Went on vacation and... well my life got all messy... but I am back here is my top 5:
1) Happiness: I thought a lot about happiness while on vacation. Not the hey-I-am-feeling-great-today-kind-of-happiness but the Aristotle's view of happiness-- which a little more about contentment and well being. I am re-reading this book called Creating the Good Life : Applying Aristotle's Wisdom to Find Meaning and Happiness by James O'Toole. It sort of an Aristotle for dummies-mid-life-self-help-book. I really have enjoyed it. The reader digest version is this: the true test of happiness is will you be happy when you look back on your life from your death bed. You know little regrets. You spent your time wisely on good things. And also you should create some sort plan so you won't be full of regret when you eventually end up on your death bed. Of course this all gets a bit heavy and has made me feel guilty about playing hours of mine sweeper.
2) Not watching the freaking news. I realized I have an utter disdain for the local news. I've noticed more and more that it just makes me anxious. This morning on the local news I learned that there is rapist on the loose; children fall out of apartment windows; and somebody starved a seven year old to death. I understand that all of these events are tragic and we as humans are drawn to tragedy. It is all to overwhelming. In a big metro area stuff statistically is bound to happen...but do we really need this magnifying glass we call the news. Here an article from John Stossel (the guy with the mustache on 20/20) that kinda illustrates my point.
3) Yo La Tango-- Gots to love them. I think they have been around for like trillion years. But I love their new album "I am not a afraid of you and I will beat your ass", which in addition to a fairly good album title is also a great motto for your crest of arms--should have one of those things. Here is a nice video...if you can't get you tube just think of your favorite Yo La Tango song and hum it for a couple of minutes...or listen to any bumper music on This American Life.
4) Civil War on Great Courses-- I've been listen to college courses on tape for awhile now. I am really a geek. Anywise my background in science so when it comes to history I am as they say, inexperienced but willing to try. The Civil War was a real gap in my understanding of U.S. History. This course is great. I recently read Confederates in The Attic and I think that is great place to start to learn about the Civil War also the Ken Burns Special that aired a few years back.
5) Poem of the week:
This Is Just to Say
by William Carlos Williams
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast.
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
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6 comments:
I was never a history fan either. Then I got old and bought a dog and was given an ipod for Christmas. So these days I have been buying history books on audible and listening to them while I walk the pup. My favorite part of the day!
Edit: I failed the first word verification. This next one is ISLAM. I once got one that said, UFAT. Bastards.
Happiness is cake!
Yhea I think cake has something to do with it and of course pudding.
I have thought a lot about happiness, too. For me, it's about finding community- people who stimulate, challenge and inspire me to be a better person.
I am back-and-forth about the whole news thing. It's important to be aware of the world around us and stay engaged with our community, but it's frustrating that local news performs such shallow, sensationalist pieces for their news- violence or fluff. I wish the news tried less to entertain and more to inform.
Craig dragged me to a Yo La Tengo concert back in 1993 and I frigging loved them. It's amazing how little they've changed over the years. They're still putting out some great stuff.
I too have become obsessed with audio lectures. I am three-quarters through the way on a series entitled "Sensation, Perception and the Aging Process". Fantastic lecture. I have been listening to pieces on the History of Vikings and I've got have a dozen other series cued up in iTunes. I'd love to get more biology-oriented ones, like Botany.
I saw that poem on a subway advertisement for Barnes and Noble years ago and it's always stuck with me.
I am reading a more buddhist stuff now and some the pragamatic philosphers Marcus Aurelius. I am hoping to have this whole happiness thing figured out by the end of the summer.
I am a news addict. But it seems the local news is just awful. I real like the weather though. There is Paul Simon songs that says something like, I can gather all the news I need from the weather report.
I used to work in a record store from the late-eightes-to-early-nineties and we used to get promo records. I picked up Yo La Tango because nobody wanted it and they thought it was some spanish band.
I know about 3 other people listen to that Viking Lecture. My impression is that they kicked ass and you shouldn't confuse the NFL Vikings with the real Vikings since they do not...kick ass.
Yes I really like that poem. I think about when I am eating the last of the pudding.
So...you were the one who ate those plums!
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