Saturday December 9, 2023
First, a little more on my smoothie. I can’t get enough of it. I literally watch the clock through the first half of the day, anticipating the strike of twelve, so I can begin my process. One frozen banana, seven strawberries, a healthy pour of frozen blueberries, one spoon of flax meal, one scoop of chocolate protein powder, a solid pour of almond-cashew-macademia beverage from Trader Joe’s, a big scoop of greek yogurt with honey, and a spoonful of almond butter. Seriously, that shit is so good.
But the reason I love it isn’t the flavor. It’s the fact that I know I’m going to eat it. It’s constant, and most importantly, it’s a decision I don’t have to make. That’s extra brain space for me. Brain space is so valuable. And the less decisions I make per day, the more time I have to enjoy the world around me, get lost in living.
Some other things that happened in the world today: I rage-quit a game I was playing against a computer, I took a shower, Shohei Ohtani agreed to a 10 year, $700,000,000 contract to play baseball for the Los Angeles Dodgers - which made me wonder, is LA a baseball town or a basketball town, among other things - and the Los Angeles Lakers are playing the Indiana Pacers in the NBA’s Inaugural In-Season Tournament Championship game, where the winning roster will win $500,000 per player.
The crossword puzzle gave me the most trouble I’ve had solving in as long as I can remember, and also a lot of other things I’m less educated on, like Gaza being divided into 600 blocks by Israel, UPenn’s president resigning among others. I’m not trying to not have an opinion. I just don’t know because I don’t stay plugged in. I’m thinking about changing that but I’m not sure the benefit it would bring to my personal life yet. I guess right now I’m a little selfish when it comes to global issues and humanitarianism. I generally think I have to do right by myself first, which includes being kind to people and focusing on the people immediately around me to surround myself with as much good life as possible.
I spent some time outside reading The Myth of Sisyphus while my dog Morpheus relentlessly brought me his ball, asking me to play with him, perfectly demonstrating one of Camus’ points:
“Let us insist again on the method: it is a matter of persisting.”
-J.P.