The things that have stayed with me throughout my life were learned free of charge. It’s the most important lessons that you take with you in your personality, character, and person that are worth learning. . .but you usually don’t realize these things until later in life.

So right you are:

And this point is the way we read blogs, websites, news bites, etc. It’s superextrafast information that’s force-fed to us, whether you seek it,such as blogs, or not. You’re never going to recall or relish the ideas and thoughts you love the way you would a book, or a newspaper.

I hate to admit this … me, the ultra-evangelist of weblogs … but the moment of the day that I consistently enjoy the most is when I sit down with a cup of joe and feel the texture of the newspaper or softback book between my thumb and forefinger. It’s me and the eyes, ears, and ideas of whoever is writing to me. That should be how reading online is as well, but it never is. As soon as I open my laptop I have dozens of emails from people asking me to do this and that, literally thousands of rss items waiting to be read, a to-do list that grows and grows and a calendar that just gets busier every week. Reading online doesn’t feel like reading, it feels like fighting back … fighting back against the onslaught of information that demands to be read.

Moreno,

You’ve stumbled across the other problem: no one invites me to parties. That and my friends still wear baggy khakis from high school.

Patri,

Absolutely. That’s probably the same thing I woulda said had I read rather than written this. The thing is … you know that feeling … maybe it’s just a particular expression or the way someone words a though … and you’re like, wow, I had never really thought about before. Well, those moments don’t seem to happen so much any more and I miss them.

Shimonkey,

I think that 6+2+3+2 is overkill. You obviously haven’t thought about this long enough.

Myke,

I couldn’t agree with you more. I say the ownership society is for dummies. I’m trying to sell just about everything right now.

Yolanda,

I knew you’d get it.

Alejandro,

It’s funny, somehow I’ve never really thought about what I “invest my brain time” in until you and Shimonkey brought it up. But you’re right, there is only so much time each day that our brains are willing to be active for us (and lately my brain has been getting very stingy). I guess that lately all my brain time has been going into Global Voices, which is why I haven’t been writing much on here … and which is probably why it took me weeks to finish a book that would usually only take a couple days.

Irasali,

Yeah, I’m in the midst of purging right now. Purging and digitalizing. A lot of what I’ve held onto are photographs and old journals – they take up a few boxes as they are, but if I’d just scan and transcribe them, it would probably amount to just a few DVD’s.

Karen,

I also think that general knowledge tends to bring about a lot of empathy. Whenever we read about things that don’t seem to have anything to do with our own lives, we tend to look for some hidden link, some relevant connection somewhere. And that’s probably not a bad thing. Yes, life is good; so good that the only complaint I can dream up is that I have too much liesure time to read and not enough brain to keep it all in.

I take it back, if I read rather than wrote this, I’d leave a comment telling the author to shut the hell up and work on a farm.

Gustavo,

I was explaining what a blue book was the other day and I said the exact same thing – why in the hell didn’t I just buy 30 at the beginning of the quarter instead of rushing before every single exam to buy just a couple. Then again, I also fill up only half a tank of gas for no apparent reason whatsoever.

Anyhow, I think Patri stated it best:

“Words and ideologies change the shape of your mental filter. your perspective, and therefore how you act later is the effect, whether you realize it or not.”

first of all, where are you moving again? you just got back here! as a true pack rat, moving is one of the few things i abhor wih a passion. I know there’s a big movement to purge and all but I love my stuff, especially my books, my diaries, my albums, and I am not getting rid of them. my mom threw out a bunch of my books when i was six and i still yearn for them, many of which are irreplacable.but seriously, where are you moving?

as far as remembering, i am always amazed at the stuff that comes out of my brain at random times. when i think back to my college years and all the classes i took, i always feel depressed and wish I could do them over again with the knowledge and brain i have today. i feel like i’d learn and retain so much more. however, sometimes when you think you’re not remebering/digesting something, it actually settles in the back of your mind (consciousness) and comes up at random times. at least it does for me. when people ask for my feedback on something, as i talk, thoughts i never knew were there come out and enlighten my along with the person i am talking to. i guess what i am trying to say is that you may not remember the actual words you wrote, but the ideas and the core of the thoughts are always in you somewhere, IMHO

since i studies something relatively practical, i do use a lot of my college education at work as well. maybe not the actual languages i learned to code in, but the practices of programming and database knowledge i have now took root at school.

that euro-chic restaurant has relatively good food actually, jake and i went there on our anniversary last year with david and we all watched the sun set. quite nice and reminded me of nyc. as for listening to something that doesnt have bearing on your life, i have mixed feelings on that. part of me feels like cesar in that everything around you matters. but even on a more practical note, many of these proposals take a really long time to go into effect and have longlasting consequences. if your lady friend is planning on having children some day, any day, these things do matter to her. if she won’t have kids but her sibligns will (assuming she has any) they still matter. it may not matter to her life his very moment, but it is still important to listen to,especially if she feels interested. i think general knowledge about the world around us and these specific discussions about matters that may seem not-useful are part of what form our characher and make us the adults we become. i didn’t know much about the public education system in the US until I taught and now i am so glad, because i think years later, it will make me a better mother and allow me to make better choices for my son. or maybe i am talking out of my ass, who knows.

you may or may not remember the actual events with the Kurds and the Turks but I am confident you will remember some of the lessons and morals. you internalized more of it than you think. and there’s nothing wrong with watching soaps or reading romance, if that’s what makes you happy. because i think life is about trying to stay more happy than sad (or pessimistic).

life is good, oso, especially yours. and mine

I didn’t immediately comment because I like sulking in the words man; but one thought came to mind instantly: “That last paragraph sure summerized the pessimism”, and then you changed the title to “Pessimism”.

In response to:“Then, a few days later, I was walking with the ladyfriend to some Euro-chic bar in Pacific Beach (who knew!) and she’s telling me how enraptured she was by an NPR segment on the proposal to combine elementary schools with middle schools. Until it dawned on her that the issue had absolutely no bearing on her life at all and there was no reason for her to even listen to it. She couldn’t figure out why she was so interested, why she cared at all.”

I’d have to say that I struggle daily with my own intellectual heirarchy. “What shall I spend my time on today”, i ask. Lately it’s French protests and bird flu, because i’m intrigued; 50 million dollar push to eradicate Downtown Los Angeles’ homeless epidemic because I’m an Angeleno and I feel it’s my duty to know; Immigration reform, but thats self-explanatory; and futbol from across the globe…oh you bet i’m checking out blogs, reports, stats, all that.

I think it’s a product of the 24 hour news-”up to the minute coverage”-what causes cancer todayworld we live in. Basically, we find ourselves perusing through every major news source to see what intrigues us. I think it’s consequential that we pick and choose what we’ll read straight through, give half ass skims, or simply move on all together. I know I pay particular attention to subjects I recognize are parallel to my intellectual progression.

Anyway, I love the intro to this post. But i’ve always wanted to change the story of the chicken and the egg, to the platypus and the egg. haha…oh it’s late…ciao tio.

© Citoyen du Monde Inc. 2006™

my niece was asking me a while back why i never really seemed to care about cars … as in having bigger, better, more expensive ones .. i replied “if i have grandkids one day, i’d much rather show them pictures of me standing every place from the grand canyon to the outback of australia rather than in my driveway in front of each successive car i was paying for” .. i suppose that may be most meaningless, though, as i’m very unlikely to ever procreate.