Happy Thoughts

Okay, listen. The average life expectancy is of 83 years, more or less. There are 365 days each year. The average life expectancy is, then, of 30 295 days. Neat, huh?

What does that mean?

It means that you only have 30 295 days to do whatever you want. It means that, after 30 295 days, nothing will matter. If you failed, there will be nobody to blame you. If you succeed, you’ll get no prize.

It means that, it doesn’t matter how hard is your life, it will pass. Do not worry.

Take life as a game. You’re in a sandbox with 30 295 days to do whatever you want. You can cure cancer, you can write a wonderful novel, you can become a fantastic journalist or a brilliant teacher. But then again, if you don’t, nobody will blame you.

I find that thought quite relaxing. Life isn’t a goal, life isn’t a mission. You just happen to be in a sandbox game. You stay here for a while, and if you have fun, it’s great! But, if you don’t, no problem. You’ll get out someday.

What do you think?

 

Your Brain on a Washing Machine

And even more stupid thoughts.

Suppose you could get into a gigantic washing machine. It spins fast. Very fast. Almost to the speed of light. Can you picture it?

Come on, I trust you.

Okay. As I said, you are inside it, so you are spinning at the speed of light. But the whole “you” is not going at the same speed. The further you are from the center, the faster you go. So, one half of your brain is going at a greater speed than the other.

But there’s more. According to Relativity, the faster you move, the slower time passes for the object in movement.

Therefore, if you got inside a gigantic, hyper-fast washing machine, one part of your brain would go way faster than the other.

If it hadn’t been liquified before.

That’s one of the dumb thoughts I’ve been having lately.

But I am quite proud of my ability for making up these dumb thoughts. They make life more entertaining, both for myself and for others. They create powerful psychological weapons (aka terrible puns). And they provide new insight on almost any subject.

It is always nice to get something new, isn’t it?

 

If a Body Catch a Body through the Rye…

I’ve recently (two months ago, maybe?) read The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger. Yeah, that book that’s mandatory in many schools. It wasn’t in mine, not to brag or anything.

I liked it. I really did. I won’t tell anything about the plot to support that opinion. However, I do have reasons. They are:

• Holden’s language: Holden’s the main character, by the way. He writes in a very particular way. He really does. He uses the same constructions again and again, the same structures, the same catchphrases and the same swearing words. He goddamn does. Why? Because TCitR is not an epic story. It’s a journal written by a teen who flunks his classes. He can’t write perfectly. But he can write. More on that later
• Holden’s hatred: As his sister Phoebe tells him, there’s nothing in the world he likes, except for kids and his siblings, but nobody is aware of that. He lives hating everything and everybody, calling people “phonies” and hypocrites. Which brings us to
• Holden’s Logic: He makes fairly good points explaining his hatred. It leads the reader (or me, at least) to hate the people he describes as much as he does, noticing those disgusting behaviors in people in his life (or maybe in himself). Because Holden’s Logic is correct. There are disgusting things in the world. But…
• Holden’s Solipsism: Yes, he is right. So? You cannot just live hating everybody. There are always exceptions. The lesson he learns is to stop directing his energy against the world, and use it in favor of it, instead. He learns. He makes mistakes, and recognizes them. Which leads to
• Holden’s Evolution: At first he is an angsty teen against the world. But, somewhere in the story, he learns. He decides to become a “Catcher in the Rye”, stopping the kids that play in the Rye to fall into the void. He wants to stop kids from growing into terrible people as the ones he hates. Then,
• Holden’s Coherence: That’s why he writes the book. He wants to teach kinds growing. Because, as teens, most of us have felt as he did. Disgusted by seeing how the world is not as we imagined it to be. And that leads to hatred, just like it led him to hate phonies. But he realizes it’s not right to fall into that trap. Being a cynic is easy. Being hopeful is not. He writes the book to prevent us from growing into suspicious people.

Those are the wonders of the book. It’s one of the best books I have ever read, and I do recommend it, for this brief post is not half as good as the novel is. It really isn’t.

 

Hallo

I’m back. Sort of.

I may or may not have forgotten that this blog existed. To compensate, I have many, many new ideas for posts. Just wait!

Here’s a preview:

The Catcher in the Rye

To Kill a Mockingbird

Goldbach’s Conjecture

Education

The Martian (Did I write about the Martian before? I think not)

Neanderthals

 

Anyway, I’ll be right  back.

 

How do I end this post? I can’t think of a conclusion.