Category: Plans

Happy Halloween everyone

I love eighties films. There is so much irreverence in them. At the same time, they seem so innocent compared to what’s filmed now. Maybe it’s just that I don’t fully grasp the context.

If you want a great laugh – and some Halloween costume ideas for next year, watch the wildly absurd, yet thoroughly entertaining Stone Cold*.

My personal Halloween favourite is The Nightmare Before Christmas. I think it is a masterpiece of storytelling: it is so incredibly well-timed.

Given that the house is full of Halloween-themed items, I have (re)invented a sport called Volleyballon. I highly recommend it.

I think the reason they have so many festivals around this time of year, in various cultures, is not only the seasonal availability of food, but also the fact that the evenings are getting longer. How are you spending yours?

Happy Halloween everyone.

*It was technically shot in the nineties, but it has the heart and soul of an eighties classic. If you find it as irresistible as I did, you have to also see Kung Fury (free to watch), a Kickstarter-funded parody for eighties films that captured a lot of their charm. What are your eighties favourites?

September planning session

Do you guys plan things for the year to come?

The habit of planning things around the 1st September comes from school – and old habits die hard.

It’s hard to plan things ahead. Mostly, we plan too much. Go to the gym four times a week, cut out chocolate and caffeine after 1 pm, go to bed early and get up at 7 am, practice mindfulness for 20 minutes a day every day,  stop buying things you don’t need, don’t spend more than 20 minutes a day on social media, finally learn French…

Within a week or two of our aspirational re-birth, an unplanned situation leads to failure: you stay up until 12, can’t make it to the gym, eat cake at a friend’s birthday party… And the failure leads to the self-flagellation: “I didn’t keep my promise, so I’m am weak and worthless.” And then: “Well, since I’m a weak and worthless, I have nothing to lose. I’ll eat a tub of ice cream. ” And the next day comes the disappointment: “Why did I do all this yesterday? It’s exactly what I was trying to not do? I have no willpower. I will never change, it’s hopeless. ” And the wheel of the vicious planning-failure circle keeps turning.

It often turns out that we change habits by creating new ones. And the new ones aren’t necessarily more adaptive. Going to the gym four times a week gives you “permission” to eat that ice cream. Saving money on taxi rides gives you “permission” to buy more clothes. Once again: ice cream and clothes are on a pedestal, and you – mentally – are in the gutter. Not ideal.

I have the idea that making things public makes it harder to go back on your promises. Or so says JFK. Here are things I hope to get done before December:

  • add photos of me to this blog and make it more personal
  • instead of only making a list of what I plan to do the next day, start also writing a list of things I accomplished today
  • do a basic course in coding (xhtml? html5?) and see if I want to continue with it
  • sort out my car
  • bring Mam to the theatre
  • go on a short holiday
  • go to the gym at least 40 times
  • read 3 books

You are more than welcome to follow suit and tell me what you plan. Tag it #TC2017

The picture is of my Mam and me, many 1st of Septembers ago.