You’ve just won $1 billion dollars in the local lottery. You do not have to pay tax on your winnings. How will you spend the money?

$1billion??

One of the very first things I would do is buy my mum a house.

Then I’d go on one amazing holiday.

I’d invest a truck load of cash so that I could retain a steady income purely living off the interest it accrues. It would also mean I wouldn’t have to work any more, which would be lovely.

I would also invest in creating an amazing architecturally artistic house…

…you get the drift.

I would also donate a large chunk of it to various charities, and perhaps some performing arts projects.

I actually don’t know what else I would do with it. I’d also make sure that Hulk and I are completely debt free.

Oh, and I’d buy a French Bulldog, because they are so adorable.

 

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/12/28/prompt-winner/

Daily Prompt: Random Act of Kindness

Tell us about the time when you performed a secret random act of kindness — where the recipient of your kindness never found out about your good deed. How did the deed go down?

Now, I’m not sure what it’s like where you live, but I always get asked for money by either one of two types of people… the junkies who are always asking for a dollar ‘to make a phone call’… yeah right. The only phone call you’ll be making is to your dealing to either ask them for another hit, or to tell them that you still don’t have their money yet. And that’s provided you haven’t already tried selling off your child for a couple of grams of cocaine.

I never have change for these people. I refuse to be part of the problem.

The others are the homeless people who are usually sitting on the ground with a sign on a manky piece of cardboard saying that they’re homeless and would appreciate any spare change… they will also possibly have a dog with them who looks equally as miserable as it’s owner.

More often than not, if I happen to have any change in my pocket or in my backpack, I’ll grab it and empty it into their hat or cup or whatever. I remember several years ago, there was a homeless guy who had a dog who would always be outside a cafe across from the train station. One day I was in a great mood: the sun was shining, I was feeling really good and wanted to do something nice, so I bought the guy a box of dog food and bought him a couple of baguettes from the cafe inside, and when I offered them to him, he was so incredibly grateful. That moment made me realise just how easy it can be to make somebody’s day, and that something so small and insignificant to me, can mean the world to somebody else. It was a really grounding moment for me.

Since then, I’ve always been one to donate to specific charities, to do my part to contribute to helping others.

A few weeks ago, after finishing work one night, I had another encounter. I had had a really long day, I was exhausted and starving and just wanted to get home and had just discovered that all the trains home had been cancelled and I now had to wait and hail (and pay for) yet another taxi home.

As I was leaving the building, I put on my headphones and began to walk up to the taxi rank to get a cab, when a gentleman stopped me. I normally ignore people when I’m listening to my music – if you can clearly see I’m listening to my music and don’t think that maybe I don’t want to be disturbed, then you become invisible to me and I will completely ignore you. This guy, however got the best of me.

I stopped and took off my headphones and look at him. He looked lost, and thought he needed to be given directions.

He then began to tell me that he needed to get to the bus depot. I turned around and pointed him in the direction of the bus depot.

Nope. He had missed his bus.

Oh, well, that’s annoying, but I don’t know when the next bus is. You’ll need to go to the station to check the timetable.

He knew that the next bus was in about an hours time. I didn’t understand what he wanted then. At this point he said that his wallet had been stolen, and needed to get some money to be able to afford the bus fare…

What the hell. He was very well-mannered, he seemed to be legit, and I had a moment of weakness. I put my bag down to get out my wallet and gave him the last twenty bucks that I had in there. I mean, right, twenty bucks is pretty fucking good, and you know I wasn’t the first sucker to hand over some cash to this guy.

Waiting for a very gracious thankyou, I put my wallet back in my pocket, and he just looked at me…

…what?

Are you sure that you can’t help me out any more?

…I just gave you my last twenty bucks.

Yeah, but could you maybe give me a bit more? If you want, you could go up to the ATM and get some more money out…

….!!!

No, seriously, ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!??!

I didn’t know whether or not to punch him in the mouth, or snatch my twenty bucks back, or both.

Um, you should be fucking grateful that I gave you my last twenty bucks. How fucking dare you have the audacity to ask me for more money. Get the fuck out of my way.

I barged past him… AND HE FOLLOWED ME!! He then stopped a group of people with the same sob story and as I waited for my cab I shouted out ‘DONT GIVE HIM ANY MONEY, HE’S SCAMMING YOU!! DON’T GIVE HIM YOUR MONEY!!!” Just as they stopped to face me, I saw one woman opening her purse… ‘NO!! STOP!! DON’T GIVE HIM ANY MONEY, HE’S SCAMMING YOU’… and quickly ran back down to the group of ladies. ‘Sorry ladies, please don’t be fooled by this con artist. I just gave him my last twenty bucks and then suggested I go to the ATM to get him more money. Put your purse away, and continue on with your night!’

The woman quickly closed her purse, gave me a weird look, and rushed off with the rest of the women. The guy looked at me and called me a prick. ‘I may be a prick, but I’m not the one scamming innocent people out of their money on some bullshit story. Go fuck yourself’, and just as I said that, I jumped into a taxi and headed home.

It just reminded me of that scene in Scary Movie, where she gives the homeless guy a sandwich instead of a dollar and he throws it back at her…

“I said a dollar, bitch!”

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/12/20/prompt-random-kindness/

Dec 20: Volunteer Work

Do you do any volunteer work?  Tell us about it.

Sometimes when I get asked this question, and I answer ‘No’, I feel so terribly guilty about it, but the reality is, I don’t have time in my life to actively go and volunteer anywhere. Although, sometimes when I’m at my other job, I feel like I’m volunteering because although I get paid, I get taxed so much on it as it’s a secondary income, I almost do it for free.

I haven’t really thought too much about volunteering because I already spend plenty of money making financial donations to various organisations throughout the year – that’s my contribution instead. It’s not necessarily as good as I’d like it to be, but it’s certainly a lot more than most people do.