Urgency exists in the mind, not in the world I like empty days. Empty weeks. Empty calendars. Yet when I talk to other people, they often pride themselves on how busy they are. Having an empty schedule is anathema. The culture at the moment is that being busy is good. The hidden message seems to be that by being busy you are doing something important, and by doing something important you must be an important person. Read more...

Links and Reading Currently Reading: A Guide to Japan by Pico Iyer Rules of Radiology Listening : FKJ Tiny Desk - on repeat 24/7 Directives: Give Up Quotes Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment (Rumi) Links : Pinboard Commencement speech by Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes creator) “We’re not really taught how to recreate constructively. We need to do more than find diversions; we need to restore and expand ourselves. Read more...

Restructuring the site Getting back into writing on a blog, so I took the time to restructure the site. I’ve recreated the Blog page containing anything I want to write about that I find interesting. No definitive conclusion. No advice. Can just be pointless drivel, thoughts, interesting links, or just a view into life circumstances during a particular time. Archive show all the posts arranged by year. Then a Directives section containing short ‘do this and don’t do that advice’. Read more...

I’ve just started drum lessons. This is a reminder that one on one tutoring is the best way to learn something well (and quickly). Why? You don’t know what you don’t know. The tutor has a map of the landscape and can craft a pathway through it. This is arguably the most important point. Real-time correction : the feedback loop is shortened. Bad habits are not reinforced. External motivation : someone to impress What makes a good tutor/teacher? Read more...

Some people look for a beautiful place. Others make a place beautiful Hazmat Inayat Khan The Office on the surface is a boring uneventful show. It’s literally about a failing paper company. People with ordinary lives. Mundane lives filled with the triviality of everyday. Yet it’s probably the most compelling show I’ve watched (and rewatched). Why? It comes down to the people. It’s a show about ordinary people. Fallible ‘boring’ yet interesting, funny, angry, sad, loving, caring, destructive, chaotic and frustrating people. Read more...

Turned 27. I am going to make some personal predictions. Predictions Career : At the moment, I can’t imagine doing anything other than radiology. Endlessly intellectually stimulating, purpose inbuilt, varied, time to enter flow states, social at work, chilled out. Prediction is : MSK/GI Radiology as a specialty. Love. Regular metta is slowly infusing the world with joy. But ‘romantic Western love’ : maybe I will be in a relationship, maybe not. Read more...

There is a spectrum of SpongeBob - Squidward. Squidward represents apathy. The mechanical man. Routine. Solemnity. Fear of the opinion of others. Self-rumination. Seriousness. ‘The world must conform to my will, otherwise misery’. SpongeBob represents play. Flirting. Treading the boundary between acceptable and unacceptable. Humour. A lack of self consciousness. Presence. ‘Tao : flow with what arises’. We vacillate between these two extremes. We don’t want either all the time. Read more...

I had 2 YouTube channels as a teenager. One of them regularly had 1K+ views on Minecraft let’s play with almost 20 episodes. One video hit 1 million views. As a self conscious 16-17 year old, prompted by a comment from a friend - I deleted it. I never made any backups. It was gone. Similarly, I had a notebook with loads of short-stories/insights. One day I just decided to throw it away. Read more...

Here is an overview of 2 months of using Hinge. I even paid for 3 months Hinge premium. Bailing early with the data. Signup time : 19/3/2022 End of experiment : 19/05/2022 Hinge Wrapped was the tool someone made that created these graphs. Total stats 452 swipes 446 likes sent 32 Matches 16 Chatted 20 people liked me- but I didn’t like them back 0 IRL Meet ups Online dating is broken Stories of how people meet matter. Read more...

If anyone asks me for advice on how to know if they should pursue a hobby / job / career / spend more time with a person, a safe and actually very useful heuristic is: Pick the thing where you lose track of time when you do it It automatically fixes a whole bunch of priorities. If time is flowing easily, it means that You can do more of it The self is not overly salient. Read more...