Category: Life

THE PSYCHIC WEIGHT OF BELONGINGS

Phil Gyford writes about renting a “skip” (a dumpster, for us American folks):

I’m increasingly aware of the psychic weight of belongings and disposing of stuff that is not and will not serve any physical or emotional purpose lifts the spirits.

I did something similar earlier this year when I had to discard of a massive TV that I was gifted, and it felt so good. Our lease ends in less than a year and I’m already in clean-out mode.

TURNING OUR BACKS ON BILLIONAIRES

Sony took away digital movies that people paid for.
Streaming services keep raising rates.
Amazon bricked old Kindles.

Sounds like the LA Clippers broke salary cap rules.
Sports teams use tax payer money to build stadiums.
Billionaires and VC just bought the Lakers, I guess.
See also, The American Sports Plutocracy Is Bullshit.

People will start turning their backs on all this.

Back to buying books, borrowing movies from the library, going to local sporting events. I can see movie rental places coming back. Hobby shops.

A collective act of turning our backs on the whole corporatized entertainment industry. Playing board games instead of video games. Hosting dinners for friends and neighbors. More pick up games.

“What do all men with power want,” asks the Oralce. “More power.”

Modern top tier entertainment can’t stop. It must seek growth and profit while draining the very soul and joy from everything we fell in love with in the first place.

Good riddance.

STOP BLAMING TECH FOR MISSING OUT

We don’t need a new platform, we need to fucking regain focus on allocate time and attention to the people we say we love and want to follow.

“Oh, I never see my friend’s posts anymore!”

Well fucking bookmark their profile and set a reminder!

Subscribe to their newsletter or RSS or podcast, set a recurring alert to email / call / send a letter.

There’s so much technology available to us to find, re-find, and remind. “Siri, remind me to…” is the probably 85% of the answer to all this.

We don’t need another login, we need to fucking grow up and choose our damn destiny, retake our agency, and dictate our own flow of time and energy.

Another platform run by a bunch of strangers probably ain’t the answer we need.

BE ON SOCIAL MEDIA IF YOU WANT

If you want to be on social media, be on social media. I am not here to convince anyone, or “win” a debate. I don’t want to challenge anybody. I’m not starting a vertical video show called “why the fuck are you on social media?”

But if you’re tired of social media. Worn out. Depleted. Losing hope. Yeah, let’s talk.

Like social media? Cool. Be on social media if you want.

HELLO AND GOODBYE

“A honey bee flew into the house. My dad let it roam the halls, following along, watching as it flitted through sunlit rooms and played among the curtains, before finally slipping out through the front door. He insisted that it was you, visiting, telling us you were okay, that you had moved on. Hello and goodbye.”

From “the saturdays we have left,” by e.

NO STORM IS COMING

When it’d get “too quiet” during the week I used to default to “oh no, what’d I miss? What’d I forget?! WHEN IS THE OTHER SHOE GONNA DROP!?”

Then a wise friend suggested, “maybe it’s so quite because you remembered everything.”

STOP WAITING FOR PERMISSION

As a young punk rock kids we made zines and stared music blogs (instead of complaining that the major music outlets wouldn’t cover our bands), booked our own shows (when “real” venues wouldn’t book us), and released our own music (when labels wouldn’t give us the time of day).

I CAN’T BELIEVE WE GET TO DO THIS

What’s better “marketing” than this? Screaming fans, tender moments, so many smiles – who wouldn’t want to be on that train ride, you know?

And the fun part is this; you don’t need to be as big as Hayley Williams to live this. To be this. Today, make your magic, put it into the world. Big, small, doesn’t matter, it all counts.