"What could he have been doing?" I hear you asking. The unaccountably diverse group of likley email spammers , SEO handpuppets, and, perhaps, two or three friends who continue to forget to remove this blog from their RSS reader.
What could I have been doing indeed!
Work has been more worky as of late. The whole 'going to the gym 3 times a week' is still going, and takes a fair bit of time. Or as I call it, 'watching the rather distressingly budget straight to DVD knockoffs that are available on Netflix Instant while ellipticalling my life away'.
I also started a different project, which I'm still on the fence about continuing. It was an homage, of sorts, to The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, called, imaginatively enough, Dictionary of Obscure Joys. Optimism is always harder to pull off than pessimism, maybe it has to do with the fact that that we, as a species, commiscerate over the horrible cards life has dealt us: the smart phone that doesn't quite do everything we want; the inaccurate fuel economy on our recent hybrid; the unreasonableness of the latest paperback blockbuster.
Pessimism is the mortar that holds us small people together against the kings and queens and czars, through coup d'etats and bloody and bloodless (which are sometimes worse) revolutions and religious wars and that one district supervisor who sticks religiously to the 57 Rules of Power.
It's also easy. The default position is you will. Optimisim is an affliction we ascribe to older gentlemen on horseback having a go at pre-industrial agricultural machines and red headed children known better for their choice in leg wear. But optimism is also the domain of fighters, scrappers, entrepeneurs, inventors and, granted, the driving force behind most peace-time dismemberments.
The main thing to remember is that makers and creators are not, on the whole, pessimists. It'd be nearly impossible to be, most of the work involves failing horribly. You need that buoyancy to get back up, and the willful shortsightedness to go at it again.
Which is why I started that tumblr. It was good, on the whole. But lately I've been putting my time into a different hobby, which I'll write about later.
What could I have been doing indeed!
Work has been more worky as of late. The whole 'going to the gym 3 times a week' is still going, and takes a fair bit of time. Or as I call it, 'watching the rather distressingly budget straight to DVD knockoffs that are available on Netflix Instant while ellipticalling my life away'.
I also started a different project, which I'm still on the fence about continuing. It was an homage, of sorts, to The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, called, imaginatively enough, Dictionary of Obscure Joys. Optimism is always harder to pull off than pessimism, maybe it has to do with the fact that that we, as a species, commiscerate over the horrible cards life has dealt us: the smart phone that doesn't quite do everything we want; the inaccurate fuel economy on our recent hybrid; the unreasonableness of the latest paperback blockbuster.
Pessimism is the mortar that holds us small people together against the kings and queens and czars, through coup d'etats and bloody and bloodless (which are sometimes worse) revolutions and religious wars and that one district supervisor who sticks religiously to the 57 Rules of Power.
It's also easy. The default position is you will. Optimisim is an affliction we ascribe to older gentlemen on horseback having a go at pre-industrial agricultural machines and red headed children known better for their choice in leg wear. But optimism is also the domain of fighters, scrappers, entrepeneurs, inventors and, granted, the driving force behind most peace-time dismemberments.
The main thing to remember is that makers and creators are not, on the whole, pessimists. It'd be nearly impossible to be, most of the work involves failing horribly. You need that buoyancy to get back up, and the willful shortsightedness to go at it again.
Which is why I started that tumblr. It was good, on the whole. But lately I've been putting my time into a different hobby, which I'll write about later.
Comments
It strikes me just now that procrastination is itself a type of optimism. It's faith that you'll feel more energetic at some point in the future.