Today was Sunday: Notes From Seattle #5

So today was indeed Sunday. I slept a bit later then I would have liked. But my aunt told me that I was probably tired and needed the rest. My feet are starting to heal so that is good. I had some blisters from walking all over Seattle in bad shoes.

Yesterday I was taking a bus back home after hanging out with some friends and had an interesting experience. I got on a bus that I thought was going to be going further down the U-district that it actually did. Then it made a turn somewhere and ended up taking me into downtown Seattle. At first I had no idea what was going on. Thought it was going to take me to the bottom of the district. So I decided to stay on the bus and see what would happen. I thought it would reconnect with the U-district at some point, and then it didn't. So I had to get off and turn around and get going the other way. I made it home, but it took about an hour or sos of a diversion. A nice guy talked to me for a minute and explained to me which bus to get on, etc.. It all worked out no problem. But getting lost is perhaps mentally draining.

But the day before that was actually pretty pleasant. A nice day all around. What did I do? Well, I'm trying to recall. Oh yeah, thats right. I looked at yesterdays blog and remembered. I bought a few pairs of pants and other stuff.

After I did that, though, I met up with my friend and we ate some mediocre mexican food. Had a beer at happy hour. A pint of bud light for 2.50. Lol. Not the best beer, I found it funny for some reason. Not sure why. But I had a good time talking with my friend. We talked about interesting politics, China. He is more informed on some stuff than I am. So that was good.

Then we met up with our other friend and I had my first journey into Cowen park. Really pretty park, really nice park. It was nice to walk around it for a minute and check out the nice nature scenes.

Then after the park I decided to catch a bus. That was when my bus adventure went awry.

Then I hung out at home and went to sleep.

Today when I woke up the first thing I did was start working on my next essay that I am working on. It is really gonna be a challenge though. Really gonna push me hard to articulate some connections that I know exist between authors, but that I can't articulate yet. Tough stuff.

I also feel compelled to work on an essay that has been sitting around as just a draft for a while now. On mindfulness and time. I think I stumbled on some answers in my mind. But I also think that it is gonna be difficult. I need to think about it. I need to do other things. I don't know if I can produce a substantial essay right now. Feel tired. I don't mean right now as in tonight. But right now as in within the next couple days. Well, actually, I did write the two introductory paragraphs to this essay I'm calling 'The Genealogy of the Modern Mind: History, Theory of Mind, and Self-Directed Neuroplasiticity'. As usual, I am dealing with things that are far beyond me, and which I am in no way qualified to tackle. But so fucking what? Do I care? Nope.

It is a good exercise, and I think I made some interesting connections last night in my mind that I needed to make in order to write this essay. I had an epiphany of sorts. I use that word with a bit of self-consciousness, just because me and my aunt had a discussion about the word epiphany, its connotations, its etymology. But yeah. I have some major stuff to write on this genealogy of the mind business.

This essay on mindfulness will also be interesting too, but will be shorter, less elaborate. I think it is interesting because it was prompted by my own experience, but an acquaintances writing made me think of it. The basic problem is that mindfulness in general is about staying grounded in the present moment. Yet so much of life is about 1. reflecting on the past and 2. planning for the future. So if so much of life is about thinking about different times, then how is that compatible with mindfulness? Well, I think Collingwood and Croce (who I unfortunately haven't read) have some answers. Namely, that historical thinking (and perhaps therefore future thinking?) is always 'contemporary'. Meaning it is happening right now. Thought about the past is always happening in our present mind, just as thought about the future is also happening in our present mind. So perhaps mindfulness can be compatible with these things because we could still be mindful that our thoughts of the past and future are still occurring in the present. I think this makes sense, but I want to explore this at greater length.

But I don't want to write anymore right now. I want to get back on the job hunting wagon tomorrow. Over and out.