Every pebble is unique, but profoundly unique objects are rare. - Michael Polanyi, The Study of Man, ch 3
What am I giving up when I act busy by looking at my phone during an awkward moment? Or quietly dismissing myself to go hole up somewhere else?
Tonight I was at a friend’s going-away party, and at one point I was sitting in a group and thought about leaving b/c it was a bit awkward. But because we all sat there until the awkwardness passed, we had some great conversation, and grew closer as friends.
Despite their being uncomfortable, I’m coming to think that friendships are formed in the awkward moments.
It’s been 4 full days since I had my roommate lock me out of my phone. And so far so good! I’ve discovered that Siri on a locked iPhone has approximately the same amount of features as a dumb phone: calls, texts, alarm, music, and reminders. And if I need to do more, I can pull out my iPad.
Just realized I haven’t posted in a few days. At the start of the week I decided I was using my iPhone way too much, so I asked my roommate to set a lock on it. Now I can only use it via Siri, so I can really only make calls. But that also means that I don’t use it as much, and so forget to post.
I’ve thought for a while that I was a verbal processor. But last night conversing with my roommate I realized that I’m actually an internal processor who requires the pressure of a conversation to focus his thoughts. So the way I think best is in a conversation that has tons of silent “dead space”
I just spent the last 3 hours playing Factorio instead of sleeping. I’m going to regret this tomorrow
Today I’ve been putting my ever-growing collection of books into some semblance of a system on my computer, and I ran across one that I picked up 3 years ago and never opened: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. As I typed its info into my computer, I noticed the promo quote on the front: “Catch-22 is the only war novel I’ve read that makes any sense.”
And having read a few war novels, that intrigued me! I’ll have to add this one to my to-read list.
Been learning to defeat temptation. It’s really hard! But this verse is bringing me comfort:
No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide a way out so that you may be able to bear it. - 1 Corinthians 10:13
Been reading Dante’s Purgatorio recently. Here’s a gem from today:
Heaven calls to you…
showing you beauties that can never die,
yet you gaze on the earth and earthly things.
So you are scourged by Him who sees on high.
-(Canto 14, lines 149-150)
Just ran across this essay (Consume less, create more), and I feel inspired. I spend way too much time scrolling through my feeds; maybe instead I could create something valuable with this time I have on earth.
My Goal: at least 1 post a day for this coming month
First post! (Just testing how this works)