Words to End a Book With… or Not

https://digitalcitizen.ca/category/writing/If you were writing a book, after tens of thousands of words, possibly over a hundred words, would you care what would be your last word? And if you did, what would it be? Or perhaps, more realistically, what wouldn’t it be? Or maybe what wouldn’t it be along the lines of? I would never have cared before today, because I had never thought of it. However, I got an unintended prompt a few days ago that, from now on, I will commit to caring.

Continue reading

What Would You Stop Doing with Limited Time to Live?

https://digitalcitizen.ca/category/writing/In December 2020, I was listening to a podcast episode of the Tim Ferriss Show with Jim Collins, when they got around to a fantastic question that author Rochelle Myers once asked Jim: If you had ten years left to live, what would you stop doing, or do much less of? It caught me off-guard amidst the already great conversation, like a magical music piece I was hearing for the first time among great radio play I was listening to, that just froze me to devote my attention to it. I don’t know if you’ve ever had such moments, but I can tell you many such stories in discovering classical music almost systematically by going through a library of it, and being frozen when certain phrases or openings came on. This was that equivalent in speech, via podcast.

Continue reading

The Regulars’ Ghosts

https://digitalcitizen.ca/category/writing/If you’ve ever frequented any spots with people, as in if you’ve ever visited any spots with people on a regular basis, you’ll probably find others who frequent the same spot. Depending on your nature, you might care or be curious to know who they are, and what their stories are. Depending on your nature, or perhaps theirs, you might eventually get to know some of them. How much or how little you might get to know them, if you do, depends on a whole bunch of other factors. But have you ever known one or more frequenters who just stopped showing up one day, and wondered whatever happened to them? If so, how far have you taken that wondering?

Continue reading

The Power of Giving Away Lottery Tickets

https://digitalcitizen.ca/category/writing/My #1 life philosophy is the best thing you can give someone, including yourself, is a chance. It applies well to general opportunities in life, as in having the trust, faith, and/or confidence in someone, including oneself, to do something, with success either expected or ignored, pending the goal. The philosophy holds true for understanding that the trust, faith, confidence, love, whatever you want to interpret as being shown by the person giving the chance, are far more valuable than anything money could buy, or other qualities shown. However, I’m going to test that money theory by getting my work colleagues lottery tickets for Asian New Year on February 12 (2021).

Continue reading