Page 2
Blog archive — page 2
Browse earlier articles, stories, and notes. New pieces appear regularly.
Stop being the weatherman of your own life. Just live in the weather.
Stop being the weatherman of your own life. Just live in the weather.
Notification
Andrey hit a pothole on Science Avenue at 8:43 AM. The impact was hard. The suspension cracked, coffee splashed from the cup onto his jeans. In the "old world" (about ten years ago), Andrey would be cursing right now. Then he'd get out, kick the wheel. Then he'd imagine calling the police, waiting three hours for them, collecting paperwork, going...
Authenticity
Katya deleted Instagram on Tuesday, at 11:47 PM. Before that, she wrote a post. Wrote it for a long time — first draft, second draft, third. She needed to find the right words. Honest, but not pathetic. Bold, but not arrogant. Vulnerable, but not weak. It came out like this: "I'm leaving. I don't know for how long — maybe forever. These past...
Rumination
Anton checked the email for the fourth time. Three paragraphs to a client. Routine approval. He read it over, changed a word, changed it back. Sent. A second later, he was checking if it went through. It did. He opened his sent folder. Read it again. Found a phrase that now seemed harsh. Or did it? He couldn't tell. He imagined the client reading...
A person beaten with a stick their whole life instinctively looks for a razor blade in every gingerbread
A person beaten with a stick their whole life instinctively looks for a razor blade in every gingerbread.
Hell is not a place where demons roast sinners. Hell is a place where no one believes that Heaven could exist somewhere.
Hell is not a place where demons roast sinners. Hell is a place where no one believes that Heaven could exist somewhere.
AI knows you better than your mom. Mom sees your mask. AI sees your queries at 3 AM.
AI knows you better than your mom. Mom sees your mask. AI sees your queries at 3 AM.
Have you ever thought about how a pearl is born? A grain of sand gets inside the shell. A foreign body. An irritant. Pain. And to protect itself from this pain, to isolate this splinter, the mollusk begins to cover it layer by layer with nacre. Year after year. It doesn't try to create a masterpiece. It simply tries to soothe the pain. And as a result of this long, agonizing, unconscious process, something beautiful is born.
Have you ever thought about how a pearl is born? A grain of sand gets inside the shell. A foreign body. An irritant. Pain. And to protect itself from this pain, to isolate this splinter, the mollusk begins to cover it layer by layer with nacre. Year after year. It doesn't try to create a masterpiece. It simply tries to soothe the pain. And as a result of this long, agonizing, unconscious process, something beautiful is born.
We live as if we're writing a draft that we'll someday rewrite in clean copy. But God has no eraser. Only a pen.
We live as if we're writing a draft that we'll someday rewrite in clean copy. But God has no eraser. Only a pen.
Nationalism is an emergency mechanism for restoring trust within a narrow circle when general trust has been destroyed.
Nationalism is an emergency mechanism for restoring trust within a narrow circle when general trust has been destroyed.
Waiting for the "right moment" is like standing on the shore and waiting for the ocean to calm down before entering the water. The ocean won't stop. The moment will never be right. It will only be now.
Waiting for the "right moment" is like standing on the shore and waiting for the ocean to calm down before entering the water. The ocean won't stop. The moment will never be right. It will only be now.
You can't offend emptiness.
We call chaos everything that moves faster than our understanding.
We call chaos everything that moves faster than our understanding.
Cynicism is romanticism that got tired of waiting.
You cannot explain the taste of wine with a grape fermentation formula.
You cannot explain the taste of wine with a grape fermentation formula.
War is a perfect predatory mechanism that solves cold, mathematical problems of survival and dominance. But this mechanism is utterly helpless and cannot start without its irrational fuel — a great and simple story that convinces millions of rational beings that their personal, agonizing death has cosmic significance. War is a marriage of ruthless biology and high poetry. Wars begin when a story appears that transforms killing from a crime into a sacred duty.
War is a perfect predatory mechanism that solves cold, mathematical problems of survival and dominance. But this mechanism is utterly helpless and cannot start without its irrational fuel — a great and simple story that convinces millions of rational beings that their personal, agonizing death has cosmic significance. War is a marriage of ruthless biology and high poetry. Wars begin when a story appears that transforms killing from a crime into a sacred duty.
Everyday Zen
Ancestor \ The first person who ate an oyster was either very hungry, very brave, or lost a bet.\ They looked at a rock. Opened it. Saw snot inside.\ And thought: I'll put this in my mouth.\ We are their descendants.\ This explains a lot. Jurisprudence \ In Switzerland, you cannot keep just one guinea pig.\ Only two. It's the law.\ Because one...
Octopus Sex
Fair warning: this is the most depressing and magnificent story in the entire ocean. If Dostoevsky had been a mollusk, this is exactly what he would have written about. Octopus sex is not pleasure. It is ritual suicide . 1. The Male Exit (Kamikaze) The male octopus lives in constant paranoid fear. His main problem is that the female is usually...
The most important truths are born not from knowledge, but from vulnerability, from mistakes, from the willingness to throw away the map and get lost in the forest.
The most important truths are born not from knowledge, but from vulnerability, from mistakes, from the willingness to throw away the map and get lost in the forest.