Some Days

Some days when I wake up I feel like the words I read once, "A bowl of oatmeal stared me down and won."

And Some days when I've been writing, editing and updating Web pages on my Mt. Rainier NP photo guide all day I feel by the evening the only thing I want to do is have a face to face conversation with a pillow, to sleep and dream. Today is one of them.

Being Obsolete

I like to see the current state of consumer technology, especially electronics and music systems. That's not to say I follow it obsessively or even more than casually. I just like to see what's there and where it's going. But as we know and see more quickly the progress in technology comes at a price, obsolescene, not just what you have and use, but what and who you are. Yes, we become and are obsolete.

That's not new in our culture and society. It's as old a bosses decided to fire or retire older employees, not so much to save money but they found younger ones better, or at least in their mind, neglecting the experience and wisdom of older employees. We're just not progress anymore when new is the operative word.

And it's as old as family shuffled the elderly family members into corners of their life. And it's as old as some who just wandered away from the mainstream to find themselves living in isolation from the world. We've seen the many stories and we know the many people, and most of all we fear our own obsolescence, real and inevitable.

And it's not new it's a progression through one's life. The young generally want the new and the older cherish the old. We go with what we know and what new we can learn and master. Everything else just isn't important, even people. But what's important isn't what you keep personally important as you get older, it's how you see it relative to you, your life and the world.

It's about meaning. Meaning in a person's life, to them, to their world and the world itself. What the young don't realize and know is what older people already have experienced and know. We are all obsolete, it's only relative to when and how much, and at the rate of progress of technology, it's only going quicker and faster. The young will see in their 30's what we, the older generations (in my 60's), saw in 40's and beyond.

I collected vinyl records from the early 1960's, mostly my brother's but some mine, but not seriously until I was in the service and bought my first stereo. Vinyl lasted well into the 1990's when CD's became mainstream replacing vinyl. In the years of vinyl records, tapes of all sorts of size, speed, format came and went, but only really studio master tapes survived along with Digital Audio Tapes (DAT's) for copying and distribution.

This meant the standard audio stereo system was basically intact from the 1950's through the 1990's and even into the first decade of the 21st century. The improvements in technology was still around the basic idea of a stereo system, only the technology and quality of the components changed. My stereo is still intact but pretty much little used anymore outside the amplifiers to power the speaker system.

I say little used because now almost everything is run through my Mac computer. My turntable, an AR-X, yes, an audio antique but a great one, is still used as I'm putting my 700 vinyl records into iTunes via Vinyl Studio application . The two studio DAT decks and two CD (one CD-RW and one CD-R) aren't used except to keep them working as all my CD's are in iTunes

I added an Apple Airport express to connect the Mac to the stereo's amplifiers and added a Internet radio application (Radium), replacing the tuner, to stream any FM radio station to the Mac and the stereo which controls the speakers through the home. And while I haven't decided what to do with the little used components, as there is no market for them anymore, it only shows how obsolete really great audio equipment can become in the face of progress and technology.

And it goes to show how easily we can and do become obsolete by just being who we are. We can't stand still anymore, because if you do, you'll be obsolete real fast, and it doesn't matter anymore how old you are. Something the younger generations are learning. Feeling old isn't about being old. Not anymore. And being obsolete isn't either.

The Sunrise

The only real thing I'll miss in death is the sunrise, for it is the only true thing in life, to know it will always come and the day will always be there, for whatever I want to do. It's it the only real thing that tells me I'm still alive. It is always different, every morning like life, my life, and whatever happens in the day.

Mental Rainy Days

Today is a mental rainy day. And beside it's a typical winter day in western Washington, namely on and off rain showers and lots o' clouds. Did I mention clouds and rain, like all day? Well, maybe a sun break or two later, but that's a maybe and only a glance through the cloud cover.

But that said, some days are like that for me where I just lounge around and putter doing small things. It's like the mental and emotion well being inside my head is being pelted with rain and clouds dampening any sunshine that I might think or feel. I've learned to just skate through these days doing small things.

The sweeping the floor philosophy in Buddhism. Pay attention to those small things that need attention but don't demand much energy, throught or emotion. Just trudge onward through the day. Some days I feel just good enough to focus on thoughts to write on my blogs, like this one. The thoughts just happen in my mind and writing is just what happens to get them out.

And some days I don't, occasionally becoming a couch potato watching reruns of Law & Order and CSI shows which don't require a lot of thought but at least have some plot. Those days I usually end up doing chores around the place because to see it clean and organized makes one (aka me) feel a little better at the end of the day having accomplished something useful.

Otherwise, it's just a day, overcast, gray, and rain showers with the occasional sun break for a moment. Both outside (with a big southeast facing window) and inside my mind. Sometimes it's the best I can do and the best to do. Tomorrow will come and today will be just a forgotten day. Well, except for the smal things I got done.

With All Due Respects

I read a recent article in the NY Times Science Section, "Depression Defies the Rush to Find an Evolutionary Upside", by Dr. Richard A. Friedman (his Website). Well, he attacks evolutionary biologists who suggest depression has some beneficial aspect, but fails in some respects.

First, he supports pharmacological (drug) solutions to depression, including conducting clinical trials for drug companies, which he doesn't seem to inform the reader his bias from the outset of the article. Second, he generalizes from studies conducted evolutionary biologists which is exactly what he criticize others for their criticism of clinical and drug therapies for depression.

But mostly he forgets the obvious, depression is part of the human expression and experience which has been a part of human evolution, and to push a position that we shouldn't have it because it not essential to modern times doesn't make sense. In short, we should all be happy and if you're not, then try drugs to make you happy? Ok, overstatement, but it's at the heart of his argument.

He discounts studies showing depression helps people be better judges in some situation, especially deception. Studies have shown slightly depressed or Dysthymic people are often better judges of reality where "happy" people tend to overemphasize the positive side of situations or circumstance, often leading to problems or failure.

He dismisses studies that depressed people have often had periods of creativity, sometimes great as noted by the list of writers who frequently or often had periods of moderate to severe depression, and recovery has hurt that creativity. Depression changes your view of life, and he ignores the many who have benefited from it.

He dismisses that studies which show Dysthymic people are often the most leveled headed, realistic people, seeing the greater complexity of issues and many possible directions to question, investigate and solve issues or problems. In short they're often self-contained brain-stormers doing more than many teams of people because they see the many sides.

He dismisses the many benefits of Dysthymia and depression, to suggest that the inherit benefits aren't necessary to society and culture. He's an advocate for anyone feeling depressed and especially clinically depressed to seek help and especially seek drugs to overcome their depression, and not seeking to see the benefits of it.

I won't argue his points that people suffering moderate and especially severe depression should seek help and especially if they're having thoughts of suicide. I won't agree that drugs are the solution to suicide, often one of the various types of conversational therapy is better and drugs should be the last resort, at least in my mind.

The reasons are that all drugs aren't effective for all people, usually about 50% , all drugs aren't always effective for those it does work, usually to some degree of effectiveness and taking time to work, where the individual is left wondering when and how much it will help, and all drugs eventually lose their effectiveness requiring an increasing dosage or a new drug.

Anyway, it's a complex issue. The writer tries to reduce it to simplicity and only succeeds in expressing an opinion than establishing any answers. So why does he make the point? Well, maybe just to complain. Like that's helpful? Not to me.