2026-04-11 - I walked many miles this morning
This is the kind of writing that might ought to be reserved for private journaling, but I feel its public presence could help others so here I go.
A thought I have been developing. If one believes a particular action or activity is wrong, even in a potentially trivial way, and one engages in it, their mind on some conscious or subconscious level will find a way to diffuse this cognitive dissonance. It’s a body keeps the score situation.
I won’t rule out that I may be particularly hard on myself, but I feel this way whenever I engage in some of my unhealthier habits. There’s no need to get into the specifics here: the whole point is that whatever I personally label to be unhealthy.
It’s like I cannot un-ring the bell. It makes me empathize with individual’s who may have dangerous habitual disorders, such as those around eating. The work that must be done has to be an act of re-evaluating and reconsidering values. De-stigmatizing is what must be done.
I suppose this could be considered brainwashing in the most positive sense.
Which makes me think of something I’d like to flesh out more at some time - the notion that tools that we develop for good might always be usurp-able for evil. Like if we can learn how to change peoples minds for the better, does that offer a method for those with less-than-ideal intentions to co-opt these practices?
We always must safeguard ourselves from huxterism - the human trait to want to exploit others good will for an easy buck through the use of confidence scams. I sometimes think about the origins of cons and conmen coming from the notion of confidence, but how the term is now more or less detatched from its origins and stands on its own. It’s almost as if the originators of the term were trying to tell us something but the true meaning got buried along the way - a type of con if you ask me!
I did go for a 5+ mile walk this morning at the Sandy Creek nature center to clear my head and commune with the flora and fauna.
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2026-04-13 - first test of remote set ups
I am here, at Sips. I am reflecting on the regimented life. That is, I am trying to plan ahead for the fall semester - trying to tackle any administrative holes so that I can begin to build a schedule and clear any sort of obstacles out of the way.
i think i need to start building a list of daily practices - or at least know which things i need to practice daily in order to maintain a sense of accomplishment, productitivty, and self-fulfillment
surely, writing is part of this practice, though knowing the fashion with which it should be spun is altogether a different question. will it be different days for different types of writing? different blocks of time for different types? likely it will be a sort of decision tree: a buffet or a choose your own adventure style approach to seeking whim while adhering to standards - two things i think should be in rightful balance
anyway, back to the original intent of this post. if the git update works than modifying and upating this blog should be a piece of cake, and I have perhaps set myself up for a certain kind of success. thanks as always to the folks at Obsidian and quartz
pt 2.
today is a two-parter. not long after writing the previous post, i got in my car to go grocery shopping only for the engine to turn off when i was going downhill around the corner from my house. the car cranked back on with ease, so i went to the gas station to top off my gas as the trip meter read 200 miles and i know the gas level can be iffy, particularly when low
however the car did not crank back on after i filled up the tank. some good samaritans offered to push my car to a parking spot and even to jump start the battery - neither of which i believe are the issue.
i felt pretty helpless, which made me reflect on the role of experts and the art of car maintanance
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