Dress

Putting on sweatpants and going for a gentle walk does not constitute exercise, and gentle walking does not warrant the use of sweat pants.

Facebook's Emotional Manipulation

Quite strange to think people are manipulated on such a grand scale.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun/29/facebook-users-emotions-news-feeds

Rain and Flat Tires

Got a puncture. Left the car in. Wandered up to Tesco rather than wait in the weird tire fitting lobby.

Its now bucketing rain and I'm trapped in Tesco.

There's about 10 of us standing in the doorway, hostages of the island.

Revelation Junkies

After a long hiatus, I have returned to look at this blog. This is pretty normal for most of the blogs I've read. Half the posts are spaced by about three months and spend the first few paragraphs apologising to their non-existent readers.

Dear reader(s), I am not sorry. There will probably not be any more rapid updates. The three of you will just have to wallow in despair like a Song of Ice and Fire fan.

While looking at these other blogs, I noticed pattern that crops up in a lot of my most introspective friends. After a period of fruitful self analysis, it's easy to become a revelation junkie.

The journey to that point goes like this: 

1. They feel a little down in life

2. They analyse themselves and come up with some insightful revelations

3. This gives a great buzz and after implementing them, their lives improve

4. They repeat steps 2 and 3 a few times

5. The laws of diminishing returns start to kick in.

After a while, the revelations become as small as "avocados have changed my life" but they still write and talk about them on the same level as "I made peace with who I am". Swarths of text and hours of conversation wind up focusing on the weekly in-vogue wisdom.

This in itself isn't a bad thing. Continuous improvement is good. But the newest revelation often shrouds the last one, and stops them from every finishing out a good plan.

It always amazes me how little you can do in a week and how much you can do in a year. When you make a plan, the start is easy but the end is where the results are.

Ideas and revelations are only the first step.

Valentine's Day Wisdom

If you think drugs are expensive, try dating.

Borrowed Socks

I have borrowed a lot of socks in my time, often without returning them. I must recommend it to anyone who has never borrowed socks before, because it gives one a supreme sense of connectedness with the world. It's as though you're looking at it all through someone else's eyes. Or feet.

In fact, it reminds me of that most sacred act of worship, boko-maru. It comes from the greatest religion I have ever heard of.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokononism

Books vs Movies

Books show you what characters are thinking. You read their imagination. You're inside their head, with all of their biases, desires, and imperfect information. 

Movies only show you what they're doing. Someone's walking. A couple are kissing. Maybe they're in love. Maybe not. Movie characters are passing strangers; people you meet as you wander about. Characters in novels are friends who have told you their darkest secrets.

That's why books are worth more than movies, and why people lament their favourite novels being made into movies. Insight. In one you hear a mind. You hear their thoughts. You are them and you become them. In the other, you watch like a stranger.