State of the Substack & Works in Progress; How to Appreciate What You Have; Why Time Goes By Faster As We Age; The Art of Growing Older; Netflix Accused of Using AI Photos in Documentary & More!
I really enjoyed the "Dads...article". I wasn't a paid sub. I had a really good and poignant thought to add to the comment box. I saw that comments were for subs, and so I thought, sure. It's worth $5. But after I went through all the hoops of getting my sub going and came back to the article, my ADD had kicked in and I had no clue what I had planned to say.
I enjoyed the music. Music can relax and reset one's mood. I'm careful of a song's effect on me. If it's bringing me down, I turn it off fast. Other songs invariably make me feel good. C.S. Lewis taught me other tricks: he said if one makes oneself smile, even if one feel a little off, one's mood will lift. So I try to maintain a "Mona Lisa smile" as much as possible (see St. Therese of Lisieux). It absolutely works. On the other hand, Lewis said if one pretends one is angry, clinching one's fist, starts cursing, yelling, throwing things, etc., just as an experiment, one starts to feel genuinely angry.
There is power in pretending, so be careful what one pretends to be. Mary McCarthy (author of "The Group") pretended she was an atheist in Catholic high school to get attention (or was it college?) and then, lo and behold, she lost her faith. My sense is she never regained it. She once said to Flannery O'Connor (at a dinner party) words to the effect that the Eucharist is a marvelous memorial, to which ardent Catholic Flannery replied "Well if it's just a memorial, to Hell with it." That got the startled attention of the other guests at the dinner party. I find Flannery's writing a tough slog, though. I enjoyed reading her collected letters. She had a hard life and died in her mid-fifties of Lupus.
Suggestions: you could tutor for writing and Enlish and American literature and other subjects, you could become a ghost writer, you could write screen plays. I have an idea for a mini series:
"Kristin Lavransdatter" is a trilogy of historical novels written by Sigrid Undset. This trilogy won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1928. Only the first book in the series was produced for the screen (by actress Liv Ullman). The trilogy is largely (obliquely) autobiographical. I wish Martin Scorcese (who has produced some movies on Catholic themes) would take up this project, but some one has to write a screen play and pitch it to various outlets. And it would be a very tough sell, because Catholic themes aren't that popular, except with obscure production houses.
Regarding why time goes faster as we age: because our brains are far more active, and we have to work nonstop and have so many interests. We enjoy reading and can fill hours reading.. I am much more intellectually engaged at 71 than I was at age 11. There is so much to do, and never enough time to do it.
I refuse to read anything written by AI, but I suspect it is happening without my knowing it. I want HUMAN authors.
I am trying to think of a song to send you. Hm, okay try this by "the Sundays":
I really enjoyed the "Dads...article". I wasn't a paid sub. I had a really good and poignant thought to add to the comment box. I saw that comments were for subs, and so I thought, sure. It's worth $5. But after I went through all the hoops of getting my sub going and came back to the article, my ADD had kicked in and I had no clue what I had planned to say.
I enjoyed the music. Music can relax and reset one's mood. I'm careful of a song's effect on me. If it's bringing me down, I turn it off fast. Other songs invariably make me feel good. C.S. Lewis taught me other tricks: he said if one makes oneself smile, even if one feel a little off, one's mood will lift. So I try to maintain a "Mona Lisa smile" as much as possible (see St. Therese of Lisieux). It absolutely works. On the other hand, Lewis said if one pretends one is angry, clinching one's fist, starts cursing, yelling, throwing things, etc., just as an experiment, one starts to feel genuinely angry.
There is power in pretending, so be careful what one pretends to be. Mary McCarthy (author of "The Group") pretended she was an atheist in Catholic high school to get attention (or was it college?) and then, lo and behold, she lost her faith. My sense is she never regained it. She once said to Flannery O'Connor (at a dinner party) words to the effect that the Eucharist is a marvelous memorial, to which ardent Catholic Flannery replied "Well if it's just a memorial, to Hell with it." That got the startled attention of the other guests at the dinner party. I find Flannery's writing a tough slog, though. I enjoyed reading her collected letters. She had a hard life and died in her mid-fifties of Lupus.
Suggestions: you could tutor for writing and Enlish and American literature and other subjects, you could become a ghost writer, you could write screen plays. I have an idea for a mini series:
"Kristin Lavransdatter" is a trilogy of historical novels written by Sigrid Undset. This trilogy won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1928. Only the first book in the series was produced for the screen (by actress Liv Ullman). The trilogy is largely (obliquely) autobiographical. I wish Martin Scorcese (who has produced some movies on Catholic themes) would take up this project, but some one has to write a screen play and pitch it to various outlets. And it would be a very tough sell, because Catholic themes aren't that popular, except with obscure production houses.
Regarding why time goes faster as we age: because our brains are far more active, and we have to work nonstop and have so many interests. We enjoy reading and can fill hours reading.. I am much more intellectually engaged at 71 than I was at age 11. There is so much to do, and never enough time to do it.
I refuse to read anything written by AI, but I suspect it is happening without my knowing it. I want HUMAN authors.
I am trying to think of a song to send you. Hm, okay try this by "the Sundays":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stgYpvijRoQ