2024-09-29
It's now the Sunday, and fast approaching... no, it's approached, it's now ten past twelve. I will go to the gym during the day, and also to the shop potentially - I think I want to get some nice (not UPF) bread from Sainsbury's. Or, actually, I could not do that and just make my own - then again, I also want to get some soya milk from Aldis (and restock on tofu - I am getting through it at a rate of knots (about 200g/one packet each day) so should really consider whether there is not a better source for it in bulk and with less non-recyclable packaging.
When I came home yesterday from the cafe, the Buddhist monks from the Krishna Temple were in town, and I ended up talking to one of them. Really, it was quite bad of me and I feel immoral for it, that I was not exactly paying exact attention to what he said. I was in a bit of a funny state that day, as I said in my last wv. But he gave me a book, Sri Isopanisad (sans diacritics) and also a pamphlet for the Be A Monk challenge. In a way, I would actually quite like to do that; I would need to find a way to get it off of work, but I could well do the seven day one and take that off of work. The next one up from that is three months which would mean negotiating with my employer and possibly just leaving and getting a new job, so has a bit more challenge involved. Work as usual is the difficult factor... but it would be fun to try I think.
I have been thinking of putting together a sort of bucketlist, to note down all the things I would like to try. Firstly, I think I will study the book I have been given, and may even try to read the Bhagavad Gita at some point (I've only skimmed it at parts). I did want to pick up the pursuit of philosophy at some point, as I have been rather taken over by more worldly (and, productive) concerns.
I have a few plans for the upcoming month of October. Firstly, I naturally shall be going on my first trip in however long to Bologna, Italy; I will also try to cultivate a writing habit for the blog by writing at least two entries a week, totalling 104 in the year (for 100DaysToOffload). I still need to work out exactly in what consists the difference of the blog and wv, except for the restrictions on post length in wv - I suppose blog is to be more structured. I will also look to pursue #Inktober, by drawing at least one sketch or ink drawing each day. This will probably intersect nicely with the trip, where I will have a lot of new sites to see each day...
In writing the blog, I will try to find at least one or two interesting things to do each week. That will give me something to write about on the Sunday weeknotes, I suppose, and mean that I have things to enjoy doing! I want to try to change the way I live my life such that I am in my room less, outside more, and spend more time doing enjoyable things. The thing is, this does not need to come at the cost of just working: for instance, since I have the laptop, I can always go to the park or cycle up to somewhere and do some work on the laptop there, just with a pretty view.
Essentially, I have been having this thought in the back of my mind for a while now, but I feel as though I somewhat lessen as a person for the more time I spend in my room. It seems that there is something in the nature of being in my room that dwindles my faculties, and lessens my virtues; in fact, I think this is the same reason why people seek out a separate office from their sleeping quarters, and have separate rooms further for leisure and for cooking. Having everything in the same place seems to have some kind of corrupting influence, or rather that impurities that naturally exist are allowed to compound and to propagate to other aspects of life, such that the entire life then becomes tainted with the originally somewhat confined impurities. Does that make sense? That is what I think, at least, and is why I don't really want to spend so much time in my room now. I do work on a Monday and Friday at home, and do so from my room, which gives me ample time to fool around in a way. I wonder if there is somewhere I could go to not have this problem. I would need an internet connection to work, and so could either do so on a mobile connection and take a seat in the park (but only for a few hours, before I would need to return home to charge the laptop) or could perhaps go to the library or something like that. Or, in fact, I could just go into the office five days a week, but the office and London are both very ugly places, in a way. I sort of want to be able to go out into nature, and work there for the full day without needing to return.
Certainly, any leisure time can be spent away from my room. For instance, I can return to my room only to charge my laptop, and can then use it in the park, or by the beach, or in any number of other places. Just as I default to going to the cafe on a Saturday, I could prepare myself some food and hop on the bike to somewhere nice, and go each and study there. It would be cheaper, too. I could relax in the park, as opposed to in my room. This would mean that I almost truly relax, as I would not be drawn away by the laptop or any wayward intentions (I'll just lie down for half an hour... whoops I've now slept the whole day! I used to do this a lot during summer holidays when I was in school too). I could bring things to entertain myself if I need, like my pen and pencil and the sketchpad.
(Of course, it's getting colder now, and is stable at around 14 degrees. It will get colder and I'll need to acclimatise myself to it again.)
I suspect that's all. So, I'll try spend today away from home. I will, when I return from the gym (and after I've been to the shops and made food) will go to the park for a while, I think.
Have a good one.