Tag: seaside

To Find True Freedom

Hamar WilliamsLeave a comment

We get used to things. I’ve discussed habits probably as much as anything else on here but this is slightly different. This would be more about adapting. We adapt to our environment then. When we stay in one place or in one environment long enough it becomes normal and we find a way to at the very least survive. In the extreme you could have someone going from a position of power and wealth to one of poverty and subjugation, think of any successful class based revolution for example. If they didn’t end up getting their head chopped off, end up in front of a firing squad or find a way of smuggling themselves out of the country; there is a good chance they would have to either adapt to their new way of live or die. That then is an extreme example and for me right now I am as far from that as I can think. I have adapted to my surroundings though, my admittedly comfortable surroundings.

For me this adaptation has been more about a change in a way of life. Having spent ten years as a traveller living wild and being free – that is the version my romanticised ego would like to portray – I found myself in this little village by the seaside. It was only supposed to be a couple of months, the winter at most with spring bringing new adventures. There is no need to go over this years events but as I’ve previously discussed they have been habit changing to say the least. Now though I potentially change these new habits again and see whether further ones are created or old ones return. Today is Friday, on Sunday I leave my home by the sea.

Undoubtedly there has been a lot I’ve enjoyed about life here. I’m beside the sea and when not rammed with summer tourists it’s slow and chilled out. It is though a bit backwards and insular which is enough to push me away, but it has also shown me enough to imagine a new way of life is possible. There were many times in my past travelling in which I openly admitted to being exhausted and tired of constantly moving and packing but I also really enjoyed the discovery and constant new in front of my eyes. I’m still after all this time like a child when I see something previously unseen. This time has made me realise I am in my heart a wandering traveller. It has also made me realise how easily I could settle somewhere too given the right conditions. It’s all about balance apparently. This mythical never been seen or fully understood beast called balance. But you can’t have balance when you want it all.

As I pack my now enlarged pile of stuff I realise I am happy to move on while also not being entirely keen on the exhaustive side of this moving on. The stepping into the unknown excites and the prospect of being free is overjoying. As I would have discussed yesterday though had I not got distracted by Miley Cyrus, freedom is an entirely mental construct. We need to find freedom internally, allow the mind to accept the ever increasing randomness of existence and responsibly live in the moment. It doesn’t matter whether you’re stuck in the endless toil of menial labour or sailing the ocean. Admittedly one is probably easier to feel free in and we can do ourselves favours with the environment we exist in, but as I said, it’s how we approach existence that matters. One more moment before the next then in this constantly testing journey to free the mind. Maybe that would be a good habit to create. I already have the key after all. I could get used to finally being free. Just be careful not to want it too much.

A Ramble Through Little

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I was doing so well living the life of oblivious bliss. No news for ten days, suddenly the world felt like a beautiful place. When you have no idea what is going on outside of the bubble you live in on a daily basis then things can very easily start to appear relatively calm. It helps that the bubble is a small seaside village and despite peoples best attempts at creating them, there are few genuine regular issues worth being demoralised over. That doesn’t mean things don’t happen but certainly little worthy of national attention let alone global and geopolitical. Saying that in places like this all you have to do is scrape below the surface and you’ll find something worth getting carried away with. It does explain the propensity for gossip in places like this though.

It’s interesting to see how we respond to moments of drama. I know I could live in a small village and life would be relatively stress free, likely it would be safe and although there wouldn’t be many people around I would know enough of them to not experience loneliness. Living in a city is far more exciting, there are things to do, places and people to see and there would be enough action to absorb you attention as required. Life though would probably be more intense and potentially more stressful, also in my experience far more lonely than any small village I’ve ever lived in. I’ve never quite understood that, and suspect the lonely feeling in cities is something born out of not being brought up in one and knowing how really to exist within them.

Perhaps a balance between the two. Always a balance. Always a fence to sit on. A sleepy but interesting and cultured city beside the sea. That’s the dream. I imagine if that existed so many people would have moved there in search of it they would destroy it in the process. It’s like being a tourist and wanting to visit the idyllic spots and being oblivious to the fact your presence helps in destroying any sense of idyllic you once had. We just can win. But we should never give up. What kind of life would that be. Too busy, too noisy but never settle. Or does that just miss the point for acceptance and appreciating what you have. Perhaps that’s for another time when I fancy another little ramble. It’s happened before, it’ll happen again.

Rogan, Musk, Brainchips & Simulated Reality

Hamar Williams1 Comment

Joe Rogan is it appears a divisive character. Certainly before I had listened to him for the first time about a year ago I believed he was some alt-right fanboy conspiracy buff. Having listened to him quite a few times now it is clear that while he is still capable of going in that direction, he also rejects it and even in the last year has become far more mainstream. I do wince a little when he has All American Heroes on as guests and he gets a little American and excitable, but at other times he seems to be a very likely man. Ultimately his appeal is that he is a guy, a man in the truest sense, but also one open to listening to and trying to understand all perspectives. It’s what makes him so popular but also leads to him being so readily rejected too. He recently had Elon Musk on for the second time, the first had been about eighteen months ago and Musk smoked a joint which was a big thing although I never bothered listening to it. This recent appearance was incredibly interesting though because for one Musk appears to be a highly intelligent man, and one who also seems to know an awful lot about what is going on in the world, especially from a technological standpoint.

As I listened to this about twelve hours ago I can’t remember exact details but some of the things they discussed, especially regarding AI, how advanced it is and is going to get, makes you realise humans in our present form are going to become redundant in the near future, certainly in my lifetime. What this will mean for the human race mentally and physically is more than a game changer, it could arguably be an evolutionary leap. Don’t think Terminator, think more those sci-fi films in which people develop incredible powers. While making me realise I will be redundant one day it was also a liberating experience because it made me realise any achievement benefitting mankind in my lifetime would become outdated one day on a scale of incomprehensibility. I’m not necessarily saying I will make any groundbreaking discoveries but I think somewhere within me I would like to, at the very least because I’m hoping that might be something that gives an understanding to my meaning of life and gives it a tangible measurable point.

They were discussing being able to put chips in brains at one point and suggesting the technology was in best case scenario only five years away. There was all sorts of potential for this but one of them was being able to relive and re-experience memories. They discussed about how these memories could potentially be so exact it was as if we were living them now. It was then related to the idea of life being a simulation. Just imagine though, who’s to say this isn’t just a simulation you’re experiencing. I doubt there’s many ways of finding out. I was reading an article earlier and a doctor friend messaged me. I wondered how they were getting on in regard PPE since I last spoke to them as that had been a big thing and still is, but before reading the message I looked back at the article and the next line in this article on something completely unrelated mentioned PPE out of the blue. It was one of those wonderful moments in which you enjoy coincidence and after listening to Elon Musk discuss reality, one of those moments in which you start to question whether this is in fact a simulation and that we can in fact manipulate our environment and what comes into it. It’s like when you start thinking about someone and all of a sudden they send you a text message.

I’ve had a good feel but can’t seem to locate my brain chip. I also don’t seem to have any remarkable magical powers but then I wouldn’t, I guess they would be reserved for whatever humanoid is currently running this programme I call life. You’d think they would want to experience something more excitable than me quarantined by the seaside, selling pizzas and dreaming of adventures. But maybe that’s the whole point, they bought the mundane package because their lives are so full of wondrous thoughts and experience. I’ve tried pinching myself though and still nothing so I’m none the wiser.

The Simple Joys Of A Spreadsheet

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I’ve just spent the last two hours making a spreadsheet of pizzas we’re selling. Not the most exciting two hours of my life but there was certainly something satisfying about it. In truth I’m not entirely sure what was satisfying about it but I feel satisfied so it must be something. Perhaps it was the sense of accomplishment at completing a task, thats usually what gives me that feeling. It is is hard to deny though, and perhaps even harder to admit, that there was something pleasurable about looking at all those numbers on the page in order and lined up. The organised spreadsheet took on some kind of mystique before my eyes. The days of searching of creativity and havoc are seemingly behind me as I revel in the joys of ordered filing systems. What kind of monster have I become.

My Dads an accountant. I’m not, and I have no intention of ever being so. This isn’t the beginning of a heartwarming story which ends with him adding ‘& Son’ to the business. I have a GCSE in maths, just, and while I can count and do my times tables most other things seem to be beyond me. I was trying to learn computer coding recently and I realised with horror that I might need some basic maths skills. That certainly put a dent in my aspirations. I even found myself looking online for some maths courses I could do but lets be honest I’ve probably done enough courses in my life, it might just be time for a good book, a pad and a pen. The old fashioned way.

This daily writing thing can be a challenge sometimes. I wanted to share my pleasure in a spreadsheet victory but clearly it’s not worth four hundred plus words. Beyond dissecting the whole process, which I seem to be doing on writing this piece, there doesn’t seem to be a great deal more to talk about on it. Perhaps this is some kind of writing lesson; either learn how to stretch a piece out like I have done with every university essay I’ve ever written, become a better writer and therefore easily write some funny piece taking the piss out of myself and spreadsheets or just don’t choose to write about bloody spreadsheets in the first place. There is something to be said for the last two. Well it’s all part of the learning experience after all. I’m currently living beside the sea so maybe tomorrow I can write a detailed piece on how to dry sand. That’s probably on par. And that’s now over four hundred words. My essay writing skills coming to the fore once more.