One possible exception to that rule would be when a thunder storm sets off a car alarm in the parking lot outside my
window. That's... not so neat. Especially when the alarm doesn't turn off for say 15 minutes. And it's just after 5am.
Normally, I'd probably be able to sleep through that sort of thing. But I think it caught me at just the right spot in
my REM cycle. I was quickly wishing for his battery to die. Note to self: if ever tempted to get a car with an alarm,
make sure it's the kind that turns off if nothing's really happening. Those things are set off too easily.
I've decided that, given the company's cruel and unfair "core hour" policy, walking to work in the morning isn't an
option anymore. Instead, I've decided to drive in in the morning and drive back for lunch, then walk back after I've had
a sandwich or something. That way, lunch is cheaper and I get all the fresh air and excercise of walking to work and
back. The only downside is that I'm still driving to work and back, thus wasting precious natural resources and lowering
the future resale value of my car. I'm thinking it's a net positive, though.
Well, I'm back in Waterloo. I did write up an entry when I was in Belleville, but I accidentally closed the browser
instead of hitting the submit button, so that didn't amount to much. I didn't feel like retyping it.
I had a weird dream last night. For some reason, while I was sleeping, the entire city was sold off to Georgia (a new
suburb for Atlanta, apparently). This sort of thing was going on all the time, apparently, and people seemed resigned to
it. I considered it a tremedous injustice. I reasoned that I could just go back to Waterloo, but my parents would be
stuck there, and I didn't know if I wanted to come back to Georgia all that much. I'd walk around the town pondering its
fate, and everything seemed darker and gloomier. Strange people wandered around and made me apprehensive.
At some point, though, the idea struck me as incredibly silly and I figured I must be dreaming. I decided, then, to drag
it out a bit... Explore, and see where things went. I had conversations with people and, while I don't remember much
now, though they were terribly thought-provoking. Then my dad woke me up so he could get the keys to move my car.
I was listening to the CBC on the way in and caught the first bit of Ideas. The problem is a
bit of a mish-mash—following this guy's "spiritual quest" of a walking pilgrimage from Scotland to Jerusalem, but with
some sort of theme of man vs machine and machine intelligence. It's got bits of techology and philsophy from all over
the place. The program's available on the website. One guy struck me as
interesting, and I thought I'd get it down:
The first thing is an extremely strong demand for sincerity, for authenticity, a demand not to delude oneself, but to
be honest instead - not to lie, neither to oneself, nor to others, but to be true. The second thing is to make a
constant effort to be open to others, to think of others not as objects of our experience, but as sources, as centres of
life, of autonomous existence. Look at the other person as an infinite universe in his or her own right. And that means
having an enormous respect for other people. It is also ... faith or courage: not letting yourself be discouraged,
despite suffering and difficulties and "this world is a vale of tears," etc. You can always see the bad side of things.
But it doesn't really matter! Because along with this courage and this faith, comes a sense of responsibility - it is I
who am responsible for the world, as it is. So I must give out a maximum amount of positive energy. I must make a
constant effort to improve things not just materially, not just in concrete situations, but also in the way I interpret
things. I must make an effort to interprest them in the post positive and sympathetic and generous and compassionate way
possible. And that takes courage! It isn't easy at all! It is very easy to make fun of optimists, of people who have
faith. I think this is what takes the most effort. It is far easier to be skeptical, spiteful, critical, to denounce
things, first of all because that's what everybody around us is doing. It's what the media feed us on a daily basis. And
it is our first impulse. So I think going against that impuse, truing to see the good sides of life, to really
appreciate life, and to help other people appreciate life, takes a huge amount of courage. For me, spirituality includes
all of that!
I feel vaguely obligated to update, but I'm not sure I have anything to say. Normally this wouldn't bother me, and I'd
stick by my usual dictum that states that if you have nothing to say, say nothing. It's a good rule, and I like it. I'm
not entirely certain why I feel it necessary to disregard it in this case. I suppose I've done it before.
It's probably because of the weather. With it being
about 20° outside, it seems odd to have a post complaining about the
ice storm up on the front page. Then again, the weather seems odd in general, so that sort of discontinuity is only
appropriate.
Since I've nothing better, let's talk about video games.
I'm nearing the end of Zelda. As expected, Zelda herself hasn't done anything at all cool-ass since her transformation.
She just hides and gets kidnapped, as per usual. Maybe she'll revert to cool-ass-ness at the end, but I doubt it. We'll
see.
Actually, video games aren't that interesting a thing to talk about.