Little Talk:

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How Much Coffee & Tea Does A Man Require?

My current answer:

Somewhat to my surprise, I found that I was unable or unwilling to give up the morning coffee. I found that I enjoyed it, and I also felt the coffee makes it easier to read. My new plan is to possibly split breakfast into two, a first breakfast with coffee, and, if hungry, a second breakfast without.

A breakfast I am liking at the moment:

1. First breakfast: coffee, crackers, a biscuit, or two, and fruit.

2. Second breakfast (if hungry): fruit or fruit-juice, hummus or lentils, tabbouleh or dolma.

If that's not enough to appease the gods of iron absorption, well, then, they might have to get used to disappointment.

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How Much Dull Routine Of Existence Does A Man Require?

My current answer:

1. waking up

2. morning session

3. afternoon session

4. evening session

5. night session

6. winding down

waking up:

1. wake up

2. tether the phone

3. go back to bed and stare out the window a bit

4. turn on the laptop

morning session:

1. 5 minute warm up

2. check e-mail

3. 5 minute meditation

4. first breakfast (with coffee)

5. reading, perhaps writing

6. second breakfast (without coffee). If not hungry, second breakfast can just be combined with lunch.

7. exercise

8. shower

afternoon session:

1. lunch

2. browse the news (if you want)

3. work (if you want. Perhaps, even if you don't want)

4. afternoon break

evening session:

1. tea

2. read the newspaper (if you want)

3. work (if you want)

4. evening break

night session:

1. dinner

2. short walk after dinner (or something similar)

3. 5 minute cool down

4. check e-mail

5. 5 minute meditation

6. watch tv (if you want)

7. read (if you want)

8. work (if you want)

winding down:

1. untether the phone

2. turn off the laptop

3. pace around and stretch a bit

4. fall asleep

Besides being dull, this routine is probably a bit too rigid. Life will usually get in the way, I think. But, sometimes it doesn't.

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How Much Audio To Accompany Desk Work Does A Man Require?

My current answer:

morning session: consider not listening to audio

evening session: listen to audio, if you want

afternoon session: not sure

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How Much Web-Surfing Does A Man Require?

My current answer:

Two types of web-surfing, two peeks and one poke for each.

1. Broadsheet, fine print web-surfing

I wear sophisticated clothes, read sophisticated news, sophisticated socks, for my sophisticated shoes.

peek #1: morning

peek #2: afternoon

poke #1: afternoon / evening

My preferred method for broadsheet web-surfing (I think):

1. Quick glance at the news in the morning

2. Browsing the news in the late morning / afternoon / early evening

3. Reading the newspaper in the late afternoon / evening

2. Tabloid, red top web-surfing

Virtue needs some cheaper thrills.

http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/2008/08/theology-of-calvin-and-hobbes-part-1.html

peek #1: morning

peek #2: afternoon / evening

poke #1: evening

I had a vague memory of "Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's Red Top Circus". But then the internet informed me that it was Big Top, not Red Top.

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How Much Reading Does A Man Require?

My current answer:

types of reading:

1. glancing: quick look at the headlines

2. browsing: quick look at the headlines, the body and the links

3. reading: alert, unhurried

types of content:

1. "the gossip": tabloids, tabloid-based social media, etc.

https://scroll.in/article/920855/s-muthiah-1930-2019-the-man-who-taught-us-how-to-love-madras

". . . He accepted and relayed gossip with relish; he knew that gossip was the lifeblood of a city. . ."

2. "the news": blogs, websites, breaking news, news-based social media, etc.

3. "the newspaper": synthesized news, published on a schedule, and with community support

4. textbook, heavy reading

5. comic, light reading

What if the textbooks are happy and cheerful? What if the comics are hard-boiled and bleak? Good question.

Not super relevant, but back in the day, I read a book by Shakuntala Devi, which had a section on acronyms for Pi:

May I have a large container of coffee?: 3.1415926

How I like a drink, alcoholic of course, after the heavy chapters involving quantum mechanics: 3.14159265358979

approximate times for reading (I think):

1. quick glance at the gossip before tethering the phone

2. heavy, textbook reading after tethering the phone

3. light, comic reading after heavy reading, or in place of it

4. quick glance at the news in the morning

5. browsing the news in the late morning / afternoon / early evening

6. browsing the gossip during an afternoon or evening break

7. reading the newspaper in the late afternoon / evening

8. heavy, textbook reading before or during the late evening

9. light, comic reading after heavy reading, or in place of it

10. browsing the gossip, again, after tv, after reading, after work, before turning off the laptop 

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Next post: September 29, 2023