Random Solitary Thoughts

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Shovelling Snow

How I love that phrase from Haruki Murakami's Dance Dance Dance. It was the prefect way to describe society's obsession with routine.

Shovelling snow. Like mopping, or sweeping. An unthinking task that we do as routine on a routinely daily/weekly (for some, monthly) basis. Much like the rest of our lives. Lived out in routine.

Devoid of any form of thought or much purpose (other than to get the job done and have a clean floor). Passionless.

It is no wonder that most artists, with their seemingly spontaneous-living-for-the-present lifestyle have a more fulfilled time.

Forget about the material world. For what good is money when all you do with it is routine?

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

The power of mopping

Many people overlook the simple but yet important lessons we can learn from simple yet mundane everyday chores.

Like mopping for example.

How does one mop a floor? Simple, you dip the mop into a pail full of soapy water. Squeeze the water out and mop the floor, right? Then rinse and repeat. Literally.

Some people prefer to mop twice. Once with soapy water, and once with plain water to rinse out the soap. Some don't even mop at all.

One rather effective way to do it, is to mop once with a fairly damp mop. And then mop over it with a thoroughly squeezed semi-dry mop. This usually ensures a nice clean finish.

So how does this relate to the important life lesson I mentioned earlier? Its so simple I bet you never thought of it.

The method one chooses to mop creates a different result. The more passionate you are going about the chore, the better the result. Pretty much how things work in life, doesn't it? You mop just so you want to get it done and over with, so that you can knock off early and do something else, and tomorrow you are faced with a dusty floor.

Like everything else, it's something that must be done (sooner or later). How you want to do it, now that's something only you can decide.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Nightly excursions?

Time flies when you're actually doing something with it. That was how after a four month spell, mild-mannered Kalamari came to be sitting at his desk in the middle of the night, mulling over what little obscurities to add to his menagerie of quirky insights which may be too quirky for most (or some) to stomach.

Another time for all the pleasantries that we've missed in the past four months. Right now, the flavour of the day is a simple thought which weaseled its way through to the binary recesses of cyberspace.

An episode earlier with the reliable and ever-concerned father yielded a most surprising thought which could be of actual use if one were to stop yakking and 'listen' for a bit.

'Listening' is an art many have lost in this time and age when all we do is yak yak yak all the time about our own little perks and adventures and trysts and misadventures and whatnots. As if anyone ever cared about what's happening in 'your' life when they're too busy relating 'their' life-stories to no one in particular. No one in particular who would actually 'listen'. Yes, we're all too caught up in our selfish little selves to actually pay attention to what's going on around us.

In any case, the father episode began with a little bit of repetitive advisory and the mention of things that need no further mentioning. (such as the need of one's car for servicing-which was mentioned by the owner numerous times earlier throughout the day) No harm done, with a simple reminder, but keep at it every five minutes and it gets to you.

So mild-mannered Kalamari in his own little mild-mannered way said this to him.

"There are two types of people in the world. (yeah, we've always heard something along this line before-no originality there...) Those who see what needs to be done and tells everyone about it. And those who see what needs to be done and do it."

And that pretty much sealed the deal.