Month: April 2018

Dudley day diary

Sitting under the table to catch any droppings from my lunch.

Came and lay down under my bum while my leg was in the air as I stretched the hamstring. Chewie happily hugged the other leg (one on the ground), and lay down. (TK the drawing)

Gave them antlers to chew on, so I could stretch in peace. Since Duds didn’t have his bed here, the boys got cosy on Chewie’s bed. Happy 15 mins of chewing for them, and peaceful stretching for me.

Later, while I groomed Tango, Duds picked up the small antler and came to us. He’d tried to hide it in his mouth, so his mouth was swollen up, with a tiny bit of the antler poking out. Reminded me of my own childhood – fluffy cheeks with rasgullas stuffed in them 😁

I gave both the boys carrot batons while they were waiting for lunch. Duds ate his, but Chewie took one bite and spat his out. He wanted the good stuff – his salmon kibble. Before I could react, Duds went over, and gobbled up the carrot Chewie had just spat out. True Labrador!

Late in the evening, Duds quietly pointed at the freezer with his nose a few times. He wanted his Kong dessert early, so he could have it, and still return home for the night 🙂

“Live the life you’ve imagined.”

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined.”

― Henry David Thoreau

I’ve come across this quote twice in the left 24 hours, in two unrelated places. First, as a chapter cover in the book I finished last night. Then, just now, at the head of a blog post by someone I barely know.

It got me thinking with the first hit. Now, with the double appearance, it seems like a message from the great void.

Time to heed it?

Continue reading “Live the life you’ve imagined.”

Exercising is for the head, not just body

I run, I swim, I practice yoga and pilates, and I spin & bike.

I do this to stay fit. Everyone understands that.

Few understand that these workouts are far more important to my mental health, than to my physical health. I may survive physically without these workouts – unfit, but alive. I’m not sure I’d survive mentally.

That is why I preach. Not for the physical benefits, but for the mental.

Be a pal, not a dick.

I don’t need sympathy or special consideration because, ultimately, who cares? You hate me, and I hate me, too. We are on the same team. I guess what I’m saying is that maybe we could all just mind our own fucking business for once, and that when you can actually see a person’s scars, maybe be a pal and don’t pick at them.

Samantha Irby, in ‘We are never meeting in real life’

Everything is relative – toothbrush edition

The human brain is so easy to fool – just mix up absolutes and relatives.

Oral B Cross-action brush heads
Oral B tooth whitening brush heads

I use Oral-B’s electric toothbrush with the CrossAction brush heads. Last week, I noticed that the brush head had worn out, and we’d run out of replacement stock at home. We still had an unopened Pro White (teeth whitening) brush head that came with the toothbrush, so I started using it. I also ordered an 8 pack of CrossAction brush heads off Amazon.

I’d been using the new brush head for a week when got this niggling feeling that maybe using a whitening brush head daily isn’t that good for my teeth. What if it was hurting the enamel or some such thing? (I’m no dentist!)

So, I opened one of the new Cross Action brush heads as well, and started alternating between the two. At the same time, I (re)started brushing teeth twice a day. In the morning, I’d brush with the whitening brush heads as before, and in the evening with the new Cross Action brush heads.

Of course, in absolute terms, I’m still using it at the same frequency as before. So, if there was any damage being done by it, it’s still being done at the same rate. But by looking at it relatively, I’m only using it half the time. So, it makes me feel good.

We, humans, understand relatives easily, and are pretty rubbish at absolutes (or at least it takes an effort). This makes the mixing of absolutes and relatives as one of the most common ways to fool us – something that marketers and politicians employ quite well.

And when there’s no marketers and politicians, we fool ourselves. With toothbrush heads.