Kicking Back the Sunshine

Written by Tom Being Tom

Arionis, the golden-retriever-lovin’, comic-superhero-slash-football fan over at “Just a Small Cog” ran with the Sunshine Blogger Award I nominated him for and answered with aplomb. He kicked back some questions I thought I oughta answer. I mean, if someone’s gonna be out there, own goldens, love supers, and follow football as passionately as Tom does, he’s earned every bit I can give, eh?

So, here goes. My answers to my long-lost brother’s queries:

  • Why did you start a blog?
    • I’ll be honest with this one: I wanted to see if I really wanted to be a writer. God honest truth. I had said, forever, that I could be if I wanted to be but I never did and I was running out of excuses why. So I started a blog, expanded it to a regular gig writing about the Rams, and realized once and for all that I don’t like writing. I mean, I don’t like writing when I have to, only when I want to. So I started a blog to see if I wanted to be a writer and put that test to rest. The answer was no.
  • What is your absolute favorite post you have written. Not necessarily your most commented on one or most popular, but the one that you like the most. Only one. Don’t tell me you can’t decide!
    • In 2017 I promised my friends I’d post a blog EVERY DAY for the month of June or buy them a bunch of beers. One day, late in the month, to fulfill my obligation, I did a thousand word blog repeating the same sentence over and over: “All work and no play makes Tom a dull boy.” I thought I was hilarious and they thought I was cheating.
    • That post doesn’t exist anymore, so my favorite now is probably “In My Dreams I Live in Prunedale” followed closely by “Us Vs Them.”
  • Are you a top or bottom TP roller? (Hint: There is only one right answer.)
    • Top is the only way that really makes sense.
  • Dogs, cats, both, or neither?
    • At one point in our marriage Mrs C and I hosted (for years) 3 dogs, 4 cats, a bird, and a mother-in-law. I really only wanted the dogs. 😉
  • Board games or video games?
    • Pen and paper RPGs.
  • If you had to lose one of your five physical senses which one would you choose?
    • Not my sight or hearing because Bruce Springsteen. Not my sense of touch because of the computer keyboard. Smell or taste, then, though that would ruin Mexican food. Can I choose “common” sense, instead, since only dummies seem to cling to that?
  • Do you believe that mental health is as important as physical health?
    • Every bit. In fact, it may be more important. We’d have a better president today if we paid more attention to mental health.
  • If life is like a box of chocolates, which flavor would make you say FML?
    • I don’t like the cherry ones, but anything deeply dark chocolate goes straight to the garbage after the first bite.
  • Which blogs do you read the most? Don’t feel pressured to include mine. No pressure at all. Really, my feeling won’t be hurt; much.
    • I have never once skipped Suzanne’s weekly blog to “come back to it later.” It’s that good every time. I read a lot of good blogs, though, so I don’t mean to leave anyone else out. I just think her quality, humor, and frequency are perfectly suited to me.
  • Do you have a list? If so, tell me what it is.
    • I do not have a list. I do have a honey-do list.
  • Tell me what you like/dislike about my blog. Honestly, I’ll take any constructive criticism. Hell, I’ll take destructive criticism too.
    • I like your blog a lot, and haven’t found anything yet to criticize. Give me time, I’ll come back to this with something, eventually. 😁

Thanks for taking the time to answer, and for the questions. Pet the dogs, brotha!

 

29 thoughts on “Kicking Back the Sunshine”

  2. Dogs, deep dark, Suzanne of course and yes, that post of yours. I loved it so much I wrote a poem In my dream. So there, now you know. When you see it one day, you’ll remember.
    And now…hm, you think writers write because they have to, not because they want to? Ha. This made me laugh.

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  3. This is brilliant: “Can I choose “common” sense, instead, since only dummies seem to cling to that?” Those who most frequently fall back on the “it’s just common sense” non-argument are usually the same people that believe the Earth is 6,000 years old. BTW, Chris’ dog Dudley is NOT the golden retriever I promised to include in my story. I was picturing Dudley as a bulldog. As I think I already indicated, that dog will belong to Deadpool when I finally get around to his story arc. If you’d like, you can name the dog before I write his part.

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    1. Thanks, Paul! Hey, I like that idea. I’ll start brainstorming middle-aged Deadpool’s golden dog’s name.

      I’ve always wanted to write that sentence. 😉

      And although you are correct, the extremist Christian right seems to use the phrase “common sense” the most, I’ve been in rooms where ten different people of ten different religious and political perspectives had ten different competing definitions of “common sense.” I guess, in the end, “common sense” simply means “the way that only I see it” which means the true definition of “common sense” today is “my opinion about things should be.” I tend to disregard any argument based on ridiculous “common sense.”

      I like folks who come with the less common greater sense, “uncommonly good sense” I call it. “Uncommon Sense” for short. Friends like you have it, and politicians like Bernie and Andy Yang display it. Everyone else seems to be fighting for votes; those guys seem to be fighting for high ideals.

      We need more high ideals, and less authoritarian opinions about “common sense.”

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  4. Thanks for all the love brotha! Your bitcoin is in the e-mail.

    For someone that doesn’t want to be a writer you do a damn good job at it.

    I used to play the paper and pen RPGs back in the day. Was great fun and actually how I came up with my online moniker.

    My FML chocolate would be anything with coconut in it. Yuck!

    I’ll have to check out Suzanne’s blog. Anyone you praise that highly is surely a must read.

    I look forward to you coming up with some criticism of this small cog!

    Thanks for answering my questions in return. Consider the dogs petted and you do the same.

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    1. Thanks for the compliment, brotha! I do enjoy it, just not on command, you know? I like the meandering, thoughtful fourth wall stuff. Like yourself!

      It’s still funny how both of our greatest RPG characters were named “Arion.”

      Check out Suzanne! Sunday updates from the Queen of Self-Aware Funny!

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    2. I’d say more Chihuahua, and I’ll also admit that today we still have three dogs and a MIL. She’s loony (her nickname since high school is “spun one”) but it is nice to have a live-in dogsitter, so it’s not all bad. 😁

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      2. 5 minutes in a room with her and no explanation would be needed. She’s all over the place and you have to spend time to figure out (a) what she’s talking about, and (b) where that thought even came from.

        With effort, I’ve learned to decipher her language, despite how spun out her conversation style is. 😉

        Liked by 1 person

  6. It’s hilarious to me that you don’t like writing–or rather that you don’t like required writing, because you seem to do the unrequired stuff so gracefully and hilariously and well. Of course there are plenty of professional writers who really don’t like writing, or, like you, don’t like the required stuff. When John Steinbeck finished The Grapes Of Wrath he wrote in his diary that he was so happy to be done with it. Steinbeck! Dude won a Nobel Prize for literature! And he didn’t stop either, but that seems to be the nature of successful people. The accolades don’t matter–only the work does.

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    1. “The accolades don’t matter–only the work does.”

      I love that.

      Thanks for the great compliment, Christopher! I do enjoy writing. But as I told a RL friend the other day, who complimented me and told me I should do this for a living, that if I did I’d hate it like a job. Twice in life I felt the soar of writing as a career as a real possibility and twice in life I quickly lost interest in writing altogether. Maybe that changes someday, maybe it doesn’t.

      Peace with it, I’ve made. 😉

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    1. It was actually quite fun! I do remember, however, how remarkable it was that my readership went DOWN as the month progressed. I mean, by a lot. I notice when I post daily, or too infrequently for that matter, folks lose interest. I guess it becomes a case of either “Oh, there’s another Tom post (ho hum).” or “Oh, I forgot he does that, I’ll check it out when there’s time.”

      Daily = too frequent. Ten days or so apart = too infrequent.

      Suzanne is smart in her weekly schedule. 👍

      For me, the sweet spot seems to be roughly every 5 days. No sooner than 3, no later than 7. That seems to be the frequency most people care to hear from Tom. 😉

      Liked by 2 people

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