Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Rambling - Memory Serves Unknown Calendars

Model, photographer, and source unknown.
Simple little moments pass me by with every turn of my head, and enough of those moments build into a full-fledged chunk that can only be defined as time.  Each of those moments is precious, irreplaceable, and unique; there will never be another like it in the entirety of history, nor are there duplicates of it in the infinite alternate versions of reality that exist.  How many have I let by without a thought or deed to give it value?  Far too many.

There are three criteria by which I judge the passing of each rotation of this piddly little speck of dirt upon which we spin.  Three activities in which to participate, each of which must be fulfilled in order to consider any day anything other than a waste of irreplaceable time.

Play a Game: This one is rather obvious, given that I am a gamer who proudly declares that I define my life with gaming.  The game in question could be anything; cards, computers, consoles, dice, anything that is an entertaining and imaginative enterprise in recreation.

Have a Good Conversation: I love good conversations, and I believe they are among the more important mental stimulations in which one can ever engage.  A good conversation can be a discussion about game mechanics, criticism of a political topic, dissection of theoretical speculation, or laughing about the latest Venture Brothers episode.  The conversation could involve constant agreement with the other participant or participants, or it could be a pseudo-hostile argument in which participants hold contrasting viewpoints.  So long as it is so engaging as to force my participation simply by my own inability to resist replying to what was most recently said, it is a good conversation.

Create Something Worth Creating: I value my creativity more than any other aspect of my personality, and it is something that I have a need to exercise more than anything else.  A good idea is not something that I ponder, enjoy, and discard.  I must develop it, I must figure out what makes it work, and I must complete it.  Not doing so eats at me and can, in the right circumstances, make me physically ill with the thought that I have let a good idea slip my mind without being studied.  I need not ever publish these ideas, for it is in their development that I find my enjoyment.

It is with dedication and discipline that I begin this, the first full day of the fourth decade of my life.  (That's my thirty-first year, for the mathematically disinclined among you.)

How many moments have you let slip by?

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