Category: philosophy

repetition

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I think it’s time I got more serious about writing and exploring kindness.

See, The Mungk took me to a dark place because I was thinking about trauma, abandonment and isolation the whole time. The Conflagration of Boor and Aghast made me angry, because tapping into the outrage machine and felt helplessness of modern politics can’t help but do so (also, didn’t help that Trump launched his reign of terror).

Father Lightning is, at its core, an exploration of kindness. So rather than bogging down in anger and hopelessness or despair, it was meant to re-centre me, and re-focus on compassion and empathy and treating people with kindness and respect.

But here I am, thinking about anger and trauma, again.

Going forward, no more pain and anger (well, some pain and anger).

The primary focus of this blog will be kindness, and everything that goes along with it.

Target: 1500 words
Written: 2195 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: Time For A Tiger, Anthony Burgess (when I started reading this, I thought it might be about an actual tiger, or a tiger as a metaphor for Malaysia near the end of British rule, but nope - a Tiger is a warm beer, and our protagonist spend most of their time not wanting to do anything but stop what they're doing and go have one.  Weird premise, Burgess.  I mean, I understand the sentiment, but weird thing to focus a book on.)
Comics: Voodoo/Zealot: Skin Trade 1, Zealot 1, WildC.A.T.S. 23, Team One/WildC.A.T.S. 2
Music: Facelift, Alice In Chains

midnight library

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My daughter is listening to this audiobook, and I can’t help but think it dovetails with my idea of an afterlife (of just spending all one’s time exploring all the possible scenarios and things one wanted to know in one’s life), only instead of curiosity and wanting to know what one’s missed, it’s a testament to human restlessness, of its ridiculous dissatisfaction with literally everything.

FOMO is destroying the world.

Of that, I have no doubt. Envy is a real bitch.

Target: 1500 words
Written: 506 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: Time For A Tiger, Anthony Burgess
Comics: Team One/WildC.A.T.S. 1, Spartan: Warrior Spirit 1, WildC.A.T.S. 22, Grifter 3
Music: Face Dances, The Who

funny how that works

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You wake up, things seem like they’re going tickety-boo, and then all of a sudden, it’s three o’clock and you’ve only done distracted things and shit for other people.

And yet it seemed like you had so much time.

If that ain’t a metaphor for a wasted life, I don’t know what is.

This workin’s for the birds.

Target: 1500 words
Written: 2028 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: Time For A Tiger, Anthony Burgess
Comics: Wildstorm Rising 2, Grifter 2, WildCats Adventures 10, WildC.A.T.S. 21
Music: Fables Of The Reconstruction, R.E.M.

kindness starts at home?

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I mean, is it possible that the first step in kindness is not just being nice to the people who are close to you, but maybe, showing yourself the kind of kindness you’d like to impart onto others?

Forgiveness for past transgressions. Forgiveness for failures, for inaction, for embarrassing blunders.

Forgiveness for little things.

Big things.

Bad behaviour.

Forgiveness for being a dumbass.

Because there’s always that. In the grand scheme of things, we are all morons.

So, forgive yourself for that. We’re all the same in that regard.

Target: 1500 words
Written: 800 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: Pebble In The Sky, Isaac Asimov
Comics: WildCats Adventures 7, WildC.A.T.S. Special 1, Warblade: Endangered Species 4, WildC.A.T.S. 20
Music: October 30, 1992, Buenos Aires, Nirvana

that was kind of rude

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Like, the whole thing about Father Lightning is me exploring the nature of kindness, in the same manner I explored the concept of dualism in The Conflagration Of Boor And Aghast and trauma in The Mungk.

I don’t think I’m doing so well. The point of kindness is not that you’re a doormat; it’s also not to only be kind to those to whom it’s easy to be kind.

True kindness understands that sometimes the kindest thing is a direct truth; true kindness understands that sometimes, even those that would seem to deserve it the least are the ones that may need it the most.

It sets boundaries by shedding light on the reality of a situation; it understands that sometimes, in that enlightening, we may need to cast aside judgment.

I’m not sure I’m doing a very good job of that.

In this, I must be better.

Target: 1500 words
Written: 2337 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: Pebble In The Sky, Isaac Asimov
Comics: WildC.A.T.S. 18-19, WildCats Adventures 6, Warblade: Endangered Species 3
Music: February 19, 1992, Tokyo, Nirvana

relaxed achievement?

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It’s weird what a massive burden having a clear to do list on a regular basis can do for one.

Portugal (and subsequent crushing depression) really put me far back; being able to do some of the things I’ve pushed off from day to day feels really good. Like more relaxed.

Getting ahead.

Progressing.

Progress, not product, am I right? (First draft done.)

Target: 1500 words
Written: 2674 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: Liza Of Lambeth, W. Somerset Maugham
Comics: WildC.A.T.S. 0, WildC.A.T.S. Trilogy 1-2, WildC.A.T.S. Sourcebook 1
Music: November 22, 1989, Vienna, Nirvana

a long complicated process

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Life. Simple concepts.

Endless permutations.

Familiar paths.

A million more options than we need.

All colliding together in predictable ways, that we cannot see.

We cannot see, and we suffer.

A reminder.

Target: 1500 words
Written: 1353 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby, Tom Wolfe And Word Salad
Comics: Gen 13 v2 76-77, Gen 13 v3 0-1
Music: 4 Future Tracks, Spacehog

can i just point out

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That the idea that somehow the market will fix things has to be one of the stupidest and most persistent lies of the past couple of centuries?

I mean, why anyone in their right mind would think that a system primarily based on the confluence of consumers and predators would ultimately end up being beneficial for the masses of humanity is beyond me.

The idea that a framework of human interaction centered around greed and selfishness will somehow, though the magic of the invisible hand of the market somehow result in benevolence toward society and people as a whole is naive at best, and criminally stupid at worst.

And yet, our supposedly higher functioning human beings, presidents, lawyers, Ivy league alums, they all pray to this deity called market, as though it’s God or something, instead of a collection of sociopathic hoarders who would cut their own mother for a dime.

I mean, what the fuck is that about?

Are these people so brainwashed or stupid as to actually believe that, or is it, as is much more likely, that they’re benefiting from it, so it’s worthwhile to them to continue to perpetrate the lie?

I strongly suspect the latter.

Target: 1500 words
Written: 1454 words, novel: Father Lightning

Read: Code And Other Laws Of Cyberspace, Lawrence Lessig (who inspired this post with an assumption that the market is magic and all-seeing, and somehow, not every bit as susceptible to corruption as government, particularly when it's in bed with the government, or the government is in bed with it - I agree with a separation of business and state, but for entirely different reasons than deregulation somehow being beneficial, and not an excuse for crass exploitation.  Theft is still theft, especially when it's called Wall Street or Silicon Valley, and sshould be policed - more strictly even, given the scale to which it can occur.)
Comics: Gen 13 v2 72-75
Music: 39-Smooth, Green Day