do nothing day

London
Sunday 3.2.13
I woke up and thought it was Monday.
This was because I took a nap at 3pm and woke up at about 5pm.

I am sure a lot of us have been disorientated like this when we take an afternoon nap.

Sunday is a strange day anyway, as it has no structure. Most of us have no duties on Sunday to perform.

The funny thing is I don’t have any duties to perform the rest of the week either, seeing I am not working, and yet I experienced this disorientation today.

So maybe it is not anything to do with Sunday.

It is due to the afternoon nap. Haha.

I am in the happy position in my life that I can take a nap at any time, and any day. Such luxury!

What is strange also is that the temp outside is 9C and it is 7.15pm. So even the temperature is inverted.

It has been a low of 1.3C at about 1.30am rising steadily throughout the day to now. 9.6C. I wont know about all this temperature if not for the numerous weather websites showing the temperature for lots of places in and around London. In a way, all this information is not necessary. And in fact, can be detrimental, in that it makes people too obsessed with the weather.

Indoors it feels the same. I don’t have the heating on/ And it says 15C. I am so used to being warm in my clothes, I don’t take much notice of the temp in the flat as it does not affect me.

 

I haven’t gone out today so don’t really know what it feels like outside. Come to think of it, it is unusual for me not to be out at least once. I would go to the gym , or the library, or both; or to the supermarket. But today I skipped doing all that. I think it is because I got so sleepy in the afternoon, that I decided to sleep and by the time I got up, it was dark and that discourage me from going out. Not to mention, most things are shut. The library and supermarket closes by 5pm. My gym stays open 24hrs of course, but somehow I don’t fancy going there today.

Well, u know what they say about Sunday. It is the day when u can be lazy and do nothing.

London may be a major city but on Sunday a lot of shops are closed. Even my library opens after 1.30pm, and it is one of the rare branches that opens on Sunday. Many other branches of the library are shut. And supermarkets in uk are legally obliged to open only for a short time, 8hrs I think on a Sunday; unless they are small convenience stores which can open longer, and that is why so many of the named brands supermarkets have bought them.

U would think it strange that a big city like London keep these Sunday hours. But it enables workers to have a day off. And for those who want to work Sunday to earn double time. London is not like new york, which I think is truly a city that never sleeps.

I remember the restaurants were full of people even at 3am long ago when I used to visit over christmas. Granted it was the weekend, but still, I doubt u can see that kind of busy-ness in London.

I wonder if new york stays open on Christmas day? I think they do, but here in London, everywhere closes on Christmas day, even the buses and tubes, and trains.

I noticed that my thoughts tend to food. I start thinking I want to eat something, then I go to the kitchen and realise I don’t fancy anything there. It is true what they say about people eating out of habit or out of boredom.

Fortunately for me, I can overcome that urge.

And the tv is a good distraction. Now that it is after 7pm, most of the channels are on.

Though looking at what is on, I do find them rather boring too. Lots of detective and murder series.

Maybe that is why I am writing this, as there is nothing to distract me. Haha.

I could read a book , but somehow don’t feel like it.

Added. 4,2,13 read something today that made me think, but I shall make a separate post of it or this one will be very long.

some thoughts

London

A guy says he is bisexual. Another said even so, u still have a preference. It is like a chap who said he is an independent voter, he will have a preference party that he more often than not votes for.

I wonder if someone who says he is bisexual is really tending towards being gay but is not willing to say so. Saying bisexual is a half way point to finally acknowledging he is gay.

This is because if u are straight, u don’t need to say u are anything else. But if u are gay, It is such a stigma to be gay, even nowadays, u want to step into a half way house first.

Have you notice this… that if u are gay and u sleep once with a woman , nobody accuses u of being straight, but  if u are straight and sleep with a guy once  and boy will they be branding u gay.

In an ideal world, we will not be labelling each other, but than maybe the way we are made makes us have to label things, that is how we as a species have survived. We label something as good or bad for us, for eg, good to eat or dangerous to eat, or dangerous to go there, or not… labelling makes us avoid dangerous situations. It is a a short hand to let us make sense of the world and the environment and each other so we can suss a person out immediately in terms of whether they are enemies or friends.

Anyone different from us will by definition be an enemy. In the past this would make u stay alive or not.

Now of course we all live in a society and no one goes killing another for food or territory or females to mate. So labelling is not so useful anymore but u cannot expect us to ditch all those evolutionary traits that have served us well for 1000s of years of evolution just like that.

http://cheezburger.com/6819257344

This one is regarding steve gough , the naked rambler. It seems the police don’t want to keep him locked up but he insists on being naked and Scottish law for some reason do not want people going naked. He has shown them up to be upholding a foolish law. People say steve is stubborn, but I think he is showing that a foolish law is a foolish law and a throwback to the olden days and it is high time Scotland acknowledge this and remove this willingness to make nakedness a contempt of court or breach of the peace. Which is the two laws used to jail him.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19625542

This one is saying London is costly to live in. if u are a visitor , it is… because u have to live in a hotel, and accommodation esp short term ones are expensive. And also being a visitor u only go to the touristy places that sell overpriced goods and eat at touristy restaurants. So of course u will find it expensive.

I think also people read of these surveys done by companies and magazines that cater to the businessman to let them compare cost of living in various cities and because these guys go to high end restaurants and stay at high end hotels, and take taxis, and so on, it is not surprising they give an impression that London is expensive.

Take it from me. I am a Londoner and it is very cheap for me to live here. It is cheaper to move around and get things here in London than for my friends living in the small towns and villages. For one thing, public transport for them is scarce, so they have to shop locally and it is not cheap to shop local as they are like captive shoppers and the businesses near them know it. It may be they are small shops and so their costs are high relative to the bulk buying that big nationwide retailers can command. But whatever the reason it is not cheap. Whilst I can get very much reduced prices for food at the end of the day in the supermarkets in London. Even the normal prices for meat etc are lower than in the villages.

With public transport so scarce, and expensive, people need the car. And we all know it is expensive to keep a car. And it is colder in the country, so they have to put on their heating. Whilst for me in London, it seldom gets that cold, and I have not have to put on my heating for 4yrs or so now.

Also , people tend to live in flats in London and the heat between flats helps keep them warm. In the country the houses are old and separate and so harder to keep warm.

The whole city has a warming effect. The buildings retain their heat and radiate it out at night. Cities are like heat sinks.

Also so many things are thrown out that u can furnish a flat using stuff u pick up in recycling bins for free. I have yet to see such a thing happening in the country villages and small towns.

http://www.standard.co.uk/comment/comment/london-costs-but-thats-a-small-price-to-pay-8371619.html

I have been browsing the gay blogs in wordpress and I find them rather sad. Are there no happy gay guys anywhere? Gay guys who love their lives?
I love being gay and my life is wonderful. And I am not rich. Surely there must be tons of others like me, but maybe a happy life is not very pluggable nor is it fun to write about. After all who wants to read of someone who is happy. It just makes you feel awful when u compare it with your life. Most people are not happy.

Still, I do wish there are more happy gay guys blogging about it rather than the gay section full of rather sad gay people or always writing about the bad things that happen.

Sad is more entertaining to read , it seems. Well it must be so otherwise why do we have such sad blogs talking of sad things? Whether they are gay or straight sad and bad seem to get a lot more press. I don’t know why…

I find it saddening to read sad things, and I avoid them, but I guess humans being being what they are, it makes people glad to read that others are worst off than they are.

Someone in a broadcast says it is a human trait to compare your situation with others, so if u say for eg, trains are 89% on time, or some such figure, people are not happy , but if u say trains in uk are generally more punctual than trains in germany, u will find a lot of people will brighten up at that. He says people in uk are always happier if there is anything here that is better than germany. Haha.

Is that so?

He said, now that the trains have put up notices
saying when the next train is coming, people are much happier about it than before when they don’t know when the next train is due.

Though I find people get angry again if the sign is wrong, and their 7min train stretches to 10mins or more with the last minute taking ages to change.

It is true I for one prefer this notice of when the next train or bus is due. I think It is because then it gives us the option to catch another train or bus instead or go and do something else first.

He was talking about changing your perception to make yourself happy or sad . A very useful strategy to make yourself happy.

In that broadcast he also said why pensioners feel happier than young unemployed. Both are jobless.

I think that is obvious, because old people have already lived their lives and have done and seen all they want to. Whilst young people are just setting out on their lives and want to see and experience everything and lack of money or jobs will restrict them.

One is at the beginning of their lives, the other is at the end.

And it is a fact that once u have seen life and done most things, u know what they are like and u can say, it is nice to have seen and done them, but it is no big deal. It is not really as nice as u think it can be. So u can retire knowing u have not missed much.

Whilst the young still think there are wonderful things they should do and see, and I shall be missing out if I don’t. and how am I going to do and see these things if I don’t have a job and money?

life is just us having too much time on our hands.

London
I think we don’t have to spend so much time looking for food just to survive that we have so much time on our hands now.
And all of our existence nowadays is to find things to do, or get into quarrels with our neighbours , or friends, or strangers , just to while the hours away.

Even work is a form of whiling away the hours. People may say they have to work to get the money to survive. But that is a fallacy, because we all know it takes very little money to live. All you need is food, shelter. And if u live in a v cold country , warmth.

No, it is the fact that time hangs heavy when we are not having to spend time searching or hunting for our next meal. consider the hunters or gatherers of old… so much of their time is spent foraging for food. And it is so haphazard. From each day to the next they don’t know if they will get enough to eat. And if there is a glut, they have no refrigeration, so they can only kill and eat what their stomachs can take, and have to leave the rest.

Even now, we sometimes get that feeling. All that delicious food, but we are just too full to eat them, and have to pass. It is very galling, as we all know. The Chinese call it having eyes that are too big for the stomach.

So I have been observing how people find ways to pass the time. And kicking up fuss and bother to get upset about.

Take this incident about the food blogger who said the starter was not good, and gave the meal a 3 out of 5. But he made an error and posted that review not only on his blog, but on trip advisor. A website that allows anyone to write in to review anything. Usually it is hotels, but restaurants have been the biggest bone of contention.

This is because most hotels can survive with bad reviews, but not restaurants. Most of us don’t have to eat at a restaurant. Whereas if u visit a town or city u have to find somewhere to stay. Also there are more restaurants than hotels and so the competition is fiercer, right from the cheap joints to the expensive Michelin starred ones.

In fact, I think the Michelin starred ones are very sensitive to food critics, which might explain why the chef lambasted the blogger on twitter, calling him a cunt.

I can understand why he was so angry, esp since he asked the guy how he find the meal and the guy did not say anything to give him the impression he was not satisfied. Cooking at the high end of food catering, is such a labour intensive thing. u are preparing something from scratch everytime and on order, and everytime u are expected to produce a masterpiece. quite an impossible task, if u ask me, but the chef have to repeat that  every time. can u think of a worse way of earning a living? now do u understand why they charge so much?  it is like bespoke tailoring. except applied to a meal. and worse than bespoke tailoring, because that meal is eaten and that is it. u cannot eat it again, unlike a bespoke suit. 

 

Perhaps we cannot blame him for over-reacting. The blogger did say only the starter was not good, the rest of the meal was good. And only criticised the waiters for asking him how was it after every course. Yet, we could ask why he did not say so when they asked him how his starter was. 

But when u pay so much, you should expect them to be over solicitous about it. And u could blame the blogger for not complaining about the starter when he was asked how was it. Instead of keeping quiet or even saying it was fine and then slagging it in the blog.

But then the blogger most probably thought nothing of it, after all, his livelihood did not depand on it. Whereas the chef’s future business is at stake here.

But u can see how all this is just a way for people to cook up ways to while away the huge amounts of time they now have when they don’t have to spend all of it just searching for the animal to hunt. never mind kill and cook it.

We see it everywhere , in the internet and on tv, what is realism tv if not a way to while away the time and entertain people.

Or those talk shows that show up people argueing about their relationships and getting the audience to judge them.

I ask myself surely life is more important than all this trivial stuff we do to occupy ourselves? U would think something so wonderful as life, should be used for things that are more meaningful… but it is not so.

It makes me realise what neale walsch say is very true. In his conversations with god books he says the soul is all of us, and the soul take the form of people, so that it can experience all the human emotions that souls, in their spiritual state can never experience.
Anger, sadness, jealousy, hate, joy, suspense, fear, etc are all very human emotions. No other creature experiences all of them. Or at least not that we are aware of, anyway.

If pigs can experience all these, it would make us think twice about killing them for food. Maybe one day we will find a way to discover what pigs think … or not.

But I think we have so much time on our hands, we can spend it on aimless philosophising. That is very human too.

I am happy with neale walsch’s explanation of why we are here in this world living this life.

That is why I don’t bother to engage in philosophical discussions.

I was thinking the other thing that affects us humans is that the mind deteriorates with age. We call it dementia, and some get it earlier than others. Why? What makes some people go senile early, and others don’t, even to a ripe old age?

I think it is because the ones that don’t go senile keep an active , searching, observant mind , juggling what they observe in their mind and inventing or coming up with combinations to explain our behaviour, or even acting on things they see around them to come up with something new, or changing their behaviour, or thoughts, or beliefs.

Being inventive, is the word I want. And not only with coming up with new objects as in inventing a new pen or car or whatever , but being inventive with new ideas. Or new applications for objects .

Or new ingenious ways of using everyday things.

With me, it is looking out for found objects, and finding new ways to use them, or adapt them to my own use.

It keeps me on my toes and makes my life interesting. And that is another clue. U make your life interesting. I do it by taking an idea and giving it a new slant.

Like thinking that one day we might eat human beings. Most probably in the form of clones, or lab grown stem cells that we can grow into meat. maybe we might use animal stem cells, but there is nothing to say why we should not use human stem cells. After all that is the most abundant source of stem cells. But meat from other animals will be desired just for its texture and taste. Unless we get to like the distinct taste of human meat. who knows. Haha.

After all, cannibalism exists for a reason. The taste must be delicious.

But u can see how it makes for an interesting life if u can think slightly outside the box and on taboo subjects.

Just take abortions, who would have thought that it is taken so much for granted nowadays. Vegetarians object to us killing animals for meat, but at least we kill them for food. But killing our healthy babies?
I am just asking, I don’t care enough about the subject of abortion to like or dislike it. And being a gay man, I don’t have to be confronted with it in my life. But u have to admit it is rather a shocking thing to do to stop a foetus from developing into a full fledge human being just because it is not wanted. But everyone takes it for granted.

The curious thing is when the kids are born, they are so revered, no child labour, and any sexual interference of a child is clamped down with hysterical ardour.
Whilst those countries that object to abortion, produce so many children who are then put to good use in the fields, and factories to earn their keep and exploited. By making children so abundant there are too many of them and their lives are belittled, whilst those countries with abortion , limit the numbers of children and so they become more precious and revered.

There are all these paradoxes and contradictions, and unexpected consequences.

And sending our young off to wars to be killed. That is rather a weird thing to do. It is so strange that a whole paradigm and ritual has been created surrounding it. So that we get heroes and the elevation of war to a patriotic thing. And special day set to commemorate the dead soldiers.

By rights we should send our old to wars, and to get killed as they are the ones who have outlived their usefulness to society and are of non child bearing ages, and are quite dispensable. But no, it is the old people, politicians , who send of the young to their deaths.

I think all this rise from our having too much time on our hands. Modern living makes us have so much free time.

I daresay there is a flaw in my reasoning. I cannot see it, but maybe some of u out there might see where this theory falls down. Let us know.