A Post about Posting

In some ways it was gratifying to see that my last post struck a nerve and was passed around a bit.  It wasn't quite "viral" but it was read by many more people than usually view my occasional thoughts.

If ever there was gong to be a critical moment in my life as a blogger that could have been it.  I should have followed up immediately with clever, insightful posting on each of the next five days, with the hope that my mumblings would become the "go to" place for psychological insight into the evolving and/or decaying state of our wired, digital, always on, always expressive society.

But I didn't.  I had a cold.  I still have a cough.  It is the holiday week so I only have to work one day of  eleven. Due to my coughing, and everyone else's illness also, we canceled our trip to the Big City, and I stayed home and read old books, old and new magazines, blogs and weird web sites.  I watched things on YouTube, I listened to things on SoundCloud, I almost caught up on my email, I watched really meaningless football and I spend some time with the grandgirls, who had been sick also.

After all of this I have come away thinking that before I say anything else; before I rush to post my brilliant insights out here in the great and ever expanding world of cyberspace, I really ought to have something unique and interesting to say.  Even then I have to make sure that I am putting it out there because I want people to read and comment on it, more than I want to become known for saying it.

Russ Douthat, one of the NYT's more conservative columnists wrote today that people should take the time to read opinions that don't agree with theirs.  They should try to understand that the opposition, no matter which side, may not be just a bunch of brainwashed nutjobs.  While I think that idea has a lot of merit, for me, at this time, I am recommending that I stop reading almost everyone.  The political noise has become deafening.  Everyone has an opinion, many people put them out there, and then even more people write mean, trite comments, dismissing what was said.

There is a constant flow of opinion, information, music, art, good and bad science, family pictures, famous people, naked celebrities, half truths, the other half of truths, ways to be creative, ways to be creative differently, ways to make money, creative ways to make money, ways to spend money, ways to stay healthy, things to eat, how to cook them, how to grow them, where to buy them.  Individually, people post about the parties they are at, the restaurants they go to, the drinks they make, the people they don't like, the pills they take, the things they buy, pictures of their kids, their plants, their private parts, on and on and on and on........

My friends and colleagues are making "apps" as I predicted they should.  One is even making the exact app that I had designed one day last summer.

Everything is in the marketing. My app, which I never actually finished, is no better or worse than her app, but if she can get it our there first and fastest, then maybe, perhaps.....

The good thing about having a cold is that I didn't feel like doing much of anything.  I just let myself stare out the window at the early setting sun and just let my mind wander, without the pressure of doing anything worthwhile, and without trying to keep up with what is going on.

What I seemed to learn from this was that things will keep going on, and on, but that they really don't seem to be going anywhere particularly quickly, except "over the fiscal cliff" which could happen because no one can make anything happen.

So, my job now is to make sure I move back a little, for a while.  I will just sit here, or walk somewhere, or play with one and two year-olds, and give my own mind a chance to clear.

I will finish Moby Dick, (only 1/3 left), listen to some Bach, and I will watch the sunset, and sometimes watch the sun rise.
Perhaps, if I gain some brilliant insight, I will write about it here.  But I don't expect brilliance, and that's OK. It's enough to be alive and getting healthy.

Happy New Year to all!

I hope all of you stay healthy,  find some peace, some prosperity, find some fulfilling activities, and enjoy being with a few people who are important to you.

But, I thought .. never mind

I read in the NYT that big ideas are dead; no one thinks that way anymore. I guess there is no app for that. Naked celebrities getting divorced get more attention than the idea that there may be universes beyond our universe. 

Jarod Lanier, who is a bit weird but seems to know things about the Internet, has noted that we are now constantly being flooded with new information.   So many of my friends, relatives and even patients are constantly checking their mobile devices for news, texts, emails, Facebook updates, Tweets......
It has become annoying to be with them, because they are not with me. They are waiting for the word to come through the air, to tell them what to do next, what to think about, who to be.

It has become very difficult to pull all this information together in order to reach any kind of a well considered, thoughtful opinion because every second there is new information, and you may have to revise what you believe.

The stock market is up, and you're rich, an hour later it's down and you're poor .. because someone thinks that Ireland or Greece may have a bad quarter.  The river is polluted, an asteriod may be coming, it is 106 degrees, there is a tornado in Des Plaines, Michelle Bachmann is gay, another bombing in Iraq, the Red Sox won, now they lost, unemployment is up Obama will lose, now it's down and he is OK,  The Tea Party are idiots, nope, now they are morons, racists and homophobes. A kid was kidnapped, a kid drowned, a kid got sick and died,  another kid fell off his bike.  Does that mean I have to put a GPS and a helmet on my grandchild to keep her safe?

Too late for that -- parents are too hovering, nope they are too lax, nope they are putting too much pressure on their kids.  You can't eat sugar or fats, nope artificial sweeteners are worse, corn syrup is even worse, sugar is good, eggs are bad, eaggs are good again, bacon is bad, bacon is good, tofu is tasteless.

We're all gonna die someday, might as well smoke, drink and screw. Everything in moderation, but you only live once and can't take it with you.

The proof is in the pudding. It's in his kiss. I can see it in his eyes.

"Everybody knows the dice are loaded
everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
everybody knows the war is over
everybody knows the good guys lost
everybody knows the fight was fixed
the poor stay poor, the rich get rich
that's how it goes,
Everybody knows   "  

L.C. (1988)