New years resolutions?

[phix]

Okay, I've been thinking about this lately and came up with a list on a back of an envelope. Why is it I can never find paper but there's always a ripped open envelope somewhere?

• Make an effort to talk to people about non-trivial things.  No, "ooh its hot today".  How do start off with this though.
  
• Exercise?  No smoking, less drinking.. more veggie

Comments

[kweeket]

First: I admire that you are always seeking to better yourself.

However: Talk to ALL people about non-trivial things? Because if everything you said had to be scintillating and intensely meaningful...well, that would be exhausting. What about when buying a coffee?
"How ya going?"
"Well, yesterday as I was re-reading 'Atlas Shrugged' I mused upon the inherently bleak worldview -"

I disagree about the "better sleep habits". There is a genuinely biological basis for sleeping patterns - which can be temporarily reset with great effort if you are dedicated to getting up early every day (including weekends) and getting lots of light to set your internal clock. For me, it's not worth it. I would be missing my favourite part of the day...the night part.

I like the idea of wearing more professional clothes to work. Didn't you do that when you were Carlos that one time?

If you want to read more, I have lists and lists of books for you to read. Or, maybe you could do what Marc and I just did - subscribe to Analog, a magazine of

[phix]

well bleak world views are good 'n all.. but how was the coffee

[kweeket]

Analog is amazing. The quality of the stories has been consistantly high in the 5 or so volumes I've read.

As for the lists, here are a few:

Snow Crash, if you haven't read it. I might have already made you read this though?

Vurt, by Jeff Noon (if you're ok with cyberpunk)

Like a Hole in the Head by Jen Banbury - Poppy will back me up on this one. I reread this every few months.

Life of the World to Come by Kage Baker.

[kweeket]

Also: Max Barry. He's Australian! I would recommend you read Jennifer Government first.

He also blogs: On Capitalism and Corporatism

hmmm

[fuzzo777]

ever tried those "enchance your memory" things? we get them on tv here loads but ironically, I can't remember what it is called...

Re: hmmm

[phix]

man i'm sure i had this conversation with you but now I can't remember if I did or not. Man I had to do a speech in first year engi (2000!) and I talked about Kevin Trudeau (he did that Mega Memory) thing and how he was such a fraud. He did two different shows one day with a journalist in the background. When he was 'memorising' lists to demonstrate his abilities, he actually had the same list of words to memorise each time. I looked him up just then on wikipedia and it said,

His promotion of memory-enhancing products was put to an end by
an FTC crackdown, which determined that the programs involved resulted
in little-to-no success.