Silly Ego

Eckhart Tolle writes:

Is it wrong then to be proud of one's possessions or to feel resentful toward people who have more than you? Not at all. That sense of pride, of needing to stand out, the apparent enhancement of one's self through "more than" and diminishment through "less than" is neither right nor wrong -- it is the ego.

The ego isn't wrong; it's just unconscious.

When you observe the ego in yourself, you are beginning to go beyond it. Don't take the ego too seriously. When you detect egoic behavior in yourself, smile.

At times you may even laugh.*

How could humanity have been taken in by this for so long? Above all, know that the ego isn't personal. It isn't who you are. If you consider the ego to be your personal problem, that's just more ego.

***


*It's not working for me right now, but nearly every time when I set my mind on arriving at presence in the Now, it arrives with a tiny chuckle. It's more of a release than anything. That, I get every time, without fail, to the point that the two are the same thing to me now. 

Presence equals release, borderline hilarity.

What else could it feel like, to unburden yourself of the weight of the past and the future?

Nothing is Foolproof Because Fools Are Ingenious

New Yorker essayist Adam Gopnik writes:

When there's easy agreement, it's fine, & when there's widespread disagreement on values or facts, as with say, the origins of capitalism, it's fine too; you get both sides.

The trouble comes when one side is right & the other side is wrong & doesn't know it.

The Shakespeare authorship [Wikipedia] page & the Shroud of Turin page are scenes of constant conflict & are packed with unreliable information. Creationists crowd cyberspace every bit as effectively as evolutionists, & extend their minds just as fully.

Our trouble is not the overall absence of smartness but the intractable power of pure stupidity.

Modern social networks are fraught with dull old dysfunction & wonderfully new opportunities.

Slow Down & be Patient.

Shipping one awesome project is worth half a million half finished ideas.

Don’t be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of. One man gets only a week’s value out of a year while another man gets a full year’s value out of a week.

  Said Charles Richards.

Slow down & be Patient.

Slow down & be Patient.

Walkin In San Diego

Nov 4th. Think I'm going to stop the Streak of Doing More Records & Streaks Than The Day Before Streak.

Yup. It's official now. After that last deliberation.

Coming up on four miles, walking. Going to attempt to keep my ab streaks going as well as some other stuff.

Also going to get to work on some graphs & charts, re: this whole thing.

I have set 4 Beatles' Rock Band records today. If I have the energy later for another 30, I'll consider extending the streak with an asterisk.

PS - Why did Rock Band just disappear? Why do I have to confront my Rock Band shame every time I pull my old Wii out of the closet to strum my fake guitar or if I still had my drums, drum my fake but kinda real actually drums that apparently aren't that much different from real drums(?). It was such a communal game, too, so much better with people, but even for me, I guess a staleness or cheesiness would always threaten to creep in.

Nov 3 Records And Streaks

P.S. - The Ab Pullup Streak died yesterday at 7 days. It was a good one; jacked that record up good.



1. Earliest on treadmill: 9 am.

2. Buttkicks, single: 46.

3. Right handed 2 ball juggle: 955!

4. Abs, single: 200.

5. Ab streak ++

6. Buttkicks, total: 140.
7. Buttkicks Streak ++
8. More Curls Than Day Before (25)
9. More Curls Streak ++
10. Ankle Weight Streak ++
11. Ankle Weight Walk, single: 18.
12. More Pushups Than Day Before (25)
13. Pushups Streak ++
14. Abs, total: 500.
15. Poker Blitz, single: 30 min.
16. Pokerwalking, single: 56 min.
17. Blog streak ++
18. Shoulder Press, single: 31.
19. Press Streak++
20. Shoulder Shrug, single: 71.
21. Shrug Streak ++
22. Hamstring stretch, single: 5m, 20
23. Total, 5m20
24. Streak++
25. Back bend, single: 1m1s.
26. Total: 1m1s.
27. Shoulder Shrug total: 141
28. Forearms, single: 53 (please don't do tomorrow)
29. Forearm Streak ++
30. Obliques, single: 53.
31. Oblique Streak ++
32. More Yoga Streak ++
33. Walk More Than Day Before ++
34. Earliest recorded poker: 2:59 PM
35. Ab Twist, single: 3min, 33.
36. Ab Twist, total:
37. Ab Twist Streak ++
38. Pec-aerobics, single: 19m30s
39. Pec-aerobics streak ++
40. Most records, day
41. Most records, 7 days
42. Most records, 14 days
43. Most records, 28 days
44. More records than day before++
45. No Alcohol Streak (7)
46. No Video Games Streak (3)

The Point Of It All

These are the mornings you remember why you do this silly little gay setting records thing.

Ten days ago I juggled two balls in my left hand for 341 juggles. It was a personal record. Better than my record with the right hand (somewhere in the 200s at that point).

On January first of this year I couldn't juggle three balls for more than a couple throws. Now that record is 56 minutes. 

I'll be switching the right hand juggle from count to time because two days ago I set a new right hand record of 333 (still no 341, mind you) & skipped juggling yesterday, opting for the my favorite tax exempt mega corporation's Sunday games, but today, on the first & only attempt made: 955 juggles. 

I think I only stopped because I started wondering about the world record, & started thinking of other, better jugglers (that & the two balls hit each other in mid-air).

***

The proper tone in describing this record setting & similar ones, either to yourself or someone else in public is derision & healthy teasing, which in my absence should be as hearty as you like.

In private, however, the proper tone is one of jubilation.

***

The third commandment of becoming a saint: congratulate yourself, pat yourself on the back, stroke every pathetic little part of your ego, truly absorb it.

"Awesome job," say to yourself. Or a fist pump will suffice.

But something.

& then laugh at yourself for good measure.

Rewire (Your Innate Inanities & Intellectual Onanisms)

I'm in the middle of this one. I'm reading someone else's copy. He started reading it, said it was the perfect book for him. Perfect to help him change the bad life habits he's had for his entire life. 

Because while we are all good or bad to varying degrees in the area of good habit formation, we are all experts at habit formation itself. 

& while this means we may be innately terrible at good habit formation & uncannily prone to bad habit formation -- even those among us with the worst habits has the occasional moment of clarity, in which they see & know at least what it is, those good habits they wish they could have.

Sam Harris, a man who's considered this very issue philosophically more than all the AA members across America collectively have. This man, with an IQ that provides shade for us mere mortals...

...even he, Sam Harris, who's travelled & studied with monks & Buddhist masters...he doesn't hope for more than these mere moments of clarity, in which one at least visions 'the Good' or 'the Way,' for you can only extend the moment indefinitely until you are hurled back against the shores of your reptile mind, ego, & it's innate inanities.

***

Sadly my friend doesn't seem to want to finish the book, let alone study it as a life class or whatever. I'm only able to read the physical book because he isn't. 

It reminds me of the first commandment I made (link). The hardest part for my friend is that all of this questing to change of necessity can only occur against the backdrop of civilization, with its own ego, inertia, & of course all of the silliest, most evil habits. 

The world doesn't stop because you've decided to knock yourself down a peg. In fact, until you get to the end of the rainbow I'm trying to help Sam Harris point to, you're better off tuning me out altogether, if monetary success (they used to call it worldly) is near the top of your list of priorities.

But note well, if you happen to get to the end of the rainbow, & you haven't achieved he floccinaucinihilipilification of lucre, then by golly you'll have skills enough to get all the lucre you could ever want.

The money game is the only game in town because the best games are always the ones where the suckers are most abundant. The winners in this game are the ones who have achieved lucre floccinaucinihilipilification because not giving a frack is the same thing as being 'above the rim,' the same thing as Nietzche's 'beyond good & evil,' the goddamned same thing as Jesus's kingdom of God, le meme chose que Maslow's 'self-actualized,' Heidegger's authentic living. 

How many fracks do you give? 

The frack you give isn't worth a frack until you're able to admit, that from a certain perspective at least, nothing fracking matters, especially not you.

***

Then & only then can you say, "everything fracking matters, especially me, everyone & everything."

***

Don't forget these two chestnuts:

The test of a first rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.

&

Insanity: doing the same thing over & over again, expecting different results.

Return of The Ankle Weights (Nov 1 In Progress)

I've put a link to the ankle weights featured in Today's Record & Streak setting over on the left.

Pause ad block for a second if you can't see it. Below that is possibly the only material good I think about more than food: a weight vest.

Today, we're going to have some NFL-Sunday specific records. I expect my streak of watching NFL Redzone alive, while keeping the STREAK OF STREAKS alive. To help, I'm just gonna put some ankle weights on for a few hours. Haven't used them in a while. Don't have any records associated with them really (maybe a few in some old records' files). Slap on your own ankle or wrist weights & vaguely exercise & stay productive along with me & the footballing.

 (It really is crack-like, NFL Red Zone; I think even more scary is that it's just the beginning, a wave of the future w/r/t Television.)

1. Buttkicks, (each leg) single: 45.
2. Buttkicks STREAK ++
3. Ankle Weight, single: 3 hours.
4. "  "   "   ", total: 3 hours.
5. Ankle Weight STREAK ++
6. Pec-Aerobics, single: 19 min
7. Ankle Weight Walking, single: 10 min
8. "   "   "  , total: 17 min, 30s
9. Forearms, single: 52.
10. Forearm Streak ++
11. Obliques, single: 52.
12. Obliques Streak ++
13. Tear Yourself Away From NFL, single: 10 minutes.
14. "   "   " , total: 27 min, 30s 
15. More Pushups Than Day Before (20).
16. More Curls Than Day Before (20).
17. More Squats Than Day Before (34).
18. Most Squats, single: 34.
19. Shoulder Press, single: 30
20. Shoulder Press Streak ++
21. Shoulder Shrugs, Single: 66.
22. Shoulder Shrugs streak ++
23. Email Inbox Zero Streak ++
24. Inbox Zero Record: 13 emails in my inbox right now. Can't move or delete more. Yet.
25. Buttkicks, total: 134.
26. Abs, single: 190.
27. Abs Streak ++
28. More Yoga Than Day Before ++
29. Squat Hold, single: 2 min, 40s
30. Squat Hold, total: 2 min, 40s
31. Hamstring Stretch, single: 3 min 25s
32. Hamstring Streak ++
33. Back Bend Hold, single: 1 min
34. Back Bend, total: 1 min
35. Shoulder Shrugs, total: 140.
36. Hamstring Total, 5m 15s.
37. blog streak ++
38. Most records, day
39.  Most records, 7 days
40. Most records, 14 days
41. Most records, 28 days
42. More records than day before ++
43. Earliest Time Finishing This Streak: 4PM.

The 39 Records / Weight Loss October

October Weight Loss Total: -7 LBS.

Need to get to '39' to set more records than yesterday. It gets to feel boring, when most of your day is spent trying to break records. I've never done this before, so I guess I'll keep going?

1. Right handed Juggling, single: 333.
2. Right handed Juggling ++
3. Buttkicks, single: 44
4. Buttkicks streak++
5. Blog streak++
6. 9 + Book read Streak
7. 100+ page read streak ++
8. buttkicks, total: 133
9. Walk more than day before ++
10. 5 mile a day walking streak ++ 
11. Forearms, single: 51
12. Forearms Streak ++
13. Obliques, single: 51.
14. Obliques, streak++
15. Abs, single: 180.
16. Abs streak ++
17. Shoulder Press, single 29.
18. Shoulder Press streak ++
19. Shoulder Shrugs, single: 63.
20. Shoulder Shrugs Streak ++
21. Run Further Than Day Before ++
22. Inbox Zero (New), Best: 15 emails (in inbox)
23. Hamstring stretch, single: 3 min
24. Hamstring stretch, total: 4 min
25. Bridge Hold, single: 3 min, 35
26. Bridge Hold, total: 5 min
27. Bridge Hold streak ++
28. Abs, total: 450
29. Pomodoro more than day before ++
30. Pomodoro, total (couldn't piece a single together): 3 h
31. Ab pullups, total: 33
32. Ab pullup streak ++
33. Ab Twist, single: 3 min, 15
34. More Ab Twist Streak ++
35. most books read in a day (at least 9 pages): 15
36. Most Records, 7 Day
37. Most Records, 14 Day
38. Most Records, 28 Days
39. More Records Than Day Before Streak ++
40. Most Weight Lost in One Month: 7 LBS
41. Losing Weight Every Month Streak (3) ++

From Flying Cars To Cities on the Moon

I'm almost wrapping it up with the David McRaney series of excerpts from You Are Now Less Dumb, a great read -- I can't wait to read his other stuff:

From flying cars to cities on the moon, science fiction movies rarely get the future right. There is no internet on Star Trek, no smartphones in Blade Runner. Your brain is just as bad as any science fiction movie when it comes to predicting your own future. The difference is that movies leave behind a perfect record of their failure. You don't.

When things are going your way, you have no problem calling attention to your own contributions to good fortune. If you win a game, or get promoted, or make an excellent grade, you tend to attribute that success to your skills, talent, effort, & preparation.

If you FAIL, though, or get passed over, you have a habit of looking for something outside yourself to blame -- a mean boss, a crappy team, a confusing teacher -- whatever it takes to keep yourself from blame. 

This SELF-SERVING BIAS provides you with credit for all the things in life that worked out in your favor, & it absolves you of responsibility for those times you fell short. The self-serving bias makes it difficult for you to acknowledge the help of others, or luck, or an unfair advantage. It isn't a malicious defect of your personality; it's just your brain's way of framing things so that you don't stop moving forward. If you fail the tests that would have made you a doctor, lawyer, engineer, or dog groomer, you protect your ego by noticing all the factors in between you & your goals. That way, you can try again with all the gumption & certainty required to accomplish such difficult objectives.

The positive illusions & their helpers form a supercluster of delusion that thumps in the psyche of every human. Together, ILLUSORY SUPERIORITY BIAS, THE ILLUSION OF CONTROL, OPTIMISM BIAS, CONFIRMATION BIAS, HINDSIGHT BIAS, & SELF-SERVING BIAS combine like Voltron into a mental chimera called self-enhancement bias. It works just as the name suggests--it enhances your view of your self. 

If you drive, you probably see yourself as a competent, considerate, skillful driver, especially compared with the morons & assholes you face on the road on a daily basis. If you are like the typical subject, you believe you are slightly more attractive than the average person, a bit smarter, a smidgen better at solving puzzles & figuring out riddles, a better listener, a cut above when it comes to leadership skills, in possession of paramount moral fiber, more interesting than the people passing you on the street, & on & on it goes. 

A report in 2010 published in the British Journal of Social Psychology suggests that you even see yourself as more human than other people.

Going As Godin For Halloween (Oct 31)

Seth Godin's blog today:

Can you change?

Are you stuck with your habits, your knowledge, your weight, your fitness, your interpersonal skills? Is your future a slightly different rerun of your past?

We spend an enormous amount of time and money seeking to reinvent and upgrade ourselves, working to give up something, start something, build something or change something about who we are and what we do.

And we usually fail.

It's tempting to say, "this is who I am, habits are hardwired, it's in my DNA, I'm going to live with it." Tempting, and an easy way out. 

Change is hard, sometimes nearly impossible. But if even one person as far behind as we are has dug in and done enough work to finish that marathon, to change that habit or to learn that skill, it means that it's not impossible. Merely (astonishingly) difficult.

Knowing that it's possible is 86% of the project.

1. 9+ Book Streak ++
2. 100 + Pages Read Streak ++
3. Most books read in a day (14)
4. Buttkicks, single: 43.
5. Buttkicks, total: 130
6. Buttkicks Streak ++
7. Abs, single: 170
8. Abs, total: 444
9. More Chess Than Day Before ++
10. More Pushups Than Day Before ++
11. More Curls Than Day Before ++
12. Earliest Playing Poker (recorded): 3PM pacific.
13. Earliest Poker Walking: 3PM.
14. Play More Poker Than Day Before (0) ++
15. Do More Pokerwalking Than Day Before(0)++
16. Most Pokerwalking, single: 44 minutes.
17. More Poker Blitz Than Day Before ++
18. Poker Blitz, single: (24 min / 32 min)
19. Most Profit, under 30 min blitz: $12.20
20. Forearms, single: 50
21. Streak ++
22. Obliques, single: 50
23. Obliquestreak: +++
24. Most Poker-walking, total: 1 H, 4 M
25. 6 + book writing streak ++
26. Hamstring stretch, single: 2 m, 22
27. Bridge hold, single: 3 m, 25
28. Hamstring Streak ++
29. Bridge hold streak ++
30. Hamstring, total: 3m 33
31. Bridge hold, total: 4m 33
32. Walk more than yesterday (5 mi)
33. Shoulder Press, single: 28 (hard).
34. Shoulder Press streak ++
35. More Records Than Day Before ++
36. Shoulder Shrugs, single: 61 (hard)
37. Shoulder Shrugs streak ++
38. ??? I may still jog a bit more

Somebody Stop Me (October 30)

1. Buttkicks, single: 42.
2. Buttkicks, total: 125.
3. Buttkick Streak ++
4. Abs, single: 160.
5. Abs, total: 420.
6. Ab Streak ++
7. Blog Streak ++
8. Pomodoro record (9 min * floating), single: 2h 56m.
9. Pom wonderful ++
10. Ab Pullups, Single: 18.
11. Ab Pullups, Total: 32.
12. Ab Streak ++
13. Shoulder Shrugs, single: 60
14. Shoulder Shrugs Streak++
15. Shoulder Press, single: 27
16. Streak ++
17. Forearms, single: 48.
18. Forearm streak ++
19.  Obliques, single; 48
20. Oblique Streak ++
21. Bridge hold, single: 3 min 10 s
22. Bridge Hold, total: 4 min30s
23. Bridge Hold Streak ++
24. Hamstring Stretch, single: 1 min 40s
25. Hamstring total: 2 min22s (easy is fine & good; keeps things moving)
26. Read 50+ pages in a day streak ++
27. Plank Hold, single: 1 min 41 s (hard)
28. Run Further Streak ++
29. Read from most books, 10.
30. Read 9+ books streak++
31. Forearms, total: 133.
32. More records than day before++
33. Write in most books, 7.
34. 6-book writing streak++

October 29 ++

1. Buttkicks, single: 41

2. Buttkicks, total: 120

3. Streak++

4. Abs, single: 150

5. Abs total: 400

6. Streak++

7. Blog streak++

8. Bridge hold single: 3 min

9. Bridge hold total: 4m20s

10. Streak++

11. Pomodoro record (9 min), single: 2 h 30 m

12. Pom wonderful streak++

13. Left Handed Juggling
  -- rocked it again -- 341 juggles. wtf. my arm hurts.
14. Left handed juggling streak ++
15. Forearms, single: 47
16. Forearms Streak ++
17. Obliques Single: 47

18. Obliques Streak ++
19. Pec-Aerobics, single: 18 minutes
20. Pec-Aerobics Streak ++
21. Shoulder Shrugs, single: 59
22. Shoulder Shrugs Streak ++
23. Shoulder Press, single: 26
24. Shoulder Press Streak ++
25. Ab Pull-ups, single: 17
26. Ab Pull-ups, total:
27. Ab Pullup streak ++
28. Most books read (in part) in one day: 9.
29. Read 8 different books (at least 5 pages each) Streak ++
30. More Records Than The day before Streak ++
31. Run more than day before streak ++
32. Ab Pullups, total: 31.

***

October 28 Records

1. Asskicks, single: 40
2. Asskicks, total: 118
3. Asskicks Streak ++
4. Abs, single: 140
5. Abs Streak ++
6. Left Handed Juggling
    -- Just rocked this one -- surpassed the left hand: 269 juggles.
7. Run Longer Than Day Before Streak ++
8. Shoulder Shrugs, single: 58
9. Shoulder Shrug Streak ++
10. Shoulder Press, single: 25
11. Shoulder Press Streak ++
12. 7 minute Pomodoro (1 Hour +) Streak ++
13. Forearms, single: 46
14. Forearms Streak ++
15. Obliques, single: 46
16. Obliques Streak ++
17. Abs, total: 350
18. Bridge Hold, single: 2 min, 55sec
19. Bridge Hold Streak ++
20. Pec-aerobics, single: 17 min
21. Pec-aerobics, streak ++
22. Ab Pullups, total: 30
23. Ab Pullups Streak ++
24. (((More books written (in part) in one day Streak ++))) 6
25. Read 50+ pages in a day streak ++
26. Most books written (in part) in one day:
27. Most books read (in part) in one day: 8
28. Blog Writing Streak ++
29. More Records Set Every Day Streak ++

The Perfected Self (article)

The Perfected Self.

October 28 Records

1. Asskicks, single: 40
2. Asskicks, total: 118
3. Asskicks Streak ++
4. Abs, single: 140
5. Abs Streak ++
6. Left Handed Juggling
    -- Just rocked this one -- surpassed the left hand: 269 juggles.
7. Run Longer Than Day Before Streak ++
8. Shoulder Shrugs, single: 58
9. Shoulder Shrug Streak ++
10. Shoulder Press, single: 25
11. Shoulder Press Streak ++
12. 7 minute Pomodoro (1 Hour +) Streak ++
13. Forearms, single: 46
14. Forearms Streak ++
15. Obliques, single: 46
16. Obliques Streak ++
17. Abs, total: 350
18. Bridge Hold, single: 2 min, 55sec
19. Bridge Hold Streak ++
20. Pec-aerobics, single: 17 min
21. Pec-aerobics, streak ++
22. Ab Pullups, total: 30
23. Ab Pullups Streak ++
24. (((More books written (in part) in one day Streak ++)))
25. Read 50+ pages in a day streak ++
26. Most books written (in part) in one day:
27. Most books read (in part) in one day: 8
28. Blog Writing Streak ++
29. More Records Set Every Day Streak ++

Guest Blog: The Overjustification Effect

The Overjustification Effect

Records Set: Oct 27

1. Ass kickbacks, single: 39.
2. Ass kickbacks, total: 116. (overzealous)
3. Ass Streak ++
4. 7-minute Pomodoro Productivity, single: 2 hours
5. 7-minute Pomodoro Productivity, total: 2 hours, 30 minutes
6. Ab Pullups, Single: 16 (tough one)
7. Ab Pullups, Total: 28
8. Pectoral Aerobics, single: 16 minutes
9. Pec-Aerobics Streak ++
10. Forearms, single: 45
11. Forearm Streak ++
12. Obliques, single: 45
13. Oblique Streak ++
14. Bridge Hold, single: 2 min, 45 seconds
15. Run Further Than Day Before Streak++
16. Abs, single: 135
17. Abs, total: 340
18. Abs Streak ++
19. Bridge Hold, total: 3min, 50 seconds
20. Pec-Aerobics, total: 30 min
21. Shoulder Shrug, single: 56
22. Shoulder Shrug Streak ++
23. Shoulder Press, single: 24
24. Shoulder Press Streak ++
25. Distance travelled while juggling, single: 2 tenths of a mile.
26. Distance, juggling, total: 4 tenths of a mile.
27. More Records Every Day Streak ++

Records Set Today (Oct 26)

1. Ass Kickouts, single: 37
2. Ass Kickouts, total: 103
3. Ass Kickouts Streak ++
4. Blog Streak ++
5. Ab Crunches, Single: 130
6. Abs, Total: 330
7. Ab Streak ++
8. Pectoral Aerobics, single: 15 min
9. Shoulder Shrugs, single: 53
10. Shoulder Press, single: 23
11. Shoulder Shrugs, total: 133
12. Shoulder Press, total: 83
13. Forearm, single: 44
14. Obliques, single: 44
15. Pectoral Aerobics, total: 30m
16. More Records Every Day Streak++
17. Forearm, total: 125
18. Forearm streak ++
19. Obliques, total 125
20. Obliques streak ++

Records Set Yesterday (Oct 25)

1. Forearms, single: 43 each side
2. Obliques, single: 43 each side
3. Ass kicks backwards, single: 36, each side
4. Ass kickouts, Total: 96
5. Ass kickout Streak ++ (increasing #3 & #4 every day streak)
6. Ab Crunches, single: 120
7. Ab Crunches, total: 325
8. Ab Streak ++
9. Forearm Streak++
10. Oblique Streak++
11. Forearm Total: 120
12. Oblique Total: 120
13. Hip Twist Game: 3 minutes (single)
14. More Records Every Day Streak ++
15. Child Pose, Single: 3 min, 21 seconds

Pirsig's Notecard System, Part One

Concorde Fallacy #3: McRaney's Final Thoughts

Early on, the [Concorde] project was predicted to be a failure, 

but everyone involved kept going.

Their shared investment built a hefty psychological burden 

that outweighed their better judgments. 

After losing an incredible amount of money, effort, & time,

they didn't want to just give up.

It is a noble & exclusively human proclivity, 

this desire to persevere, the will to stay the course -- 

studies show lower animals 

& small children do not commit this fallacy. 

Wasps & worms, rats & raccoons, toddlers & tikes -- 

they do not care how much they've invested or how much goes to waste. 

They can only see immediate losses & gains. 

As an adult human being, you have the gift 

of reflection & regret.

You can predict a future place where you must admit

your efforts were in vain, your losses permanent,

& when you accept the truth, it is going to hurt.

42 Days, No Alcohol (Mark It 42)

Just split a fat tire with my lady. Going to google a before picture of the beer & an after picture of a fat belly.

Working on repairing the treadmill. I miss walking while working, but I have started the be-all, end-all of Streak-records. Every day, I will set more records than the day before.

Wednesday I did ten. Eleven yesterday. & at least 12 so far today.

Still have the blogging streak & the ab streak, within the streak of streaks.

Drunken Monkey Quits Cold Turkey; Only Eats It Boiling Hot

You can see it.
You can look at scholars, great scholars, & somehow you will find they are missing.
They may know much about the Veda, the Bible, the Koran; 

they can recite, but you can see there is no radiance in their eyes.
Yes, there is much dust that they have gathered from scriptures, much smoke that they have gathered thru knowledge.
They are well informed--but almost dead.
They have missed life somehow, they could not find time to know what life is.
Writes Osho.

& then there's Rama Krishna, who describes the human mind as a "drunken monkey, stung by a scorpion."

   In other words, a certain level of Attention Deficit Disorder comes with the territory of being human. 

   That doesn't mean we all need to go out & get on Adderall.

Just as a monkey leaps from branch to branch, so the mind leaps from one thing to another, constantly distracted. 

   The experience can be stressful -- this experience which we sometimes tautologically refer to as "life."

            & the more active your brain is, the more distractions, the more stress. 

Whether it's a stimulant or alcohol or cigarettes or marijuana, drugs are often sought after simply to deal with this particular problem: the active mind & its endless...everything.

 

                        Your brain just won't quit, will it?

Which can be exciting, don't get me wrong. 

   I'm personally afraid of what my life would be like if my brain were perfectly optimized, if I were to quit all the drugs I take, if I were to exercise every day & eat well every day. 

   The word "ZOOM!" comes to mind when I think about it; I feel as though life would be zooming along in that imagined, optimized world. 

If I were to self-actualize like, say, the Buddha or Jesus Christ or Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I...well, I don't even want to think about it; it scares me that much.

            Nevertheless, the goal of self-actualization is the goal of this blog. 

This blog will be an autobiographical account of one man seeking to eliminate certain habits, or behaviors.

   Not for any particular reason. 

One could as easily say I'm bored with my current habits as one could say I'm seeking enlightenment. 

   No matter; 

            if successful, I expect both increased novelty & a degree of enlightenment.

I have nothing against my addictions. 

   Addictions are what make us human. 

We have nothing to do other than the behaviors which form our habits.

   Our choice is to either keep our current habits, which is generally easier, more passive, inertiatic, &c., or else to build new addictions, habits, behavior clusters, &c.

Moderation is nice & worth considering.

   But in my mind, moderation implies addiction to a system of behaviors, the result of which is...moderation.

All I hope to do, all I think any of us can hope to do is find the best things to which we can addict ourselves.

   Moderation, love, peace, idk.

Drunk Monkey, Cold Turkey is an autobiographical account of a man attempting to modify his own behavior...for the "better," whatever "better" means.

   

The details herein are intended to be exhaustive.

   This is as much for me as it is for you, if not moreso.

Frankly, this sounds like a really boring idea for a blog, but I'm going to write it anyway.

Sunk Costs 2: the Concorde Fallacy

McRaney writes,

You may not play FarmVille, but there is probably something similar in your life. It could be a degree you want to change, or a career you want to escape, or a relationship you know is rotten. You don't stick with it, or return to it over & over again, to create good experiences & pleasant memories but to hold back the negative emotions you expect to feel if you accept the loss of time, effort, money, or whatever else you have invested. 

If you dropped your cell phone over the edge of a cruise ship, you would need James Cameron's unmanned submarine fleet to find it again. Sure, you could spend a small fortune to retrieve it, but you wouldn't throw good money after bad. When the argument is laid out like this, logical & rational & easy to pick apart, you can pat yourself on the back for being such a reasonable human. Unfortunately, the sunk costs in life aren't always so easy to see. When something is gone forever it can be difficult to realize it. The past isn't as tangible a concept as the sea floor, yet it is just as untouchable. What is left behind is just as irretrievable.

Sunk costs drive wars, push up prices in auctions, & keep failed political policies alive. The fallacy makes you finish the meal when you are already full. It fills your home with things you no longer want or use. Every garage sale is a funeral for someone's sunk costs.

Sunk Cost Fallacy

Our good friend David McRaney writes:

The sunk cost fallacy.

The misconception: You make rational decisions based on the future value of objects, investments, & experiences.

The truth: Your decisions are tainted by the emotional investments you accumulate, & the more you invest in something, the harder it becomes to abandon it.

***

When you lose something permanently it hurts. The drive to mitigate this emotion leads to strange behaviors. Have you ever gone to see a movie only to realize within fifteen minutes or so that you are watching one of the worst films ever made, but you sit thru it anyway? You don't want to waste the money so you sit back in your chair & suffer. (Battlefield: Earth, for instance, Chariots of Fire) 

***

What about that time you made it back home with a bag of burritos, & after the first bite you suspected they might have been filled with salsa-infused dog food, but you ate them anyway, not wanting to waste either money or food? If you've experienced a version of any of these, you've fallen victim to the sunk cost fallacy.

Sunk costs are payments or investments that can never be recovered. An android with fully functioning logic circuits would never make a decision that took sunk costs into account, but you would. As am emotional human, your aversion to loss often leads you right into the sunk cost fallacy. A confirmed loss lingers & grows in your mind, becoming larger in your history than it was when you first felt it. 

***

So let's be like androids.

Try To Beat It (or, Broken Treadmill)

The 10 mile-a-day walking streak ended at 8 days.

Early in the day,
even before I discovered that the treadmill
wasn't working for more than 10 seconds at a time,
I had the thought to stop the streak,
despite the fact that I wasn't sore or anything,
it wasn't a difficult record.
Plus, if I took the thing to 30 days,
I might not ever try to beat it.

***
Still haven't missed a day of blogging since I started blogging (& I've started two other blogs*). So that streak remains.
Today should be day 4 of a Record + Streak, in that 4 days ago I started by doing 200 ab crunches, & each of the last two days I did more than the day before.

Still haven't had any alcohol since 9-11.

Still haven't had a job since a guy pulled a gun on me at Papa John's in 2003.
***
*Dilettante.
**Writing Is Easy.