Board Games
I love a good board game. It’s nice to sit around the table with a group of people and pass some time in a simple way. One day, I’d like to create our own board game. Put it on the list.
-J.P.
Give & Take
I used to talk about balance a lot at the beginning of the year. I still think about it the same amount, I just talk about it less. Maybe that’s not true. Maybe I don’t think about it more. Maybe I’ve lost my balance or maybe I’m more balanced, because I’m not thinking about it so much. Who knows?
Reading all this philosophy lately has made for some conversations around the dinner table at the house. One of the ideas we were talking about which was presented in the book was essentially the idea that the best life is lived by amassing the most experience possible. Quantity over quality, in other words, is the key to living the best life.
Now, it wasn’t presented so simply in the book, but I’m not sure if I agree with the general idea. There’s a way of looking that could equate amassing experience to taking from the world around you if your actions are self-serving. In that way I think it’s important to give through your actions too. If anything, I think maybe I’d like to give a little more than I take, if that’s possible. I’m going to try to be more generous.
-J.P.
Does Anybody Care?
The answer is no. But why should that stop you? That fact should set you free. Go do whatever it was you were going to do before you asked yourself if anyone cared. Do it for yourself.
-J.P.
A Timely Tangent
I don’t want to publicly reflect too much on what I’m reading right now because it’s research for a short film I’m going to make, but in the midst of today’s pages I came across a quote that concerned itself with a question I often ask myself of today’s times. The quote went as such:
The painters of today are deprived of such serenity. Even if they have basically the heart the creator needs - I mean the closed heart - it is of no use; for everyone, including the saint himself, is mobilized.
I don’t think it in exactly those words, but the question I find myself asking myself is “can art exist separate of its time,” or something to that effect. There are works considered by people to timeless works of art. The special or greatly revered works often seem to contain some kind of universal appeal, or they reach beyond their creator’s lifetime. How does one achieve that kind of work? Can one really turn oneself away from society and create something that will stand the test of time? More to the point, can a creator create separate from their time and without a mission, other than to create?
Today when I scroll on TikTok or Instagram or whatever, everyone is selling me something. If it’s not a product it’s an agenda. At the very least they vie for my attention or a subscription to their channel. There’s always an expectation attached. As more and more political and global turmoil comes to attention, the artists are expected to have an opinion and to share that opinion, to be a beacon for what they believe and usually to put that at the front of their public persona. That could be anyone from the person I watch solve a word puzzle, to a movie star to an athlete, to pretty much anyone other than actual politicians, who I see online less frequently. Everyone is mobilized and expected to act.
To a degree, I think art requires an opinion, or at least a perspective. But could it be that the perspective isn’t the most important thing about the art? What if the root desire to share, to express - could that be the most important thing? Can the act itself be the intention behind the action?
I don’t know.
-J.P.
One Time For Gogurt
And Green Day and Boston and Kraft singles that I used to bite into the shape of Texas and 2 slices and a soda for $2.75 and coffee cake muffins from Dunkin’ and watching football games in the fall and the Little Tikes basketball hoop I used to have in my basement and everything else that made my life great one day. Today it was Settlers of Catan and going bop for bop with Alex, Understanding, and Bryana. Let’s have a good week this week.
-J.P.
Saturday December 9, 2023
First, a little more on my smoothie. I can’t get enough of it. I literally watch the clock through the first half of the day, anticipating the strike of twelve, so I can begin my process. One frozen banana, seven strawberries, a healthy pour of frozen blueberries, one spoon of flax meal, one scoop of chocolate protein powder, a solid pour of almond-cashew-macademia beverage from Trader Joe’s, a big scoop of greek yogurt with honey, and a spoonful of almond butter. Seriously, that shit is so good.
But the reason I love it isn’t the flavor. It’s the fact that I know I’m going to eat it. It’s constant, and most importantly, it’s a decision I don’t have to make. That’s extra brain space for me. Brain space is so valuable. And the less decisions I make per day, the more time I have to enjoy the world around me, get lost in living.
Some other things that happened in the world today: I rage-quit a game I was playing against a computer, I took a shower, Shohei Ohtani agreed to a 10 year, $700,000,000 contract to play baseball for the Los Angeles Dodgers - which made me wonder, is LA a baseball town or a basketball town, among other things - and the Los Angeles Lakers are playing the Indiana Pacers in the NBA’s Inaugural In-Season Tournament Championship game, where the winning roster will win $500,000 per player.
The crossword puzzle gave me the most trouble I’ve had solving in as long as I can remember, and also a lot of other things I’m less educated on, like Gaza being divided into 600 blocks by Israel, UPenn’s president resigning among others. I’m not trying to not have an opinion. I just don’t know because I don’t stay plugged in. I’m thinking about changing that but I’m not sure the benefit it would bring to my personal life yet. I guess right now I’m a little selfish when it comes to global issues and humanitarianism. I generally think I have to do right by myself first, which includes being kind to people and focusing on the people immediately around me to surround myself with as much good life as possible.
I spent some time outside reading The Myth of Sisyphus while my dog Morpheus relentlessly brought me his ball, asking me to play with him, perfectly demonstrating one of Camus’ points:
“Let us insist again on the method: it is a matter of persisting.”
-J.P.
Food For Thought
I wonder what would have happened if I had studied more for my SATs.
-J.P.
A Truthful Assesment
I haven’t kept my word as well as I aimed to in regards to this blog. I’ve missed a lot of days recently. To be honest, I haven’t had any particularly interesting thoughts that I wanted to explore, but I wanted to make a point out of completing the practice. I believe that being consistent with your efforts will yield better results over time, but there may be a point where you reach diminishing returns to labor. There have been lots of days where I forced a couple lines out just to have something to put here. For a while I hoped to return to the form I was in earlier in the year when these posts felt interesting, and more than that, they were fun for me to put together. That day never really came. Still, I’d like to do better. I’ve said it before, but I don’t think I’ll continue this past year’s end. I’d like to do something inspired by this writing practice, I’m just not sure what that something is yet. I’d like for it to be thoughtful, helpful to a reader, and I’d like to provide a perspective that feels original. I’d like to hold myself to a higher standard and offer something a little more thorough to the universe. That’s my goal. This year, I’d give myself a C+/B-. I don’t know, maybe I’m a tough grader. Hope you’ve enjoyed the time you’ve spent with me here this year.
-J.P.
