right is right (most of the time)

/ Pistachios / 2 Comments

I have developed a habit of observing and scrutinising my thoughts and actions — in effect, I have made myself a subject of my own study, primarily for amusement and curiosity, but also with a view to self-improvement, as shown in previous posts, such as that one about counting stairs, and my more recent one about sleep. The observations contained herein are quite a non-event, and really affect nothing and no one, but perhaps someone, somewhere, can find some amusement in it too.

I was actually talking with a colleague/friend about our respective propensities toward what some people might call OCD. My friend is known in the workplace as being quite particular about how things are; she even jokes about it herself. People who know both of us probably don’t think I’m quite as bad as she is, but I have realised I’m quite particular in other ways, and, after talking to this friend, even she thinks I’m rather odd. Continue reading →

philosophy, kindness and sleep

/ Pistachios / 5 Comments

Last night, in a contemplative and pensive mood, I flicked through my copy of Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations again. In the time between now and when I last picked it up, I’ve tried reading two other philosophical books: Discourses, Fragments, Handbook of Epictetus; and Human, All Too Human by Friedrich Nietzsche. The former I found to be too dry and too much like a lecture; and the latter, although more read-able and understandable, also started going over my head after some time.

So Epictetus and Nietzsche are back on my bookshelf for now, but still with their bookmarks in place, as my promise to return to them eventually. Part of me feels like I don’t really need to read any more philosophy, as Meditations has served me so well, but I’ve been taught not to accept the most immediate and/or convenient text of any kind without doing some sort of cross-referencing and broader reading. Continue reading →

when sharing is not caring (part 2)

/ Pistachios / 7 Comments

[This is a continuation of last week’s post about the environmental impact of ride-share apps and related services]

I would firstly like to acknowledge that it’s very possible that before these food delivery apps existed, people might have just driven their own cars to these places and bought take-away, hence causing an approximately equal amount of transport-related environmental impact. However, I would also like to point out that this is all very hypothetical because this is my speculation and pondering based on the experience of people I know, not a rigorous scientific news article.

Still, to be fair, I recently heard on the radio that some banks might start looking at people’s usage of food delivery apps when deciding whether or not to approve home loans. Guess I’m not the only one under the impression that these things aren’t always used conscientiously.  Continue reading →

when sharing is not caring (part 1)

/ Pistachios / 13 Comments

I have actually been a bit reluctant to write this post because I don’t want to give the impression that I think I know everything about this matter (which I don’t) but it’s something that I think about a lot, so I wanted to just put this out there and see what other people think. I was going to just make this a singular post, but it ended up being so long, I’ve decided to split it into two separate posts. [Part 2 will be published next week.]

People who know me well will know that I care a lot about environmental conservation. I spend a great deal of time reflecting on how my actions affect the environment (quite possibly as a result of getting this drilled into me in Grade 4). Lately I’ve taken to pondering about the impact of societal changes on energy usage and waste production.  Continue reading →

love and cholera

/ Pistachios / 5 Comments

I’ve been meaning to write and post this blog entry about Love in the Time of Cholera for a while now (a couple of weeks, really) but just haven’t gotten around to polishing it off. It’s gotten to the point where I think if I leave it much longer, I’ll never come back to it, and so, complete or not, here are some thoughts on Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Love in the Time of Cholera…  Continue reading →