Just do your best.

And other random thoughts

Sometimes the thread isn’t there.

I feel like almost every day has a message come out of it. The seemingly random things that happen throughout the day have this narrative thread connecting all of them in a way only I can see (though I’m sure you can see your own as well). At the end of the day, I see it or feel it, and it gives me a vision for where my thoughts are going as I head dreamily (or nightmarishly) into tomorrow. Other days it’s just a bunch of random stuff.

Today I woke up in a pool of my own randomness. Here are a few thoughts that have been hanging around:

Don Miguel Ruiz, in The Four Agreements, says the fourth agreement is Always do your best. It’s a difficult thing to do, but it’s not as difficult as expecting perfection. (Man, that’s another post for another day.) I can’t say I live this every second of my life, but I have it set as an alert in my head to at least notice when I’m definitely not doing my best. Then I try again.

The Avett Brothers, in “When I Drink,” sing Just do your best. It’s the only way to keep that last bit of sanity. Maybe I don’t have to be good, but I can try to be at least a little better than I’ve been so far. I like this too.

I think sometimes we expect the world to do its best if not actually be perfect, and, well . . . there’s a long road ahead in that journey. “A little bit better” might be a good intermediate goal on that one.

I know it seems like there might be a thread in these things. Ignore that.

Conan O’Brien said not to be cynical at a time when it made perfect sense to be cynical, and I’ll never forget it.

There’s so much noise. It’s so hard to notice anything when so many noisy things demand to be ignored.

You’ll never notice noise with a more heightened sensitivity than when you try to record a podcast in your house.

Cats are so independent until they’re absolutely obsessed with attention. Dogs are absolutely obsessed with attention until they want to get away with something.

I’m a metaphor hunter. I find them everywhere and then I beat them to death.

My favorite thing about sports is when people say, “This time it counts,” even though the entire purpose of sports is to construct a meaningless pursuit of an arbitrary goal just for the fun of it. It always matters and it never does.

An observation I can’t seem to shake from my consciousness is that morals, good or bad, wouldn’t exist if there were no humans.

Neil Diamond, baby.

If I were to write a dystopian novel today, it would be about a world of smart devices and AI platforms that talk to each other after all the humans are gone.

The placebo effect is the most fascinating thing in the world. Drug researchers actually have to test to make sure they’re making a drug that works not just better than doing absolutely nothing (because that also often works) but also better than a psychological ploy (because that works too). Doing nothing and pretending you did something are still two moderately effective solutions, and you gotta make sure you’re doing better than that. And sometimes you know they have to go back to the drawing board because in the competition between doing nothing, pretending to do something, and the drug they’re testing, the drug finishes third.

Horror movies do a terrible job of depicting just how hilarious it is when people get scared out of their minds.

Claymation is the coolest thing ever. Honorable mention: fire.

I remember thinking honorable mention was a better distinction than first, second, or third place. First place is the popular choice, but y’all are sleeping on this honorable mention kid. It’s like the critic’s choice or something.

Man, third grade was awesome.

If I had to choose one cereal to eat for the rest of my life, it would be Wheat Chex. It wouldn’t even make me sad that it was the only one I could eat, that’s how much I love it. It’s weird, because my second choice would be Cookie Crisp, but I would long for other options were that my cereal for life.

I need more coffee.

This morning is weird.

I’m so grateful that you read anything I write, but especially that you made it this far through this random mess.

Have a wonderful day.