The Age Of Novelty

 One of the interesting stories in the book Superbloom by Nicholas Carr is how a superbloom of flowers in California caused a bit of a crisis when thousands of visitors swarmed the area so that they could take pictures of the Superbloom. It is a phenomenon that has manifested itself more and more, especially given the fact that social media and social influencers are now a thing.  People - really tourists - flock everywhere now, wanting to get their pictures taken by famous things. In some cases - like Justin Bieber in Iceland some years ago - these sorts of events lead to ecologic destruction of the environment in the rush to "get the picture". In other areas - like the Dolomites - local farmers have taken to charging for people to walk across their land to take pictures.

We all must now be able constantly see the amazing.  We live in The Age Of Novelty.

---

The Age Of Novelty (Trademark for me, I guess) is a phrase that came to mind when I was thinking of the fact that our modern Western World constantly demands to be amused and enthralled by the novel.

Social Media has driven this of course:  we now see pictures from all over the planet (and beyond it!) of people going amazing places, doing amazing things, and - at least in appearance - living "their best life ever".  

And for many, they demand that this be true of themselves as well.

The Age Of Convenience helps this trend as well - technology helps us not only with the social media aspect but the travel aspect.  Abundant energy means we can go to the magical places quickly. And the abundance of riches means that such things are accessible for more individuals than ever.

The Age Of Convenience did not create The Age Of Novelty - after all, the ultra rich of every age have sought the exotic and unusual (looking at you, Roman feasts with peacock tongues), but it certainly democratized it.

---

There is a danger in having living in The Age Of Novelty of course.  It is that we will become so addicted to novelty that the ordinary becomes boring and something we retreat from.

Most of life is - frankly - ordinary and not-novel.  It is a series of activities that we do every day.  Many of the things that we do to live and exist - work, cook, clean, provide; the ordinary things of life - are for the most part simply that: ordinary. They are not novel.

But it is in that ordinariness that we gain experience and knowledge.

By doing a thing a thousand times - say, drawing a sword or cleaning a house - I learn the best way to do the thing. I learn where I can perhaps shave some time and where I have to spend the time.  As I water a garden or care for an animal (or a loved one) over time, I come to know their foibles and their ways: I can learn where the best place is to plant tomatoes (not in the shade, apparently!) or when a rabbit suddenly loses their appetites.

I would submit that every person has mastered a thing has, at some level, been deep into the ordinary activities of that thing and life itself.

Novelty seekers are denied this.  Yes, they can - and do - see amazing things and have amazing experiences, but those are often one time events that may or may not stick and even if they do, become a memory or a memento on the shelf or a picture on social media, destined to disappear in the flow of information.  And coming back from those experiences, how pale and boring life must seem - the ordinary life, the life that most of us actually have to live.

---

I have to be fair of course: I am as guilty of this as anyone else.  I feel the pull of the new, the novel, the exciting - and, as exhibited by my travels and hobbies, sometimes do it.

But there is, I feel, a difference.

For all that I go to these places and do these things, there are simply novel experiences.  They are not something that I constantly demand happen.  I am just as happy to return home and go for long stretches with my daily schedule and arguably quiet (and boring) life.

And perhaps therein lies the difference.  For some, they cannot walk away from The Age Of Novelty.  For others, it could be lost without any impact whatsoever.

Because even in the ordinary, we often find the novel.

August 2026 Grab Bag

 August, as it turned out, was a very busy month

My grandmaster (soke) was here for the end of July and most of August.  As a result, we got to spend two hours a week training with him for four weeks instead of our usual one hour a week of class.  It was great training, but I was reminded - yet again - of how far I have yet to go in correcting some very basic mistakes.

We are all, he reminded us, students on journey, even himself.

The New Home Seminar has been rescheduled for September, so I will see him and my sensei again in two weeks.

---

Clearly August was dominated by the hike to Mt. Whitney.  What also happened during that time is the first session of my new school program started.  My professor was very kind in not making a big deal of me being out for this pre-planned trip.   That said, I missed the introductory session and hit the ground running by arriving home Sunday and plunging right in to the thick of it.  

Over the course of the semester we are required to make four 10 minute presentations, create a weekly blog "post" (like a short paper), and participate in online discussions.  

I managed to cobble together a post on Monday (thank goodness I blog for an unpaid job!).  Coming late, most of the slots for presentations were already filled in so I took what I could; my first presentation is next Tuesday.

Even one class in, I found myself really enjoying this and even starting to think a bit differently.  I think this will be good for me.

---

Although technically falling into September, of note I (along with at least two of my coworkers) registered for a Fall Curling League.

It is a full team (4) and will cover 12 games.  I have to confess I never saw myself as an "after work" sports person, but I quite enjoy the sport. 

Looking forward to (maybe finally) being able to do some posts on it on future Fridays.

---

Somehow in the course of everything, I realized that I now have to plan things on weekends at least a month out.

This seems remarkably ridiculous to me - yet, when I look at things, my calendar seems to have almost magically filled up through the end of the year.

I cannot consciously ever remember being in this place before.  It is the oddest feeling.

A Year Of Haiku (XXXIV): Slither

 

Summer's hot granite:

outgrown, outworn outer-ware

cast off, abandoned.

Travel Interlude (IV): Whimsy Imagines

 

(Source)

The older I get, the more I embrace whimsy.

I embrace it because - as I continue to discover - my interests and passions are inherently whimsical.  They do not fit into the modern world at all.  They likely will not move me forward in "the world".  They will certainly not enhance my bank account or my career.  They might enhance my social media standing, but only with those that value such things.

And what have I discovered?  That those who value such things are the sort of people whose opinions I actually care about and in whose lives I am actually interested in.

So go be whimsical.  And then have the courage to build your life around that whimsey.  It will likely be far harder, but will also likely be so much more fun along the way.

Travel Interlude (III): One Friend

(Source)

Friendship is an odd thing - as more than one person has said, it can sometimes seem like walking down an aisle, randomly grabbing someone, and saying "This one.  This one is the one."

Most of those that have been or become my good friends over the years are not ones that I would consciously have chosen at first. They very often seem like a set of random events in meeting among the hundreds of people that we encounter in our lives.  There is something - some interest, some spark - that moves it beyond the greeting phase to the "Hey, this person seems like someone worth spending time with".  That moment is often lost to the history of friendship, but there are times I can still remember it happening: the moment where The Director introduced me to Uisdean Ruadh in the Spring Semester of our freshman year of high school, the moment at work where Rainbow and I started taking a walk at lunch, the moment when The Shield Maiden moved beyond just another throwing acquaintance to a friend.

What  difference those friendships make.

My friends believe in me, sometimes more than I believe in myself.  My friends have listened to me rant and rave and helped me come out on the other side, if not better than at least feeling heard.  They lift me up when I down, remind me of the things I have done when I can only think of the things I have failed at.

How empty my life would be without them.  

And what a testimony to the fact that one person, one friend, can truly change a life.
 

2026 Mt. Whitney: The Triumphant Return

Friends - After 8 days, 85 miles, and 23,000 feet of elevation gain (more or less), I am back.  For the second time, Mt Whitney- the highest peak in the contiguous 48 U.S. - was successfully summited.

I have vague and general notes to get together so I must once again beg your patience, both in documenting it as well as responding to your comments while I was away.  I leave you with a few pictures as a good show of faith.

Your Most Humble and Obedient (and Tired) Servant,

Toirdhealbheach Beucail

A Year Of Kindness (XXXII): Worthy

 

(Source)

There is nothing more crippling to a person that to tell them that they are not worthy and are not loved.

You do not really appreciate the depth of the issue until it has happened to you.  And likely, it has happened to all of us at some time:  a parent, a spouse, a friend, a coach, a manager, a relative, a coworker.  It can come from anywhere. 

But its impacts can last for a lifetime.

To believe that one is not worthy and not loved is to carry a burden that no human was designed to carry.

---

To believe one is not worthy and not loved can manifest itself in one of two behaviours.

In one behaviour, we are always searching to make ourselves worthy and loveable.  We will go to any length, do almost anything - sometimes very foolish or even dangerous things - to prove that what we were told about ourselves was not true.

In the other behaviour, we become hardened.  We do not care if we are worthy or loved - and too often, we come to treat others as not worthy or not loveable.  After all - if I am not, I need not treat other people as they are worthy or loveable either.

Instead of being confident and coming from a place of love and strength, we come from a place of desperation or anger that tinges everything we do.

---

When we are kind to another - when we offer them worth and love simply by treating them kindly, we strike back at a world that does not share such a message.

Francis Schaeffer writes often about the importance of treating people - all people - as if they matter to us, because in point of fact that matter to God.  The Bible says they do, of course - after all, God sent His Son to die for all, that all might be saved.  But often we can fall short of this:  we treat some people as they matter, just as the world does.

We should treat people as if they are worthy and loveable, just as God treated us in the same way.  And that can start by simply being kind.