There’s a point in showing up to the page. Sometimes it’s more than just writing down thoughts. It can be cathartic to, as Walter Wellesley “Red” Smith had similarly stated, “bleed on the page”.
We all write for different reasons. Sometimes we write for more than just one reason. But for people who like writing, we can’t seem to really do without it.
“Every man has his daydream, every man has his goal.”
We all have dreams, of the things we want, and the lives we want to lead. Most of us don’t fully those dreams. I think a lot of it is the relative safety of the familiar vs. the possible risk of the unknown. If anything, we are generally taught to be risk averse.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t think before you leap, or live life dangerously just because you can. But I think it is important to keep your sights set on what you actually want, and to make progress towards it – whether small steps or giant leaps.
Recently I heard someone say, “All words are made up.” Well, technically, yes. All words have an origin, and words are just used to convey something else. The word rock isn’t a rock. The thing, “rock”, is the rock. Some philosopher somewhere definitely went into this. I’m guessing Wittgenstein, but I’ve yet to read any of his work.
Anyway, something that I was thinking about is when technology moves us past the meaning of certain words. Nearly no one has a wired, cradled phone landline in the house any longer, but we still say “hang up the phone”. I don’t hear “tune in” as much anymore, but it is still common enough, though we know longer tune a television to a channel.
That just leaves me wondering, what bits of our lexicon will the next technological achievements make obsolete?
Was trying to pinpoint a direction for these postings. Sometimes I throw things at the blog, and hope it sticks. And thus it becomes this catch all of my thoughts.
Like the blob, it keeps consuming and growing, and even I have no idea what it could become.
But we’re all a bit like. If we don’t have a single direction that we’re heading in, we pick and choose little things to add into our lives. Interests, hobbies, jobs. All these things make us who we are, and quite often, it’s those odd bits about ourselves that are the most interesting.
I was sitting in group discussion some years ago, and a therapist friend of mine was telling us about nerve cells in the stomach. Over 100 million cells, effectively making the gut another brain.
This led to a discussion on why “trusting your gut” is so important. Sometimes intuition is giving you more information than just thinking can. It’s possible that you should be paying more attention to what your stomach is telling you.
After yesterday’s post about the supply chain, I’d also be remiss to not mention HBO’s hit new series The Last of Us, from the PS game of the same name.
The premise is mostly straightforward – end-of-the-world type shenanigans, with zombies (these being somewhat faster than the regular, shambling variety), survivors, and the journey to save the world. Some of the key elements that make this show unique aren’t anything incredibly new, yet still effective. Rather than a virus, this time it’s a mind-controlling fungus. Its mission, to spread.
A few weeks back, the internet was all abuzz regarding episode three. In it, the love story between Bill and Frank is watched beautifully, and painfully, from beginning to end.
The controversy comes from a large chunk of the viewership not appreciating a homosexual relationship depicted on screen.
This is obviously a much bigger topic and issue than can be handled here. Matters of tastes and preferences; of what to watch and what you feel comfortable watching; of making something commercial vs. artistic (a problem dating back centuries); of how we communicate on the web. The list can go on and on.
What I will say as a Cis-hetero man is that episode 3, Long, Long Time, had me in tears, and I found it as beautiful a love story as you can find on television. This I find even more surprising, given the nature of the tv show as a post-apocalyptic, horror narrative. But that’s no less than we should expect from our television programming.
Taking as a case study the Sony PlayStation 5, which was nigh impossible to purchase for most people during the past two years, it appears that the gaming console sold at its highest level ever in the final quarter of 2022. Perhaps the kinks have finally been worked out!
Of course, that’s one product, in one supply chain, by one company. The question of supply and demand following the pandemic is still anything but certain.
What’s amazing is how meticulously the supply chain is organized so that we don’t run into these issues. Under usual circumstances. When the wrench is thrown in the works – and COVID was a hefty wrench – it can take a long time to get it up and running again.
When I was a child, and I mean really young, my Dad used to read me Zoobooks. This was a kids’ magazine devoted to animals of all kinds. My favorites were the dinosaurs, and they had a three-book set on them.
So, I learned a lot about animals, of all sorts. And I enjoyed the nightly readings that my Dad and I would do.
I was looking at a National Geographic recently, and that memory just came to me. The memory of having those books read to me. Of spending that time with my Dad.
I guess you never really know what memories are going to stick. Which things are really important. At least, until enough time passes that you can look back and say, “that was it”.
What is a valentine, other than an expression of love? And love can take all shapes. Each little card, or candy, or bouquet of flowers lets someone know that you’re thinking of them. And that you care.
Whatever form it takes, it’s just an outward representation of emotions that we sometimes struggle to convey. Perhaps something that could be repeated throughout the year, without the prompting of commercials.
How many times do you go to Google to ask, “Where can I watch [blank]?” With so many streaming services, it’s difficult to know where to turn.
Just from the most commonly known, it could take minutes each to search their content. What if you’re looking for that one specific movie?
When will someone devise a system to aggregate all of that data? One source, where you could search the entirety of the available catalog, and not have to log out to open another streaming app.
That would change the game again.
Michael's Musings 