My_Brain_Gets_Itchy's Journal

[My_Brain_Gets_Itchy]

#036 08/01/2013 Useless Right Brain Projects for Non-Picasso Types

In a past post (#024 08/04/2013 Left Brain-Right Brain ERE 2 Step), I mentioned how I viewed my transition into FI as a process of using my left brain (ie. logical, rule driven, reasoning, numbers and math centric, and critical/analytical) to free my right brain(specifically creativity and the abstract).

Also, I've recently had a "re-enlightenment" on how solitude plays a huge part in the creative process. It's a bit of a chicken and egg thing. Does solitude spur creativity? Or do we seek solitude to be creative? I have no idea! But the correlation between the two is significant.

This is a gross generalization so feel free to dismiss this as hyperbolic, but it's my opinion that with the exception of artists or those in artistic fields, most of cease to become producers of creativity when we become 'adults'. We get most of our right brain stimulation primarily through consuming it. We watch or listen passively, rather than create actively. One can call this, a creativity deficit, consuming more than producing.

This was not always the case for most of us however, even if we never had the natural inclination or talent. When we were young, we had a boundful surplus of creativity and right brained engagement. We drew on walls, coloured, doodled, engaged in endless imaginary play, played music, sang songs, built forts, wrote stories, et cetera. Well, at least I think most of us did.

Playing with my niece and nephew, has made this abundantly clear. Their creative minds flow like a river.

When we became adults we realized that these activities have very little monetary or tangible return. I.E. they are a waste of time. Childish. Not Practical. How are you going to support yourself?!

It's unfortunate that it took something like following FI for me to reject this notion. I'm grateful that it has, but also miffed at how much I compromised.

So, I'm trying to get back in touch with these waste of time, useless and non-practical things

Project 1: Photoshop

The first project I worked on was teaching myself photoshop. I always ALWAYS wanted to know how to use photoshop, but never did. But, it's amazing what youtube can teach you. Youtube was able to teach me how to use photoshop in one morning. Once I got my head around the fact that everything is all about layers, things began to make sense.

I did a lot of hacking around on photoshop on different subjects, and I found myself in the flow. It feels really good creating things.... just because. Like my niece and nephew when they scribble shapes with their crayons, and call it a duck.

I did a lot of hacking around, until I turned to the subject matter of FI and ERE. I then found myself fixated on this ERE forum banner.

No offence but I find the standard stock templates blah!

I'd imagine Jacob's requirements would be something not too flashy.

So here is what I came up with:

(These banners won't fit in a forum post because image post width limit is 800px and the image is over 900px wide, so you just have to click the hyperlink instead:)

ACTUAL SIZE BANNERS:


https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Ak0h ... parody.gif
Joke!

Here are the real ones:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-VYST ... o/ERE6.gif

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-lGKi ... o/ERE2.gif

Project 2: Early Retirement Motivational Posters (hang them on your wall ?)

We are a very specialized and a very small population/community among a sea of cosumerists.

But, we really shouldn't take ourselves too seriously. You have to see the humour of how consumerists/materialist see us. We all need to laugh at ourselves right? So yeah, let us be ridiculed and ostracized!

Starring my three favourite characters: Spaghetti Man, Bowl Cut Boy, and Bus Guy.


https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Ok_R ... _a_bus.jpg



https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-nOr- ... me_now.jpg



https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-sGv_ ... ghetti.jpg


Project 3: Youtube Video

I never had a Youtube channel, and I never made a Youtube video before. Truth be told, one of my bucket list items is to create a viral video.

This isn't really an attempt at a viral video, just something I wanted to do, just because..

Just because maybe in 47 years when I am 88, maybe I will show some distance niece, nephew or posssible grandchild how gramps got to work (as well as some cheesy theme songs that couldn't get out of his head) a few summers before he retired way back when.

MBGI's Youtube Video

-BTW, You will find 4 easter eggs in this video. Unfortunately, that torturously mean you will have to watch the entire video to find them. If you find the 4 easter eggs, I will be thoroughly impressed!

----

Truthfully, I'm a bit self conscious about showing all these things. Like I said, I'm no Picasso, and by no means am I a pro at any of this stuff. but I got to say, i really enjoyed working on them.

Since I've repressed my right brain long enough, and since none of you really know me, I said oh what the hell and posted despite my right brain insecurities .

(PS. If these links either disappear or become broken it is because one morning I woke up and felt too naked and hit the delete button.)

[JoThomas]

Love your journal. I've been following for a couple months now and your insight is really compelling. I feel I'm on the same journey, in ways. You're inspiring me to take some leaps. The photoshop stuff is great - putting things out in the world is the first step. Bravo!

[My_Brain_Gets_Itchy]

@JoThomas:

Thank you so much.

I'm trying to come up with an itinerary equivalent to your biking experience for retirement. Just like 'annual prolonged solitude light'. I am hoping that I will remain hungry for the 'unknown', and I hope that my theory of a seasonal cycle of solitude(nomading) and community(homesteading) will make me a better and more balanced person.

100 days of pure solitude like your adventure is quite an amazing and challenging experience. Especially for the time when you did it (20 years ago) when there was really no cell phones or internet or information readily available, it must have been magnitudes more difficult and isolating than it would be today.

[sshawnn]

Your journal post has given me a lasting smile this afternoon reminding me that we really shouldn't take ourselves so seriously (at least all the time.) I have a poor connection at the time so I found zero eggs. The motivational posters are hilarious.

[spoonman]

I think the parody banner should be shown at least once a year, say April Fools or something. I just love the shirtless, heavy-looking dude holding the remote...absolutely golden.

The bus motivational poster is awesome! (I've been fantasizing posting it in my cube in my last week of work...don't know if I'll have the balls to do it).

I am officially jealous of your bike commute, so many beautiful trees and ample trails. The theme songs you picked are absolutely hilarous! The first theme song is gonna be stuck in my head for the next three days =). I'm only partway throught the video and spotted my first easter egg.

[My_Brain_Gets_Itchy]

@bigato: Thanks bigato! I will PM the boss see what he says. I will CC you just in case.

@sshawn: Thanks @sshawn.

@spoonman: Good for you for finding the first easter egg! lol, i kind of see the video as a stop to smell the roses kind of test (or a waste of time for the viewer,lol, depending on the perception), because the only way to find them is to sit and watch the whole thing.

[George the original one]

I'm too busy catching up on posts to watch the video long enough to spot any easter eggs, but, as with your other graphic endeavors, I sense talent waiting to be unleashed on an unsuspecting world.

[anomie]

hello and best wishes......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWyAfEt- ... e=youtu.be

omg a 31 minute video of a bicycle commute!!! ( Listening to it as I write this post ..)

ruf insane? !!!

I love the 80's theme music you chose. (can I get the sound track?)

But in what world is a 30 minute bike commute reasonable. wow. you are a strong person.

best wishes.

(edit to add video link)

[Sere]

Love the motivational posters... Would like to print and frame them as a present for my husband, I think he'd love them! Would that be ok, mbgi?

[BlueNote]

You should have a poster that shows you riding your bike beside the bus with a look of disgust on your face due to the ostentatious display of wealth from those bus fare paying dandies.

[jacob]

Obviously, I'll run the/any April's fool banner!

But but ... OMG ... you lost the great race! (I saw several people overtaking you.)

PS: DW was humming/singing along on almost the entire soundtrack.

[My_Brain_Gets_Itchy]

@GTOO: much much too kind of you to say, but all seriousness, I'm just a hack! ;P

@anomie: lol, I ripped the samples off youtube, and the shows they came from are in the credits at the end.

@Sere: Absolutely!

@Bluenote: lol! Shhh... If you say that too loud, @spoonman, a bus riding dandy, might hear you and it may just start a flame war between the biker class and the bus dandies ;P

@jacob: oh wow, that would be awesome if you did! I have to tell you that way back when, when I lurked, read your book, and began to post, I never would have thought that I would be contributing in that graphic manner.

Oh yeah, about getting passed, yep, my bike is a clunker. The first week I was riding, I would take it as a personal insult to my manhood when someone would pass me, and would peddle furiously to try and keep pace, but eventually I gave up.

In my defence, most of the guys are wearing bike spandex up the ying yang (aerodynamic edge) and riding very expensive carbon fibre bikes (technology edge). I'd like to go head to head with them clunker to clunker!

I ride even slower now than what you see in that video, partly just to stop and smell the roses when I ride, and partly to annoy all the Spandexy Lance Armstrong wannabes zipping by like they need to take a furious pee.

On a seperate note, I'm kind of sad no one found all the easter eggs

But here's a hint for my favourite one:

Its starts here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWyAfEt-jbs#t=21m10s

and is somewhere within the next 90 seconds from that shortcut point in the link.

IF ONE person, can actually find this Easter Egg, my life will be complete.

Placing that Easter Egg took a lot of hard work and timing!

[spoonman]

Ah, the bartender...perfect!

Gosh, I just can't help feeling how the bike trails in Toronto put the one's in LA to shame. I mean, we have bike trails, but not as useful and extensive.

[pooablo]

That bike commute is bad ass, muthafucka! I have yet to explore High Park yet on my bicycle though I have been close by to the Junction. The Toronto West Rail Trail is lovely.

I had to steal your bus meme and post it on Facebook along with Macklemore's Thrift Song Video!

[anomie]

Easter Eggs:
9:29 Erik Estrada of CHiPS
22:30 Ted Lange , Isaac the Bartender of Love Boat
( thanks spoonman for getting me on the trail )
others?

[My_Brain_Gets_Itchy]

@spoonman: For some reason I can't even picture the image of bike trails in L.A.

@pooablo: It's a bit of a hike to where you are, but I promise that if you ever decide to check it out, you will love it. Take the TTC instead.

@anomie: Two more..

[My_Brain_Gets_Itchy]

#037 08/22/2013 Working Saturdays instead of Fridays

I am thinking of working Saturdays instead of Fridays. Or at least intermittently.

Maybe 50% of the time, while I wait for next year, to see the resolution of the 20/50/50.

I believe that my work would let me do this, if I want it enough.

Friday vs Saturday

Society has deemed one a work day-Friday, and the other a day of rest/leisure-Saturday.

Because of this, infrastructure and social rhythm revolves around these definitions.

On one day, there is rush hour, coffee lineups, morning and evening news shows, deliveries which all revolve around everyone doing the exact same thing between the general hours of 9 to 5.

On the other is more or less the exact same thing, but instead of revolving around work related things, they are applied to leisure, ie. malls, brunch places, parks, theatres, attractions etc.

Because of this, we have somehow defined Saturday as having more value than Friday.

I.E. in equation form:
Saturday > Friday

This can be interpreted as such probably because the leisure infrastructure on a Saturday which is normally rare is much more accessible than it is on a Friday,

But what if a significant portion of my leisure is in solitude? And what if what my state of comfort and satisfaction, regardless of what I do is inversely related to the amount of people surrounding me? What is the definition of Friday and Saturday then?

If you take away the massive conditioning we have had since we were raised into structured institutions/society (i.e. kindergarten and onwards), one day is no different than the other, they both have 24 hours. The sun rises and sets exactly the same.

In my pursuit/education of solitude, I have become considerably less tolerant of things I used to be able to tolerate. Similar to when you stop drinking, a single drink can now give you a buzz where it didn't before.

For example, large crowds and congestion make me feel much more cluttered and dissatisfied, than before. Sporting events used to be something I enjoy, but not anymore. The chanting ritual of cheering I find demeaning.

Mob behaviour.

(I've realized that a lot of the time in the past when I was engaged in extracurricular group behaviour, most of the time it involved alcohol to varying degrees. But now that I don't drink, I see more clearly what my true nature is).

It can be argued that the patterns of both Fridays and Saturdays are mob behaviour. Brainless and automatic.

It is a trade off I realize that comes with moving downwards of the spectrum of sociability, that I lessen my immunity to herds. My social range becomes narrower.. tighter. Less resilient on one side of the scale, i.e. noise and congestion, but much more stronger on the other, solitude and silence. I feel now I have an immunity to boredom, whereas I didn't before, but at the cost of my ability to cope with the masses.

Hearing how I speak these words, I can't help but hear my own bitterness.
I hope I am not becoming Angry-Loner-Bitter Guy.

As things blur around me during my transition in FI, my definition of what 'work' becomes hazy. I question a lot more. My thought becomes more independent. I feel even less reliant on the standards of the mob and I come to the conclusion that things in life are a lot more dynamic than static, if I chose them to be.

Working on a Saturday, the office is empty. The roads are empty. No crowded elevators. No chatter. No emails. The floor is mine. It is solitude bliss. I sit in a sea of cubicles, and I make no effort to hear myself think, it comes naturally. I don't need my earplugs.

As I continue my efforts to empower not only my FI-ness and my INTJ-introvertedness, but also my state of being an empowered single man, I fully admit that I have little obligation or responsibility.

I realize that this lack of obligation and responsibility will either make me or destroy me.

[My_Brain_Gets_Itchy]

#038 08/22/2013 From Domestication to the Wild.

If a wild animal that is raised domesticated, say in a cage in a zoo, is all of a sudden released to the wild as an adult, there is a very good chance that animal will die.

That naturally wild animal never learned to fend for itself, to hunt, find shelter, fight off prey. It has instincts that have been neutured.

Just because it is yearns to be free and hates his cage, his yearning is not enough to allow him to survive in the wild. His yearning can be blinding ignorance of the reality that exists outside of the cage.

So then, that newly freed cage animal, released by his wishes into the wild, running straight into the jungle of life, can be knocked off by the first set of predatory hyenas. This is death by ignorance and naivety.

Or the door of the cage can finally be open, the animal steps out, looks around, takes a few strolls around the cage, it becomes dark outside and he becomes hungry, and it sits back in its cage and enjoys the view of a cage with an open door. This is fear.

To learn to be free, to learn to be wild again, is not a simple task of opening the door of the cage.

That animal is me.

In my days now in FI, I respect my ignorance and fear.

I spend all my free brain cycles to overcome both.

[JoThomas]

Very interesting thoughts. Taking the first step is the hardest part - I think especially as we get older and have a life's worth of experience on all the "what ifs". When I set out on my bike journey (20 years ago this summer) I remember on the day I departed I laid on my mom's couch till noon. I was filled with fear. I didn't want to go but I also knew I had to go. I always think about that fear because had I let it control me I would have given up the best summer of my life. A week or two into the journey I found that there was nothing to fear. My days were spent pedaling along mostly lonely country roads, that's about it. But I grew to really enjoy it, watching birds, ecology, movements of the sun - the small things became profound and my senses were heightened - I learned how to see. After the trip it took me a month before I could drive my car over 50mph, I hated that scenery would pass so quickly.

In regards to your FI journey and your expressed fear. The practical part of your journey to FI is a journey towards permanently solving those monetary concerns that are part of modern living - paying for food, shelter & clothing. If you have this problem licked, then you're not really like the instinct-dulled animal setting itself free because your passive income will protect you from the wilds of modern life, like a force field around you wherever you go. The fear then must be something else; fear of the self, fear of not knowing what to do, perhaps. This is what I find most interesting about people on the FI journey. It's not so much about the money and security, it's really about "who am I". If you're free to choose how to spend your day, then damn it, you really need to know how to do that. I guess you're right, it is scary.

And about being Angry-Loner-Bitter Guy. That's a choice we all have to make as we grow in life. I remind myself that life as joyful, inclusive, endlessly fascinating (most days, I can go with this!). You can have your solitude and this embracing attitude as well. They may in fact be complementary. Perhaps in this world, as you're finding, it's too easy to always be with people (physically and more-so digitally) and we're boring each other with the immediacy of our connectedness. If you live a more balanced life with both solitude and socializing, your social moments may be more compelling, more rich and more unique both to you and others. I recall you wrote about deleting your FB account and being happy with that decision. Like those meditating monks who also live in the commercial/social world, you're on to something.

Thanks for keeping your journal. Your thoughts always help me as I work through my own on this FI awareness path.

[My_Brain_Gets_Itchy]

@JoThomas: Thanks for your thoughts and perspectives. It is being able to receive and connect with replies such as yours that make journaling so rewarding. Thank you.

It has triggered some thoughts I've had for the last while, so I thought I'd just write them up into another journal post.