slowing down

It’s weird to write this blog, knowing that I hadn’t planned to make another long blog post, but also knowing that things would probably end up heading that way. So really, I have no idea where this will take me, but I’m strapping myself down.

For example, I was sitting at my laptop writing the past sentence three and a half hours ago, when I heard a game of Clue going on outside my suite, so I joined it, and then ended up watching “Grand Turino”. (Great movie, by the way.) Now, I’m laughing inside at the craziness that goes on in my life, and I’m quite happy with it.

Earlier this evening, I walked over to the Hillside market to grab a box of cereal and half a gallon of milk for tomorrow’s breakfast. I went outside just in my T-shirt, as I am prone to do, so I noticed quickly that the weather was very warm for an early January evening. As a result, instead of doing my usual power walk that I use to minimize my time being exposed to the elements, I slowed down. Enjoyed the short walk. Looked around. And mused for a while about stuff.

I’ll wrap this up quick, because I’m tired and you’re probably getting bored. My point in all my ramblings is this: whether we rush through a day, cramming anything and everything we can into each second; or whether we take things leisurely and let each hour go by without care; every minute passes at the same rate for everyone. So why not slow down? Why let life tear past you at breakneck speed?

One thing that’s awesome about foreign cultures is that they value relationships more than schedules. Rather than be on time to an event, they prefer to say hi and chat for a while to one person, and a minute later strike up a new conversation with somebody else on their route to wherever. Perhaps that’s part of the solution to life in the fast lane…talk with people more often.

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Author's note: Something I was going to mention in this post, but decided against, was another interesting thought I've had recently. That is, why does it seem that people try to categorize their friends according to how they know them? I like to think that instead, I simply have two categories, people I know and people I don't know yet.