I’m driving at night. It’s winter and the cars coming towards me all have bright headlights. So bright that sometimes I can’t even see. I’m temporarily blinded! I have to slow down or even stop because of how bright they are. Some have accidentally left their main beam on. Others have aftermarket lights that can’t be street legal. The government has promised to undertake a review of headlights but that’s in the future, right now I’m being blinded constantly. So much so that I start day-dreaming about installing extra lights on my car or a dial that I can dial up the brightness and blind them back, give them the message. But I don’t. I become the offended driver and shout out to them to turn down their lights. But no one can hear me inside my car. They can probably see me though, and the road for miles ahead.
When your body gets too old
I read about this former pro skateboarder, considered the best in the world by many. Born in the 60s he can no longer perform the tricks of his youth, his body just won’t allow it. He also gets funny looks when he’s on his skateboard, so he only goes out at night. Street cleaners and the homeless are the only ones that see him. An old man just skating the streets performing the occasional trick.
It’s sad when your passion in life is tied to your body’s abilities. As you get older your body just can’t perform the same movements that it could in its youth. And if you suffer an injury it takes a lot longer to heal.
Take Speedway riders for example. Due to the nature of the sport and the possibility of serious injury, it is considered a young man’s sport. Retirement age is around 40. Pushing that limit can have consequences. One rider pushed that boundary into his early 50s. He was past his prime and struggled to compete with the younger riders, but his passion for his profession kept him going as long as he could. He wasn’t ready to retire and become a commentator just yet. He felt he had a few more rides left in him.
Some keep their bikes, their skateboards, and ride just for fun. Limiting the risks. Embracing the feeling they get from doing what they love. For as long as they can.
Settle down
I overheard someone giving advice to another person the other day. They were telling them to settle down and have kids.
Settle down. What a weird expression. As if we are all manic living our lives and that at some point we should give up all the excitement and activity and settle down, and while we are at it have some kids. It’s an old expression used a lot and I get it. At some point in your life you should pause on the career aspirations and focus on building a family, if that’s what you want. I just found it an amusing thing to say. To settle down. To pause the flurry of activity that is your life to date and to live a calmer more family-oriented life.
The real price is the discount
I’ve learned that the real price is usually the discount. A seller will display a high price and then show you what you could be paying if you were a member or had a loyalty card. Or maybe they just display a discounted price but where the reduced price is the real price to make you think that you are getting a bargain.
It pays to be informed, to do your research. To look at what others are selling at, to compare the market. Don’t leave it till the last minute, when you are in front of the discounted special price item. Pulling out your phone to compare the market before buying may not work as some stores kill phone signals on premises to prevent you from calling up Amazon or Google. You could always step outside, or come back later. Don’t be forced into buying until you know the real market price.
Most people don’t pay retail any more. Retail prices are guidelines, targets to get below. Everyone loves a deal. It pays to do your research.
The progress bar
Sometimes it feels like we live our lives by the progress bar, just one pixel at a time. Just endless waiting for digital completion. In my youth it was watching D-copy or X-copy slowly copy an 880MB or 1.44HD floppy. Later, when I started testing software for a living it was animated progress bars of all kinds. One developer thought it would be fun to add an animated gif as a progress bar to keep us testers entertained. It just looped forever until the activity was complete. Its only job was to let you know that something was happening, unless the software had crashed in the background of course, then you would be watching that animation forever.
We can waste our life just watching progress bars.
The art of walking and talking
I haven’t yet mastered the art of walking and talking. It sounds strange to say that out loud but it’s true. When I’m out and about, especially in crowds, I tend to focus my attention on my surroundings and who is near me. When I receive a phone call that all goes to pot. My situational awareness is reduced. I try to find a place to the side, an alley or alcove, somewhere I can focus on the phone call while remaining aware of who is around me and who is listening.
Somehow both my attention to the caller and my surroundings is reduced. It’s worse if I continue talking. You shouldn’t use the phone while driving, and I definitely shouldn’t use one while walking. I lose half the conversation and get in peoples’ way.
The exception to this rule is when I’m in the countryside. With no one around I can enjoy both the walk and the conversation. With a hands-free kit the experience is even better.
I’m sure there is an art to walking and talking but I have yet to master it.
Something went wrong
Something went wrong.
I hate that message. It’s both a statement of fact and unhelpful at the same time.
Your laptop, device, car, whatever piece of technology that you are currently using has failed to complete the requested task and instead is showing you those three words: something went wrong.
What went wrong? How do I fix it? There is no help because it does not know. The exact scenario has not been catered for in advance. There is no exception handler for this particular exception. Instead you’ve fallen down to the bottom of the switch case and landed at the default, if nothing else show them those three words code branch.
Something went wrong.
Political music in minutes
You can now create professional sounding music in minutes thanks to AI.
You can write a country song for your girlfriend on your anniversary with careful written lyrics with meaning only to the both of you. And it can sound like a professional singer and band recorded it. All from the comfort of your own home, and laptop.
A new trend is political music. Music with a political message or bias complete with propaganda lyrics designed to resonate with your target audience. Available in all musical genres and styles. Rock, metal, jazz, classical, pop, you name it, whatever you want. Type in your message and the AI will create the track for you faster than you can make a cup of coffee. Fine-tune it and release. Voila! Your political message or viewpoint is injected into the music streams of your choice ready for the masses to consume.
Amazon takes responsibility for the delivery
I hate it when you leave feedback on Amazon for a problem with the delivery and the response is always:
Amazon takes responsibility for the delivery.
Except they don’t.
They don’t take any responsibility. They just post that useless statement.
Do they reach out to you and offer compensation? No.
Do they issue you a refund, discount, or ask for feedback? No.
Nothing happens other than them posting that useless statement.
And we just accept it.
The bad delivery. The package tossed over your fence into your garden, the dents and rips, the excess of packaging, no packaging.
Amazon does not take responsibility for delivery.
I wish I knew
When I was younger I wish I’d understood finance more. I wish I knew how pensions worked, and taxes. I wish I’d understood how I could have made up years towards the state pension, how I could have reduced taxes with self assessments, paid off a mortgage faster, and benefited from tax-free investments.
I learned all of the above the hard way. By being overly taxed and having a rubbish pension. By learning what I should have done after-the-fact from others.
They should have taught this stuff in school, but they didn’t. Instead we are taught maths that we will never use. Why not teach us how to balance an account, how bank accounts work, about loans, pensions, and investing? Teach us something that will be useful when we enter the world of adulthood and financial obligations. Or at least point us in the right direction.