Author: nanimov

There is a comment that is famous in the reddit community and beyond that is in response to a user’s post that simply states “I just don’t care about myself.” The comment describes four rules for life:

1. No zero days, do something everyday that brings you closer to your goals
2. Give gratitude to and do favors for your past, present, and future self
3. Forgive yourself
4. Exercise and read books

I haven’t thought about this post in a while, but reflecting back I can definitely include this among things that have helped me get through tough times and shaped my perspective. Don’t have much commentary on it at the moment, just thought I’d share.

Today I went to my great-aunt’s 75th birthday party. I always know what to expect when going to family gatherings. The first 10 minutes are spent greeting all the relatives and a few strangers. We eat food (today’s menu consisted of short ribs, regular ribs, tacos, palabok, a giant burrito, lumpia, a salad, dinuguan, shrimp, and of course, rice [probably leaving some stuff out]). I get asked multiple times about the application process/ the future. I play with the kids. I rest and eat more food. Say hi to any late people coming from their game, rehearsal, audition, etc. My cousin Sam is jamming out on his guitar (follow him on Instagram), my other cousin’s are playing catch. Dad and my uncles are taking turns massaging each other on whatever soft flat surface they can find. One of my aunts is organizing party games and all the older titas eagerly gather to participate. And when the time comes my other aunt rallies everyone to start cleaning up.

It’s all very predictable and there’s other smaller details that I’ve kept out. Those details are just observations that I think add to the overall picture, but would take a long time to explain and give context too, and to abbreviate them would be both ineffectual or confusing. That predictability is not necessarily a bad thing though, I find comfort in it. It’s nice knowing that no matter what is going in my life some things never change. I can always depend on my family to be there like they always have, doing their thing.

Generic inquiries of personal wellbeing (“How’s it goin’?”) are often met with equally generic responses (see previous post regarding this), which may include an assurance of productivity (“Keepin’ busy”). I am guilty of using such responses even when I don’t mean them or they aren’t true. But regardless of the validity of it, that response doesn’t mean much at all. Just because you are busy doesn’t mean you are productive, and vice versa. I feel like the difference can be hard to describe but we all know it. We all hate “busy-work,” but if we are occupied with something we love or we think is meaningful we get a sense of fulfillment.

So if we find ourselves “keepin’ busy” it’s a good idea to check-in on exactly what that means.

I saw something recently talking about how “we are all human until: …race disconnected us…religion divided us…politics [blah/ etc].” There is a component of that which I think is true, especially in the times we live, but these are all things that also connect people, and are fundamentally human. Based on my understanding, Homo sapiens dominated over other species of humans because of our ability to connect, and much of that was due to our ability to create fictions, tell stories, and to believe in things beyond of reality (e.g. religion, money…). This ability allowed, and still does, to connect with total strangers, as long as we share a common belief.

The issue today is that there are so many different things to believe, some of which are impossible to prove through statistics and science. To say that race, religion, and politics is the root of a disconnected humanity is to ignore part of what makes us human in the first place. It’s not these ideas that disconnect us, but our attachment and our (perhaps reckless) loyalty to them, a quality that is also very human. Maybe we should stop trying to look for scapegoats and start working on solutions.

I saw another video on my timeline recently showing how small our planet is compared to different stuff. You know how they go, starting off comparing Earth to other things in the solar system, then the galaxy, then the universe. Then people make comments about how they feel so small and insignificant. But I think you could argue the exact opposite. Of all the planets in all the solar systems in all the galaxies that we can observe (granted that’s not relatively) we are on the only one that has any significant forms of life. That makes us kind of special I think. We have unique opportunity over most other collections of molecules throughout the universe to experience consciousness (what even is it anyway queue existential crisis) and we should take advantage of that. The best way to do that depends on the person, but I don’t necessarily think there’s a right way, though I do think there are wrong ways.

I was sitting in a waiting room today and Shrek 2 was playing. It’s been a while since I last saw it, though I’ve probably seen it maybe 20 times, and a couple things stood out to me:

1. It’s funny. This isn’t news to me, but looking back, I feel like this movie had a strong influence on my sense of humor. There’s just a lot of random, and often small, details that are completely unnecessary or over-the-top, that have me constantly laughing.
2. It’s fast. Not a lot of screen time is dedicated to characters’ internal dialogues or internal conflicts. The story just moves along, which I think also adds to the humor of it all. There’s times where I think, “Well that didn’t make sense,” or “This character could’ve done X smarter.” But then I think maybe that’s the point.

Anyways I just wanted to express my appreciation for the Shrek movies, which are simultaneously hilarious and wholesome (a word that I’ve come to dislike, but can’t think of an appropriate alternative for).

The timing will rarely be perfect. What does it even mean to be the perfect time for something. It’s all just our imagination; an ideal situation constructed in the mind’s eye, and given the all the possible outcomes of any series of events, the odds of reality aligning with imagination are slim to none. We can use experience, patterns, statistics, or a powerful cosmic stone to help create more accurate images, but that only gets us so far. So don’t wait for everything to be just right, there’s no time.

A lot of the classifications and opinions we hold are more indicative of ourselves than of the innate qualities of that which we are judging. Boring people are bored easily. Interesting people are interested easily. If your mind has a default mode, that’s going to influence your experiences. Which is good news if you ever decide make appreciation your default mode. If you are looking for the beauty in your experiences or looking for something to love about the people you interact with, you will find it.

Was talking with some buds yesterday about the whole thing of whether or not we should seperate art from their artists, specifically thinking about artists who are or were terrible people or did terrible things. The more I think about it, the less I think we should. Anytime we support the artists (not just monetarily), we in some way contribute to this culture that turns a blind-eye to injustice and to the suffering of others. Yes it’s possible to enjoy a song and still advocate against paedophilia, domestic violence, racism, etc. but the person is still associated to that thing we like. And I could be wrong, but it feels like at least subconsciously that makes us a little less critical of artists and their actions.

Agree? Disagree?

 

It seems like some jobs were made for specific people, or vice versa. For any given occupation there’s a stereotypical person that fits it. I can’t help but think that a lot of progress and advancement has been lost because of that. A lot of people think they are meant for a certain occupation because of their personality or interests, and they pursue careers based on that. On the other side, employers have a vision of their ideal candidate and interview and hire based on that. Innovation is facilitated by diverse perspectives, but how do you convince the world that things don’t have to be a certain way.