The "Just Do It" principle, or 'finding the man's cave'.

We have quickly absorbed the impact of the Burma holiday. The last days in Yangon were pleasant, and we made it back safely to OZ, as planned, although after a physically and mentally draining return trip. PEOPLE WITH SMALL CHILDREN: beware of cheap airlines, like this one. They offer you low prices, but once on board, they will make you pay even for a glass of water for your children. Plus, you'll be squashed in a tiny space, with no bassinet nor entertainment. But hey, it's cheap.

Anyway, we are now back to our pleasant and protected life by the beach, hoping not to be still incubating scary tropical diseases. It's been good to return to the comfort of Western life (though we never really abandon that in Myanmar). I suppose it's just good to be able to drink tap water, without worrying about typhoid.

Energised by the recent adventures, for the past few days I have been embracing the Just Do It principle. It doesn't mean I've been buying Nike stuff: rather, I have been fighting one of my arch-enemies, i.e. the "Why?"-question.

"Why doing it?". What's the point of getting up very early in the morning in order to meditate, go for a run, write, or study 18th century German Idealism?  This kind of questions will always defeat me because, although all these activities might be pleasant and, overall, beneficial to myself, the question is "Why now? Why not tomorrow or later?". And there is no winning reply to that, my friend, unless you are Horace and live every day as if it was the last one.

I think we tend to ask the "Why?" question more and more as we age, because we get tired of things. There's just so much crap going on in our normal days, stuff that we cannot avoid (work, screaming kids, screaming wives) and we take that as an excuse to not do the things that we enjoy, but that require energy, time, and some kind of perseverance. I'm not gonna get faster if I run only when I feel like doing it; I am not, eventually, coming to control my sea-wandering mind if I don't meditate every day; nor will I ever grasp the influence of Kant and Fichte on Hegel's philosophy, without regular engagement with whatever the hell they have written.

So, at 5.30am (ish), I just get up. It's out of reach for the kids, in most cases. Which gives me a safe 45 minutes to drink my coffee in the silence of the Australian sunrise, and then meditate. Then, on alternate days (and subject to family mechanics on the specific day), it's either run or study. I have done it for a few days, so there's nothing to celebrate as of yet. But it is a very welcome change, and I hope to turn it into a hexis.

I think this all goes back to the need for a man's cave.

Why I left Facebook

It's been two months since I closed my Facebook account.

I'd been feeling increasingly unwell on FB. I couldn't stand how much time I spent on it (loads!) and for what gain (zero!). I couldn't stand people's narcissism. Most of all, I couldn't stand the feeling, after having 'checked' FB, of having my neurons covered in some kind of sticky molasses. I was just cranky all the time.

I decided to close the account after careful consideration. Which was funny, because the more I kept asking myself 'What am I going to lose?', and the less I could think of anything.

The W-word

Most of the things we like to do, take time. I'd like to run faster. I'd like to write a lot. I'd like to learn Portuguese. And how to play the guitar. This stuff takes practice, and practice takes time.

And time is such a precious thing. I did not realise that until I turned 28, and left Italy. There are so many things to do out there, and yet we end up repeating that we "have to" work, and trying new thing looks like an impossible task.

I wish I could do it, but I don't have time for it - who has not said this at least once in life?

Peer-review my ass

Warning: Contains rants.

One of the fundamental goals, or rather THE fundamental goal, for an academic is to get published on peer-reviewed journals. "Publish or perish", they call it.

"Peer-reviewed" basically means that, in order to get published, your paper gets reviewed by 'peers', i.e. other academics who work in your same field and who, therefore, are deemed competent judges of the quality of your work. It is a quite controversial system (read this), to say the least, but it seems to be the only one that can guarantee "academic quality", i.e. that only valuable stuff gets published.

Waking up early: Mission Impossible

I am an academic, which is a great job to escape the horrible constraints of the 9 to 5 life, such as having to dress up to go to work every morning, driving to work at peak time, seeing the same annoying people every day... But there are lots of downsides with being an academic, among which there's the fact that work might follow you everywhere. The 9to5 person has an office, and work stays in the office: but for the academic, especially one who, like me, works always from home, there's the risk of work creeping into every aspect (and room) of your life.

The runner formerly known as HomoCurrens

I have been blogging for a few months about me and the run. Running has always been a key component in my life, since I was a teenager. Even when I tried to ignore it, and go to gym/swimming/football, I would come back to running, like an unfaithful man who cheats on his wife only to realise that the other women are no match. I think I just miss the regular rhytm of my steps, against a panting background.

So far I have been writing in Italian, just because it is the most beautiful language in the world, and also I happen to be Italian. But from now on, I will switch to English. I have spent the last 10 years in Anglo-saxon countries, right now I'm living in Western Australia. I hope writing in English will bring me closer to the world-wide running community.