Intellectual things such as Voltaire, Einstein and quantum physics

Just doing a little blog surfing whilst introducing myself to season one of The Gilmore Girls (been one all my life, so figured its only fair to make the most of my housemate’s dvd box set while its still here!).I find it more than a little disconcerting that I (in my small corner) appear on blogrolls alongside proverbial giants in blogging intellect. So I have decided to write a post about intellectual things such as Voltaire, Einstein and quantum physics.

Well, when I say I’m going to write about those things, I really mean I’m just going to call my post that and hope that no-one actually notices that the blog isn’t about that at all, cos – let’s face it – I don’t really do intellectual. Sarcasm, yes. Rhetoric, tick. Nonsense poetry, check. Links to random internet videos, you betcha!

I still feel a heavy weight of expectation though – that in order to publish a blog, it must contain pithy soundbites and other such things worth reading. Yikes… There is definately some stigma attached to blogging, though. My housemate commented that its for people who believe their opinion is worth being read by others, and I guess she’s right in some cases. I reckon I agree on some level, but opt out of the guilty chair, counting myself very self-aware and pretention free in my un-intellectual musings (let’s not mention that I indulge myself by posting my poetic efforts). Though I just read a post by a friend who likened the blogosphere to a community. I like that. I’m up for that. Not assuming that others want to or, indeed, need to read my random thoughts, but just allowing them to do so if they want, you know? Sharing life etc etc etc…

Plus, if people are inclined to spend time online when they’re bored, surely – surely! – true friends do whatever they can to save people from the evils of Bebo.

Blah blah blah… I have no idea whether anyone ever actually reads this stuff anyway. Perhaps once upon a time, they absent-mindedly clicked on the link on those more thought-provoking blogs and ended up here. Then its sure they’re ne’er more to return. And yet, while bloggers say we’re not aiming for pretention, just exercising (exorcising?) our right to free speech, we still want people to read what we’re publishing, don’t we?

I wonder is an un-read blog the modern day, grown-up equivalent of walking past a group photo in the high school corridor and finding someone has stuck a drawing pin through your face.

Ouch.

Happiness is…

Happiness is a quiet beach on the evening of a rainy day that turned out sunny.

I was going to leave it there. A succinct summation of a moment’s contentment. A clever beginning to a series of blog posts.

But then as I walked on towards one of my favourite coffee shops, I encountered a little girl cycling alongside her parents as they strolled beside the beach. She was calling for their attention: “Look, look! He’s following me! The doggy is following me!” And sure enough, a dog was trotting contentedly alongside her bicycle. Her parents paid little attention. The little girl cried out again: “Look he’s still following!”

The mother seemed somewhat less than impressed.

“If he comes home with us, can I call him Rover?!”

Lol…

That made me smile and I began to wonder if I could really leave ‘Happiness is…’ at that. It was only natural, then, that my over-inflated sense of the poetic should kick in and I merrily indulged in further musings about the nature of happiness.

I wondered whether sometimes we are ‘in the mood’ to be happy – in a certain frame of mind, ready to find pleasure in the tiniest of events. Relishing the feeling of cool, sunset sand between the toes; positively swooning at the sweet rhythm of the waves gently lapping the golden shore; chuckling with mirth over the childish delight of being followed by a doggy…

Then I inadvertently swallowed my chewing gum and noticed the coffee shop was closed.

So much for poetry.

Life to the fool…?

So, listening to the radio on my way home in the car, I suddenly became aware of one of the little things advertising slips by us…

“Centra. The way we live today”

Oh my.

Is it just me, or is it more than a little disconcerting to think that a fluorescent-lit shop selling wrinkly old cabbages, greasy ‘fried-twelve-hours-ago’ bacon rashers, frozen fish fingers and other such questionable delicacies is being claimed as indicative of the way we live today…?

The Best of Both Worlds…

So I’m discovering that an evening can be well-spent, watching cheesy reality tv (Grease is waaaay better than Joseph) whilst browsing lofty thoughts about heaven on the blogs of other great thinkers.

You see, I’m becoming ever more convinced that balance is the key to life. Does Saturday night television make your stomach curdle and your blood boil? Do intellectual online discourses fry your brain and test your patience? Why not try doing both at once?!

As the tears begin at the thought of dreams being shattered by the ‘great’ British vote, you can turn your attention to illusions of a fluffy cloud heaven being torn apart. Then, once the references to political figures or theological terms that you’ve only vaguely heard of begin, you can switch back to enjoying the talent (or lack of talent) being showcased in your very own living room.

Nice.

Speaking of talent and theology, let me know if you think this guy is for real…?