Random Thoughts from a Restless Mind

Sunday musings…

1) Enough (Thanks B@rry). “Enough is a good as a feast.” Mary Poppins.

2) Automobile. Utensil. Trying to make myself believe this.

3) Squirrel. Some awfully chubby ones running around our place. They haven’t noticed that dog pack bingo is still fast and lean.

This is gonna be interesting.

4) Black Box. A type of research, among other things. Sometimes the process inside the Black Box is so complex that it is more confusing and more difficult if you open the Box in an attempt to do “better” research. There may be too many moving parts, or the interaction between parts might be too complex, or it might just take too much time, time that is better spend in the investigation.

By varying the left side input and then evaluating the right side output one can make conclusions about the effect of the input as long as we assume that the process inside the Black Box is net the same. 3 on/1 off vs. 5 on/2 off, for example. Unmeasured Paleo vs. measured Paleo.

The Black Box, in this case, is you.

5) Superficial. The papers today are filled with missives about the paper-thin veneer of substance in modern lives. The “end of courtship” in the NYT, the “meetings without end” in the WSJ. There’s a certain ROI that seems to be expected from every waking moment, an almost panicked need to fill each moment so chockablock full of something, lots and lots of somethings, that it seems impossible to know any one part of a moment to its fullest.

“On a grand scale we’ve traded perspective for immediacy, depth for speed, emotion for sensation.” –Steve Almond

Lotta meat on that bone. I’m as guilty as many. Often’s the time I’ve been “talking” with someone while reading, writing, texting, watching…you know the drill. As often I’ve been unwilling, nearly unable to tolerate, let alone enjoy, so much as a moment of solitude or repose. It’s odd, because I know that some of my best moments have come in the company of only a yellow pad and an pen, without agenda, without a map, without a clock. Some of my happiest moments have been spent one-on-one with a loved one doing pretty much nothing.

Feel it fast, right now! Sure, there’s a place for that, and it really is cool that we can do just that so much better now than 2, 5, or 10 years ago. I like me some Facebook as much as the next guy, maybe more than most old next guys, and that’s more than OK. As long as I take the time, every now and again, to look at some single thing, look at it from all sides, get down to its roots, and leave myself open to whatever emotions might respond.

As long as every now and again I put aside the ROI of volume in the moment and rejoice in the quality of the moment.

I’ll see you next week…

Posted by bingo at January 13, 2013 7:05 AM