For a while it looked like I might avoid catching it. There'd been a suggestion of something in the back of my throat, but nothing more. Then came a couple of nights of sleeplessness as a result to Hubby's cold symptoms. I then had a flu jab, and the guy mentioned there would be two days mild shoulder discomfort, which proved in fact to be two days of far from mild shoulder pain. The consequences of which was yet another night of sleep disturbance. It was amazing just how quickly the cold then seized the day and cranked up the cold. Until we reach this morning where, all I can say is, I've developed a deeper more resonant chest tone in my voice. Briefly I am Mr Sexy Voice.
I was writing the sentence ' That appears to be an abattoir' this is instantly translated into ' That appears to be an ABBA tour'.
I've been reading Byung-Chul Han's book Non-Things, ( find my review here ) and this has unearthed a general reappraisal and fondness for things analogue. My generation was probably one of the last brought up without a computer in the home from the moment of your conception I would not be anything like as tech savvy as I am now, had I not been sharing my life with a computer nerd for over twenty years. Reading this book has made me realise just how much my relationships with actual things, is part and parcel of how I interact with reality on a deeper level, and why I often love them as objects I own.
I abandoned my kindle years ago, because I found I was losing all interest in reading as a result. It took COVID happening to actually restore my reading habit. And I recognise that I have to make an active choice to read, rather than vegetate in front of the TV or You Tube. The physical sensations and associations around reading have more importance than we realise. COVID also restored my interest in listening to longer form pieces of music. I recently bought a CD player, so I could renew acquaintance with my CD collection which has a better sound quality than that available through my laptop or tablet, or ear buds. I can understand why vinyl has boomed, but I don't think I want to go quite that far. The general quality of my reading and listening experience has been hugely improved as a result.
I also love that over the years I've bought, or have had bought for me, a collection of hand made ceramics from Made In Cley to eat my breakfast on. I have bought myself beautifully made notebooks that I handwrite an admittedly intermittent journal in. I use a fountain pen to write with, and I've bought myself a handmade book mark. These all just enhance the richness of the engagement experience. I hand knit dish clothes or jumpers. I'm a artist and like making things and art objects with my hands. So the analogue world is still hanging on with me. Nostalgia and love should be condiments you'd expect to find here, they are part of what is built on a sense of shared connection and history with objects we handle and use. Byung-Chul Han's book convinces me that the world of actual things is far better for us, it's healthier existentially.
I'm thinking of hand writing letters, rather than zipping off an e,mail. And getting prints done of photographs I've taken, and starting a photo wall in the house. I'm not yet a complete luddite. I still have my battered old laptop, that's really in its final years. I have a smart phone and a tablet. I try to limit scrolling time on these to under an hour a day. The majority of my time on these instruments is actually spent writing for this blog. Writing on a computer is, I find, easier as a process and is preferable to on paper. All that crossing out and word substitutions just get increasingly messy. And trying out ideas and being able to return them to how they were before if they don't work, is so much simpler on a computer. It encourages creativity. I don't use ChatGTP and try to avoid actively using AI stuff where possible, but it is becoming inescapably ubiquitous these days. However well or otherwise I write, this blog is all me, my interests and the stuff I do, read, watch, listen to or think about. It's as much a personal practice as Thai chi or meditating.
In a recent interview on The Sacred. Jamie Bartlett, ( link here ) extolled the virtues of reading stuff that is difficult and stretches you, because even if full comprehension evades you, it exercises your mind generally and helps it stay supple and expressive. He admitted he'd used Chat GTP, but said that you have to consciously ask yourself, is there anyone I could just ask about this? Before reaching for AI. It may be easier, but actually the length and difficulty of the journey towards writing a book, can be more important than the speed in reaching it's completion. Simply for the quality of mind you bring to your thinking and writing. In a recent interview in The Guardian,( link here ) the playwright James Graham, said our culture had become afraid of the new, so it has got stuck repeating the same old stuff. And when the creative sector is like that, the political estate will also be unable to imagine anything new either. Our culture is currently in a process of creatively ossifying as a result. These machines are becoming like our most boring acquaintance, best avoided.
As if to prove I am not a machine bot, but a real human with a real body. I woke up one morning this week,and I felt OK. Only when I was walking up the stairs, taking Hubby his coffee in the morning did I feel something was a bit off with my right hip. Not much, just a mild twinge, more noticeably there in my peripheral awareness. Not thinking too much of it, I did my Tai Chi and morning exercise routine, believing this would help sort it. Because it usually does deal with those little morning aches and pains. However, I was wrong. As the day progressed my back got stiffer, my right hip more snarky and giving me gyp. By the time I went to bed I couldn't walk upright anymore. And I've spent the days since then with heat pads, nursing it, getting up simply so as not to become too physically set, making myself breakfast and cooking my lunch. I believe that walking itself helps improve things, but it's a fine judgement over how much is good.. At the moment of writing, the idea my body is improving is still only a concept and not the fully embodied actuality, it's an imaginative story I'm telling myself. That is what humans do, we are primarily storytellers. Everything we do is mythical to its core.
I was writing the phrase 'examine...the flaws in your suppositions' this is corrected to ' examine...the flaws in your suppositories' . Yeah. We all need to do that.
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