Some study out of Harvard came up with 4 things that will lead to happiness and contentment:
- Time spent with people one cares about
- Helping others
- Exercise
- Being grateful
I know a guy who denigrated that and said who needs Harvard, his grandmother knew that. Maybe he is right. Maybe he resents education because he does not have any formal education and has illusions that everything can be learned "on the streets."
I bring it up because yesterday reminded me of it. I spent time with family and moved furniture all day. I had some toast and almond butter and bananas and coffee for breakfast. I had a nice shit. I had a panera salad for lunch. I ate some amazing chaana masala for dinner. I watched "The Green Room" and then went to sleep. That was it.
Nothing too exciting. Nothing too euphoric. I did not bang any dimes while doing cocaine and viagra but the day brought me serenity and contentment. The Amish might get it to some extent. In many ways no but getting together and building a barn and having a good meal that is a great day.
Now, I just sit in an empty house typing up a blog looking to fill up the hours. The existential spectre haunts me. I am not specifically thinking about death or the emptiness of the universe but I realize it is there, standing over me like the ghost of Christmas future. Well, at least I have groceries to get. Well, I can perhaps meet with those people there. I can take a shower and do my hair. A little bit of vanity can pass the time. It is so quiet. I long for the days of figuring out how to get that huge couch upstairs and breaking a sweat. Words of encouragement and high fives. Oh, I have a left over samosa. Nice. I need some more coffee.
Ahhh, coffee. A shit and some coffee this feels like a blank new page. I hit the reset button. Wrath of God, Armageddon. "Jesus will save us." Nope. Now, Jesus was a good man... decent mythology... No, I do not want to go down that road right now.
*RiKD plays another Armageddon*
I typically only have 1 shit in me and have a full coffee so what is a man supposed to do?
Magic was a great game. It probably still is. I really loved X-Men comics. I was not the biggest fan of the most recent X-Men movie. Sometimes I do not like to let my nerd side show so much but it is a part of me. I delivered pizzas to a games shop that were playing some sort of tabletop miniature wargame. The nerd was strong in there. More power to them it is probably time better spent than writing a bunch of shit in a blog but I remember thinking I am like a fake nerd to these guys. "X-Men LOL." "Magic LOL." Although I did briefly play Warhammer and painted all my guys but we built lands and played in my friend's basement. That game was expensive.
While writing this it did not feel like the house was empty. I was not thinking about the house. I was not thinking about anything except for what I was thinking. Thinking and writing. Thinking and writing.
I am my own person. When I slip on my worn in jeans, t-shirt, and hoody it feels like me. Not that clothes are what defines me but the stories behind how these clothes fit me so comfortably are a part of me. Clothes can "define" me to the outside world. That is a truth. I would rather be defined by how I treat "nerds" in a corner room in a games store who treated me with nothing but kindness. I would rather be defined by how I treat people in an atmosphere not filled with kindness. Jesus was pretty good at that. The Gospels are pretty good mythology. They are not nearly as good as Homer or Shakespeare or even Disney but good enough I suppose. Historically factual documents... HA HA! etc. etc. Sam Harris and others have written plenty of great stuff on the subject. I just feel like an outcast sometimes. So, I will look at my hair in the mirror in hopes of what? That it looks "good." That I look "good." The Picture of Dorian Grey is better mythology than the Gospels. What if we all looked like our values and actions? Everyone was naked and the external morphed depending on the internal. Not a soul because I do not believe in A Soul but a spirit. Un esprit. Everyone's spirit could be read on their naked faces and their naked bodies.
I am grateful for my comfortable bed. I sleep 12+ hours a day because I do not work a regular schedule. Sloth and inertia guide me to the internet and tv. I grow tired of the internet and tv but was too lazy to clean the bathroom or organize clothes. Tomorrow should be better. I am a rat in a cage in a cage. Meaning that I am getting paid to be in an experiment where I am in an fMRI machine in my consciousness on the earth. I would say universe but I am not leaving the cage of Earth's atmosphere anytime soon. In fact, I doubt myself leaving the Midwest anytime soon unless I end up moving (or drifting) to Charleston, SC. I enjoy a lot of people here in Pittsburgh, PA. However, if I moved I might never come back. Life is peculiar. It makes me long for slightly peculiar French films on life.
Absurdity. Let us see if I can write all the way up to my meeting at 7:30pm. I can show up early though and perhaps catch up with some friends. Sometimes I like writing better. Sometimes I like the in person socialization. It is an abstinence based 12 step program meeting. I like this one because a lot of my good friends go and it is a freethinker meeting. I can say something like, "Ariel from the Little Mermaid is my Higher Power because I really like how she progressed as a person." Coffee, God, and cigarettes is all that we need. Until we need something more. Addicted to God. I want more God. Please give me more. A 12-step abstinence based recovery program for God would be something.
Why can't more movies be like The Lobster?
Now, it is time to flip through Netflix and maybe find something worth watching. I love this process.
United States. Nov 20 2016 23:01. Posts 8535
