Esoteric Nonsense

I am not scared of death, but I am really not looking forward to being old.

Optimising life for longevity often doesn’t take into account the quality of life in the later stages.

This opinion, as all of them, may change.

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Memento vivere

If I wasn’t at work, and someone offered 23AUD (after tax) to me to empty 80 bins, there’s no way I would do it. But since I have already agreed to sell this hour to my boss I have to.

Split shifts are a great way to feel like you are selling 24 hours of your life for the price of 10 hours.

The end is near. I’ve backed out and am on my way back to Cairns on 28th November.

Getting a 11.5 hour train instead of the 3 hour flight. Maybe I will come to regret that choice, but it will be an experience.

All the small things I’ve been missing I will get to experience again, and soon I’m sure I will take them for granted.

Playing a game of pool, eating a steak, having a beer by the ocean.

Meta’s stock has taken a massive downturn since releasing their Q3 2022 financials. They seem too big to fail.

I cannot imagine a world without companies like Meta, Google, Amazon. But some time, in my lifetime something else may take over.

We very quickly get used any changes in environment and they become the norm.

Today it’s 28° and I’m actually cold walking around, because for the last week it’s been 38°+. In the UK, 28° is about as hot as it gets on a normal summer day.

Similarly, we get used to working long hours, physical activity, even being on holiday. They soon become our baseline, something we possibly take for granted.

Using the Zara index of development as a reference point, I am currently 966km from the developed world.

The closest Starbucks in 936km away.

Not that I like Starbucks.

86 days until I can have a real cup of coffee.

Instant coffee probably shouldn’t exist, and definitely shouldn’t be served in a professional catering environment.

White collar jobs generally have less to do, but more responsibility. As a software engineer I can pretty easily earn an £80k salary for sitting at a desk 5 hours a day.

Blue collar jobs have more do to, but less responsiblity. As a labourer a lot is asked of me, but when I clock off it’s as if my actions have no consequence.

Generally speaking.

I have worked both types of job this year, and concluded the only way to feel free is to not have a manager.

Solitary confinement is the last possible option for managing prisoners.

The reason for that is because it’s so hard of the human condition.

Going from living in the city centre, surrounded by people and fun, to living remote is hard. It feels isolating.

I have no mode of transport. A bus to the next reasonably sized town runs only once per day, a day trip is not possible. Walking would take over seventeen hours.

I’m not really going to see anyone other than my colleagues for the next three months.

Maybe my new favorite book.

A rambling stream of consciousness that eloquently admits the energy, enthusiasm, and enivitable disappointment of being compulsively on the road.

A lot of people claim to “love travelling”, myself included.

We tell ourselves we travel to experience new cultures, it broadens the mind.

Anywhere that is authentic and even somewhat accessible will soon be flanderized into a tourist trap. So most of what we experience is a watered down, McDonald’s style taste of local life. All the ingredients seem correct, but the flavour isn’t quite what it could be.

Is there any way to experience the original place that people loved so much when the location becomes over populated and over priced. The place becomes a husk of it’s former self. The only local people left are the ones working in tourism, looking for the easiest way to make a buck.

Do we really like travel and experiencing new things, or do we just have a novelty addiction, and don’t want to take on the responsibilities of real life.

But what is real life? Really, it doesn’t matter. If I enjoy today, and enjoy tomorrow. That means I enjoy my life.

Spend any amount of time on the internet and you will come across self proclaimed experts. Arbiters of truth in their chosen area.

Fitness, finance, art… travel. Even for hobbies, people feel the need to tell you they are doing it right and you are wrong.

No experience. No authority.

Of course, it’s not unique to the internet, that’s just where people are provided feedback to tell them their opinions are worthwhile. This feeds them, they feel powerful. Get a few thousand points on your chosen social network and they feel like an expert.

All poetry is bad, because it’s trying too hard to be poetry ~ Bukowski

I can’t remember the exact quote.

It is really true what philosophy tells us, that life must be understood backwards. But with this, one forgets the second proposition, that it must be lived forwards. A proposition which, the more it is subjected to careful thought, the more it ends up concluding precisely that life at any given moment cannot really ever be fully understood; exactly because there is no single moment where time stops completely in order for me to take position [to do this]: going backwards.

Søren Kierkegaard, Journalen (1843)

We have lived through the peak of online technology. It was when we had all the tools to communiate and inform, but they were not yet ubiquitous.

Advancements since then have been slight convenience upgrades at the cost of detriment to society.

I probably shouldn’t participate in making the problem worse. It does pay well though.

A crocodile will live for around 40 years in the wild, it’s natural habitat. In captivity it will live for much longer.

Going off the road, I fly out 26th October.

Working in a roadhouse for six months, over 100km from the next civilisation. Not many people get a chance to be that remote.

It’s full monk mode. With no practical way to reach others in society, there’s nothing to focus on but yourself.

There are only a few requirements for a near perfect place to live.

• Good weather (> 20ºC) year round
• Walkable - decent gym, supermarket, couple of restaurants and bars within walking distance
• Reliable and fast internet
• Not extortionately expensive
• Bonus - near the beach or water
• Bonus - only a couple of hours from some nature / mountains
• Bonus - good public transport system

The closest I have been is Canggu in 2019, although I hear a lot has changed. Chiang Mai is also close, Nimman area, but no beach and has the burning season.

The decision not to do something will generally come back to haunt you.

For me, it’s the decision to not get my driving license. If I had it now it would be so much easier to get get job. Then I could extend my visa.

It probably means one should do anything they have even a passing interest in.

I have nothing profound to write, so I probably shouldn’t write anything at all.

“Travel is not that impressive Anyone can travel. It’s not hard. Many people wear it as a badge. Meh.” (https://herman.bearblog.dev/turning-30/)

It’s true, but travel is reasonably interesting, probably more interesting than what most people do.

I cannot conceive a single situation that is made better by the presence of children.