Love, Poetry and Revolution - Thursday 12th September 2024

Yoga.  Chair yoga. About three years ago I was practicing yoga twice a week.  It was perfect for me, both physically and mentally.  Life has been hectic and it became tough to fit it in. Now I'm not working, I have no such excuse.  When I transitioned from working to not, it took a long time to switch from the working mindset to one where most of the time was mine.  At least six months. Six months versus more than forty years.  

I'm out of practice and have not exercised as much as I should. My weight proves that. I'm getting back into it slowly.  I'm starting with a daily programme of chair yoga exercises.  Touch wood, it's going well.  I've planned it so I don't get a cup of coffee until I've done the day's exercises. Seems to be an incentive for me.  My fitness and flexibility are still good enough to return to full-body yoga, soon.  I'll begin online with the class I used to attend, and there's a chance there may be a class I can attend in person when I'm in the 'Pool.

The chair is very healthy, at least.

I've been thinking about playlists a lot recently. I need to create some new playlists, but on what basis? The need for one or more new playlists was prompted by the realisation that I was bored with the one I randomly listened to.  It's not that I no longer like the songs/tunes on the list, just over-familiarity. I don't like it when I keep hearing the same songs.  I want to be surprised.  The randomising algorithm always seems to play certain songs, often in a similar sequence.  My perfect playlist would automatically select new tunes that I find interesting (and the algorithms the streaming services use to predict what I'll like get it so wrong, and often seem to be an excuse to push an artist who's becoming popular, somewhere) and also select a small number of old songs I've not heard in ages.

I have considered creating playlists to match a mood or a feeling, but I've found that nigh-on impossible. What I feel like listening to at any moment, can change as fast as the weather in my brain.  I'm probably going to create a new single, all-encompassing playlist, unless anyone has any better suggestions?

I'm also trialing TIDAL versus Qobuz at the moment.  TIDAL is cheaper and has a wider selection of the music I want to hear, so it's looking as though I might switch.  It also depends what my sons think too, though all of us have found that Qobuz doesn't have certain things we want to hear.

Gardening.  There's huge progress in the garden and whilst I'm away the guy I'm paying to clear the jungle is filling a skip with what's been cleared of the jungle.  I will be taking on the rest, once the tops of the bushes are low enough for me to reach with a step ladder. Gardening is intended to be part of my weight loss/exercise/health/fitness master plan. That's the theory. It's a trade-off setting boredom against health and, hopefully, increased longevity.

Rain stops play. Today. With any luck, weather permitting, I'll be off to Liverpool John Lennon Airport to test my photography skills.  Fingers crossed.

At least I've managed to pop out and get my hair cut despite today's biblical downpours.

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

are moving across the landscapes,

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting–

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.

Fast Money Music /  'Hunky Dory'  / (Single) 

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