As I sit on the couch, and compose the text you are reading, know that the couch is comfortable, I have washed the dishes, done the laundry, brushed my teeth, showered, cleaned the house, trimmed the lawn, watered the plants and exchanged all pleasantries needed just to get by. After all, this is what we do daily, follow a sense of routine. It is a sense of routine, for we know by the occurrence of life experiences to date, nothing goes as planned. Unless you are part of a play and no one improvises. That is because enough opportunity is given to mitigate mistakes so that there are no mistakes during the real performance. That is why it is called a play, a performance because it is perfect.

Beyond the forth wall, we should take steps, be accurate and do it so that we become efficient at it. Beyond vacation, special events, work and problems, these are basic chores that we do. When people get married there is grandiose build up to the night of the wedding, then reception, collecting blessings, presents, being tired and equally looking forward to the after-party 😉 that involves playing super ‘SMASH” on some stage or platform. After the ‘grand day’ and incurring of some major sum, mainly dropping our pockets for the perfect performance and depending on your source of income, you may not get the same tax benefits you did when you played single player campaign mode. Now you’re in Coop mode. You would think, life has taken a huge turn.

 

But really, lets take a seat on the couch, sip on some fine wine and pretend we are wine people. Know you will still do laundry, brush your teeth, have breakfast, wash dishes, clean the house, trim the lawn, shower (coop mode, now), water the plants and continue to output the same pleasantries the day after. Life continues and as time passes, the memories (in the album), will continue to incur dust until one pleasant day you are cleaning or have guests over and as they are seated on the couch after all chores (of course, I hope you got help with the dishes) you decide to share it with them while having dessert, preferably Thai Rolled Ice-cream, sitting on the couch. Look, the memory for which you spent a thousand- and one-nights preparing, collects dust while guests comment on your ‘before’ and ‘after’. You go on about your day, they go on about their day, going to bed and waking up and doing the actions according to blocking followed by the grand act of brushing teeth.

Why take the path of material display for a couple of hours, when for a lesser sum, you can spend a month traveling the world, trying new foods, meeting new people and getting life changing experiences. Now you’re exploring the open world and taking on challenges in co-op mode with a bag filled with many skins, that you don’t have to pay extra for as DLC. So, on the travels you will carry out some percentage of your chores whilst gaining experiences. I mean you are going to brush your teeth.

 

The concern- well if I am betrothed without inviting all relatives, they will feel bad, on both sides. Why should they feel bad? Is it because they want to be a part of that memory? Or want the free booze? Or they genuinely care. If it’s a matter of photographs, then invite everyone and take photos and in fact, whoever wants to be in that memory tell them to charge their phone and send you the images they take with them.  

Time passes, we forget somethings and not others, but we sure remember to brush our teeth, before bed and after rising from it.

 

 

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Note: This thought was provoked by a conversation among myself and some associates surrounding the homage we pay both in a quantitative and qualitative sense, to grandiose events which can be considered milestones as constitutionalized by the construct. In a John Wick sense, it is safe to say these are rules made ‘under the table’. We often forget (I am sure this has been said repeatedly), the little parts of life. The gathering of friends, having a laugh, the first kiss (cliché level over 9000, Kakarot) and all the positives and the negatives (unless you’re learning integers for the first time, then the confusion level will also be over 9000 as well). Well, the conversation delved into exploration and it was suggested to, spend money on travel.

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Travelling to some degree sheds your identity and gives you the label of a tourist. In this role, you don’t know, and everyone else knows that you don’t know; you’re almost like a little child, exploring everything by their mouth (I mean if you are a food traveler-guess it applies to you) and that is how we grow and learn. Moving on now, we need to leave the comfort of knowing temporarily to not knowing at all and exploring. It’s like, deliberately getting lost but, being safe at the same time. It’s like going to the park to play under the hot scorching sun with an insulated water bottle/electrolytes and sunscreen. We need to expose ourselves to experiences that induce discomfort and challenge our fears. It is only human to feel discomfort, because the brain is wired that way; has to do with evolution. When I say discomfort, I don’t mean climbing Mt. Everest with speedos and swim goggles. Travelling is key, for it contributes to an experience that broadens our perspective. It’s like, unlocking an area on a map that we couldn’t already and knowing what it has to offer and how it helps you level up.

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We all just need to chill and travel. Big trips every 6 months (over a week), small trips (quarterly-or whenever there is a long weekend) and weekly (on the weekend exploring, visiting or doing something that is besides chores, or just setting the goal of doing at least 20 cannonballs off the diving board one day. Hey that’s a memory, a great story too if someone says, “what did you do?” and you can give metric descriptions of the height of the biggest splash as well as the volume of H20 displaced by your very acts. Here's the catch though, you have to be a little rational and the cost maybe hard work and a busy work schedule, since you need the money to spend for travel. That's okay though, because if you went on trips without hard work then you will not appreciate it as much anyway. Oh also make sure, you're not going into debt doing this.

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Cheerios…Frosted Flakes…happy…brushing… teeth...good night...good morning!