Tag: Journal Diary

Random Thoughts

by Robert Walker, posted in Random Thoughts

I’m an artist. The vast majority of artists (even some great ones) live very austere, under-appreciated lives. The small minority who have attention thrust upon them usually become at least partially corrupted by commercialisation; they start to become obsessed with their brand, units sold, and rankings in pecking orders.

I’m fortunate in that I can earn money in a non-soul-crushing way. I originally qualified as a chartered accountant, but have since been working on optimising and automating financial processes through technology innovation. I find technological progress fascinating, and I’ve met some good people along the way.

Ideas scale through collaboration and specialised expertise. The people you interact with is vitally important; as is the culture within which you choose you live.

Kids from poorer backgrounds are usually at a real disadvantage because of their environment – if not in their own home, then the dynamics and expectations of their neighbourhood. It’s so important that people have opportunities to flourish in all stages of life, not just limited avenues available in the very unlevel playing fields of childhood.

I have a list of new ideas for stories that I will park until October. One is a new sci-fi horror feature film, others are mostly extensions of prior ideas.

Journal 2023-05-28

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

The resources to improve oneself are all available online. Most people (including me) are bogged down with the distractions.

I’ve got a lot of work to do – too much for little me with the time available. I have to become good at prioritising and focusing. What is it that really matters?

The most important skill in life is to be able to focus attention on where you are, without being distracted by repetitive thoughts.

If speed is an indicator of intelligence then I have been extremely thick.

Any realisations I have were already given to me. I was too stupid/arrogant to absorb the suggestions.

I memorise and conceptualise better by taking notes as information is relayed.

The best way for me to fall asleep is to think of stories. I imagine scenes and I drift away.

Journal 2023-03-07

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

I’m currently writing a horror short story about a haunted elevator, called Floor 49. As well as scary, it is also satirising big corporations.

I’ve recently written a series of flash fiction stories; the screenplay versions will be included in Strange Stories. Floor 49 will be included as the feature.

How soon before some humans start to fall in love with AIs? Presumably they would want to cement their relationships in some way? A sci-fi (dystopian) concept: the AIs engineer their code to DNA so that they can have children with humans. The children are born as cyborgs.

My phone would be extremely annoying if I didn’t schedule the turning off of notifications for set times in the day. Most people don’t do this and get beeped at all day. Badges are turned off on emails as well, so I can check them as a batch rather than divert attention for each instance.

Journal 2023-02-22

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

I had a dream where I thought I had a very good idea of establishing a coordinate system for each snooker ball, so that positions could be tracked over time across frames and matches. I woke up and thought, er so what? Another dream was more useful and correctly pointed out spelling mistakes.

Detect the problem; diagnose its cause; execute a plan for its resolution. For it to benefit you, frame it as a challenge: What is being learned? What opportunity does it present?

People are great actors because they really believe in their personalities. One of the best compliments I’ve had was when someone felt they had an epiphany and said to me, “you’re not one thing.” It’s a compliment because we all have to play archetypes as part of life; the mistake is thinking that is you. A curious, fluid mind-state is important because as archetypes inevitably tire in the losing battle against entropy, they become increasingly desperate, angry, and unhappy; and in some cases, crazed and cruel. All things change, great statues will turn to dust. Liberation is freedom from static constraints.

Since party politics mainly involves delivering prepared lines from prompts, can’t we just get the chatbots to do the job?

Journal 2023-02-04

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

I’ve been writing some poems as guides for when I am improvising lyrics for songs. The words sound a lot better when sung rather than when read on a page because lyrics only complete their meaning when married to the music.

Random Thoughts:

The weight of an issue is usually determined by the emotional force of the past, rather than being proportional to its real likelihood and impact.

The true objective of a game is enjoyment.

If you were 100 feet tall, would a tiger be like a kitty cat?

Random Thoughts

by Robert Walker, posted in Random Thoughts

Creating something great isn’t the same as temporary popularity, as the latter can be mere pumped up, generic mania – and not necessarily correlated with merit. To do anything well, the basics need to be mastered; this involves studying how the best do what they do, and, initially at least, learning by imitation. When you fully commit to bringing an understanding of yourself and your own idiosyncrasies into your work, using all the tools you have gathered, you then have the freedom to break the constraints and produce something worthwhile.

It is exasperating when someone answers a consequential question authoritatively, and then a simple lookup reveals them to be factually wrong. It means either they are deluded, deceitful or deliberately bluffing their assuredness.

Some people enjoy killing and being the cause of misery to others. These people sometimes control countries – because they are relentlessly driven in their machinations by an unquenchable thirst for power. The more authoritarian the country the greater the opportunity for them to commit their atrocities.

After the reckless destruction of war, countries need investment to rebuild and grow again. Governments and businesses need to place trust in that country as a partner, and, ideally, the country would have friends who want to help (or at least be seen to help). Russia has destroyed that for itself. Their future instead could be as a client state of China, a place that is hungry for imports of food and energy. The Chinese Communist Party of course wants to centrally control everything and view Russia as a colonialist nation that stole parts of its land (Vladivostok) when China was at a comparative low point in the nineteenth century.

Random Thoughts

by Robert Walker, posted in Random Thoughts

I’ve had a barren spell for a while now where no music or lyrics were coming to me, until this week when I’ve suddenly written seven songs. It’s a real mystery to me how this happens, as I was actually preoccupied with other things.

It is a privilege to have time to spend over and above mere survival. The moments of non-necessity should be valued as precious opportunities to explore and play.

It’s obvious isn’t it, that Russia will forcibly conscript many more men? The Kremlin has no chance otherwise of conquest and of saving Putin’s rotting carcass. Tens of thousands of them will die, thanks to their dear leader. The world is gradually ratcheting up overwhelming technological and economic support to people defending their country, while Russia continues to descend into madness.

In terms of diabolical intrigue, Putin would have been far more successful in his 19th century ambitions for empire if he had slowly ignited the Donbas, and gradually spread his death and destruction to the other regions of Ukraine, rather than invading and doing something so stupid even career politicians can notice. This is the problem of autocracy, particularly when the position is occupied by a murderous sociopath. He was living in the past, completely out of touch with the realities on the ground and fooled by his own propaganda. He was wrong about the motivations of others and delusional about his own capabilities; because he was living in a fantastical myth-land, fashioned by his own insanity, that spread throughout the system, corrupting everything.

The Soviet Union was a regime run by serial killers that murdered tens of millions of people and enslaved the rest, imprisoning them in fear and lies. The death and destruction of today is because the main bulk of that abomination has never fully faced up to the gigantic evil of its past.

Random Thoughts

by Robert Walker, posted in Random Thoughts

Over the years I have put in 10,000 hours of gazing out of the window.

My mind meandered off path again and I wrote a comedy script about a day in the life of a very interesting accountant.

Ulysses can be admired for its cleverness; and avoided if sensitive to pretentiousness or boredom.

Edgar Alan Poe’s C. Auguste Dupin (the deducing gentleman detective, residing with his storytelling friend at 33 Rue Dunôt) seems like an early version of Sherlock Holmes before Arthur Conan Doyle adapted the idea to London.

Was Mr. Bounderby an influence for the “Four Yorkshiremen” sketch?

Technology has been enabling upgrades to the abilities of my mind; for instance, reading is now more convenient because, wherever I happen to be, the world’s library is immediately accessible from my phone – and has become a healthy, as well as enjoyable, addiction for me.

Earthian: from Earth. Moonian: from Earth’s moon. Martian: from Mars. Solarian: inhabitant of Space City 1.

I stopped using the word “couple” because I’ve had misunderstandings in the past where people thought the word means “several” and not its actual meaning of “two”. “Substituted X for Y” is another one that causes confusion because, using football as the analogy, it tends to be wrongly thought that X is substituted and replaced by Y.

The time for shaking hands is after fearlessly giving complete focus to the performance.

Everything changes. Solid ground evaporates beneath sedentary feet.

To do anything interesting you must disassociate from the current expectations.

2023

by Robert Walker, posted in About

I can firmly state, without any equivocation, that I am very stupid.

Anyway, these are my creativity projects for the new year:

  1. Publish novel: Human World.
  2. Film me reading the novel.
  3. Film me talking about the novel.
  4. Record and release new music.
  5. Film music videos.
  6. Film live music performances.
  7. Update Human World screenplay.

Journal 2022-11-29

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal, Theme

A bed demon under my pillow forces my eyelids open at night so that I can doomscroll on Twitter.

Problem solved? The thing that was bothering you has come and gone like everything else. What’s next on the worry list? Maybe while you’re thinking like this, you could add a few more items – and for every one that goes away you could add three more. Or don’t. Most problems disappear when the thinking about them stops.

What happens when you get everything you think you wanted? Unless you change with the changing circumstance, you will still be in the same mode of lacking, and will still thirst for more.

The universe is both beautiful and horrific. From some higher level, where things don’t matter so much, it might all be viewed as a single magnificently interesting thread of life.

Late last night in the street, a blue illuminated face peered down into the glow and said, “Don’t worry Charlie, whatever’s gonna happen, gonna happen.” Wise words there in the darkness.

Self-discipline is a necessary virtue for any progress. A useful question to ask oneself is: what am I learning?

Live this moment with inner quality.

Being viewed as attractive is attractive. A woman turned on is a turn on.

Journal 2022-11-11

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

Any sequence of words should aspire to be a poetic turn of phrase.

I am currently reading ten books, dipping into each depending on mood.

I usually prefer to read novels while listening to the partner audiobooks—because this slows me down, helping me to observe and imagine more; and includes literally another sense of what is happening.

Some recent comments I’ve had about me on webcam: “angelic”, “a Sith Lord”, “a purple alien.” I think I need to change my lighting.

Random Thoughts

by Robert Walker, posted in Random Thoughts

What is the meaning of life? … is the 404th most asked question of the Great Oracle’s Database.

Currently at 70,300 words, the novel will probably end up at about 90,000 words. The unknown X to be solved is the number of the final chapter.

I am sceptical of all claims to certainty, although some are more likely to be false than others.

The world was made of wibbly and came from wobbly, thought the jelly.

The weakest form of argument is an appeal to authority, either to that of others or your own.

The Nazis were traitors to Germany, its culture and possibilities, and all of the human race. The people who support the rise of Fascism in current hellscapes like Russia have betrayed their country and common humanity.

In nations of slaves, people are requisitioned by the regime to be discarded as waste.

I like to visit other worlds, either in my sleep or my imaginings.

Journal 2022-10-22

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

If you are not trying to appease anyone; if you are not trying to appeal to a market demographic; and you don’t need anything: watch out, you might actually do something worthwhile.

The first-person narrative voice in novels should be unreliable if it is to be realistic; and usually, the narrator shouldn’t realise that.

Good acting makes any script interesting.

Imagine telling people in the pre-internet days that if they pay a few quid a month they would have instant access to over one million books. I remember there were subscription services of a similar cost that would send two or three books a month in the post. Public libraries were always a thing though, to be fair, and most books could be ordered to the local library if requested.

As well as the books and online services, libraries have great community importance in providing free internet access to people and a quiet space to study or work.

Random Thoughts

by Robert Walker, posted in Random Thoughts

I wrote 13,350 words in 11 days. So it looks like my run rate is about 1,200 words of draft text per day when I have an idea.

My internal soundtrack on headphones represents the mood I need to be in at the time.

If time isn’t a significant constraint then the same outcomes can be achieved by people of very different levels of ability.

My ongoing challenge has been the destupidification of myself.

Absentmindedly putting cumin instead of cinnamon in porridge is not a good idea.

To overturn a despicable regime, a significant amount of people who had previously collaborated with the lie need to overcome their self-deception.

Journal 2022-09-13

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

Someone was asking me about the constitutional settlement in the UK, and I had to correct myself fives times by saying “the monarch” instead of “the Queen”. My mind just didn’t want to use the new words.

Kim Jong-un has a 100% approval rating by his adoring serfs. The Kremlin is getting there with all their 180-degree advances.

I think the biggest compliment I’ve had in my office life was, “if we could clone Rob, everything would work.” I remember because I laughed.

When in ultra-efficient robot mode, I prefer asynchronous written communication over imprecise talking. I appreciate short, focused written updates at standard intervals, such as by a certain time of each day. A feature that sends reminders and tracks the updates would be useful.

Your state of mind can affect how you interpret the behaviour of others.

Search for a good lesson in a bad situation. Avoid bad habits in an easy situation.

Listening to podcasts helps me transition to and through unappealing routines.

Stress mode is not enjoyable but is productive for getting practical things done when the energy is focused on positive action rather than negative thoughts. My personal bests for creativity arrive when I am relaxed.

🖤 Dark chocolate with black coffee 🖤

I’ve got a thing for supremely dark chocolate. Sometimes I do speak literally.

Stories determine wellbeing. The ability to put self-told stories down, change them, or rewrite them, determines wellbeing. Every syllable counts.

The best stories speak from fundamental truth; the worst from secondary distorted sensations.

People assign themselves an identity from what society tells them. Imagine if that social situation is warped. Imagine if all that fell away. What is left, in terms of intrinsic worth?

Everything was interesting.

Journal 2022-09-04

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

Listening to classical music on headphones is a hack for me when I need to concentrate on one task for a sustained period of time. I think it calms the sea of thoughts that want to compete for attention.

I like designing apps using Figma. Bubble is a very easy way to prototype those designs.

I think I need to listen to the classical music in case other random massive project distractions just pop in.

I can only do comedy as a bizarre character, such as myself.

Just as we cringe at some of the motifs in old film and TV, hopefully future viewers will squirm at some of the current output.

Thinking based on the current point of the zigzagging trend can make you a well-fed sheep, on a mutton farm.

Random Thoughts

by Robert Walker, posted in Random Thoughts

Beliefs control people. It takes kindness and bravery to drop an interpretation that is used for cruelty.

Any person can do a lot of good. Instead, most energy is spent spinning from the algorithm operating on you.

Imagine a world where people live for hundreds of years, still living day-to-day with the mentality learnt from some medieval mud pit.

I do not fit into the 18th century left-wing/right-wing classification system and neither do most thinking people on most issues. “Conservative” implies past beliefs must be conserved, even though the world is constantly changing. “Progressive” in the political sense is a marketing slogan that suggests anyone not conforming to every current enforced dogma of the group is regressive.

Communism was a bourgeois philosophy designed for cult members to assume power; the people who actually worked were all the same and expendable.

I am neither interested in market ideology nor the discredited social ideologies of the 19th and 20th centuries. I am interested in what works. I’m interested in truth and facts, not politicking. I want what is self-actualising to be open to all.

I am not relaxing if it becomes a challenge to see how much I can relax.

I would like functionality where the user can configure and share their own automations for personal finance and investments. Machine learning suggestions in this sphere also has enormous scope.

I have wasted a lot of time in my life, preoccupied with being low quality and crap; although I suppose it’s been interesting to know what that is like. It would be nice now to compare to the opposite.

Journal 2022-08-24

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

To be ultra-confident you can either be a deranged narcissist or you can be yourself completely. The former is fragile, needing lies and selfishness to delay its inevitable demise; the latter invites a playful, open curiosity to life and what is.

There is no desire to convince others that you are happy when you are actually happy. There is no desire to show off to others when you have a sense of fulfilment. There is no hunger for external validation if you appreciate yourself. Showing off a glamorous lifestyle on social media as the suggested purpose of work is no purpose at all.

Initial ideas are easy only if they arrive from the lightbulb moment. The conditions that had to be in place for a person to be able to form original creative ideas were probably far from easy to obtain.

Journal 2022-08-21

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

I tried work once, but I prefer cake, selfies and sunsets.

Your mental state affects your physicality. It’s also true the other way round.

An interpretation of Human World is that Guy/John is mentally ill and is projecting the thoughts of his split personalities on his interpretation of events. It actually looks quite good on camera when he is in the location of the scenes and just speaking the parts of the first-person narrative to himself as a monologue, cut with green screen shots to camera. Projecting my narration on other characters in the scenes has a weird effect and also works. Film length will be about 8 hours. Accompanying music videos will use the same scenes and characters.

The novel will also be uploaded into the Wiberty app – which will enable effective indexing of themes and meta commentary. I want shared and collaborative indexing available for any text or body of work.

“Am I real?” It’s just you I’m afraid. We’re all NPCs.

If the fundamental questions are unanswerable as a condition of existence, then what matters is not what you think, but what you do – or more precisely, the quality of how you express life, now.

It is common fallacy that because a person believes they have thought through an issue logically and arrived at an objective conclusion, anyone who does not arrive at the same conclusion must be either stupid, dishonest or mistaken. In fact, taking the example of the judicial panel system, well-informed people can be presented with the same evidence in the same context, applying the same rules, and arrive at different conclusions.

People who mindlessly follow the current trend look moronic in the fullness of time. If they could momentarily step outside and look from a better vantage point, they would be ashamed of themselves. The heroes are the ones who held true, who showed bravery to resist. True wealth is the quality of your character, the actions you displayed, not the treats you received for picking the convenient easy option. Nothing you accumulate can be taken with you – your character and the quality of your actions were everything.

Journal 2022-08-16

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

Anything creative is therapeutic to me, even if it is just some simple words like these.

These are both acting and writing requirements:

Describe the scene in detail. What is he seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching. What is he thinking? What is his emotional state? What does he want? What is his backstory? What happened immediately before? Describe him. What is his personality? What are his physical characteristics? What is he wearing? How does he talk?

Improvisation is realtime writing immersed in all of this.

Random Thoughts:

Dogma is typically deceit enforced by cruelty and murder. Freedom of expression is the foundation of civilisation that emerged (after much struggle) from our brutal past.

Casting off the shackles of the KGB means winning the right not to be raped, tortured, mutilated and murdered.

Journal 2022-08-06

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

I’m collating my lyrics from dozens of songs at the moment.

Random Thoughts:

If you drop the story in your mind for one minute, what happens? You don’t have the thoughts in your mind that distress you. You are alive, now, in this fascinatingly weird and beautiful place.

Lying is the language of Evil; an ugly, twisted distortion of truth.

Happiness is a state of aliveness – no things are needed.

Random Thoughts

by Robert Walker, posted in Random Thoughts

The goal with current gaps and an action plan. Has anyone done this analysis for humanity? (I mean one that is based on universal flourishing and kindness, not written by useful idiots and implemented by empowered psychopaths.)

Energy builds up internally through relentless thinking and wants to be released.

Working is more fulfilling than chilling.

Reduce work by doing it.

I am a writer. I perform for necessity or fun.

Summarise rather than simplify.

Right now, everything is probably fine. There will be challenges, and preparation for them is a good idea – but whatever they may be, this exact moment is probably fine.

Maybe a school exam question in the future: To what extent was the series of US imbecilic Presidents and broken political system responsible for the reaffirmation of totalitarianism in non-Western countries? Was this causally connected to the emergence of the Internet and social media?

Marcus Aurelius was succeeded by Commodus. As a metaphor, even philosopher kings beget tyranny.

In the totalitarian mindset, facts are attacked and suppressed if they do not conform to belief stories.

Journal 2022-07-12

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

Either use apps or read books of jokes, facts, quotes and vocabulary. Collated paragraphs of knowledge primers would be beneficial to learning as well.

Random Thoughts:

The past can offer lessons and warnings, but should not determine the quality of today nor the direction of the future.

These words are words. Your thoughts determine the effect on you, good or bad.

Anything great is always achieved outside of society’s expectations.

It is compassionate to be happy.

Be someone’s smile.

Journal 2022-07-09

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

I’m absolutely happy with the reservoirs of knowledge and culture that my phone makes available to me, including:

  • Monthly subscriptions to Kindle, Audible, Spotify/Apple Music.
  • Follows of blogs, micro-blogs, video playlists and podcasts (with an option to support).

The one missing is a platform that provides the availability of any course of learning to everyone.

Random Thoughts:

Certainty is limited. Uncertainty is unbounded infinite possibility.

There was a brief interlude in the 1950s to 1990s when delusion and unfairness started to diminish. The desire for fairness has continued in this century, but people have become far more delusional and crazed, making fair outcomes less likely and opening the door to the truly vile forces that have wreaked misery through so much of history.

Are you a societal meme?

I am impossible to offend. “You’re a blancmange!” they say. Ok, well you have your opinions, and I’ll have mine.

Everyone you meet and everyone who is affected by you needs you not to be a twat.

Random Thoughts

by Robert Walker, posted in Random Thoughts

There have been plenty of middle management monsters running countries in history – they are psychotic narcissists who copy from a playbook given to them and repeat the past.

Can creativity thrive under authoritarian conditions, aided by artificial intelligence? Can slaves be compelled and threatened to create? Can they create if they are constantly lied to and manipulated, rather than inspired? The correlation to date has been with freedom.

If consciousness can be programmed to live in a heavenly state of bliss, why bother creating simulations? If reality can be anything, then why this one?

People who put percentage probabilities on the origins and nature of existence have a myopic view of the probability tree.

Exploring was great, but I am now about to focus. I probably won’t be updating my word count here, for a while.

Journal 2022-06-02

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

True play is a time to experiment with new things; a time when you have the most chance to find something exciting.

I have a rough album of songs that I think are really, really good. They’re making me dance. One thing at a time though.

Evil appropriates the language of divinity to destroy lives. Hard Rock appropriates shadow and transcends the world.

Journal 2022-05-31

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

I’m happy when I have interesting work because “work” then feels like play.

Players play characters in plays; musicians play music while playing to audiences. Writers work, however; and artists work at producing artworks. Work and play can be a fine balance.

Random Thoughts:

Words can make grunts of great cruelty or music of great beauty.

I watched the change from shy smiles to deep desires, until anger looked back.

The shopping aisles of perfect smiles draining the days in joyless fantasy.

Do you remember me? I don’t think you do because you never saw me. You saw another copy of a copy, a projection of your story. Now I am many stories, but only one is real.

Journal 2022-05-30

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

Currently playing a track on repeat with my wooh-ooh vocals on top. It’s really good, it’s sexy and I want to dance with it, but I did say one thing at a time…

Random Thoughts:

Words are more real when they form from actions. The interesting parts of a scene are usually what happens around the words.

Beliefs are the biggest killers of people. Awareness to recognise beliefs as thoughts, and to change them when necessary, is vital to the world’s well-being.

Pride repeats errors. Love for your life and others is not pride.

Journal 2022-05-29

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

I read my words and find myself bursting out in laughter. I’m not sure if it’s because of quality or embarrassment.

Bring life to the page and the page to life.

The best way to spot typos and other errors is to read the words out loud. It slows you down and makes you articulate what has been written, rather than reading in your head what you thought you had written.

Journal 2022-05-21

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

During my wanderings, I’ve built abilities in various areas. I’m now focusing on each area in turn, starting with writing.

Random Thoughts:

From brain teasers to magic tricks, it’s usually a wrong assumption that hides the answer. Beliefs are full of assumptions, conscious and unconscious.

If you think you understand, you don’t. To think something is final, rather than part of a dynamic process, is to not begin to comprehend boundless possibilities.

I would like there to be a platform that is text-based and has character minimum limits for posts, so that content is substantial.

Those who supported habitual shams look ridiculous in the fullness of time.

Journal 2022-05-18

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

Mid-May and it is now the first day of the year when heating isn’t needed and my study door is open. The trees are in leaf, there is a freshness of cut grass in the air, and there are still spring flowers on green waysides. It’s this time of the year when I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else in the world.

Random Thoughts:

I write something that seems fine at the time. I read it later, groan, and make edits.

Reading to thinking to writing to speaking to writing to thinking to reading.

Cynical and low-quality public discourse in democratic countries has given succour to the autocrats of the world.

The reason that many observers thought Putin was just posturing with 200,000 troops on the Ukrainian border was they didn’t think he would be so stupid as to invade a country of 44 million people. By comparison, 2 million Nazis and Soviets invaded Poland in 1939. The soviets invaded Finland in 1939 with 750,000 troops and lost, suffering horrific casualties.

If a government (e.g. the US) had conclusive proof that aliens were visiting Earth, the information is unlikely to be disseminated for fear of panic and societal collapse. It would be suppressed, with the option to gradually acclimatise the public to that reality.

Journal 2022-05-07

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

It’s this order at the moment: Writing, Performance (Acting/Singing), Music, Art, Tech. I’m enjoying engaging in all these areas.

Viral videos and images are fun in small doses, but the drug can become addictive and unfulfilling. I prefer to read articles on news aggregator apps or Twitter, wary of the incentives and angles that people take, like a historian might be when viewing secondary sources.

TikTok is like aimlessly switching on the television and flicking channels. Instagram is an extension of reality tv. Facebook is a legacy platform, originally designed for sharing updates with friends and family, though messaging apps are probably better for this now.

YouTube is a great library of videos that should be actively searched rather than passively received, as my feed is now gunked up with spam. Twitter can be interesting to read, after filtering out the crappy posts and comments.

Journal 2022-04-09

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

Twitter can be an opportunity to read more.

If I write something, I can also read the text on video and include in the tweet. I could use hashtag logic such as #H1C0S1T1 to index the content of Human World – where H = Human World (Novel), C = Chapter, S = Section (Thread), T = Tweet.

Random Thoughts:

Bravery is a smile in extreme adversity. Faith is the understanding that this light will prevail.

If there is advanced alien life out there, they would probably have the technology to hide themselves from us and would probably be watching us. Whether they would want to intervene, I have no idea.

The main utility of social media platforms:

  • Twitter: Sharing written thoughts (but corrupted by psyops farms, disinformation, and political tactic mongers).
  • Instagram: Following a person’s pictures and videos (ideal for celebrity culture and stalkers).
  • TikTok: Fun videos.
  • YouTube: All videos.
  • Facebook: ? Pass.

Journal 2022-03-21

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

Schedule:

  1. Recite my poetry to camera.
  2. Perform podcast episodes on camera.
  3. Read Human World novel to camera.
  4. Perform my music on camera.

Random Thoughts:

I have had good quality sleep when I remember my dreams.

Fool’s gold is a mirage to the senses.

Smaug the Magnificent would covet the tacky gold gaudiness that gangsters and dictators encase themselves within.

It is a choice to see the way.

The past has passed. Now is a new time.

My allegiance is to the flourishing of life.

Journal 2022-01-27

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

It’s more productive to set myself an achievable target for the day, rather than to work x amount of hours, as it provides me with an incentive to focus and work efficiently. If I really enjoy every bit of the work, then I do it anyway and the structure is unnecessary.

Random Thoughts:

I watched a film in my head as I slept the other night. It was the trope of a lift (elevator) getting stuck, but this lift would get stuck on different floors and let different characters in, before moving on. The lift finally arrives after the characters play out their drama.

If listening to music, I usually dance when getting out of bed in the morning – often also around the house, and sometimes in the street (when no one is looking).

A true superpower is finding joy in most circumstances.

There must be plenty of data now to model outcome probabilities for different political policies, which could then be used as a tool to help make better informed decisions. Instead, stressed-out posturing politicians are supposed to have all the insight based on their current (often negative) incentives and whims.

Journal 2022-01-23

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

“Smart” seems to my buzzword of choice for this year. It’s very handy to be able to monitor and automate one’s own things and tasks. My concern is just that I don’t want other people to monitor and automate my things and tasks.

Random Thoughts:

Tap-ins count the same as long shots.

Helping others helps yourself feel better. What if nobody needs help? Help the stars by appreciating them.

The early Christian church was persecuted by the worldly power of the time, only to become the persecutor once it had the power – a theme often repeated in history when the same mentality is merely changing hats.

The big questions give the same answer: mystery.

Very creative people play in their work.

Sunday for me is more a day for downloading than uploading.

Brainstorming is data scraping the mind. The best ideas flow from dreams.

Journal 2021-12-11

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

It is surprising how many times I am stopped in the street and asked for directions. Last night for instance, it was late, dark and raining; all the man had was a bit of paper with a printout of a map – no umbrella or hood – and he was literally miles away from where he needed to be. And today a woman was lost, again a long way away from where she wanted to go, and walking in completely the wrong direction. Am I lucky to have a phone with GPS? Or do many people not know about location maps on phones? Or are they afraid of being tracked?

Random Thoughts:

Turning off app tracking on your phone is a good idea.

The internet amplifies the positive and the negative, so at a personal level, the challenge is in applying a filter in the right place. Negativity, however, is usually the default setting and is therefore the easier option.

Fulfilment doesn’t show-off

I think I have a degree of mixed-handedness because I am stronger on the opposite side of the body to my right hand, that I use for writing, and tend to lead with my left side when lifting or pulling.

My blood tests show that my “good” HDL cholesterol is very high, my “bad” cholesterol and fatty triglycerides are very low.

My brunch tends to be: soya milk, oats, linseeds, walnuts, raisins, cinnamon, dark chocolate – all in a bowl, mixed and microwaved; with an apple/pear and black coffee on the side.

It would indeed be epoch-making if human civilisation becomes self-sufficient on another planet.

Sexy = 2022.

Journal 2021-12-02

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

Children reveal my ignorance with all the why, why, why questions – with every answer needing a further explanation of something I’ve taken for granted, until I get stuck. It would be much easier to say “because I said so” or “God made it that way”, like in the good old medieval days.

Random Thoughts:

The first film I can remember watching at the cinema was Raiders of the Lost Ark, which I found very exciting and scary! I can remember watching Star Wars for the first time on tv and struggling to read the big disappearing words before they scrolled up and away.

According to a health checkup, I am 196cm wearing shoes, 92kgs with clothes; and have very low risk of heart disease.

I’m a strict vegetarian, but a non-strict vegan.

Fun dystopian fact: It’s possible for a large company to have zero employees and all processes automated. Most CEOs seem to act as talking algorithms, so they should get economically optimised first.

Reading improves writing; writing improves speaking.

Journal 2021-11-25

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

My story so far is partly one of failing at everything, but doing just about enough at the last moment to scrape over the line. As the years ticked by, I eventually crawled a fair way. I have no regrets or pride, just bemusement.

Random Thoughts:

It is satisfying to warm up in front of a fire after numbing coldness.

Why don’t people read audiobooks on camera with autocue? Listening is great, but it would be nice to have an option to see the complete performance. Reading as a spectacle used to be a thing, e.g. Charles Dickens and his grand tours.

DIY teaches: know thy tools.

I love and hate ambiguity.

[Insert Here] is overrated.

Journal 2021-11-13

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

To be open with yourself and the world, and not concerned with how that is perceived, is freedom from a prison of mental constructions; however there is a lack of empathy, poetry and charm in being blunt with people, or saying anything that comes to mind. The happier circumstance is to connect beyond words.

Random Thoughts:

AI assistants combined with augmented/virtual reality will transform human experience. Artists could create paintings digitally and 3D print the paintings into the physical world, automating the textured brushstrokes with the help of AI. Exact textured cloning of existing masterpiece paintings would be available as home printouts.

I’ve met some real idiots in my time, most of whom were in the mirror.

Journal 2021-11-12

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

I’m writing the flow of what comes into the imagination, without constraints or thinking too hard about how its coherence and construction. After a while of doing this each day, it amounts to a body of work I can then review, edit and refine. I’m hoping to finish a first draft by the end of this month.

Random Thoughts:

I like to sit in front of a fire and read/write.

RAW – Read And Write.

There is always a way, even though you don’t see it at the moment. Turn around and look again.

I’ve noticed that the last few problems I’ve had to deal with have resulted in upgrades to skills, or gaining knowledge I didn’t have before.

Journal 2021-11-04

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

Experience something.

Initial feeling happens.

Mind overrides and reasons a recommended alternative.

Go back and revisit the feeling.

What is the feeling telling you?

There is probably more evaluation in that feeling than the clumsy thought cogs, which are usually powered by fear.

Random Thoughts:

What is the definition of someone who believes that religious texts were written by fallible men, not God – but who has a belief in a transcendent divinity that inspires the human heart?

Hobbies include: staring at my phone.

Journal 2021-11-03

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

Wanting to know how everything works can be exhausting, distracting, and fascinating.

Random Thoughts:

Live today before you decay.

If you find meaning in your job then working is living.

10,000 years ago or so, humans had only wooden and stone tools; and were foraging or hunting each day like any other creature on this planet.

Humans first navigated the globe about 1,000 years ago, with the Vikings probably the first to cross the Atlantic in either direction, reaching Newfoundland for certain in 1021 AD.

We are currently experiencing the non-naissance period of the arts.

A painting is not the brushstrokes.

Journal 2021-10-16

by Robert Walker, posted in Journal

The seven standalone short stories are: The Outer View, Night Fire, All The World’s A Stage, Human World, How I Became Prime Minister, Doomsday 1066, The Viewer. A combined version ties them together as a novel.

Each of the seven short stories have an adapted screen time of about 45 minutes. And they are all connected. The first two could be parts of the same story.