passing gratitude

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Along some of the streets in my neighbourhood, the footpaths are bordered by grass on either side.* Sometimes this grass gets a bit overgrown, and, at some parts, there isn’t enough space for two people to comfortably walk past each other without someone walking on the grass a little (especially if everyone is carrying bags of groceries, shopping or other items).

Often, without really thinking about it, I step onto the grass to allow the other person passage along the footpath. I’m usually wearing sneakers, and I guess I move pretty quickly, so I suppose it’s not a big deal for me to walk on the grass, and I probably just step aside faster than the other person (not much point in us both stepping aside onto the grass). Continue reading →

sleep study

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I was originally planning to do monthly recaps on the progress of my never-ending quest to fix my sleep, but I’ve come across an interesting revelation in the first couple of weeks, which I thought was worth noting here.

Previously, I had mentioned that I was going to try to do some reading and some Farsi (Persian) study every day, and that this goal is likely to hinder my goal of sleeping earlier. Maybe it’s still early days and too soon to make any conclusive judgement about this, but I’m finding that it actually tends to have the opposite effect. Continue reading →

the sleep system (stage one?)

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Ok, so in my last post, I mentioned that I was going to devise some sort of system for fixing my sleep. I’ve had some time to think about this, and have come up with something that might work.

Realistically, the only two things I’m interested in when it comes to sleep is the quantity and quality – that is, the actual number of hours of sleep, and whether or not this sleep is restful. This was a good first step because I don’t want to have to evaluate and record ten different factors of sleep every time I wake up in the morning. That would be a sure-fire way to make me stop using it. Continue reading →

measure and manage

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Ahh, here we are again, at the tail end of another year.

As tempting as it is to look ahead, keep going, and ignore everything that’s happened these last twelve months, there’s a voice in my head that’s piped up with “Those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it”, so I guess we’ll look back before we turn and keep going.

Of course, I do this constantly anyway. “Ruminate” is probably in my top 100 favourite words. (That’s just a rough estimate because I don’t think it would make the cut for top 10, and even top 50 could be a bit tricky to figure out. Besides, there are a lot of words out there, and a lot that I like.)

Another wise saying that I’ve been mulling over recently is the one that goes something along the lines of “stupidity is trying to achieve a different result by repeating the same process” (I know that’s very much paraphrased and reworded, but I can’t be bothered looking up the original. Well, ok, I will, but only so that I can credit the original genius who came up with it…) Continue reading →

because pigeons

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A good friend asked me the other day about my favourite animal. I replied that I like birds, but especially pigeons and eagles. She could understand why I chose eagles, but seemed perplexed by why I would like pigeons.

When I started thinking about the reasons why I like pigeons, I realised there are several reasons, and the full explanation is quite long. I instinctively thought that I must’ve written a post about this before, but all I could find were a post about Peregrin falcons (in which pigeons get a mention) and one about why I like wedge-tailed eagles. If you search my blog, there are a few other posts where pigeons are mentioned briefly or in passing, but nothing significant. Continue reading →

thought fragments

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This year has disappeared in a whirlwind of long days and late nights.

It has been a year of plaintive farewells, and cheerful greetings.

I have done so much, and not enough, and there’s still so much to do.

But it’s a humid Summer’s day, and all I want to do is lie on my bed with the aircon on.

Or maybe go out and have a few drinks with friends.

Or listen to classical music while reading a good book.

I want to share the music of Rachmaninoff, but I can’t decide which piece I like most.

Not long ago, ABC Classic played part of his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, and I stopped whatever I was doing, and listened until the end.

Earlier this year, I learnt that Rachmaninoff struggled with depression throughout his career. He received harsh criticisms about some of his compositions, which made him question his worth as a composer.

But he sought help, he did better, and now he’s remembered and celebrated as one of Russia’s greatest composers.

I wonder if next year will be “quiet”.

The years seem to alternate between tranquil and turbulent, and there aren’t many ways in which this year could have been more turbulent (although there are still about two and half weeks left, so I wouldn’t be surprised if something happened…)

Or maybe the years don’t alternate, and I just made that up.

Thick, grey clouds have gathered, and there’s a cool breeze blowing now.

Maybe it will storm later.