I live by the sea in england, in the summer there are glorious days of blazing heat, light breeze, and complete solitude in an untapped wealth of beauty. This means that i was able to swim from very young, i know very few people who can't. I feel that this is somehow connected to living by the sea, but it's quite a large target to avoid, so i can't pinpoint why i make this connection.

The seafront is excellent for biking. I'm more of an endurance biker than a mountain biker. When the weather is clement i do 7 miles of biking every day and i maintain a speed as close to 20mph as i can. I used to do 14 but it's no fun to do 2 circuits of 7 miles, and if i go another 7 miles then i have to go through one of the most disgusting tourist towns ever and often have narrowly avoided getting attacked or accidentally knocked off my bike by yobs (former) or pedestrians (latter) who don't realise that they're on a cyclepath. I have been called a psychopath as i was on a cyclepath and the humour was lost on me at the time.

Unfortunately the weather in other seasons is quite poor, living by the sea means it's always windy here and i'm not able to bike so much during those times. I fill that in by swimming 4 times a week but i'm only just starting this. It's so much harder to swim, i only end up doing about 600-700 metres which seems like nothing but is actually quite exhausting over a 30 minute period. But of course i thought that about biking when i first started and i'm pretty handy now. I reckon i could do well in amateur competitions, but i secretly harbour rogue brain cells that tell me i'm not as good as i think.

It's a funny thing about exercise, starting is hard, but once you're really into the mindframe and if you're doing it every day or near enough, then you start to feel bad on days where you don't exercise.

I also enjoy writing which is why i'm prone to bursts of self indulgent attempts at linguistic intricacies! But i never find the time to sit down and properly write. I have ideas and i work on them in my head, but when i sit down to write, i find it so hard. I always want to write every sentence perfectly for a start, and i end up spending an hour working on a paragraph and i'm never happy with it when it's done.

K i've bored myself now

have you heard me tell the stories about the adventures in lunacy ive taken with the mentally ill? theyre comedic tragedy gold.
one day im going to write a dual-autobiographical broadway musical. starring me and my male equivalent and our parallel adventures in abuse and insanity.

itll be a boy meets girl story. the boy and the girl meet. fall madly in love and live parallel lives of solitude and insanity. mostly on separate continents. they come from broken abusive families. they tear through life destroying romantic relationship after romantic relationship. they live in constant fear of failure so they run from every opportunity that presents itself and hermit themselves away from almost all people. they live into old age, dying alone of the diseases they gave themselves through systematic abuse, hepatitis c and emphysema respectively.

itll be beautiful. the songs will be upbeat and vibrant of course because really they really really are songs about happy people in a happy life. you just have to use sad words to describe them.

In reply to this comment by schmawy:
I understand now. Can't you work towards comi-tragic?

In reply to this comment by peggedbea:
oh the avatar is a tally count of comedy vs tragedy.
tragedy is clearly winning.
i think im in a tragedy.
ending it all in a duel was the only dignified way to go.
you and your second have denied me my dignity, thanks jerks.

In reply to this comment by schmawy:
I point to your avatar. I blame my absence at the appointed time and place of our duel on my second. He's got no stomach for such brutal affairs.

In reply to this comment by peggedbea:
tsk tsk old kitty.
what the hell are you pointing to?
and dont flatter yourself, youre nowhere near the top of my shit list.
and you had your chance too. you totally blew it.

In reply to this comment by schmawy:
^Is that your shit-list? Am I at the top?

In reply to this comment by peggedbea:
you're late for our duel.
this slight can only be interpreted as cowardice on your part.
for shame kitty kitty, for shame.

What kind of civil disobedience did you have in mind, pinky?


There are plenty of things you can do within the law:

-Run for office - if you don't think our elected officials are effective, then consider running yourself. A good starting point is the local school board or city council. Even these small races can be competitive and give you a taste of what elections are all about. Warning: You will spend most of your time fundraising.

-Volunteer/contribute to a campaign that you believe in.

-Volunteer/contribute to a political activist group/think tank that shares your values. (If you give the Mormon church a percentage of your income, then you are already doing this.)

-Letters to the editor - Let your opinions be heard by the masses through your local paper. To amplify your voice, send your letter to many papers. You can also recruit ideological allies and focus a large number of letters on a single (or multiple) target.

Protest - In recent years, the media has given short shrift and minimal coverage to protests, which undoubtedly reduces their effectiveness, but if you can zero in on a weak and/or vulnerable target, you might be able to bring local community pressure to a particular individual, business or group.

-Lobbying - Become a billionaire and then manipulate politicians with your fortune through lobbying.

-Start an organization/think tank to further your own political ideology.

-Slacktivism - I do think arguing online, and posting videos has a small effect, which is better than nothing. I've certainly learned things on VS that have informed my world view. I'm sure political conversions are very rare around here, but arming yourself and others with information and philosophy is important non the less.

-Create - Write a song, book or essay. Make a youtube video. Put up some posters. etc....


Outside the law:

-The most common type of CD I know of is where protesters will assemble illegally, knowing full well they will be arrested. These are often coordinated with the police ahead of time, and are usually polite affairs, where the officers treat you with respect and release you very quickly after arrest. I don't see much point to this honestly, outside of the symbolism.

-Tax resistance is something that is being spoken about a lot these days, but I don't see it as an effective way to accomplish anything. At best, the government won't notice, at worst you (like Thoureau) go to jail until your taxes are paid. I suppose it could be effective if you could get a large number of people to do it, but the risks are much higher than the potential for political gain, so I don't see very many jumping on the band wagon. Plus, our taxes aren't all that high relative to the rest of the developed world. It's generally only corporations and the super wealthy that would benefit from reduced taxes.

-Armed Revolution/Coup - There is no support for either of these options, outside of the Hollywood fantasies of some militia groups.

Other options:

-Go off the grid. Like Thoreau at Walden Pond, you could move outside of society and live off the land. Live modestly without a lot of material possessions, because the things you own end up owning you. There are various communes you could join, or you could just build a cabin in the woods and have your solitude.

>> ^Farhad2000:
Either way its hilarious how people develop a real identity because they communicate with others in solitude.

welcome to the internet mate. surely you haven't just noticed?


>>
I mean Twitter is another in the long line of pretentious web 2.0 apps that lionize peoples everyday mundane activities to a level of some interest mostly for the benefit of other people whose lives are even more boring then your own.
Too much?


believe it or not there are interesting people using twitter to broadcast interesting material on a regular basis to a lot of people. you may have to do some searching and, god forbid, look at some normal, everyday people on the way through but they are there. if these people had a blog that consisted of the same material, i'm pretty sure a lot of twitter's naysayers would read them. it seems to me that the app itself really rubs people up the wrong way to the point where they refuse to acknowledge the possibility that it may be a useful tool.

I understand the need to connect the sift more to other social web platforms but it should be done tastefully, right now it looks horrible and smells of feature bloat, why can't it be relegated to the bottom of the videos like all the other options? And that green? ugh.

Either way its hilarious how people develop a real identity because they communicate with others in solitude. I mean Twitter is another in the long line of pretentious web 2.0 apps that lionize peoples everyday mundane activities to a level of some interest mostly for the benefit of other people whose lives are even more boring then your own.

Too much?

On a separate note I don't think Twitter is going to last much longer, the recent astronomic growth its had is straining its ability to stay afloat with no real plan to monetize the service. How many folks would still twitter under a subscription based model? What price point would assure growth and stability at the same time?

Yeah, they are both amazing. If you liked those I´d suggest Einstein´s Dreams next - I it like if Calvino was writing (invisible cities style) about a loose interpretation of relativity. It is beautiful, poetic, dreamy and a pleasure to read. Invisible cities is also another must from calvino.

lately I´ve been reading murakami - it´s one of the best authors I´ve read in a long time...


In reply to this comment by blahpook:
Love love LOVE both If on a Winter's Night a Traveler... and A Hundred Years of Solitude.

I haven't read the rest. The geeky "in" club I wasn't allowed to join my first year of college had a thing for Einstein's Dreams but I have yet to read that one too...

In reply to this comment by NeuralNoise:
1) Dune
2) Complete works of Fernando Pessoa
3) Schismatrix
4) Brief story of nearly everything
5) If on a winter´s night a traveller
6) The Sandman
7) The Wind-up bird Chronicle
Einstein´s Dreams
9) 100 years of solitude
10) I´ll stop on nine, I can´t, can´t settle on my top 10 so this slot is a huge caroussel.

Wow so can I say that I initially limited myself to books I've discovered only in the past 6 years or so, and that currently influence the way I read, write and see the world (not to mention kick stupendous ass), but EDD's mention of Winnie the Pooh made me wish I'd done the reverse. So since I started it I'm going to post another list.

First I am allowing all of you to rag on me/sympathize with me now because I was one of the few people on this planet who didn't read or have read to her any of the LOTR books as a child. Any monetary donations to make up for my deprived childhood are welcome. I suppose until I get assigned to it in class (or get my degree, whichever comes first), I will need to add all these to my goodreads account.

So my (other) list:

1. Milne - Winnie the Pooh
2. Cormier - The Chocolate War
3. Raskin - The Westing Game
4. Smith - White Teeth
5. Plath - The Bell Jar
6. Thompson - Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas
7. Marquez - A Hundred Years of Solitude
8. Bantock - Griffin and Sabine
9. Mitchell - Gone with the Wind (I skipped class to finish this, and have yet by my own volition to see the movie)
10. Curtis - The Watsons Go to Birmingham

Love love LOVE both If on a Winter's Night a Traveler... and A Hundred Years of Solitude.

I haven't read the rest. The geeky "in" club I wasn't allowed to join my first year of college had a thing for Einstein's Dreams but I have yet to read that one too...

In reply to this comment by NeuralNoise:
1) Dune
2) Complete works of Fernando Pessoa
3) Schismatrix
4) Brief story of nearly everything
5) If on a winter´s night a traveller
6) The Sandman
7) The Wind-up bird Chronicle
Einstein´s Dreams
9) 100 years of solitude
10) I´ll stop on nine, I can´t, can´t settle on my top 10 so this slot is a huge caroussel.

1) Dune
2) Complete works of Fernando Pessoa
3) Schismatrix
4) Brief story of nearly everything
5) If on a winter´s night a traveller
6) The Sandman
7) The Wind-up bird Chronicle
Einstein´s Dreams
9) 100 years of solitude
10) I´ll stop on nine, I can´t, can´t settle on my top 10 so this slot is a huge caroussel.

I only watched WH actually, I haven't seen much of his stuff mostly because am not a college student anymore and don't often have the time to sit down and watch seriously good foreign films

His stuff is brilliant but deep and requires a certain kind of solitude to enjoy.

In reply to this comment by griefer_queafer:
I see you have a nice WH post. Yeah, his stuff is fascinating. Have you seen Satantango? What an experience!!

If you feel alive
In a darkened room
Do you know the name
Of your solitude
If you aint got the answer
If you dont know the truth
If you want the power
Then let it flow through

Would you let it go
Would let it go
They cannot end this morning
Of my life

Show me
How the gods kill

If you feel alive
If you got no fear
Do you know the name
Of the one you seek
If you want the answer
If you want the truth
Look inside your empty soul
There
Youll find the noose

Would you let it go
Would you let it go
They cannot end this morning
Of my life

Show me
How the gods kill

I am same position as djsunkid:

Tatchedogbe - Angelique Kidjo
Cyberia - afro celts
bull in the heather - breeders
the day after - flash
if you want my love - depeche mode
9:45 - PM dawn
Solitude - Billie Holiday
Western Eyes - Portishead
his wife refused - talking heads
the poison mouth - skinny puppy
all star - smash mouth
doin the shout - john lee hooker
its only love - Nick cave, scott walker
let go - frou frou
sweet dreams - eurythmics
Jackie's strength (remix #1) - tori amos
cop - swans
21 things - alanis morrisette
antenna kraftwerk
kalimba - EWF
stand back up - sugarland

well.. the kiss aside, even as a kid I assumed that all the powers involved happened in Superman's fortress of solitude which have some of Krypton's advanced technology (more than just white walls and Marlen Brando) and that Superman and the villians (all from Krypton) are just demonstrating some of them.

I like to play "bury the bone", "hide the hot dog", and "cram the kielbasa". Also, I like to play "flog the dolphin" and "serenade the skin flute" when I'm in solitude.

My favorite genre is usually straight one on one or two on one (not the "devil's threesome" though). I can get down with a little bit of slap and tickle but too much is distracting. Deep and slow or fast and hard, either way, I'm down.

Oh...video games? Oh, I told you already, I'm still playing "River City Ransom". Seriously...

damn i wanna live there. Solitude. (as long as i didn't have to work and drive thru the stuff)