Cold shower

I'm up to five days in a row now. Five days where, at the end of my shower, I turn the dial way over to the cold side and spend the last 30 seconds under an icy flow, willing myself to breathe normally.

Is it a fad? Is it a "lifehack"? Does it do any good?

Anecdotally, yes to the last question! This morning, I was feeling anxious, but I feel better after doing the above. It's like a switch, turning off the mental buzzing, and forcing you to feel instead of think. The cold shower has a powerful physiological effect, and I just feel better.

I haven't delved deep into the scientific literature at all, only seen recommendations here and there on the internet, and I have a friend who's done some cold dunking in an actual river, which is a far cry from what I call my "transition" showers going from hot>cold. But yes, I can confirm, having some semblance of a cold shower has a positive effect on my mood.

So even if it's a fad, a "biohack", or whatever other term you wanna label it, I'm going to keep up with this newfound routine. It gets easier to do the more you do it.

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Weather's been crazy. It was summer-hot a couple days ago, pushing 28 degrees celsius, and now it's back down to 4... Mother nature's mood swings in tandem with climate change, I guess.

Reflection on weirdness

I often find myself encountering stuff I've written in the past on various forums or other places on the internet that I've visited before. Or on my blog, obviously. And sometimes, I shake my head and try and understand wtf I wrote. I try and understand the headspace I was in when I wrote something, and it's incredibly difficult. And I realize, with some embarrassment, that some of these things that I've written and forgotten about are kinda crazy and not coherent.

I think some of these writings can be attributed to wanting to "freewrite" the thoughts down somewhere and not caring about what I'm actually saying. Other times, I've written something with a purpose and a general idea, but taking it to an extreme.

Here's an example of something I came across which I've now removed from my Steam profile:

"Don't talk nutrition with me unless we're very close friends. Don't bring me your sugar. Don't try and sell your garbage-processed-transformed food-like items to me (and that includes cookies).

With that out of the way, yes, I still like to play video games but I'm transitioning away from iMac and moving back into the Windows world eventually.

e=mc^2 is not a reason to drink alcohol.
I like plants.
I like transformed plants less, but I like them, too.
I like animals best of all.
And I often play games with cool people.

And finally, I'm awesome because I usually like playing as fairly as possible. "

Who am I addressing here? Who would even "try" to sell me junk food? I either buy it or I don't. When I wrote the above, I was likely in "extreme-healthnut-mode" and rejecting all sorts of foods and focusing on only eating the very healthiest stuff. Well, that couldn't last forever. But I can always improve.

What does the speed of light have to do with drinking alcohol?

Am I saying I like nature, or that I like oil, or something else?

True, in the past, I played games with cool people. These days, it's very much a solo thing aside from random global chat interactions in games that support that kind of communication.

Finally, qualifying my awesomeness with how fairly I play games is just weird. I mean, I do literally have a clock with a metal engraving saying "Gabriel is awesome and stuff." that I got as a present when I was 18 and volunteering in Vancouver, so I wonder if I saw my clock and needed to write about being awesome.

In my current headspace, I just have to laugh about this stuff. I'm just glad I'm not doing more damaging things when I get into weird states.

Dogs & Time

 Harmlessly passing the time only dimly aware of a certain unease in the air

For some reason, the above quote drifts in and out of my head, almost on a daily basis and has been doing so for the past week. There's music accompanying it as well, because it's taken from a Pink Floyd song. I think it's taken from Dogs, on the excellent Animals album. But I'm not sure if I've got the quote quite right, and I'm not bothering to look it up.

I don't know what to make of it. It seems like it could be insightful, something to reflect on. 

Now that I think about it, it makes me think of another Pink Floyd song, much more well-known, called Time (Dark Side of the Moon is the album, of course). There's a quote in there that goes: "Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day". That one, I'm sure I've got right because David Gilmour enunciates it so clearly, in an iconic way really.

Anyway, I wonder if I've somehow mixed up the two songs and altered the lyrics for Dogs as such. Am I harmlessly passing my time? Is the clock ticking my time away? I dunno. Here, I'll make Dogs the "Song of the Day" and link it below to mull over.