I Remember…

Felt like writing today, but couldn’t figure out where to begin. Using the writing exercise of “I remember” to brain dump.

I remember when caller ID was a separate device and an extra charge on the phone bill. Now, caller ID is the standard.

I remember when landlines were dodgy and you could pick up your phone and hear another person’s partial conversation over the dial tone.

I remember when we had a dial tone.

I remember when the family size box of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes was $1.99.

I remember eating Kix, Rice Krispies, and corn flakes with a bunch of sugar that never dissolved at the bottom of the bowl. Each scoop had a nice portion of sugar to pair with my bland cereal.

I remember watching the Die Hard movie last Christmas, because it’s a Christmas movie, and noticed a scene revealing gas prices were 74¢ for regular and 77¢ for unleaded in LOS ANGELES.

I remember when I took my first sip of wine as a kid and thought it was the most disgusting thing ever. Now I love wine. The same happened when I first tried beer in my 20s. Disgusting! Now I can appreciate a good beer. Funny how our palate changes.

I remember when the internet was mailed to your home in the form of a free AOL trial CD. We had free internet for a while as we would cancel after 30-60 days and sign up with a new disk.

I remember when I was naïve of the foolery in the world. All I wanted to do was play outside, make mud pies, and sell them for five rocks to friends at my fake bakery.

I remember when I had an imaginary friend. Now I don’t have any friends. Just kidding, I have friends, but my imaginary friend, Stephanie, was better. 😀

I remember when I wanted to grow up, but once I grew up, I wished to be a kid. Let’s be honest, I never actually grew up. I have an adult body with the mind of a 15 year old who acts her age when she needs to. Actually, make that the mind of a 10 year old. I laugh at my own foolery sometimes.

I remember thinking coffee was disgusting. Now I drink it every morning and spike it with a little sumin’ sumin’ once in a while for no other reason than I’m grown and paid for everything in the fridge that sits under the roof I pay for. 😀

I remember BBQs with family lasting all day into the next morning. Great food, music, neighborhood friends would stop by for a plate, wonderful vibe. I remember and cherish those days.

What are some random things you remember that brings back good feelings or laughs?

The Toolbox Fallacy vs Being Unmotivated

You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great. 

Zig Ziglar

What does the toolbox fallacy mean? Well, you’ve probably fallen into this fallacy without realizing it had a name. The toolbox fallacy is when you disguise your procrastination with the excuse of having a lack of “tools” to get you started. A good example is, “I’ll start working out when I buy a Fitbit,” but you never buy that Fitbit and never workout. You use the excuse of not having that item to deceive yourself into believing you need the Fitbit “tool” in order to start your fitness journey. In reality, you can workout without the Fitbit.

The idea of “I need X in order to do Y,” is something I catch myself doing. This is easier for me to realize as I equate it to want vs need. When I hit a want vs need moment, I know to stop and think about whether or not I’m impulsively buying something or if I actually need it. Using this thought process for the toolbox fallacy has helped me realize how easy it is to make excuses for minimal things when I can easily complete. Another example of the toolbox fallacy is thinking once you have X, Y will come with ease. Just because you purchased acrylic paints and canvases doesn’t mean you’ll be an expert painter. The work still needs to be done once you get X. I have friends who deceived themselves due to thinking if they bought X, they’d become instant masters in Y. They either gave up or became uninterested as soon as the product arrived.

The toolbox fallacy and being unmotivated are, for me, two different feelings. “I need X in order to do Y” shifts to, “I’ll do it later.” When I’m unmotivated, I can’t gather the physical or mental energy to focus on one task. This results in not having the clarity to get started, knowing what I want to do, and the goal outcome. When I don’t have a clear vision, I become semi-frustrated and unmotivated. 10 percent of the time I complete a goal, whether it’s writing, painting, drawing, etc., I was able to visualize what I wanted to achieve and was physically and mentally ready to do it. It’s rare to have my mental and physical self align perfectly to feel beyond motivated. I usually have one or the other and enough partial focus to achieve my goal. This results in me becoming motivated as I go.

This post was sitting in my drafts for months with only the title and first sentence. Why? I wasn’t motivated to write it. Today, I had enough mental energy and focus to create this post. I had no idea what I was going to write, but the goal was to start typing and see where it went. The idea of starting is the easiest yet hardest thing for many to do. Quite sure everyone has their reasons. If you’re reading this and fell into the toolbox fallacy or simply unmotivated, I encourage you to just start. Grab that pen and paper and do a brain dump, Google search what you need to get motivated or inspired, play that song that gets you pumped, find your groove, and ride that energy wave.

4 Things I’ve Learned as I Get Older

We learn a lot as we get older or HOPEFULLY we learn a lot. I’ve discovered four key changes in me as I age and it has really helped me shape a different perspective of the world.

Truths About Life That Goes Against Societal Norm

Not every woman wants to be a mother.
Why are people shocked when a woman says she doesn’t want to be a mother? Not every woman wants to have a child or raise one and that’s OK. A woman who admits to not wanting children receive the dirtiest confused looks I’ve ever seen. It’s usually followed up with the question “why” or “you’ll change your mind.”

Marvel Studios’ Eternals: Boring and Unnecessary

After watching Marvel Studios’ Eternals, I’ve come to realize the Marvel formula is old or I’ve seen these characters before and this film was a waste of time.

Dune 2021: Quick Spoiler Free Review

My knowledge of the Dune series, on a scale from 0-10, is a four. I’ve never read the books but knew there were different houses, politics, and spice was something everyone wanted. This knowledge is due to a summary I read when I discovered Dune (2021) was an anticipated film.

Squid Game Review: That Was Unexpected

I saw the Netflix trailer for Squid Game a month ago and figured I’d check it out. Initially thought it was a movie, but discovered it was a nine-episode season. First thought, “Ah man, I don’t feel like getting into a series. Pass!” Nine hours later… didn’t regret a thing, but I have so many questions.

Little backstory if you haven’t watched and please note, this post will contain major spoilers.

Trying to be a Savior Can Do More Harm Than Good

We all know 2020 was a hot mess. The pandemic started, political tension, and racial tension with hundreds of protests denouncing police brutality. It was a year that, undoubtedly, stressed a lot of people out. In this particular post, I’m going to talk about an article I read about a UCLA professor being suspended for not giving black students an easier final exam in June 2020. This article displayed the savior complex, society’s newfound understanding of how stressed black people are when it comes to societal issues, and the audacity people had with this newfound information.

Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

I usually exchange food gifts with a friend. She had one simple request. That simple request was to bake her some vegan cinnamon rolls.

I’ve made many things, but not once did I ever consider making cinnamon rolls, let alone vegan cinnamon rolls.

She gave me a recipe she thought I should try and realized the only thing vegan about the cinnamon rolls was the replacement of butter and milk. Luckily, I already consume a milk substitute, but I had to get introduced to vegan butter.

Cashew Brittle

I’m obsessed with peanut brittle made by See’s Candies. Each time I go to my local store, the brittle boxes are sold out. My timing obviously isn’t great. Figured I would attempt to make my own brittle. Made it once with my mother…when I was in elementary, so I figured it wouldn’t be that hard :).

Ingredients:

1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/8 tsp salt
2 tbsp. water
1/2 cup whole or halved cashews (or nuts of your choice)
1 tbsp. butter softened
1/2 tsp baking soda

Directions:

1. Grease a large cookie sheet and set aside.

2. In a heavy 1 quart saucepan, over medium heat, bring sugar, corn syrup, salt and water to a boil stirring until sugar is dissolved.

3. Stir in cashews. Set candy thermometer in place, and continue cooking. Stir frequently until thermometer temperature reaches 300 degrees F.  If you don’t have a candy thermometer, you can drop a small amount of the mixture into very cold water. If the mixture separates into hard brittle threads, it has reached the “hard crack” candy stage.

4. Remove from heat and immediately stir in butter and baking soda. Do not stir too much. Just until the butter and baking soda is incorporated which won’t take long. Pour the mixture onto the greased cookie sheet. With 2 forks, lift and pull cashew mixture into rectangle (or any shape you can get it into before it cools). Let the mixture cool. Break candy into pieces.

This recipe produces a small batch good enough for one or two people. If you wish to make more, please double or triple the recipe.