Finding Flow

A colleague of mine recently recommended this book to me: Finding Flow by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi
The best thing about the book is how the author's name is pronounced: "CHICK-sent-me-high-ee" :-D

Jokes apart, its a good book. It had been a long time since the philosopher in me was fed and groomed. It kinda reminded me of the college days when we pondered on how this human civilisation is one shithole at 3:00 am in the morning on the terrace of our society (Fighter Kombdas, remember? :D). A long reflection on self was long overdue and this book provided the perfect opportunity for it.

For starters, it horrendously breaks the myth of how we have come to define happiness and how much importance it has in our life. I like how Flow is closely related (or almost synonymous) to satisfaction. The book drove out all the radicalism that I had been accumulating for a while now. It has quenched my thirst atleast for now.

Its a short read of about 150 pages. It touches almost all aspects of our lives: work, relationships, solitude and provides a solid insight in why all this stuff really matters. It is a good afternoon read and will certainly change the way you perceive life, universe and everything! So, there's my recommendation!

One-liners

Since I have nothing new to post about, here is some borrowed entertainment. Some of the one-liners are old-timers, and yet never fail to make you grin. Enjoy!

Word play:
1) I've got to sit down and work out where I stand.
2) Doesn't expecting the unexpected make the unexpected become the expected?

Insults:
1) Sometimes I need what only you can provide: your absence.

General musings:
1) If it's true that we are here to help others, then, what exactly are the others here for?
2) How come we choose from just two people for President and 50 for Miss America?
3) Think about this...no one ever says "it's only a game" when their team is winning.
4) A conscience does not prevent sin. It only prevents you from enjoying it.

Feel-good:
1) Don't frown. You never know who is falling in Iove with your smile.

Hilarious:
1) Best way to prevent hangover is to stay drunk.
2) If your father is a poor man, it is your fate but, if your father-in-law is a poor man, it's your stupidity.
3) A good time to keep your mouth shut is when you are in deep water.
4) I'm as confused as a baby in a topless bar.
5) Hard work has a future payoff. Laziness pays off now.

Life:
1) Don't take life too seriously, you won't get out alive anyway!
2) I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it.
3) Of all the thirty-six alternatives, running away is best.

General lot:
1) If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.
2) Living on Earth may be expensive... but it includes an annual free trip around the Sun.
3) Suicidal twin kills sister by mistake!

Ranting a rant ...

The good thing about the good things is that you can do them recursively and hence, can increase the increase in the goodness. The bad thing about the bad things is that you cannot do them recursively. Eg. you cannot hate hate. (because if you do, then you would have to NOT hate) but you can love love. Or you cannot forget to forget (because then you won't be forgetting anything and hence you won't forget to forget), but you can remember to remember. You cannot kill the dead, but you can give a new life to the living.

I can

Recently, while I was cleaning up my room for the upcoming Diwali festival, I found a nice piece penned by someone for Saurabh. Now, its not a Longfellow-style classy poem or it doesn't say something that would turn us selfish mortals into angels. But, its nice because it is small simple and wise. (uuuhhhh.. that rhymes!). Hell, its not even a poem, its a "piece"!

Here goes:
If you think you are beaten,
you are.
If you think you dare not,
you don't

If you'd like to win,
but think you can't
It almost certain
you won't

If you think you'll lose
you're lost

For out in the world
we find success begins
with a person's faith;
Its all in the state of mind!

Life's victories don't always go
to the stronger and the faster
but sooner or later the man who wins
is the man who thinks "HE CAN"

--------------

small simple and wise, isn't it? :)

Update: In case you didn't read the comments, vedang pinged to let me know that the poem/piece is actually composed by Walter D Wintle.

The search for a music player..

Since the death of Amarok 1.* series and the rise of the new 2.* series, it has been painfully difficult to use Amarok. Although I accept amarok has restored much of its lost glory, there are still a lot of areas where I miss the old amarok. So, started the search for a new music player. I tried Rhythmbox, SongBird and a host of other music players, but each one lacked something or the other. Here is a list of what I expect from a music player (besides the basic library and playlist management features)

1) A good lyrics plug-in which runs inside the main player window. Rhythmbox has a plugin, but it is non-configurable and spawns a new window. Amarok had a nice lyics plugins. (Wiki-lyric was the best).

2) Global shortcuts. This is a MUST. I should be able to play/pause/next/previous while the focus is on some other application. It is very helpful when working. New amarok global shortcuts, but it doesn't work. Rhythmbox, songbird don't even attempt to do it.

3) A "--enqueue" like option on the command-line. (eg. rhythmbox --enqueue <song>). This way I can add an entry in the right-click context menu which says "Append to playlist"

4) Search filenames. Many songs don't have valid IDv3 tags. (Especially Marathi and Hindi songs). Then, it is very useful to search them with their filenames. Old amarok had this facility and I was addicted to it. None of the players I reviewed later had this functionality, including the new amarok.

5) File browser within the player. Useful to add songs. Rhythmbox lacks it. Songbird, amarok have this.

6) Good randomisation algorithm. I am in love with the amarok randomisation algo. rhythmbox's algo sucks. With 2000+ songs, it still repeats a small subset of 100 songs fairly enough which is irritating.

Optional but nice to have features:
7) Edit IDv3 tags. Implemented by almost all players I reviewed.

8) Fill the screen with some data or the other (Like artist info, lyrics, songs like this, suggestions from Last.fm, etc)


If you know any nice music players which atleast has 4-5 of the first 6 features, please leave a comment. Currently, I am using SongBird. It is a close replacement to Amarok with loads of plug-ins and functionalities.

Forget some more ..

Zarin pointed me to this poem. I think it is awesome!

Update: Turns out Zarin herself penned this piece. That makes it brilliant-er!

I forgot how to worry,
and never ran out of happiness.
I forgot how to argue,
and everything around was quiet.

I forgot life is unfair,
and made every moment worth living.
I forgot the word revenge,
and enemies ceased to exist.

I forgot dreams are'nt real,
and lived in blissful fiction.
I forgot how to complain,
and dissatisfaction vanished.

I forgot that I'm human,
and work finished in a jiffy.
I forgot that I'm a slave,
and masters never lasted.

I forgot to have expectations,
and life became numb.
I forgot feelings are real,
and oceans never flowed.

I forgot how to breathe,
and life became heavenly.

An Irish Airman Foresees His Death - Yeats

(Brilliant! Just too effing awesome!)

I know that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate,
Those that I guard I do not love;
My country is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan's poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.
Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.
--

It is about one US pilot who is a part of the World War I and is about to die because his aircraft is hit. He isn't in the war because he is a patriot or he hates some race, but he is in because he loves to fly.
"A lonely impulse of delight" - what a phrase! and ofcourse, the last 3 lines!! (Paraphrase: The past and the future are just a waste in front of this life and (more importantly) this death!). Darjaa!