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Old 04-25-2016, 04:29 PM
 
1,519 posts, read 1,329,503 times
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Friends,life is boring
We must not say so
After all, the sky flashes, the great sea yearns
we ourselves flash and yearn.
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Old 04-25-2016, 06:22 PM
 
Location: Mid-Atlantic
32,846 posts, read 36,153,303 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Escort Rider View Post
I suppose we would all draw the line in different places (the line between interesting and boring), but for me personally your story about the elderly solitary drinker is extremely interesting. It is genuine human drama, a tragic example of being hermit-like. Bless you for going out of your way to provide a bit of companionship and human presence in his life. I disagree that your brief tale is "a slice of mundane life". On the contrary, it is a slice of non-routine life. Not at all the same as what you had for dinner or how you enjoyed the sunset.
But most of the conversation was probably mundane.
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Old 04-25-2016, 07:16 PM
 
Location: Los Angeles area
14,017 posts, read 20,869,471 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gerania View Post
But most of the conversation was probably mundane.
It may well have been - the poster didn't get inito that. I am not some sort of fanatic; in various social and work situations we all engage in mundane, banal conversations if we want to get along and not alienate other people needlessly. That is more or less "required" of us whether we especially enjoy it or not. The poster I quoted felt compassion for an isolated elderly person and went out of her way to break through that isolation. If mundane conversation was the most appropriate tool for that, so be it. It was highly commendable on her part, and I found her story interesting.

However, we have much more control over the type of conversations we engage in on City-Data, for example. I am on a quest to understand people who delight in the mundane exchanges here where they are not "required". Actually there has been some enlightenment in this thread among the generalized hostility. So I'm trying to take the useful and ignore the garbage, so I can hopefully learn something.

By the way, I am not characterizing your excellent point as garbage.
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Old 04-25-2016, 09:33 PM
 
Location: Mid-Atlantic
32,846 posts, read 36,153,303 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by animalcrazy View Post
My thoughts exactly. Only we don't know how many people who post about their mundane, boring lives are lonely shut ins and just need an outlet.

No body cares about the lonely guy in the corner house in the center of town that sits on his porch until the wee hours of the morning.

I stopped to talk to him and discovered that he was getting divorced at 76 years of age. He was drinking heavily when I first met him and needed an ear.

I visited him last night on my late night bike ride and this is our third summer together. He's still drinking and he's not a healthy senior.

There you go, a slice of mundane life. Boring to some, real to others, and precious to me. Thank you for letting me express myself.
For me, that guy was Henry. He lived with his daughter, son-in law, and their two adult children. Henry didn't really care for the SIL and found his grandchildren uncaring and sometimes rude. As luck would have it, we'd grown up in the same region. We understood each other. While that isn't necessary, it meant a lot to him at the time.

He wasn't outside last year.
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Old 04-25-2016, 10:58 PM
 
Location: Long Neck , DE
4,903 posts, read 4,199,706 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Escort Rider View Post
Your example from the Food Forum is a good illustration of exactly what I am talking about. Matters of real substance on the Food Forum (it would seem to me) would be stuff like the nutritional value of various foods, ideas for how to prepare certain foods, or ideas on how to save money in shopping for food. But what everybody had for lunch? Like you, say, silly.

And your example of comparing two writers is also an excellent example of the opposite - a subject that has real meat to it, that is in some way significant.

I come here to relax and sometimes kill time. Seems like you are looking for a more formal venue.
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Old 04-26-2016, 12:14 AM
 
Location: Philadelphia, PA
743 posts, read 764,085 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fluffythewondercat View Post
As far as I can tell, most people don't.

I have significant happenings but I don't want to talk about them, because that would open them up to examination. Thus I post about strange daily occurrences. I do have an occasional adventure and definitely a life of the mind. Want to talk about who's the better writer, Steinbeck or Faulkner?



Once I posted what I had for lunch in the Food forum, on one of those threads where everyone does likewise. I actually got recommendations for it and felt absurdly pleased, even as I realized it was a silly thing to do to begin with.

I'll spare you the details of the blueberry pancakes I just had.
What is "life of the mind"?
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Old 04-26-2016, 06:59 AM
 
Location: Los Angeles area
14,017 posts, read 20,869,471 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steinish View Post
What is "life of the mind"?
Although I am not the one to whom you posed the question, here is what that means to me:

Having a "life of the mind" means having an interest in academic/intellectual/literary pursuits. It would mean reading to keep up with current events. It would mean having an interest in at least some of the following: history, science, literature, art, philosophy, psychology, economics, ethics. (The list consists of things that popped into my mind and is meant by way of example, not limitation.) I just finished a book on the earliest European (Spanish) settlement of Alta California and am currently reading one on American volunteers in the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39. A way to sum it all up might be "interest in continued learning".

For me it involves pleasure in the use of the mind. I enjoy playing chess even though I do not play at the master level. It is a challenge to the mind and to the concentration.

I do hope the poster you asked will come give her own answer and/or that other posters will chime in so we can compare conceptions of what "life of the mind" means. Perhaps what I bolded would have been a better, and much shorter complete answer? Sometimes I use too many words.
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Old 04-26-2016, 07:51 AM
 
12,053 posts, read 10,224,090 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Escort Rider View Post
Although I am not the one to whom you posed the question, here is what that means to me:

Having a "life of the mind" means having an interest in academic/intellectual/literary pursuits. It would mean reading to keep up with current events. It would mean having an interest in at least some of the following: history, science, literature, art, philosophy, psychology, economics, ethics. (The list consists of things that popped into my mind and is meant by way of example, not limitation.) I just finished a book on the earliest European (Spanish) settlement of Alta California and am currently reading one on American volunteers in the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39. A way to sum it all up might be "interest in continued learning".

For me it involves pleasure in the use of the mind. I enjoy playing chess even though I do not play at the master level. It is a challenge to the mind and to the concentration.

I do hope the poster you asked will come give her own answer and/or that other posters will chime in so we can compare conceptions of what "life of the mind" means. Perhaps what I bolded would have been a better, and much shorter complete answer? Sometimes I use too many words.
You can do both. Be a thinker and a trivializer.

I like to read and research quietly here at home. Then I meet up with family and friends and that goes out the window. I do raise an eyebrow at some of their thoughts and opinions, but am starting to just let it go.

Or I think of them as social experiments and try to figure out why they are the way they are. Of course they think I'm strange also. Works both ways!
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Old 04-26-2016, 09:03 AM
 
Location: Chicago area
18,761 posts, read 11,755,546 times
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[quote=Escort Rider;43832445]I suppose we would all draw the line in different places (the line between interesting and boring), but for me personally your story about the elderly solitary drinker is extremely interesting. It is genuine human drama, a tragic example of being hermit-like. Bless you for going out of your way to provide a bit of companionship and human presence in his life. I disagree that your brief tale is "a slice of mundane life". On the contrary, it is a slice of non-routine life. Not at all the same as what you had for dinner or how you enjoyed the sunset.



Thank you for your kind response, but yes, the conversation is mundane. He lives in the past a lot, like many in his stage of life. He can also be a tad mean. Hence my comment about shut ins that need an out let here on City Data.

I listen with great interest to every story I've heard at least ten times because that's all he has to offer at this stage in his life. We talk about what he had for dinner at the local Irish pub and at length about his bad kitty that keeps getting out.

We are social beings and if it gives him some relief from his loneliness, then I'll listen for as long as he wants to talk. Why shouldn't that consideration be given to someone on a forum as well? For some mundane, boring conversation is all that they have to offer. Who knows, that boring sentence about a sunset may spark a precious memory. The thought took me back to one of our island vacations as we stood hand in hand watching a spectacular sunset together. It also made me feel that love we had for each other when our love was not so old. Beyond precious and almost forgotten had I not been reminded of it.

Granted it takes a little imagination to get something out of so little, but everyone has something to offer. You just may have to dig a little deeper.

Some day I will be on my late night bike ride to check on his house and the crazy woman I met around the corner who drives me insane most of the time with her non stop talking, and there will be a new family living there.

I'm sure I'll miss both of them and feel a twinge of sadness knowing that they are not with us anymore.

Let's try to keep a compassionate view of someone who posts something considered mundane and boring to us and try to understand that it just may be a social outlet. A glimpse into someone else's world who may not walk among us soon. Maybe we should encourage them to talk about their past instead. Lonely guy had quite a life
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Old 04-26-2016, 09:16 AM
 
Location: Los Angeles area
14,017 posts, read 20,869,471 times
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^^^^^^ To Animalcrazy: Thank you for your insightful and thoughful post. In additional to its considerable merit, it proves we can provide an alternative point of view without resorting to nastiness, hostility, or insults.
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