Ira

wishes he had more time for 43things



I'm doing 41 things
 

Ira's Life List

  1. 1. take care of my body
    4 entries . 24 cheers
    79 people
  2. 2. make better use of my time
    2 entries . 16 cheers
    78 people
  3. 3. not give in to depression
    8 entries . 73 cheers
    6 people
  4. 4. work towards a degree
    5 entries . 17 cheers
    1 person
  5. 5. learn python
    2 entries . 2 cheers
    737 people
  6. 6. learn unix and linux
    1 entry . 4 cheers
    3 people
  7. 7. learn web design
    9 entries . 7 cheers
    289 people
  8. 8. learn graphic design
    1 entry . 3 cheers
    188 people
  9. 9. Learn to use The GIMP
    4 cheers
    14 people
  10. 10. practise playing and making music every day
    4 entries . 9 cheers
    1 person
  11. 11. be myself, and trust friendships to form naturally
    3 entries . 52 cheers
    6 people
  12. 12. learn to cook from three new recipes
    4 entries . 18 cheers
    2 people
  13. 13. find a job
    5 entries . 32 cheers
    1,682 people
  14. 14. try meditation
    2 team members . 4 entries . 15 cheers
    20 people
  15. 15. find out the eye colour of everyone I talk to
    2 entries . 31 cheers
    1 person
  16. 16. make a recording of ONE song that I can be happy with
    8 cheers
    1 person
  17. 17. write at least one new song every month
    4 entries . 8 cheers
    5 people
  18. 18. make time for reading every week
    5 entries . 22 cheers
    2 people
  19. 19. learn to play the harmonica
    3 entries . 10 cheers
    779 people
  20. 20. find people to make music with
    1 entry . 7 cheers
    2 people
  21. 21. write a truly happy song
    1 entry . 17 cheers
    1 person
  22. 22. learn the names and locations of the countries of the world
    4 entries . 12 cheers
    4 people
  23. 23. re-record some of my RPM songs
    4 cheers
    1 person
  24. 24. get into photography
    3 entries . 12 cheers
    84 people
  25. 25. get back into drawing
    3 entries . 21 cheers
    10 people
  26. 26. try restaurants I've never been to and food I've never had before
    1 entry . 25 cheers
    1 person
  27. 27. explore London
    17 cheers
    17 people
  28. 28. make new friends
    1 entry . 15 cheers
    12,212 people
  29. 29. compile a 100-things-about-me list
    22 entries . 10 cheers
    656 people
  30. 30. make a space here to write anything I want
    29 entries . 8 cheers
    3 people
  31. 31. learn more about refugees and asylum, and share what I learn
    2 entries . 11 cheers
    1 person
  32. 32. organise the bookmarks in my web browsers, and share the ones that may be of interest to others
    29 entries . 6 cheers
    2 people
  33. 33. Make a list of my favourite songs
    6 entries . 4 cheers
    3 people
  34. 34. Happy File!
    2 team members . 7 entries . 10 cheers
    1 person
  35. 35. ask the questions I've always wanted to ask
    2 entries . 11 cheers
    1 person
  36. 36. gather evidence that people are worth loving
    2 entries . 13 cheers
    1 person
  37. 37. register to be a bone marrow donor
    11 cheers
    75 people
  38. 38. relax
    1 entry . 10 cheers
    1,845 people
  39. 39. learn about the aspects of human psychology that lead us to think and do crazy things
    3 entries . 6 cheers
    1 person
  40. 40. Learn the C programming language
    2 cheers
    157 people
  41. 41. Learn Vim
    1 cheer
    14 people
Recent entries
compile a 100-things-about-me list (read all 22 entries…)
22. 1 day ago

I like to talk openly, and hear others talk openly, about the less polite bodily functions. I wouldn’t say I’m fond of toilet humour – I just like how they are the things that we all, every one of us, as human beings have in common.

Everyone poops and farts and have earwax and snot and maybe skin problems and scars and blemishes and sometimes get constipation and goop in their eyes in the morning… it’s just that, those are the things that makes us human. And it feels like in being “polite” about not talking about them openly, it’s easy to lose touch with these “imperfections” that all of us – regardless of “race”, ethnicity, class, gender, looks – we all share. I feel like we’ve lost touch with them in the same way that we have become ashamed of our bodies because we’ve got used to hiding it. At least being clothed has the purpose of keeping us warm.

I mean, take airbrushing – how on earth is it even accepted? Why haven’t we boycotted every single magazine or film or advertisement that uses it? We’re talking about standards that even our supposedly most beautiful models and actors cannot live up to. And we let ourselves be surrounded with it, so we can believe it to be the norm, that we are disgusting because of our flaws, that we have to hide these flaws as best we can.

I have this memory, of one of my favourite conversations with friends: I can’t remember what we were talking about, but I had raised a question about some bodily function that nobody ever talks about. And I wasn’t making toilet jokes – I was asking my friends how they dealt with it, the effects of it. We started talking about it openly, frankly. And I remember feeling more connected with them as human beings then, than I had for a long time. It’s the great equalizer – no matter who you are. How “successful” you are. How beautiful you look. You still have to deal with these things. And when you get old (if you’re lucky, it doesn’t come earlier), your bodily functions will start demanding more and more of your attention and time, as it gets harder and harder to hide them from “polite company” – to pretend we are something we aren’t.

Why not just bring some of it out in the open now?



learn to play the ukulele
I learned it on Cyn's ukulele 1 day ago

which I liked a lot :) It’s pretty similar to the guitar, so once I learned the tuning I could pretty much figure out the rest. Will have to get myself one some day :)



gather evidence that people are worth loving (read all 2 entries…)
"She's Israeli, he's an Arab. War has made them like mother and son" 1 month ago

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/10/palestine-israel-peace-campaigners

“I remain an optimist,” she said. “After all, if you had told me in 1967 when I left South Africa that one day whites and blacks would sit together in the same room I would have thought you were mad.” As mad perhaps as if she had been told that a Palestinian ex-revolutionary would become one of her closest friends.

..There is a palpable sense that she and Awwad complete the other in some way, offering some consoling echo of what has been lost. Theirs is a friendship that only appears unusual when individuals are reduced to labels and tribes; and yet when Ali Abu Awwad and Robi Damelin are viewed not as Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and Muslims, but rather as a son and mother, the relationship begins not to feel unlikely at all.



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