18. Life could have been very different but then
18. Life could have been very different but then
Something changed
Hello friends
This would always be a work in progress I have decided to move away from chapters, and have numbers instead. There will be some type of revisionism to reflect this.
There are plenty of people speculating on outcomes, looking to rebuild, there are those just looking at survival, there are those looking for renewal. There are plenty of solutions being offered, some maybe snake oil, some may not be.
I look around my desk which is usually clear, and it has become cluttered again, meaning there are a number of things in play at the moment. Am I giving everything the attention it needs?
The lyric featured in today’s newsletter is from Pulp’s “Something changed”
This is quite damning
There are cascading effects to this. Government funds (our money) are being used to rightly help with a safety net for companies to furlough staff and keep on paying individuals. My hope is that companies and governments remember their duty of care around how tax should be paid not the most efficient method. Naturally I expect shareholders (our pension funds, investments) support such a move.
Have a great weekend and send some music recommendations
Nish
Trying things out
“I am overweight.”
Yeah I was , but what does this mean? Well, years of living a good life will have a price. Mauritian ancestors for the vast majority were slaves or indentured labourers, our ancestors worked hard to get us here. The result being I am distant from the idea of physical labour, I have only worked to exhaustion twice. What it does mean is that through a combination of exercise and diet I have a strong chance of changing this. Also I really don’t know what physical labour really as a lifestyle is.
There was an added bonus to the deliberate exercise and cutting out things in my diet, it made me feel better. I found there was peace in running and at times all that mattered was me the road and the soundtrack. It also enabled me to listen to podcasts with little distraction. I also discovered through odd jobs here and there and being worked to exhaustion, it is not pleasant, and what I have is a choice and an appreciation.
I am no longer overweight.
“I won’t like it”
People know me as being a certain way with music. The day job allows a lot of music listening, and I allow the spotify playlist to curate my day. It uses algorithms to based on playlists and previous plays. I have embarked on a new mission though which is to listen the greatest 500 albums of all time as recommended by Rolling Stone. I have now heard a couple of albums outside of my listening zone, which are amazing. These have been outside of my listening zone. There have been some ones which have not left a great impression.
Here is one recommendation
We are surrounded by lifestyle experts, who go on about the 5AM wakeup (tbh I do, but I tried it and it worked, and it helps get this out on a weekly basis). The battle is one of settling with a great set of choices, without ever seeing if there is something more, or just a continuous set of experiments for self curation and the idea of stopping boredom.
If there is a book recommendation to come out of this it is Voltaire’s Candide or Optmism. For those that won’t here is an explainer.
Music recommendation
Prisons, a fascinating place I hope never to stay but should probably visit. Prison is the result of a set of decisions or choices which did not work out. There has been a tradition of musicians who have played prisons for free. Musicians and song writers have an ability to understand the human condition. Blues music originates from the deep south built from African American singing traditions with lyrics concentrating on the reality of life for Black Americans. See the wikipedia article for a clearer breakdown.
In the UK there used to be a monthly magazine with a free CD and I got the first couple, with John Lee Hooker and BB King. My personal favourite is below.
BB King without doubt is one of the biggest names in Blues and toured consistently through his career. His album Live in Cook County General contains some of the best performances of his work. He would later rework versions of his songs with more contemporary artists of the time. Sadly there is no recording of BB King at the Fairfield hall in Croydon.
About me
This is where I put annoying descriptors, but simply I like looking at problems, fixing them, and asking questions. Outside of this I love film, music and books. I can be found on instagram and facebook .