Spool Five

I’m writing this in response to the May 6th entry on Ran Prieur’s, always-lovely, blog:

May 6. I’ve quit meditating. Instead, I do nothing. The practice is basically the same but the framing is totally different. Meditation is something that highly driven people do to improve themselves; nothing is what lazy people do whenever they get the chance. Meditation is a chore; doing nothing is a relief. While meditating, you focus on your breath in order to still your thoughts; while doing nothing, you focus on your breath because breathing is the only thing you can’t not do.

I’ve been experiencing moments of melancholy and nostalgia over the past months. Nothing too intense, just notable. It’s an old, familiar feeling, but one I hadn’t felt in a long time.

Prior to teaching kids English, I had zero experience working with children. I was so surprised and relived to find that the kids I teach here are very smart and well-behaved for the most part.

I currently live in what you could maybe call a ‘suburb’ of Seoul. I guess when you think of suburbs you think of sprawling streets with houses and lawns. So, in that sense, my town is not a suburb. But, if you imagine stacking all those houses on top of each other - stretching between fifteen and thirty stories - and imagine all the green lawns as ‘communal’ gardens, then, yes, it is a suburb.

Wed Mar 24 19:58:04 KST 2021

I mentioned in my first post here that I am currently living in Korea, but that I would soon be returning to my home country, Ireland.

Sat Mar 20 14:11:33 KST 2021

I had my first covid test this morning.

I wasn’t symptomatic, nor had I been in contact with anyone who had tested positive. Nevertheless the test was mandated.

Wed Mar 17 22:35:27 KST 2021

I used to study philosophy. Specifically, the philosophy of technology and hermeneutics. In the philosophy of technology, there has recently (recently in academic terms at least) been an increase in interest in Michel Foucault’s late lectures. In these lectures he continues his examination of power, but turns toward a more ‘appropriating’ sense of power. To do so, he returns to an ancient Greek understanding of ’technologies of the self’. Of course, the term ’technologies’ is a bit ambiguous here.

Sun Mar 14 16:28:16 KST 2021

I’m not really sure what to put in this gopherhole.

I have a Gemini capsule now, and a regular old http site, and I don’t really see the point of repeating the same content over and over again.