I’ve been posting Sundays about the books and movies I finished that week. This week I didn’t finish any new books or movies, but I did a few new things. A New Vegetable for Me: Jicama I discovered a new vegetable this week, jicama: I’d never heard of the vegetable, but I saw a bunch of them in the food scrap bin when I dropped mine off. They looked like[…] Keep reading →

Tell someone with kids or a job that you pollute less and they will tell you they can’t because of kids and a job. Then they’ll lecture you about your ignorance and how you couldn’t understand what it’s like, never mind that humans have had kids and had to work to eat and for shelter for 300,000 years. Have you read about the woman, Candice Burt, who ran fifty kilometers[…] Keep reading →

I meant just to list all my sidchas in my post Freedom exists in structure; it’s not chaos, randomness, or luck. Here’s my structure and freedom, but I made a mistake. I included standard procedures with sidchas. I didn’t think of the distinction. One is habits. The other is the best way to do something. I’ve written about sidchas. What about procedures? If there’s a better way and worse way,[…] Keep reading →

Freedom exists in structure. It’s not chaos, randomness, or luck. When I find something works in my life, I make it automatic. For many people, diet and exercise seem horror shows, or mysteries, wondering what they should do, how often, how much, and so on. When the most important bases of my life are automatic, I don’t have to think about them. I can focus on everything else. People might[…] Keep reading →

I forget it I posted this sidcha, though it’s not that challenging, at least not any more, though it was when I started it in January 2022. At first kicking the addiction was hard. Maybe it’s more of a habit. It’s not a restriction though it may seem that way if you haven’t lived it. The sidcha: I don’t eat when a screen is on. Or when I eat, I[…] Keep reading →

Yesterday began month 9 with my apartment disconnect from the electric grid. Today begins year 13 posting daily to my blog. Which seems more challenging? Which has taught me more about myself, humanity, and nature? Tough call. They seem even. I’m continuing both so I’ll keep learning from both. The off-grid in Manhattan seems more rare, a bigger disconnect from my ambient culture. Earth also passed a month after the[…] Keep reading →

Today begins month 8 of my apartment disconnected from the electric grid. I’d wondered what I’d do as the weather got colder and days shortened. Now I passed the winter solstice so days will lengthen. The weather will still cool for another few weeks, but I may have passed the hardest part. It occurred to me I might just have to keep going for the year. We’ll see. It can[…] Keep reading →

Regular readers know one of my sidchas is meditating, which I’ve done for over a decade and regularly for years. I’ve posted about it lately. I’ve used a few different techniques over the years. Sometimes I use koans. One is Who am I? sometimes What am I? I also often examine consciousness, which is oddly both all of what we experience and slippery to get a hold of. Asking who[…] Keep reading →

It’s easy to track how many burpees I do as part of my twice-daily burpee-based calisthenics. I know how many I do per day and I don’t miss days, so I just update the date in my spreadsheet and it tells me. More accurately, the spreadsheet tells me a minimum since now and then I do burpees for other reasons, but I haven’t missed and, so I’ve done more than[…] Keep reading →