Excursions

Boredom is a luxury not many can afford.

I don’t want to speak to even customer care now. If there’s an option for chat, I will always prefer that than get on an phone call and stay waiting. A waste of time and resources. Happy that more and more service providers keep chat as an option. Phone call is a last resort.

Don’t ever try to retell famous comedians' jokes. They have a whole process, a build-up before they hit their audience with the joke. You can’t do it all in the 2 minutes you borrow from someone. And they have the skill you don’t, hence famous. Duh!

Between all the screwed up plans and schedules, Life happens.

“What’s the ONE thing I can do / such that by doing it / everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”

Hmmm. Profound. Makes me think.

I know that these are three related terms with their own individual meanings, but I need a reminder occasionally. Meteoroids, Meteor and Meteorites.

Every now and then, there’s an XKCD comic which I can make no sense of. Today’s (or XKCD 2626) was such. I am not that smart you see 😄

Every time I listen to the song Daryaa from Manmarziyaan, I am reminded of the genius of Amit Trivedi. It’s such an intricate, yet equally simple song. The whole album is a masterclass. Also Lootera, Bombay Velvet, Andhadhun – man, I am a big fan of this guy!

Sigh, my daughter has got to know of K-pop music, especially BTS and Blackpink. She never listened to them at home earlier. She isn’t always listening to the songs, but her friends do. So she, kind of, feels she needs to keep up. Is it bad that she feels pressured? Should I help?

Over the years, I have had many wrong perceptions and I have realised that the assumption that how I experience something is precisely how everyone all over the world experiences it is the root for many. Now I pause, think, and only then make up my mind.

I wanted to watch Dune recently and I thought it had to be a Netflix original. No idea why I thought so, but I somehow assume everything that is streaming first is brought to us by Netflix. Funny that’s often not the case.

I don’t care about Wordle streaks. Rather, I can’t. I never solve it at a single device and so never manage a streak. Well, that’s not the only reason, either. I don’t solve it daily anyway.

Today’s Wordle was tricky. Two tries in and I had a big smile on my face. I am sure I wasn’t alone.

I have recently been a lot picky about the stuff I buy. Or the subscriptions I sign up for. Or the projects I undertake. I was never good at it. And I don’t claim that I have mastered the skill now. I still struggle to recognise the price that I would eventually have to pay. First look, the listed cost looks cheap. But I have started asking now, “can I pay the second price?”

The answer is usually a big no. David Cain succinctly words the reasons behind this problem of mine (the above linked essay is a must-read).

I believe this is one reason our modern lifestyles can feel a little self-defeating sometimes. In our search for fulfillment, we keep paying first prices, creating a correspondingly enormous debt of unpaid second prices. Yet the rewards of any purchase – the reason we buy it at all — stay locked up until both prices are paid.

I could also closely associate with the side effects of this problem, as David lists them. This made me acutely aware of the gravity of this pilling debt.

This scarcity feeling creates one of the major side-effects of our insurmountable second-price debt: we reflexively overindulge in entertainment and other low-second-price pleasures –- phone apps, streaming services, and processed food — even though their rewards are often only marginally better than doing nothing. This stuff is attractive because it takes little effort (and we’re tired from working to pay for so many first prices) but it can eat up a ton of time, depleting the second-price budget even further.

Today’s Wordle was tricky. I didn’t know such a word exist. I tried it because it sounded right. Not all words are so common afterall.

I didn’t know Wordle has a “Hard” mode where “any revealed hints must be used in subsequent guesses”. But even without the mode turned on, that’s how I have been playing this game. Why would you do it any other way?

I didn’t know today’s wordle word was a word. I knew the word, but I didn’t know it as a word. I can’t possibly have spoilt anything. I’ve read what I’ve written here twice now. But what I’ve written here won’t make sense if I didn’t know what it’s supposed to mean. Makes sense?

After a phase of consistent writing, these are a silent few days. I have been busy a lot. Too many threads. Too many things at the top of my mind. Writing hasn’t slowed down, I am filling pages of my journal every day. But publishing has almost halted. Except for the #30day posts.

I love how when the mind gets bogged down with too many thoughts, spilling it all out onto a paper always helps declutter it. But, these are some of the rawest, most personal of the thoughts. I haven’t learnt to open up so much to publish these. Maybe, I never will. That’s just not my personality.

At times, something that’s waste can gain a lot of value. An item in case, Fordite. This wasted enamel car paint is worthy of being worn as a jewel. Reason? It is rare. And it looks beautiful as a gem!

You don’t need to be a diamond to shine. Exist and evolve. Give yourself time. Nature and time may mould you into your worthy self.

What is a productive day? Well, when it is closer to your bedtime, and you feel good inside for the day gone by, you have had a productive day. It doesn’t matter then how much you achieved in the day. Or how many of the planned tasks you ticked off. What matters is how the waking hours make you feel.

Plans are like the lane markings on the roads. It is beneficial to stick to them, follow guidelines around them. But often to move ahead, you have to put on the indicators and cross over such markers. You can’t let them become hinderances that slow you down, hold you back.

Plan. But move ahead.

There are days when nothing you read inspires any thought in you. Or a curiosity to comment on something. It’s as if the whole world has decided to selectively pick topics that you have no interest in. I don’t like such days.

I find it so difficult to stick to a routine, especially a daily one. Whenever I make my mind to try doing something daily, it’s as if the whole universe gets down to foil my resolve. I need to get better at it.

“If you don’t have time to do it right, you’re unlikely to have time to do it over,” reminds Seth Godin. Simple, yet so poignant. I wish I could live my life being aware of this somewhere at the back of mind. It’s not the most efficient way to get the results every time. Being cognisant however that halting is an option always helps.

Our society does not look at “giving up” respectfully. Especially if one does so without being successful. But cashing out early, accepting the failure, is always a sensible option.

Giving up early is problematic. But hanging on just to delay the inevitable is foolish.

I love emails, sending and receiving them. In today’s world of social timelines where you shout into a void and expect an echo back, the medium of email feels a lot more personal. Drafting a long email to a friend today reminded me of the time when I wrote letters to my family, a few pages long. When we carefully selected and penned the words to convey the emotions we were living through. Physical letters were replaced by their digital form, the email, but the manner we communicated didn’t change.

With email, there’s no urgency, no pressure of read receipts and associated expectations for response. And when the response does arrive, there’s a feeling of connectedness. Instant messages, those words we spurt in burst, don’t exude that sense of affinity. A well-thought email does; it makes you mindful of the fact that someone cares.

One is a letter, another is messaging. It’s unfortunate that we have forgotten how to draft the former. I wish I knew more people who shared my liking for this medium.

I watched the pilot for Superstore today. Looks to be a fun, feel-good show. Need such shows to wind down the hectic days with. 🎥