We were playing Monkey Ball. Monkey Ball 2, the target game in particular. When I say we, I mean Rebecca, Luke and I. It was the end of our session, and we were wrapping up. Rebecca’s monkey fell off the side of the launch ramp. I made fun of her and got tickled in return. Then, Luke escalated it by reaching over and punching the button to make my monkey stop flying. We were all laughing. And I thought, I’ll repay the favor. That’s when my son’s laughter immediately turned to hard, ugly tears. He was so upset.
To be fair, he didn’t nap that day. It was coming up on bedtime, and we’re still in the nap transition where no-nap = tenuous bed time. But I figured, we were all laughing, and turnabout is fair play.
I learned an important lesson. Turnabout IS fair play. Except for when it is not.
Archives for May 2014
I Wish, I Wish
Imagination is a tremendous thing. I walked by my kids acting out part of the video below (the part around 1:35). And then, they flew with dragons.
I worry that as a result of my inundation with “news” and media that purports to be social, perhaps I’ve inhibited my creative senses. Looking forward to see if they regenerate. I wish, I wish…
What you want
Sometimes you can’t get what you want… because you don’t know.
#QuitTheNews
I read The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli. It turns out he’s maybe a little less than above-the-board with his references, so the ideas that were so helpful may come from bunches of other people.
The most potent part of the book for me was at the very end, chapter 99, Why You Shouldn’t Read the News. It was so good that I searched out the author’s website and found the long form, somewhat earlier version of his thoughts. Apparently they’re very much inspired by Nassim Nicholas Taleb,
The key thought, for me, is that
People find it very difficult to recognize what’s relevant. It’s much easier to recognize what’s new. We are not equipped with sensory organs for relevance. Relevance doesn’t come naturally. News does. That’s why the media plays on the
new. (If our minds were structured the other way round, the media would certainly play on the relevant.) The relevant versus the new is the fundamental battle of the modern man.
I find the argument (not all the points, but the overall argument) compelling. I’m aggressively pursuing the relevant rather than the new. It’s hard work, but I think it’s a good change of focus.