Apparently, back in April blogger vᚻællKᚱᛁᛗvosᛏ of Vermont Folk Troth tagged me and several other bloggers in his post “Sonnelicht Telephone Whispers Game.” I don’t know much about vᚻællKᚱᛁᛗvosᛏ, but from what I can gather, he’s a pagan Vermont nationalist. That sounds on-brand for that part of the country.
What I do know is that my blog desperately needs some crosspollination with other blogs, so I’m going to join in on this game of telephone tag. Also, my apologies to vᚻællKᚱᛁᛗvosᛏ for not getting the notification back in April; apparently, Akismet was doing its job a bit overzealously. That said, thank you, my friend from the frosty North. May your people one day feel the breath of Odin wafting through their locks in the Republic of Vermont.
Now, on to the questions. vᚻællKᚱᛁᛗvosᛏ posed eleven questions to me; I, in turn, will pose eleven questions (goodness, that’s a lot) to some other bloggers, and we’ll all learn about each other (perhaps!).
Here are the questions:
- What spurred on starting your blog?
- What physical/hands on hobby most interests you?
- Are you spiritual, religious, agnostic, atheist, or have some other form of system you gravitate toward?
- What gives meaning/value to your life?
- What kind of environment makes you feel most at peace?
- What’s a challenge you’ve faced that shaped you in a meaningful way?
- How do you recharge when life feels overwhelming?
- What’s a long‑term dream you hold, even if it feels unrealistic?
- What’s a value you refuse to compromise on?
- How do you define home for yourself?
- What kind of experiences make you feel most alive?
And here are my answers:
- I started this blog initial way back in 2009. I was getting into editorial writing and wrote some inflammatory letters to the editor of my hometown newspaper. It was the Golden Age of blogging, so I started doing so regularly.
I dropped off for some years, however, and picked it back up briefly in 2016, before returning for good in 2018, when I shifted everything to WordPress. When I accidentally posted three days in a row in late 2018/early 2019, WordPress told me I was on a “three-day streak.” That encouraged me to blog everyday for the month of January 2019. That turned into 100 days; then a year. Seven-ish years later, I’m still blogging daily. One day the streak will break and it will kill me (and then I’ll probably just stop dead with blogging—ha!). - I love working on stuff with our koi pond! It’s kind of gross, but cleaning out the filter is oddly satisfying, and I like topping off the pond and feeding the fish.
- I’m a Christian. I believe that Jesus Christ Is our Lord and Personal Savior; that He Died for our sins; was Resurrected; Ascended into Heaven; and Will Return someday. I believe that He Is Knocking at the doors of our hearts, and we have but to open that door and to accept Him to be saved. We are justified through faith in Christ alone, then spend our lives as Christians working out our salvation through the process of sanctification.
I like the hard, logical side of Christian theology, but also appreciate the pietistic tradition. There’s a profound mystery at the heart of our faith, and reveling in that mystery is important, just as engaging in reasoned apologetics is. - Again, my faith in Christ Jesus gives meaning to my life. Without Him, life is meaningless.
That said, I find that life is most meaningful when I am writing, composing music, and doodling, or when I am tending to our koi fish and minnows. Doing things that are creative and productive bring me a great sense of peace and well-being. - Our quiet sunroom, reading or doing a crossword puzzle with Dr. Wife and our dog. Sitting by the koi pond is great when it’s not 1000 degrees outside, too. I enjoy quiet, and appreciate loads of time for contemplation and reflection.
- Lord, where to start! I’ve been blessed to have avoided some major struggles that I know plague most people. I think building a fairy successful career as a teacher over fifteen years has been a continual source of personal and professional growth. Teaching really forced me to expand my mind and to engage all of my faculties in a way that I’ve never had to do.
I was also in a play a few years ago where I had one of the four main parts. It was grueling—and one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do mentally. I love live theatre, but, man, it’s not for me, not because I’m not a good actor—apparently, I am!—but because it’s just too much commitment. Theatre people are insane (for both good and for ill); what they do is tough.
Finishing my Master’s was a nightmarish slog, but it’s because I was young and undisciplined. Winning over Dr. Wife has improved my life by every conceivable metric, and it was the product of twenty years of roaming in the wilderness of bad relationships and singleness. Marriage has been character-building as well. It’s kind of wild when you have to kill your ego. Dying to self is hard, but Christ Demands it. It makes life a lot better, too, when you’re not just living of your own pleasure. - Usually a solid weekend does the trick. When I was teaching tons of classes a two or three school years back, then teaching twenty music lessons a week on top of that (I think it hit twenty-two at one point), and doing all of my additional school duties, I was severely burned out constantly. I’d just collapse Friday nights and sleep in Saturdays, then take all day Saturday to recuperate before winding back up after church on Sundays. Saturday became my “sabbath” in the sense that it was truly my day of rest (and still kind of is).
- I used to want to walk on the Moon. That would be awesome, but I don’t think I’ll ever have the opportunity. For years I’ve said I’ve wanted to hear one of my pieces performed by a symphony orchestra; the problem is that I need to compose something for an ensemble of that size. At this point, just hearing some of my original compositions performed by the unorthodox chamber groups I tend to compose for would be awesome. I’d love to commission original works, too, for concert bands and the like. I know there’s a whole world of people that do that, but I don’t really know how to get into it.
- I’ve compromised on more values than I care to admit! It’s hard to stand on principle. But I can’t stand to see a fellow teacher disrespected, or a loved one denigrated by someone outside of the family. I’m ride-or-die with Dr. Wife and any of my immediate family.
- “Home is where the heart is,” right? I suppose I’d define “home” as that place where my family resides and where I’m responsible (with Dr. Wife) for keeping things running. So, I have my childhood home, where my folks are, but my home now is here in our little town. But whenever I’m with my brothers, nieces, nephews, parents, my sister-in-law, and Dr. Wife, I feel like I’m home.
- Teaching kids to play music, and especially when they really get something and make it sound good, gives me a thrill that’s hard to describe. Talking about music and playing it with other people who enjoy music also really gives me that thrill, but at this point, seeing students grow as musicians really scratches a deep itch for me. It will be hard, then, not to teach music full-time this year, but I have lessons and some other outlets for that in the works.
So, here’s the part where I “challenge” other bloggers to dive in with their responses. In order to save time (and because, at the time of writing, I am running close to when I need to get a stir fry going for our dinner), I’m going to recycle the above questions, as I think they do a good job of getting to the “meat” of a person.
As such, here are the bloggers I’m “calling out”—do you dare to take on the challenge?
- Erin at Existential Ergonomics (I know her responses will be great)
- photog at Orion’s Cold Fire (my first real blogger buddy)
- Kymber at booomcha (fun name!)
- Robin at Robin & Willow (the most delicious blog on WordPress)
- Mogadishu Matt at Free Matt Podcast (one of my favorite blogs; vᚻællKᚱᛁᛗvosᛏ nominated him earlier, but in case Matt missed it, now’s his chance!)
Of course, any readers who want to respond to these questions in a comment (or on a guest post on this blog!) are welcome to do so.
Also, apparently this whole game of telephone is part of the “2026 Sunshine Blogger Award Part Quatre” from blogger Just Rojie; I know nothing of this blogger or the “award,” and the link on vᚻællKᚱᛁᛗvosᛏ’s post is dead, but I figured I’d give credit where it’s due.
Regardless, now you know more about yours portly.
Happy Wednesday!
—TPP