The Long View

The past week has been a "soft pants" week. I've been wearing sweatpants all week, and don't think I've left the house for any reason for the entire week, other than to have an extraordinarily bad anniversary dinner at what laughingly claimed to be an Italian restaurant. That's retirement for you.

There are so many problems with modern society that they are too numerous to count. One large problem is that everyone today has a megaphone, which makes the cultural noise level pretty much unbearable as far as paying attention to it is concerned. Civilization is on the brink, according to everyone. Democracy is threatened, the economy is on the verge of collapse, the auto industry will soon fail, we will be overrun by gays and immigrants and transgendered people. The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

Well, if you study human history even only a little, you'll come to realize that the sky is always falling. Human disaster is always around the corner. There's always hatred to be had in large amounts somewhere in the world. There's always profit in fearmongering, and so you will find that going on to fleece the ignorant and fearful. There's always someone lusting for riches and power, and so that particular human activity can always be seen in any form of government at any level; local, national, international. Oppression is an element of life in large parts of the world, as it's always the case that some humans seem to believe that they are superior in some way to other human beings, and so feel the need to stamp out the inferior segment.

I do not know why humans are wired to behave this way. Throughout the course of human history we have improved in every way possible except where it counts the most - how we treat each other. Since I don't see that changing for the remainder of my lifetime, the only sane choice is not to concern yourself with it. People who are out there "changing the world" seem to believe that, if you can change laws or governments or economies or other external factors, the world will become a better place. The truth, however, seems to be that evolution, not change, is the key factor. Until humans evolve and begin to live up to the various higher principles they seem to know exist, but choose to ignore, the sky will always be falling.

Wow I Have an Upstairs Office

 Well I made the jump and have set up an upstairs office. Why? It's warm up here! In my house, the attic is insulated, and so whatever warmth from the radiators and rising air from downstairs makes its way into this room stays in this room. The greatest advantage of having the office up here is that I can type without my hands getting cold.

I've tried a number of solutions to remain downstairs, but they all seem to have a weakness. Gloves with the fingertips cut out still let the tips of my fingers - where the typing action happens - get freezing cold. I wear vests and sweatshirts, but they get bulky. I've tried space heaters, but they cost extra in electricity. But this solution is going to work. The room is warm, there is a bay-like window with three panes so I can see so much of the outside world from my perch, and I'll be able to catch partial sunsets right from here.

And we don't even lose the use of a bedroom. If company comes, there is a futon for one, and we still have the second bedroom upstairs for a couple. My former upstairs office, which we call the "cold room" because, for reasons unknown, it has no radiator in it, can now be used for storage or even a second bedroom. And when we eventually move downstairs as we age, as long as I can climb the stairs I can have an office. The one downstairs is slated to become our bedroom down the line.

How much time I'll spend up here I don't know. I still have two comfy places to sit downstairs for leisure reading and surfing. This just might be a writing room for now, and that's just fine. I'm pretty privileged to have a house and space dedicated to writing. So yeah, a warm writing room motherfuckers!! It's a sweet development!