Categotry Archives: random_stuff

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According to lore, they have to be invited in. Within the sacred space of your home, they can not harm you. They can not suck one drop of your precious life-giving blood unless you open the door and invite them past your threshold.

If your time, your attention, and your purpose are not the very essence of what life is, then what is? If where you commit your time, attention, and purpose is not sacred space, then why isn’t it? And if those items that seek to take from those things are not vampires, then what are they?

Most importantly, why are you inviting them in?

-- Patrick Rhone, Minimal Mac
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The no-experiment

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I’ve not felt well lately, very tired and stressed. Part of this comes from having a lot of appointments scheduled. A big part of it however comes from wanting to do to much. I don’t want to do extraordinary stuff — although for my condition it would qualify as such. I want to do stuff other people consider normal.

  • Walk the dog for an extra long time.
  • Buying groceries.
  • Hanging out with friends.
  • Visit family.
  • Go to the movies.
  • Randomly hop into the car with TG and go for a nice beach-walk.

All of these things require planning on my side, which also sucks up precious energy.

A couple of days ago I read Michael Nobbs’ new book Sustainable Creativity in which he discusses the importance of learning how to say ‘no’. For some areas I know when to say ‘no’: I can easily say it when I don’t want to do something, or I don’t have the time, or I have other plans. But at those times when I don’t have plans yet, I really want to do it and think I have the energy, I won’t say no. And this backfires. I rarely do have that much energy, and end up canceling many things. This does not make me happy.

Tonight I watched the movie ‘Yes-man‘ and it gave me an idea. What if I say ‘no’ instead? I have things planned (and one not-yet-planned-but-sorta) and won’t precancel them. I will not make new plans however, excluding the ones where I go to the hospital (or other medical stuff) or where people come to my house (less tiring).

This may sound a little drastic, but I gave it some thought and it seems like a cool experiment. Worst case, I’ll feel bad the day after for saying ‘no’ and then I’ll have learned I said ‘no’ to something that matters to me. In a way, this will force me to re-evaluate things that matter to me most, and these may or may not include the things I think matter the most.

It will also, hopefully, give me some practice in saying ‘no’ when I do think I have lots of energy (but actually don’t and I end up wasting all of my reserves).

I have no idea about how long I want to do this, considering a month or perhaps until New Year

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Draw what you love

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Gallery
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Camera stuff

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My camera has started to break down. I currently have a Canon Powershot A620 and it served me well for nearly four years. Currently, the memory-card bit doesn't work properly. The card doesn't click in and if I take it out the camera doesn't recognise the card half the time I put it back. I've dug up the cable and now get the photos from the camera by the cable (a nuisance). I looked into other cameras and now have my eye on the Canon Powershot SX20 IS. I like Canon, and have had a few in the past and like the menu and the way it works. This model seemed a good step up from the A620 but not yet as massive as a DSLR. I don't have anything with DSLRs in general. And knowing me I'll get sand on the sensor on the first day and ruin the camera because it scratches. I won't buy it just yet, probably in June.
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Change of pace.

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I spent the past ten days without my laptop, very interesting. I had my trusty EEE pc and my phone to fall back on, however, mostly just for the basics. My workflow on my macbook did not fit the EEE (for one, I really missed TextExpander)

I mostly rested, having an RA-flare, and did some decluttering (which I intend to continue). I also worked out a small plan to start a new sleeping-schedule. After trying for months to fit back in the ‘normal world’ I decided to revisit my afternoon naps. Not sure if I feel better, but I like the idea of getting up early, do stuff, then go to have a three or four hour nap in the afternoon and then do things in the evening as well. None of that power-nap stuff, I need solid hours. This way, I hope to spread my energy more evenly and to still participate in the ‘normal world’.

I tried it out today, and though I feel sleepy and tired and slightly confused, I did very much enjoy my afternoon nap. I also made a drawing this morning, during my first wake. Always good :)

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