mike the mountain » Books http://www.mikelawton.com/blog Thu, 03 Nov 2011 15:36:09 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 You will never eat your favourite food, you will never hear your favourite song http://www.mikelawton.com/blog/2011/04/04/you-will-never-eat-your-favourite-food/ http://www.mikelawton.com/blog/2011/04/04/you-will-never-eat-your-favourite-food/#comments Mon, 04 Apr 2011 20:58:48 +0000 Mike Lawton http://www.mikelawton.com/blog/?p=726 Holy crap has it really been nearly three months since I was on here? I need to start trying to form coherent thoughts that take more than 140 characters to elucidate.

There’s a thought that’s been rattling around in my head for a while and I need to get it out. I don’t want to, because it’s depressing and unhealthy and generally something on which I don’t like focusing, but at this point it’s become like holding in a fart on a crowded bus.
I’m 33 as I write this. Let’s say, for the sake of simple math, I live to be 93. As well, for simplicity’s sake and a touch of optimism, let us assume I am able to travel and function and enjoy my faculties right up to the end. That gives me 60 years. 720 months. A little less than 22,000 days. Most people would say that sounds like a lot. To me, it is a terrifyingly, infinitesimally small amount of time.
There is something like 195 (http://geography.about.com/cs/countries/a/numbercountries.htm) countries in the world. I used to consider myself fairly well-traveled, fortunate enough to grow up in a family with the means and desire to see the world. But when I really think about it, I’ve maybe visited 8 actual different independent nations. Some for only a day, which can hardly be considered a true experience of the culture. That leaves 187 countries in which I’ve never set foot. If I want to see them all, that means I need to average just over 3 new countries a year, for the rest of my life. This year, our big travel plans are Vancouver. Maybe, if we have a really good year, Mexico in the winter. Those will be great trips, but I still haven’t eaten a-ping in Cambodia or wrestled a zebu in Madagascar. It is a 100% impossibility for any one person to experience every culture the world has to offer, or will offer. And it genuinely pisses me off.
Here is Wikipedia’s list of best-selling books: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_books
Here’s Time’s ALL TIME 100 best English-language novels: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1951793,00.html
Here are 100 Must-Read Books for the Essential Man’s Library: http://artofmanliness.com/2008/05/14/100-must-read-books-the-essential-mans-library/
Here are the 100 Most Influential Books Ever Written: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_100_Most_Influential_Books_Ever_Written
Here are 1001 books you MUST READ BEFORE YOU DIE: http://www.listology.com/list/1001-books-you-must-read-you-die
I love to read. Most books take me a long time to get through; I usually only read a few pages at a time before going to sleep. Let’s say I read 6 books a year (which is probably optimistic). That means I will likely read approximately 360 more books before I die. Even if I double, or triple my reading rate, how many books is that? If I just decide to read all 1001 books (BEFORE I DIE), I’ll need to average about 16 a year. More than one per month. Just for those “classics” that “everyone” “should” read. No room for small-time, self-published books that I might love, that I might connect with on a deep personal level. No silly, funny, off-beat stuff that no critic would ever consider essential reading, but that I might thoroughly enjoy. Comics? I’ve read Watchmen, the only one that ever seems to show up on these lists. I just finished re-reading the whole Transmetropolitan series; one of my absolute favourite stories and characters. Which “best” novel must I give up so I can finish reading The Walking Dead? Or the next Dark Tower novel? Again, it is a 100% impossibility for any one person to experience every piece of literature the world has to offer, or will offer. And it genuinely pisses me off.
This is a very negative post, and I apologize for that, but for some reason these thoughts of mortality and lost experiences have been stuck in my head for a while, and I’m really hoping that this will exercise those demons.
I often share this personal maxim with friends: “You haven’t had your favourite meal yet.” I do believe that, and there is so much food out there to try in the world, that (statistically speaking), you probably never will. That upsets me. There is more music and movies and games and art that has been created and will be created than can ever be heard or watched or played or experienced. That upsets me. But it also motivates me.
I crave new experiences. When I visit a new restaurant, and there is something on the menu that I don’t already know what it will taste like, I have to try it. If I’m going somewhere new, I’m going to seek out things unique to that place, experiences to have that I haven’t had before, or won’t be able to have elsewhere. This is a vital part of my life. At least I want it to be. But like so many people, so much of my life is safe and sedate, rote and routine. This is a conscious and accepted choice; I want financial and familial success, stability at the core of my life, and a future certain enough for me to take greater risks along the fringes of my life. I live where I live and work where I work because I believe it likely to lead me to a place of financial means and flexible time enough to do many of those adventures that I crave, and to do them with people I love and a family to grow with. There are people who make different choices, and I am grateful to know of them. I may not be able to experience everything the world has to offer, but I can experience so much more vicariously through the sharing of others’.

There’s a thought that’s been rattling around in my head for a while and I need to get it out. I don’t want to, because it’s depressing and unhealthy and generally something on which I don’t like focusing, but at this point it’s become like holding in a fart on a crowded bus.

I’m 33 as I write this. Let’s say, for the sake of simple math, I live to be 93. As well, for simplicity’s sake and a touch of optimism, let us assume I am able to travel and function and enjoy my faculties right up to the end. That gives me 60 years. 720 months. A little less than 22,000 days. Most people would say that sounds like a lot. To me, it is a terrifyingly, infinitesimally small amount of time.

There is something like 195 countries in the world. I used to consider myself fairly well-traveled, fortunate enough to grow up in a family with the means and desire to see the world. But when I really think about it, I’ve maybe visited 8 actual different independent nations (E.g., Canada, USA) . Some for only a day, which can hardly be considered a true experience of the culture. That leaves 187 countries in which I’ve never set foot. If I want to see them all, that means I need to average just over 3 new countries a year, for the rest of my life. This year, our big travel plans are Vancouver. Maybe, if we have a really good year, Mexico in the winter. Those will be great trips, but I still haven’t eaten a-ping in Cambodia or wrestled a zebu in Madagascar. It is a 100% impossibility for any one person to experience every culture the world has to offer, or will offer. And some days it genuinely pisses me off.

Here is Wikipedia’s list of best-selling books.

Here’s Time’s ALL TIME 100 best English-language novels.

Here are 100 Must-Read Books for the Essential Man’s Library.

Here are the 100 Most Influential Books Ever Written.

Here are 1001 books you MUST READ BEFORE YOU DIE.

I love to read. Most books take me a long time to get through; I usually only read a few pages at a time before going to sleep. Let’s say I read 6 books a year (which is probably optimistic). That means I will likely read approximately 360 more books before I die. Even if I double, or triple my reading rate, how many books is that? If I just decide to read all 1001 books (BEFORE I DIE), I’ll need to average about 16 a year. More than one per month. Just for those “classics” that “everyone” “should” read. No room for small-time, self-published books that I might love, that I might connect with on a deep personal level. No cult-y, off-beat stuff that no critic would ever consider essential reading, but that I might thoroughly enjoy. Comics? I’ve read Watchmen, the only one that ever seems to show up on these lists. I just finished re-reading the whole Transmetropolitan series; one of my absolute favourite stories and characters from any media. Which “best” novel must I give up so I can finish reading The Walking Dead? Or the next Dark Tower novel? Again, it is a 100% impossibility for any one person to experience every piece of literature the world has to offer, or will offer. And some days it genuinely pisses me off.

(This is becoming a very negative post, and I apologize for that, but for some reason these thoughts of mortality and lost experiences have been stuck in my head for a while, and I’m really hoping that this will exercise those demons.)

I often share this personal maxim with friends: “You haven’t had your favourite meal yet.” I mean it in the sense of “You don’t know if you’ll like it until you try it.” I believe that in a broad sense, also more literally there is so much food out there to try in the world, that (statistically speaking), you probably never will get to try what would be your favourite meal. That upsets me. There is more music and movies and games and art that has been created and will be created than can ever be heard or watched or played or experienced. That upsets me. But it also motivates me.

I crave new experiences. When I visit a new restaurant, and there is something on the menu that I don’t already know what it will taste like, I have to try it. If I’m going somewhere new, I’m going to seek out things unique to that place, experiences to have that I haven’t had before, or won’t be able to have elsewhere. This is a vital part of my life. At least I want it to be. But like so many people, so much of my life is safe and sedate, rote and routine. This is a conscious and accepted choice; I want financial and familial success, stability at the core of my life, and a future certain enough for me to take greater risks along the fringes. I live where I live and work where I work because I believe it likely to lead me to a place of financial means and flexible time enough to do many of those adventures that I crave, and to do them with people I love and a family to grow with. There are people who make different choices, and I am grateful to know of them. I may not be able to experience everything the world has to offer, but I can experience so much more vicariously through the sharing of others’.

OK, thank you Internet, for letting me get this off my chest. Writing it did what I hoped it would: get me to break the mental feedback loop of focusing on all the things I won’t get to enjoy in this world, and instead fire me up once again about all the things that I will! One final extra-nerdy thought: we level up by gaining EXPERIENCE; don’t let your life become a grind.

(TL;DR – Try the special.)

]]> http://www.mikelawton.com/blog/2011/04/04/you-will-never-eat-your-favourite-food/feed/ 0 2008 – Mike in Review, Part 2: Lists http://www.mikelawton.com/blog/2009/01/03/2008-mike-in-review-part-2-lists/ http://www.mikelawton.com/blog/2009/01/03/2008-mike-in-review-part-2-lists/#comments Sun, 04 Jan 2009 06:49:27 +0000 Mike Lawton http://www.mikelawton.com/blog/?p=542 Top Artists (according to Last.fm):

  1. Flogging Molly
  2. Gogol Bordello
  3. Great Big Sea
  4. Dean Gray (Green Day mashup DJ)
  5. Corb Lund
  6. Captain Tractor
  7. The Free Design
  8. Blink-182
  9. Death Cab for Cutie
  10. Jack Johnson
  11. The Flaming Lips
  12. Dropkick Murphys
  13. Rancid
  14. Feist
  15. Dungeons & Dragons podcasts

My Top Tracks (according to Last.fm):

  1. Big Audio Dynamite – Rush
  2. Great Big Sea – The Night Pat Murphy Died
  3. Webb Wilder & The Nashvegaans – One Taste Of The Bait
  4. The Flaming Lips – Yeah Yeah Yeah Song
  5. Scissor Sisters – I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’
  6. Gogol Bordello – Sally
  7. Trace Adkins – Honky Tonk Badonkadonk
  8. Flogging Molly – What’s Left of the Flag
  9. Ian Tyson – This is My Sky
  10. Tenacious D – The Metal
  11. Dean Gray – Boulevard of Broken Songs
  12. Montgomery Gentry – Gone
  13. Flogging Molly – Sentimental Johnny
  14. Dean Gray – Dr. Who on Holiday
  15. John Michael Montgomery – Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident)

Movies I saw that were released in 2008 (not necessarily the best, just some of the more memorable; in no order):

  • WALL-E
  • The Dark Knight
  • Kung-Fu Panda
  • Iron Man
  • Cloverfield
  • Quantum of Solace
  • Mamma Mia
  • Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
  • Horton Hears A Who
  • The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
  • The Incredible Hulk
  • Hellboy II: The Golden Army
  • Forgetting Sarah Marshall
  • The Forbidden Kingdom
  • Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
  • Semi-Pro
  • The Ruins
  • Be Kind, Rewind
  • Futurama – The Beast With A Billion Backs
  • Tropic Thunder

(If I tried to remember ALL the movies I watched last year, it would take me until the end of ’09!  The most watched movie of the year was a tie between WALL-E and Shoot ‘Em Up, 3 times each.)

Some of the best stuff I read in 2008:

  • The Happiest Days of Our Lives, by Wil Wheaton
  • World War Z, by Max Brooks
  • Crooked Little Vein, by Warren Ellis
  • The Gunslinger Born (The Dark Tower Graphic Novel)
  • G33k Mafia, by Rick Dakan
  • Godel, Escher, and Bach, by Douglas Hofstadter
  • Y, The Last Man, series
  • Transmetropolitan, series
  • The Boys, series
  • Planet Hulk/World War Hulk, series
  • Punisher MAX, series (Garth Ennis’ run)
  • Wanted, series
  • Wizard’s First Rule, by Terry Goodkind
  • Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
  • Speaker for the Dead, by Orson Scott Card
  • Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition, core books and supplements

Teh awesomist tubes on teh internets:

Favourite Online Video of 2008:

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Favourite Video Game of 2008:

Tie: Guitar Hero III and Portal

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