Moooooore republishing

content/post/2018/01/bikers-club-of-philosophy/index.markdown

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+date = "2018-01-09"
+layout = "post"
+categories = ["life", "philosophy", "motorcyles"]
+title = "Bikers’ club of… Philosophy?"
+[[resources]]
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+Its seems to me that bikers share more than just fun, speed and recklessness.
+
+That is to say, to ride a motorcycle is one thing, to *be a biker *is quite another.
+
+Biking is more than just a mode of transport in ways I haven’t yet quite put my finger on. It’s a way of life to a degree.
+
+Whether or not a particular life outlook gives you a desire to ride, or whether it is more that being a rider leads to a changed life outlook is nuts and bolts. Either way, there’s *something…*
+
+Maybe it’s related to the constant and consistent reminders of your own mortality. It certainly helps me to take chances *off* the bike that I might not otherwise. Keeps me grounded and living in the moment, as it were.
+
+Maybe it’s something about the way that throwing a bike through twisting corners sets soul and mind on fire all at once.
+
+Actually, yes. Perhaps that’s it. Riding a bike makes the rider come alive in a way that’s difficult to match. It requires focus and a lot of confidence.
+
+Taking a quick and smooth line through a corner, though, is a feeling of elation unlike no other.
+
+So… there’s something about biking. Something about biking that changes riders.
+
+Riders are an exclusive club, and not just because of how we get around. We share a particular view of life that unites us, on and off the road.
+
+No doubt this idea will reappear in the future as I give it more thought.
+
+  

content/post/2018/01/hindsight-fired-by-delirium/index.markdown

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+date = "2018-01-22"
+layout = "post"
+categories = ["me"]
+title = "Hindsight, fired by delirium"
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+#### Days lost to the fire
+
+Where am I? What day is it? *Why* is it?
+
+My annual illness has struck early, this year. As always it strikes hard.
+
+I’ve forgotten quite what it feels like to be well. Hopefully all will be remembered soon…
+
+As usual the main object of this piece is *not* looking for sympathy. I’m using my inconvenience as a lesson once again.
+
+The lesson this time is you *cannot* predict the future. Preparation may be almost as good as a crystal ball… But it is only ever almost.
+
+Right now, I am thoroughly regretting setting the rules of my daily writing challenge as harshly as I did.
+
+Because the challenge isn’t just to write every day for a year. It’s to *publish* a piece near enough from scratch, every day.
+
+At first it seemed easy. Of course it did. Of *course*.
+
+That led to overconfidence. If I had seen this illness coming, I would perhaps have set the rules a little looser.
+
+Now that I’m in the grips of it, the challenge seems almost impossible. But nevertheless I persist, just barely.
+
+Perhaps I’m keeping the challenge going by token only. Certainly this piece, if not others, are not on par with many of the others. Maybe it would be better just to write every day, and not worry about publishing.
+
+Naturally, now I have set the rules i am reluctant to change them. That and I know a relaxation risks editors block setting in. Maybe that’s a good thing — maybe I should allow myself to sort the wheat from the chaff *prior* to publishing.
+
+I’m not sure — your thoughts would be appreciated.
+
+Normal (as much as that word applies) service to be resumed as soon as the damn illness subsides. This includes responses to responses, which I have been thoroughly neglecting. My apologies.
+
+I’ll still publish a piece daily, no promises as to its quality… (is there ever?)
+
+  

content/post/2018/01/how-not-to-achieve-flow/index.markdown

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+date = "2018-01-08"
+layout = "post"
+categories = ["life"]
+title = "How not to achieve ‘flow’"
+[[resources]]
+  name = "header thumbnail"
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+Multitasking is overrated.
+
+> “The word priority… was singular…the very first or prior thing…. Only in the 1900s did we pluralize the term… Illogically, we reasoned that by changing the word we could bend reality. Somehow we would now be able to have multiple “first” things.” — McKeown, Essentialism
+
+Either: do several things simultaneously to an average standard, or do a single thing with excellence.
+
+I’d choose excellence every time.[^1]
+
+The thing is — that choice **is** yours to make.
+
+Say no to opportunities that are anything less than ‘exciting’. Have a single priority at a time — in fact, erase the idea of ‘priorities’. One thing at a time, all the time.
+
+Stop pretending to yourself that you can focus on multiple things. Focus on one thing, and throw yourself into it. To do otherwise is doing yourself and your creativity a disservice.
+
+In doing so, you will improve your access to the mysterious, magical flow. Lots is written about ‘flow state’. I won’t claim to understand how to achieve flow, or even what it is and how it works. Because **I don’t know.[^2]**
+
+I may not understand it, but I have been *in flow*. Duly, I *do *know* *how* not to* achieve flow. And that’s multitasking. Flow necessitates unwavering focus. Alongside a hefty splash of passion and a bunch of other things I don’t quite understand. But mostly laser focus.
+
+Sure, you can produce average work though multitasking, and good work through plain old focus.
+
+But in my experience the best work is produced in flow state.[^3] Some might call it inspiration from their Muse. As far as I’m concerned, it’s damn near magic.
+
+> Illogically, we reasoned that by changing the word we could bend reality.
+
+Eliminate distraction. Eliminate things that are ‘good enough’. Find focus and you will find the magic of flow.
+
+Eliminate that which doesn’t light you on fire and you will never burn out.
+
+[^1]: In practice it never quite works out that way, but I do always aim for focus.
+
+[^2]: Not something I admit to readily, but to pretend otherwise would be dishonest.
+
+[^3]: ‘Rivers flow, writing doesn’t’ was drilled into me during English. Maybe you heard it too. In any case, maybe writing doesn’t ‘flow’. But *writers do*.
+
+  

content/post/2018/01/normal-is-boring/index.markdown

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+layout =	"post"
+title =	"Normal is boring"
+date =	"2018-01-05"
+categories = ["life"]
+[[resources]]
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+Nobody is normal.
+
+At its heart the idea of normal is a farcical concept, but a thousand times more so when applied to people. Everyone is different, there is no ‘average person’.
+
+Even if one takes normal to mean ‘mentally stable’ it remains ridiculous. Nobody is 100% stable 100% of the time. In fact, it appears that people in general are less and less stable, more and more often (or maybe its just finally getting talked about more). Myself included.
+
+Either way, being 100% of anything — if that is normal — sounds a lot like perfection. And...
+
+**Perfection. Is. Boring.**
+
+Conflict.
+
+Pain.
+
+Mistakes.
+
+Resolution.
+
+Healing.
+
+Learning.
+
+*These* are the things that make life interesting. Perfect leaves no room for any of these, and more besides, and therefore, **perfect sucks**.
+
+People seem to insist that they desire to be normal. Desiring mental stability is fair enough. But I don’t think anyone wants to be average. And aren’t normal and average just two sides of the same coin? They’re really saying that they want to fit in. Because standing out from the crowd is inconvenient. It draws attention.
+
+But it’s also a hell of a lot of fun.
+
+Speak your mind, say your piece, regardless of how incendiary.
+
+Be abnormal.
+
+Be spontaneous.
+
+Be the spanner in the Order of Things.
+
+That’s life. That’s ***living***.
+
+Stay *away* from *perfect*. It’s a (flawless) trap.
+
+  

content/post/2018/01/this-ones-broken/index.markdown

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+date = "2018-01-18"
+layout = "post"
+categories = ["poetic"]
+tags = ["AL"]
+title = "This one’s broken"
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+I had a heart
+
+First a flutter,
+
+a false first love
+
+Then a taste of reality,
+
+or so I thought
+
+Lies exposed soon after
+
+Heart shattered once
+
+Then someone to help me pick up the pieces
+
+A someone of brutal honesty
+
+The only antidote to the assassination of trust
+
+But just not quite meant to be
+
+Heart shattered twice
+
+I had a heart
+
+Now I need a new one
+
+This one’s broken
+
+  

content/post/2018/01/to-live-a-hundred-thousand-lives/index.markdown

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+date = "2018-01-14"
+layout = "post"
+categories = ["writing", "life"]
+title = "To live a hundred thousand lives"
+[[resources]]
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+> “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies…The man who never reads lives only one.” ― George R.R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons
+
+Why settle for just one life. Why settle for just one world. When you can live lives, explore worlds that you might not otherwise ever have imagined.
+
+If I can make just one person pick up a book who might not otherwise have done so, then all this writing — all this *Scribbling — *was not for naught. Maybe I won’t. It certainly seems unlikely on Medium, where it seems everyone is a reader, if not often a writer too.
+
+And that’s the crux of a tangential but related matter. All writers read. For reading the work of others is what fuels our own creative flame. It seems obvious when you say it — but I think it bears repeating regardless.
+
+There’s only one thing better than living a thousand lives, treading a thousand paths.
+
+And that’s burning your own path. Not just in life material — for that is truly wonderful in its freedom.
+
+To forge your own world among the multitude. Craft characters, spin stories. Perhaps…probably…it isn’t for everyone[^1].
+
+But to me, it is nothing short of awesome. Writing my story — my own story — both in life and in ink.
+
+The ink and the life intertwined. Life inspires writing…and writing guides life. Inextricable. I write to live, and I live to write.
+
+Overly dramatic, but there’s truth in it.
+
+[^1]: Reading however, surely must be. Anyone who ‘doesn’t like to read’ must not have found the right story, the right format. Or maybe that’s just me blinded by bias.
+
+