While experimenting with my new iPhone app, I was listening to the NPR program called Fresh Air. On today's show Alan Ball was being interviewed regarding his new HBO TV show called True Blood. I don't have cable TV, so I've not seen the show, but it's about Vampires in modern day.
Anyhow, Alan Ball was talking about the concept of living forever (which vampires do unless killed) and he said something very simple which I found very profound. The gist of it was this:
"It's the finite nature of life that makes it important."
If you live forever, why should you cherish any particular day - you'll have an infinite number of them. And that idea struck me as very important. As I've mentioned in the past, sometimes I tend to get bored with life and wonder what's the point. But that is the point - life itself. It's such a short span of time we have to walk this world - we may as well make the best of it and value every day. We each only have a limited supply!
Showing posts with label Musing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Musing. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
Why?
ashtray in a parking lot - yet they were a foot away from a trash can.
How lazy can you get?
Sunday, August 03, 2008
More about Goals
I neglected to mention one thing in my recent post about setting goals. As part of reevaluating my goals in life, I decided to quit my job. I gave my official notice on Friday, July 25th and my last day will be August 22nd. My boss had requested that I not tell anyone until a time he thought was right. Occasionally someone from work might read this blog, so I refrained from mentioning this news until now.
This September I would have been working at this same place for 8 years. While I enjoyed the work and the pay was great, I came to the realization that I just wasn't challenging myself anymore. So, rather than just go to work for another company, I've decided to try my hand at freelance work. The plan is to work on software application development. It's something I've been interested in doing and I've been trying to work on some designs recently, but I found I just didn't have the free time outside of work to dedicate to make any substantial progress. Now I'll be able to concentrate on it full time. I've got enough money saved up to cover my expenses for about a year, so hopefully within that time I can get a sense whether it'll work as a career or not.
Coincidentally, a week after I gave my notice at work, I finally heard back from Partners in Health. It's been over 3 months, so they are contacting all the past interviewees to see who is still available and interested. They are still in the process of setting up the program and I haven't heard back from them as to what the timeframe might be when they finally start this program, but I did let them know it is something I would still be interested in doing. Heck, I've already quit my job and coincidentally my current plan was to be possibly working for the next year without any income, so spending a year in Rwanda isn't as much of a big leap as it would have been 3 months ago.
This September I would have been working at this same place for 8 years. While I enjoyed the work and the pay was great, I came to the realization that I just wasn't challenging myself anymore. So, rather than just go to work for another company, I've decided to try my hand at freelance work. The plan is to work on software application development. It's something I've been interested in doing and I've been trying to work on some designs recently, but I found I just didn't have the free time outside of work to dedicate to make any substantial progress. Now I'll be able to concentrate on it full time. I've got enough money saved up to cover my expenses for about a year, so hopefully within that time I can get a sense whether it'll work as a career or not.
Coincidentally, a week after I gave my notice at work, I finally heard back from Partners in Health. It's been over 3 months, so they are contacting all the past interviewees to see who is still available and interested. They are still in the process of setting up the program and I haven't heard back from them as to what the timeframe might be when they finally start this program, but I did let them know it is something I would still be interested in doing. Heck, I've already quit my job and coincidentally my current plan was to be possibly working for the next year without any income, so spending a year in Rwanda isn't as much of a big leap as it would have been 3 months ago.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Importance of Goals
I was recently talking with a friend of mine about the importance of goals. Actually, it was more like he was reminding me of the importance of having goals in life.
I had come to the realization that I was just sort of bored with life. I had become very content with life and found myself coasting along in a comfort zone. I think the boredom got me thinking along the lines of "Hmmm... would it even matter if I died right now? I'm actually happy and content, so wouldn't now be a good time to die rather than when I'm old and feeble and struggling to survive." Anyhow, no, I wasn't suicidal - it was more just a casual thought - exploring the whole concept of the point of life and death and what not. But, it did make me realize I was missing something - I don't think it's normal to be content or ok with the idea that it would be fine if I died in a car crash on the the way home from work - like there's nothing that would be left undone or unfinished.
And that's where my friend's comment about goals made me realize the problem. I no longer had any goals! I was no longer challenging myself - instead I was just living a comfortable life.
So, I'm now in the process of setting some goals. And this brings up the topic of a worthwhile video to watch if you have the time. If you haven't already seen it, and you have an hour to spare, check out the "last lecture" by Randy Pausch on the subject of "Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.". You can view it here.
If you haven't heard of Randy Pausch, he was a Carnegie Mellon University computer science professor who had been diagnosed with a terminal case of pancreatic cancer in 2007. Late last year he gave a lecture as part of series where the person giving the talk was asked to present what they thought would be most important if this were to be their last lecture they ever gave. In his case, the theme of the lecture series was not so hypothetical. He passed away today.
I had come to the realization that I was just sort of bored with life. I had become very content with life and found myself coasting along in a comfort zone. I think the boredom got me thinking along the lines of "Hmmm... would it even matter if I died right now? I'm actually happy and content, so wouldn't now be a good time to die rather than when I'm old and feeble and struggling to survive." Anyhow, no, I wasn't suicidal - it was more just a casual thought - exploring the whole concept of the point of life and death and what not. But, it did make me realize I was missing something - I don't think it's normal to be content or ok with the idea that it would be fine if I died in a car crash on the the way home from work - like there's nothing that would be left undone or unfinished.
And that's where my friend's comment about goals made me realize the problem. I no longer had any goals! I was no longer challenging myself - instead I was just living a comfortable life.
So, I'm now in the process of setting some goals. And this brings up the topic of a worthwhile video to watch if you have the time. If you haven't already seen it, and you have an hour to spare, check out the "last lecture" by Randy Pausch on the subject of "Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.". You can view it here.
If you haven't heard of Randy Pausch, he was a Carnegie Mellon University computer science professor who had been diagnosed with a terminal case of pancreatic cancer in 2007. Late last year he gave a lecture as part of series where the person giving the talk was asked to present what they thought would be most important if this were to be their last lecture they ever gave. In his case, the theme of the lecture series was not so hypothetical. He passed away today.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
A minor rant on politeness
I went into the big city of Providence yesterday afternoon (while all dehydrated) to visit the Home Depot closest to where I live. I was picking up a couple of gallons of paint. I hadn't been in the city in a long time and had forgotten how much I disliked this particular Home Depot. I'm not sure whether it's because of it's location (not the best part of the city - maybe they frequently have to deal with people causing trouble - i.e. armed robbery, punks spray painting graffiti in the lawn and garden shop, drug deals going on in the plumbing department, etc.), but both times I've gone there I've had bad experiences with employees being rather rude.
In this latest experience, I walked up to a cash register with no lines. The register had the little lamp lit indicating it was open, and there was a cashier there apparently ready to serve. So, with a gun clearly visible in my hand, I demanded all the cash in the register and the woman just turned away and began chatting with an adjacent cashier! What's up with that? Hello, I have a gun! Pay attention to me!
Ok, no, that's not really what happened. Rewind a bit. No firearms were involved. Same situation, but no gun.
Instead I had two gallons of paint in my hands. When I approached the register, the woman immediately turned away and began to talk to the adjacent cashier. Apparently the other cashier was having trouble looking up a price of something on her register so she wanted the cashier in my aisle to look it up on her register. No problem - I'm patient. However, after 5 minutes (no I'm not exaggerating) of this continuing where she'd look something up, print out some paperwork, look somthing else up, etc., I began to wonder whether the cashier even realized I was still waiting. Not once did she even acknowledge my presence with a "Sorry, this will take a minute," or "You might want to use a different line." Finally, I asked the cashier if I should move to a different line. Instead of answering, she just continued to keep her back to me and just said something like "Ummm...." and it appeared she was finishing up with her side project. Then, when she finally did turn around to ring up my items, there was still no acknowledgement that I was even standing there. No greeting, no thanks for waiting, not even any eye contact - I just got a nice view of the top of her head. She just focused on the cans of paint, told them how much they cost, and then asked the paint cans if she could see their ID because the paint cans were purchasing themselves with a credit card. She didn't even thank the paint cans as they left the store. I should note the paint can carrier (that would be me) did his best to offer a cheerful "thank you" regardless.
Granted, I wasn't in the best of moods at the time, so it could be I took a more negative impression to the whole situation. But, there's something to be said for simple courtesy. It goes a long way.
If at any point the cashier just uttered a simple "Hi, this'll take a minute," I wouldn't have thought anything of the wait. But to be totally ignored - it's a weird feeling that gives the impression one doesn't matter.
But, in the grand scheme of things, I don't matter. So maybe it was good to be reminded of that. Perhaps the cashier was doing her part to teach me my place in the universe. (But don't go using that as an excuse for being rude!)
In this latest experience, I walked up to a cash register with no lines. The register had the little lamp lit indicating it was open, and there was a cashier there apparently ready to serve. So, with a gun clearly visible in my hand, I demanded all the cash in the register and the woman just turned away and began chatting with an adjacent cashier! What's up with that? Hello, I have a gun! Pay attention to me!
Ok, no, that's not really what happened. Rewind a bit. No firearms were involved. Same situation, but no gun.
Instead I had two gallons of paint in my hands. When I approached the register, the woman immediately turned away and began to talk to the adjacent cashier. Apparently the other cashier was having trouble looking up a price of something on her register so she wanted the cashier in my aisle to look it up on her register. No problem - I'm patient. However, after 5 minutes (no I'm not exaggerating) of this continuing where she'd look something up, print out some paperwork, look somthing else up, etc., I began to wonder whether the cashier even realized I was still waiting. Not once did she even acknowledge my presence with a "Sorry, this will take a minute," or "You might want to use a different line." Finally, I asked the cashier if I should move to a different line. Instead of answering, she just continued to keep her back to me and just said something like "Ummm...." and it appeared she was finishing up with her side project. Then, when she finally did turn around to ring up my items, there was still no acknowledgement that I was even standing there. No greeting, no thanks for waiting, not even any eye contact - I just got a nice view of the top of her head. She just focused on the cans of paint, told them how much they cost, and then asked the paint cans if she could see their ID because the paint cans were purchasing themselves with a credit card. She didn't even thank the paint cans as they left the store. I should note the paint can carrier (that would be me) did his best to offer a cheerful "thank you" regardless.
Granted, I wasn't in the best of moods at the time, so it could be I took a more negative impression to the whole situation. But, there's something to be said for simple courtesy. It goes a long way.
If at any point the cashier just uttered a simple "Hi, this'll take a minute," I wouldn't have thought anything of the wait. But to be totally ignored - it's a weird feeling that gives the impression one doesn't matter.
But, in the grand scheme of things, I don't matter. So maybe it was good to be reminded of that. Perhaps the cashier was doing her part to teach me my place in the universe. (But don't go using that as an excuse for being rude!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)