Small things are good.
- Reasonable to process
- Light on the mind
- Easier to remember
- Higher quality
- Low commitment
Big things are bad.
- Cumbersome
- Heavy
- Long
- Difficult
- Excruciating
So instead of complaining about big things, here are some small things I've enjoyed lately for a change of pace:
Wide Ocean Big Jacket
This isn't a video game review site from 2014, so I'll try to avoid nerd shit. However, WOBJ is published by Tender Claws. They're one of the few groups I actually trust to make video game stories worth investing time into. While they didn't develop it, I'd like to think they have good taste.
Uplifting, but imperfect. Funny, but grounded. Telling, but not preachy. And most importantly short. A story about time, place, and family told in the context of a camping trip.
Saturday Cricket
When I go to the park during the weekend, I've now been able to watch a local game of cricket a total of two times.
It's fun. I don't understand it at all. Well I kind of understand it.
There's two people with paddles, a pitcher, a bunch of people in the field and posts at opposite ends that the paddle lads stand at. The pitcher is trying to hit the paddlers or the posts. I think.
Maybe by game three I'll understand how anyone get's points.
Vesper Flights
While not inherent to Vesper Flights, it really has been an enjoyable experience reading a collection of essays over a traditional novel.
Books are big ∴ bad – Essays are small ∴ good.
I find myself more capable of taking the time to read a single essay. It requires little of my terrible memory to pick up weeks later, and I can easily finish an essay in a single sitting even though I read at a 2nd grade level.
It's impossible for me to recall everything told, considering the long breaks between reading sessions, I have had one take away. Nature is similar to an illusion – knowledge may reduce the mystery, but it does deepen the magic.
Names
My current ongoing goal in life is to find myself in a place where there is grass (preferrably tall), sun, and possibly hills. Well I found myself in that place recently (or at least what I could get at the time) and it turns out that other people also had that in mind – who would have thought.
So as I'm lying there I'm overhearing all these conversations between kids, varying in ages (think like 6-12). And they would constantly refer to eachother by name, never pronouns.
I'm too dumb to know or explain why younger people do that. Maybe its a cultural shift I don't know of or simply names are easier then using more generic terms, but it really stuck with me.
As time has passed I've really noticed when people refer to me by name. Ben. Weird.
Maybe it's just the circumstances and environment I'm currently in, but it really is a small positive change in my life. Gonna try it.