Category: 2020

The pleasures of the sight, the pleasures of the flesh, the vanities of life – 14th April 2020

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

“A hundred billion people who came before us, over ten thousand generations and everything they did for us, to build up our world…if we were to go extinct, through our own actions, or lack of doing anything about it, we would be the worst of those ten thousand generations.”

Tony Ord from the Ezra Klien podcast

I’ve gotten into the habit of listening to podcasts before I go to sleep (after reading comics and books before I go to sleep….it seems like I just don’t want to sleep!). The quote above, right from the very beginning of the podcast, shook me awake.

The podcast goes on to talk about real existential threats to our world and when I say our world, I really only mean the human world. Outside threats such as asteroids are very unlikely to be the cause. Internal threats such as nuclear war and pandemics are the most likely. Humans are the pox on this earth but we can redeem ourselves.

Each morning I receive an email with a quote and a writing prompt and I attempt to put down a few words of thought. The prompts are sometimes too thought-provoking, requiring too much time for me to consider (though consider them I should). This morning I got this:

Don’t go on discussing what a good person should be. Just be one.

Marcus Aurelius

Prompt
You are but one animal among trillions. Let the trivial fall away. Focus on the important.

My response:
I was thinking about this yesterday after a collection of different and varying inputs – watching a documentary about prostitutes struggling with drugs and taking care of a pet, watching cat videos, listening to podcasts about human extinction and reading Sufi tales with talking animals.  
Why do humans think they are more important than other animals?  
We will destroy ourselves.  So, focus on the important?  Decide what is important.

And, in the face of everything, this is a big question. If nuclear wars and pandemics are the most likely causes of the end of human existence – this feels like it must be important then.

Some will shrug their shoulders and give up, often promoting their view as a good thing. Others will sincerely do their best to encourage action from everyone and anyone. The worst will be those taking advantage of the situation to enrich their own lives.

I’m still thinking about and searching for the answer.

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for a big rain. No need to water our garden today!

To-do list

  • Keep tracking down digital files on Soulseek ✅
  • Write another lesson
  • More 1994ever entries ✅
  • New blog entry (use an email for inspiration) ✅
  • More drawing?

Fairly well motivated today – could still spend less time watching TV and get out to my room before lunchtime but that’s OK. Not really much of anything else to report today.

Oh, last night it rained (after a big storm in the afternoon) and Amy woke me up (out of a wonderful sleep) at about 2am because our power was off. I realised that it was probably because the connectore box outside was exposed and water got on the electricity cables. I covered it as best I could, stood there in my underpants, ants crawling for cover too.

We turned the power back on and it stayed and I fell back into bed. So, this afternoon I savoured a snooze in front of the TV listened to a talk about Ram Dass.

We got that attitude! – 12th April 2020

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

I am so happy and grateful for our beautiful long grass on our driveway. It’s very beautiful and makes me feel at home.

The life which we received was given to us not that we might just admire it, but that we should ever look for new truth hidden from us.

John Milton

To-do list

  • Record TCRAH ✅
  • Find other recordings on Soulseek ✅
  • Finish lesson plan ✅

I didn’t get to write last night as I was savouring watching The Night Of and wanted to finish it.

Anyway, over these two days, I did the 3 challenges and I’m slowly preparing myself for more. No real insights or deep thoughts – just soldiering on. I did do an entry for the Stoa Journal about what you would think if yesterday was the last day of your life – that was quite thought-provoking. I find doing the entries quite challenging and would to contemplate them more deeply. Maybe I will if I blog them sometime in the future.

I’m feeling like I’m more committed to completing the 1994ever writings and hoping to keep up with coinciding with the dates this year.

We start out loudly and go in circles, all things converging, we find an end to each day – 11th April 2020

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

High in the North in a land called Svithjod there is a mountain. It is a hundred miles long and a hundred miles high and once every thousand years a little bird comes to this mountain to sharpen its beak. When the mountain has thus been worn away a single day of eternity will have passed

Hendrik Willem Van Loon, The Story of Mankind

That little bird is our lives. Dwarfed by the magnificence of time.

We are small and insignificant. Not individual, not a group, nor a race. Not a society, a species or a thought from God. We are nothing.

The dinosaurs, the mammoths, the pharaohs, the sultans and kings, the inventors, the thinkers and philosophers, the builders, the masters and slaves, the writers, the historians, the celebrities, the murderers, the saints and the despots. You and me. Nothing.

What will you do with this information?

Our floating houses on molten granite
Our liquid planet, it is a home for us all
I’m firmly planted, my earth is solid
I feel a presence but there is nothing at all
I wanted something, down here is something
It’s really something but there is nothing at all

‘Slowly Melting’ by Nomeansno

The Chiang Rai Alternative Hour #34

Music from Tipographica, Keukhot, Chui Wan, 400 Blows, Lifter Puller, Mazaj, Geronimo, Unknown, Pell Mell, Opal, Child Bite and Debile Menthol.

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for the space we have in our house and garden. We can move furniture around and reinvent ourselves, change our views.

To-do list

  • Talk to George ✅
  • Record TCRAH
  • One more lesson plan
  • Record more 1994ever for blog ✅
  • Write a short blog post ✅

Almost didn’t make it out to my room but somehow managed to motivate myself. I am slowly completing things, whether it is sorting out bits and pieces from my past, things I’d intended to do for a long time, reading books, watching movies and TV series, sorting out my CDs etc. So at least I have a sense of achievement.

I’m reminded of when I was about 10 or 11 years old and used to ‘race’ my Matchbox car collection and keep tables of which was fastest and kept all sorts of statistics about them. I was already organising my mind, putting things in order, sleeping everything straight.

I can pinpoint other instances of this at various times during my youth actually. Looking through old diaries has triggered some deep recollections which is interesting. I’m testing myself to see what else is hidden away in there.

We got that attitude! – 6th April 2020

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

I am so happy and grateful for my Gloomy Bear mug which I’ve had for many years now. It reminds me of my past and my happy history.

To-do list

  • Must finish that lesson in the morning. ✅
  • Don’t watch TV until the afternoon.
  • Sort more CDs. ½

(It’s Friday now!) Finally, I have a little return of motivation.

Yesterday was our 10th wedding anniversary and we had a nice time at home, having spent time preparing a nice environment, as if we were out somewhere more fancy than our dining room. Amy did most of it with me working under direction. She has a good eye for design and detail. 10 years – mostly happy and content. Any rough rides smoothed over by our caring natures.

I finally finished another lesson plan, sorted some CDs and did one or two other things in my room. Tomorrow I’m thinking of playing some video games but wondering how much of a time suck that will be. If it’s a time suck that brings happiness then it’s not a big deal.

In the morning I also want to talk with George and see what his thoughts are on teaching online. I’m not sure how it will work when we have to encourage speaking. I’ve been writing my plans for students to work in pairs. How can that work? I’m curious about the possibilities though. It could be good in the way of learning new methods and developing ideas around the technology.