Socializing, really that important?

In a comment to the last post, Bram wrote:
"Socialising should probably mean more to me, but I'm turning into an anti-social *insert favourite swear word*"

This is something I've been thinking about lately. Because we are generally brought up to believe that socializing and "going out" are some very important things to do, and the more the better. But... I am doing less and less of both. This I might consider just a Phase, but... the same is true for many people I know, in fact many of the best people I know. And people who don't seem to be in any personal crisis at all or even doing great.

Of course using the Internet is a kind of socializing, or definitely it is communication, and very important communication. But maybe "getting out" is vastly overrated? Maybe what we do in our own universe, and spiritual developments, can be more important than going to town or hanging out with friends?

Values Drill

Margaret Lobenstine's Values Drill from the book The Renaissance Soul.
Pick five from these fifty which matter the most to you at this moment.
Use the terms as you understand them yourself.
If you feel any are missing, feel free to add them.
The drill is meant to help people with multiple interests to get a little more focus in their life.


Achievement

Affection

Appearance

Approval

Arts

Authority

Beauty

Career/Employment

Community

Creativity

Environment

Expertise

Fame

Family

Freedom (personal)

Freedom (political)

Generosity

Health (emotional)

Health (physical)

Home

Honesty

Integrity

Learning

Leisure

Love

Loyalty

Meaning

Money

Openness

Patriotism

Personal Growth

Pleasure

Popularity

Power

Privacy

Recognition

Relationships

Religion

Reputation

Respect

Risk Taking

Security

Social Acceptance

Socializing

Solitude

Spiritual Development

Status

Winning

Wisdom

Tempur

Just got my tempur bed.
It's wonderful. Not cheap, but how much is good sleep worth to you?

Update: First full night's sleep in it: man, this is the best firm-yet-soft thing I ever spent the night with!

Wanted...

In the late nineties a fan of Domai sent me some rubber toys. No, not that kind, they were for squeezing in your hand for therapeutic purposes. The where of hard rubber. One was a dark blue ball with small blunt spikes. One was a yellow ring, also with spikes. I lost them somehow during several moves. Does anybody know these products? (I think it was a very small company making them.)
I've seen softer balls, but what I liked about the one I had was that it was very hard, with short stubby spikes, which you could really squeeze into the palm to get a sort of deep massage. And it was maybe just 4 or 5 cm diameter.

Update: Thank you to Michael M who found it for me!

And by the way, my hands are fine, as is my general health. I just remember how good these things felt.

Pure Trim

Talking about excellent products:
Pure Trim
It's a protein shake with a difference. Really good nutrition. Tastes reasonably good. It stabilizes the blood sugar to handle sweets cravings. It keeps you full for hours on a couple hundred calories. And it contains some herbs in just the right mix to work as a natural mood lifter, like St John's Wort, only better and much faster.
Only problem is it only sold in the US and Canada, they can't even ship overseas due to regulations. So I have to have a friend buy it and ship it to me. Sadly this is not likely to change fast, since it is a huge deal to get permission to sell nutritional products in any modern country.

Jerry

My pal Jerry's blog, Baby Boomer Hits 60.

Sinfest

Sinfest. Man, this guy can draw.

More nice products

I am replacing my blender and my juicer. The new ones look nice and make me feel good, and probably they will also work nicer than those I had.

Since making it to "comfortable" in my middle age, I have made it a habit of going for quality items with whatever I buy. They last a lot longer and give much more pleasure.

When I bought my juicer and blender though, I was new in the UK, and I just went accross the road to the omnipresent Curry's store and bought the best I could find.
In Denmark when you buy stuff, you get pretty good stuff. I was not aware that in the UK if you just do that, you get... well, crap. It doesn't work well and falls apart. After buying three fax machines in Currys, I don't shop there anymore, and since I don't have a car (I work from home), I suddenly realized that there is very little I can't buy online. So, bimbo, I just go to Amazon UK and read a few reviews.

Christopher Guest and Spinal Tap

I just watched Spinal Tap for the third time. (Fifth time if you include the commentary.)

Man, that film goes to eleven! Funniest mockumentary ever made.
Best commentary too, it is done in character, and is easily as funny as the film.
And don't miss the extras, like the full TV-concert clips from the sixties and seventies, hilarious as well as being actually very good pop music.

And if you like that, you should get the Christopher Guest collection.
OK, maybe it is not the slam dunk Spinal Tap was, but what is? These are more understated. But I just watched them all a second time, and loved them even better than first time. Dead funny, good character studies, and even quite touching sometimes.

Better products

I am enamoured with the march of progress, not just spiritually/artistically, but also technologically. Almost anything you buy will be markedly better than a similar product from ten years ago. Remarkable.

Small example: Gillette M3 Power
It sounds silly, adding more blades and vibration to a perfectly workable razor. But the fact is that it actually is noticably better than the already excellent Mark III system. It is just smooth as silk.

Another example: Oral-B Pulsar toothbrush
This one may also sound silly. Is it an electrical toothbrush, or a manual one. What's with all the different bristles in one head, the rubber tips? But again, it is just a great product. Brushing my teeth is just both easier and more effective than ever. (And I do it several times per day, because I dislike the aftertaste of food or coffee.)

More Ministry

Lyrics from The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste.
iTunes free sample.
Ministry fan site.

Burning Inside will these dreams still follow me out of dark obscurity? can't you see it up in the sky as it kicks you in the face and sucks you dry you never had the answers and now you tell me the facts of life i really couldn't be bothered with you get out of my face and watch me die burning inside! burning inside! absolution and a frozen room are the dreams of men below i try to grab it but the touch is hot the mirror collapses, but the image came not i'm scared of the darkness in the light i scare myself because i know i'm right i see the evil in your savage eye as it cuts right through the sky burning inside! burning inside! calling a mantra with a blade in the skin for the demons within i feel the pain is the death and decay but the lesson never fades away too little shadows, turn away you throw the man through the window pane another slave and a victim of fate another lesson in hate burning inside! burning inside!

Scott McCloud tour

For comics fans: Scott McCloud will be touring, talking about his new book. If you like art and comics, don't miss Scott's unique books about it.

The strained lives of the cynical

It must be hard living in Scott Adams' head.
Quote: Dilbert: "Are you aware that all jobs require you to do things you'd rather not do? That's why they have to pay you."

Sounds logical. But I beg to differ. Even people who enjoy their jobs immensely get paid. As a matter of fact those people tend to get paid the most.
People get paid to work because their products are valuable, not because working is unpleasant.

Working is only unpleasant if you have misplaced yourself in life.

Ministry; kings of industrial rock

Interesting music/review site: In Music We Trust.

I agree with their reviews of:
Wish You Were Queer: A Tribute To Ministry
iTunes
and
Another Prick In The Wall: A Tribute To Ministry
iTunes
... not too many "normal" people seem to know about Ministry, but... what can I say. If you like friggin excellent music which also bashes you through the wall, Ministry is it.

Which is why I would have said that a Ministry tribute album would be doomed. How do you emulate that energy? Fortunately the bands here don't try it, but they still have lots of energy, and it is surprisingly good. Real durn good.

Of course start with the original if you don't know Ministry. But be prepared.

Quotes

The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority.
-- Ralph W. Sockman

Money can't buy happiness, but neither can poverty.
-- Leo Rosten

I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much.
-- Mother Teresa

It is not that I'm growing less popular, it's that my appeal is becoming more selective.
- Stobblehouse (ripped off from Spinal Tap)

"The Renaissance Soul"

I am delighted to find out that Barbara Sher is not the only one defending "ADD" people. Margaret Lobenstine is another one. I have not read her book yet, but judging by reviews it is probably as important as "Refuse to Choose" by Barbara Sher. There are some nice free articles. (Which is something I've told Barbara is missing from her site. No easy way of picking up what she is talking about.)

I have to admit that "Renaissance Soul" is a much prettier term than "scanner"... the latter either evokes a Canon product or a person who makes people head explode. (OK, I was thinking of the seventies horror flick "Scanners"... but I guess a Renaissance Soul can make people's heads explode in a less literate way just by confusing them.)

By the way, there are Leonardo da Vinci and Benjamin Franklin... who else have been (or are) successful in many fields?

Bored much?

"If you’ve been told that you get bored easily because you're lazy or there’s something wrong with you, it's important to realize that the contrary is probably true. The ability to be comfortable with rote tasks where there is nothing new to learn is uncommon in people with above-average intelligence."
- Barbara Sher

High and low art

It is very strange how some fine artists who have little skill and commercial illustrators who have little talent can often be very recognized and successful, while in the comics and art illustration fields work many people (sorry, that site has fake-message popups) who are both extremely skilled and talented, and they usually struggle in obscurity, barely making a living.
I really don't get why comics is such an underdog medium in the USA, it is pictures and words combined, it is the perfect artistic medium.

Ice Sculpture

I was googling around to find out whether ice sculptures are mostly carved or from molds (can be either), and I found this video. Most of it is pretty boring, but it has a nice surprise ending.
And then there is this one. Man, that guy can move.