8 reasons why I feel fine

1. Move. First off, cancel your gym membership. You don’t need it. People kept themselves in fighting trim for centuries without Nautilus or Pilates by doing something called “being active”. Walk or bike to and from work, for example. Go for a swim, hell some of the pools have free weights. If that’s not enough, do some push-ups and sit-ups. Work in your garden. Hell, I if I can find one, I’ll be rowing a boat out to fish whenever I can. My decision to only take the bus when forced to by time constraints or weather, to ride or walk whenever possible, has paid of in twenty-dropped kilos, while my forays to Sundhollinn have added muscle I thought I had lost forever. The best thing is, I’m not paying anything for it, and because its part of my daily routine, not an addition to it, I tend to stick to it better than any gym-inspired attempt at achieving svelteness.

2. Eat. The nice thing about getting in shape in the aforementioned manner is that you get to eat more. Or at least better. When one is trudging through wind and snow, biking against a stiff gale, and doing ones best porpoise impression several times a week, one finds that one needs good hearty food. With butter. One finds oneself eating filling, nutritious food because one needs to and diet-plans involving self-imposed starvation fly right out the damned window. And good riddance. Good home cooked meals are one of the simpler and more complete pleasures in life. They are also cheap. If you do the prep yourself, you can feed five people a great meal for what it would cost to feed yourself at any place worth calling a restaurant. This brings us to the next benefit…

3. Share. For far too long the social scene in Rvk has been under the monopolistic control of “the bar scene” whereby everyone had to pay through the nose for flat beer to get the chance to socialize and meet new people. Not many of us can afford that anymore. But we can afford to have dinners together. Be they potlucks, or stone-soups (whereby everyone brings an ingredient and the whole party works out what to do with them), communal cooking and eating is fun, and comforting. There is something deeply human and primal about breaking bread in the company of good friends. We should do it more. Just like we should play music together, have video nights, play ball in the park, etc.

Not to mention theme parties. I love theme parties. Especially when the theme includes partial nudity…

There’s another benefit here. When times get hard, people generally figure out that all this imposed competition isn’t actually brining out the best in us, just the opposite in fact. Use this opportunity to create closer ties to your neighbors and friends. Extend your social network. It not only makes everyone feel a bit less alone, a bit less worried, but provides a network for mutual aid. Got a friend that needs a babysitter? You need a hand painting? Bingo, cashless solution to both your problems…

4. Love. What with the friendly socializing, good food, and healthy fitness, its only fair to indulge in one of life’s other pleasures, namely fucking. Now, this might just be my singleness talking, but come on! Its fun, its free, its healthy, and it makes you happy. Screw your way through the Depression! Make with the horizontal tango! Form the two backed beast! Why not?

5. Create. Once upon a time, back before China provided for all our material needs, people used to make useful things for themselves. Some of us still do. This is not just economic, its fun. It fills time otherwise spent worrying about money. Knit, sew, homebrew, carve, weave, paint, compose, potter (?), whatever. Doing something worthwhile with your hands is probably one of the best ways to get out of your own head and achieve some zen.*

6. Read. For free. From the library. I suppose you could watch a DVD from the library too. Or listen to one of their books on CD/mp3 as you bike to work. Or just take some time to have a free cuppa and read the papers. Libraries rock, but they rock out with their metaphorical cocks out when times is hard. Need to know how to homebrew? Go to the library. Need to know how to repair your bike? Ditto. What to learn how to cook new and interesting food? Ditto ad infinatum.

7. Rise up. Take to the streets. Seriously, if the events of recent months haven’t activated you inner activist yet, you’re either sitting on a pile of tax-paradise trust funds, or you’re, frankly, a dolt. I don’t care if you disagree with my politics, just get out and make some fucking noise already. Every disaster bears the seeds of opportunity, if we’re willing to go out and gather ‘em up. Plus, when done right, its fun. Its thrilling, its good cheap fun. Politics shouldn’t be a chore. As soon as it feels like one, its time to inject some fun back into it. Play merry havoc in the streets. I mean, if they arrest you, can you say free room and board?

8. Hope. For better or worse, we will survive this. Its bad, but its not the End of the World, just the End of the World as We Know It. And you bet your ass I feel fine.

* Kreppa Koan:

If a tree falls on an investment banker, does anyone care?

What is the sound of one hand washing the other?

If wealth is created from nothingness, is it worth anything?

Three monkeys sat on a branch as a monster walked by. The first monkey blocked his eyes and said “Globalization is making us rich”. The second monkey plugged his ears and said “Business is booming”. The third monkey covered his mouth so he wouldn’t say anything that might be construed as leftist. They all got eaten.

When the tide ebbs, it is considered a tragedy. But when the tide never ceases to rise, it is considered anything but a flood.

Less is more.

So I’ve really been enjoying life lately, in spite of the fact that since quitting my job at the school (as opposed to the After School Thingy, where I am still very happily employed) I’ve been busy as all get out. Or maybe it’s because of that fact. Thing is, I’m doing a lot more now, but I’m doing things I want to do, not things I have to do because someone told me too.

I’m even enjoying the financial side to it all, the certain knowledge that starting next month and for the foreseeable future I’ll be making a bit less money, whilst in the middle of a nationwide financial snafu. Instead of freaking me out, it’s inspired me to try to live a little more frugally, to eat at home, to stop buying junk food, to take steps to supply as many of my needs and wants as I can independently of the market.

To that end, once I finish my kitchen (anyone willing to help with that is welcome to come by on Saturday when I will reward your help with BBQ and beer…or Diet Coke if you happen to be Emblita) I’m going to make use of a portion of the heated driveway outside my door to install a mini-greenhouse herb garden, going to plant some veg in the back garden, put up a little micro-brewery out in the garage (with the happy cooperation of Iňaki and Noellia) and am looking into getting the use of a small boat for a monthly fishing expedition (non-commercial line fishing doesn’t require a license in Iceland). I’m also in the market for a pre-microchip four-wheel drive diesel pickup or Land Rover that I intend to power on homemade bio-diesel and use for fishing and or planting a bigger garden this summer up north. I’m also looking into going back to school in January, but not in English, as the U of I has started a new interdisciplinary Master’s course in sustainable development that I cannot wait to get into.

But in the meantime, I’m just enjoying life. Riding my bike and eating home-cooked meals (I’ve lost nearly 3.5 kilos since quitting the school), going swimming almost daily, hanging out with friends and doing some writing/translating, practicing my various musical instruments, and all that good stuff.

In essence, I’m walking the walk that I used to only talk about. Sure I have less money, but finding a balance between work and the kind of productive play (gardening, crafts, etc) that everyone gets up to given enough time makes one hell of a difference when it comes to quality of life.

I’m even more convinced than before that what this overheated, over inflated, over-stressed and overworked on overtime little island needs most is a shorter work day. More time for our kids, more time for improving ourselves in that slow, enjoyable way that actually works, more time to think about our society and how we can improve it. More time to just fucking be.

Less is so very much more.




P.S. Just in case anyone has started to take me in the least bit seriously, I include the following photo...

That's me in a tank top with a teddy bear that says "Ain't I cute".

Don't take me seriously folks...its all goofy with me...