The Pursuit of Will Power

Good morning world!

This edition is beamed to you from a sleepy, drizzly, mild last Sunday in April in Scotland.

The locals have barely surfaced. The roads are quiet. The dogs, save those yapping, are napping. We'll just let those ones lie.

I would like to share my thoughts with you about will power; my wonderings, my questions, my confusion.

What is it and where does it come from? How does one generate more, if possible?

Oscar Wilde once said, "I can resist anything except temptation." But what does this mean? Is he saying it's okay to give in to cravings? Or is he just identifying that, like me, he has little will power? Or is he just making an amusing and clever comment, which starts off strong: "I can resist anything" and ends : "except temptation" which is of course the vehicle by which we are transported to what we want; a streetcar named Desire.

These days I find myself drifting along with a vague sense of impending doom. As if I'm in a rowing boat on a river heading for the top of a waterfall. I really should row. But it's just such a pleasant ride. The riverbanks are bustling with bunnies, the sun is sparkling on the water, the birds are singing, the fish are leaping over the prow. Ahh, it's so pleasant just to lie here with my feet up on the edge without a care in the world.

Wait, is that a faint splashing I can hear? Is that crashing crescendo getting louder? Hmf, it's still a long way off. I'll deal with that when it comes.

But hey, it's such a lovely ride. Sit here with me for a little while. Enjoy it.

Which brings me back to will power. How to get it? I could row if I wanted to, but I don't. 

The thought occurred to me not long ago that perhaps will power is a muscle, like physical power. You gain it by using it. And at the very least, things will get done in pursuit. If I install the loft ladder perhaps this will give me the strength to lay the insulation. If I force myself to dig the garden maybe I will gain the wherewithall to plant things. At the very least the loft ladder will be installed and the garden will be dug.

Then again there's the question of life. I was saddened recently to hear of the passing of Jerry Springer at 79. If someone so likeable, successful and famous can't cheat death, then what chance have the rest of us got? Sean Connery made it to 90. He definitely squeezed every last drop out of life.

So maybe the question shouldn't be : "Where does one get more willpower?" Perhaps it should be : "How can one live better?" And by better I mean longer, happier, and leaving the world a better place than how you found it.

But the irony is you really need willpower to live a longer, happier life which leaves the world a better place. Sitting on the sofa all day, every day, watching box sets and chowing down on mint Aeros is not going to cut it.

So, to summarize then. What have we learnt from this morning's musings? 

I guess, as with everything, it's balance. Balance the box sets and Aeros with jogging and carrots. Balance the lying in the boat trailing fingertips in the water with periods of frantic rowing. Balance the work with the joy.

Yin and yang, innit?

Yin without Yang is like Cheech without Chong

Maybe laziness is like fear. It's there to be overcome. It's not just about doing the things you want when you want. It's about wielding the savage sword of will power and smiting down your laziness with one fell swoop, thus washing the dishes and checking the tyre pressure of your car, not 'when you feel like it' but when it's appropriate.

As the winged goddess of victory once quoth, "Just do it." 

And as Larry the Cable Guy once quoth, "Git 'er done!"

Two Birds, One Dog

Another Sunday befalls us.

It occurs to me that if I take gardening gloves on my 7am walk with the dog and pick up a handful of garbage before each bin, and drop it in, my life on this earth is not entirely wasted.

A good feeling is born, which mingles with the dew and dawn, and makes the surrounding nature more aesthetically pleasing. Just a little each day, and oh, how much easier on the eyes is the undergrowth. 

A crushed Monster can gives way to new-born nettles. A plastic Golden Wonder wrapper makes way for baby trees. A rusting tin can from aeons before, somehow disgorged from the soil since yesterday, succumbs to human hand and creates a safe space for fresh, green, dew-drop laden blades of grass to reach for the carbon enriched air, and, by merely doing what it does, convert it, molecule by molecule, to oxygen.

What if we are just aliens on an alien planet with alien problems?

Overcrowding, pollution and over-consumption of food and raw materials. It must happen to every species in a confined space eventually.

But for the meanwhile, it truly feeds the soul to cast one's gaze around the nature-scape and find it litter-free, reminded not of humanity's foibles, but of Mother Earth's simple beauty.

Uncut Gems

Just a quickie as it's been a long time since my last post.

Having a puppy has completely changed my life priorities. It used to be : Write this! Achieve that! Play the next thing! Organise this! Now it's:

Doze on sofa with diminutive, furry life-form.

Damn.

But I do recall a time when I enjoyed the writing process. I think it happened just before I realised I hated the editing process.

It's a beautiful Easter Sunday morning here, with brightness refracting through dew drops and sunlight licking the underside of leaves. A discarded kid's bicycle lies half on the road. Neighbours are out walking and glow at the pup, who rolls over at the slightest sign of attention.

Rather than hide away upstairs playing Apex last night I stayed downstairs with the pup on my lap and flicked through films on the fire-stick. After successfully avoiding the western remake (yee-haw!) of 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' with Daniel Craig, I settled upon a 2019 film for which Adam Sandler (I wanna Grow Old With You) won an Independent Spirit Award For Best Male Lead, Uncut Gems. 

Uncut Gems (2019)

I was only going to watch half as it was getting late, but something about the film kept me up. Things seemed to be going from bad to worse for the poor guy and I had to find out if he could make it. Such a great performance from Adam Sandler, who we're so used to seeing in comedies. According to Wikipedia, career-defining.

I can't reveal too much about the film: I just recommend you view it for yourself. It's a transformation. Rated 15 there is a lot of strong language, so if you're going to be watching something with family I might suggest Murder Mystery 2 (rated 12), which is also a pretty good and recent film of Sandler's (and Jennifer Aniston's!) film which my son and I enjoyed.

Murder Mystery 2 (2023)

Well, I suppose I should get back to my adulting responsibilities, such as pottering in the garden not getting much done and trying to remember where I left my memory.

Thanks for reading.

A New Arrival

Been a while since my last confession. Probably because I've been putting all my interesting life events into my monthly newsletters. 

We got an eight week old puppy on the 28th of January which has completely changed our lives and disrupted all patterns and positive habits I'd set up. Gone are the early writing mornings. Absent is the tri-weekly exercise regime. Suspiciously elsewhere are the healthy eating philosophy and one coffee-a-day rule. The daily guitar grind has dried up. Office is a mess. Don't know where anything is.

It's all gone, in the words of Aristotle, "These feta pies taste weird."

But "Use it or lose it" they say so here I am. They also say "Early to bed, early to rise..." but how am I supposed to unwind after a hard day with two hours of action-packed first-person shooter Apex Legends, trying to take out and/or hide from 50 other players bent on my immediate destruction and go to bed early at the same time? Impossible.

You see my problem.

Film Review : Flight 2012 Denzel Washington

Flight is a 2012 film starring Denzel Washington with fantastic cameos from John Goodman, directed by Robert Zemeckis, and written by John Gatlins, loosely inspired by the true story of Alaska Airlines Flight 261.

I began writing this review on 4th December, which is quite a while ago now, as I got side-tracked by the fact that this was inspired by a true story. While reading the Wikipedia article of Alaska Airlines Flight 261, I almost filled my pants - and I don't mean with popcorn - as I came to terms with the thought of being in a commercial airliner that had just plummeted a ridiculous amount of altitude in a fraction of a second and the only recourse left to the pilots was to TURN THE PLANE UPSIDE DOWN.

This actually happened.

I'm so glad that due to concerns about the emissions caused by air travel I have vowed to never fly again, because if I hadn't, after watching this film I would vow to never fly again again. Now I have two concurrent vows.

But back to the film itself. For some reason I came at it with the assumption that it was a huge conspiracy and someone on the plane was to be assassinated for some reason. Which might have actually made it a better film. But halfway through it became clear the pilot was in no fit shape to even consider conducting an investigation due to his life-altering drinking problem.

I was like, Jeez, come on Denzel, get it together man, you've got a mystery to solve. Someone on that plane was meant to die, and why and by whom, and you can't even stay off the booze long enough to walk straight let alone check the passenger list.

Eventually I had to concede that there was no conspiracy and that no-one on the plane was meant to die and the battle with alcohol was the story.

And then I was reminded that sometimes good people make mistakes, and imperfect humans save lives.

Part of the reason to find out how much of the film was true to life was to unearth whether all the stuff about the pilot being an alcoholic relying on cocaine to get himself fit enough to fly was accurate. But there is no mention of this in the Wikipedia article.

So you're watching the film and the end is approaching and you're thinking, okay Denzel, you've stayed sober for eight days leading up to the trial. You can do this. Just stay on the wagon one more night. Eight more hours. Then you can pretend you're the hero we all want to believe.

And then it all goes tits up and I'm crying like a motherf*^$er.

Verdict: Must watch. But not on a plane.

Billy Connolly - Windswept & Interesting

Great. Fascinating. Funny. Tragic. Heartwarming. Insightful. Memorable.

Some of the words to describe Billy Connolly's autobiography.

I first discovered Billy on an 18 rated VHS tape in my parents' TV cabinet when I was 15 or so. He was wearing a white and black striped suit and doing stand up, possibly at the Albert Hall. It was the funniest stuff I'd ever seen. His stories were rude, rambling, hilarious and familiar. Hairy guy with a beard from Glasgow. You've probably seen him. He cracked me up. Royally.

I've had a lot of love for the man over the years, and I've enjoyed seeing his success go from strength to strength. I watched a movie with him and Liam Neeson in it recently without his beard, where they both play Scottish ex-miners down on their luck, The Big Man (1990), and it's always a pleasure to see him pop up on screen, with some of his Parkinson interviews the most golden. But his standup routines were always the best. Have a look at the episode with Kenny Everett below.

So when I saw his autobiography I snapped it up alongside Bob Mortimer's unsure of how it would turnout. I had a feeling he'd mellowed with age and become soft, living the life of Riley over in the States. But that's not really the case.

It's like a long letter from Billy to you. A long rambling, winding, detailed, funny, terrible, honest trip down memory lane. Feels like he's telling you stuff over a pint.

A lot of it has been told before on stage and in interviews, perhaps about 8 or 9%, but you forgive him that, because after all, he is a living legend, and he's been to hell and back, and he deserves a good life, and he's written you this wonderful, long, personal letter.

Hats aff tae the Big Yin!

A Day

Well, it's been a surprisingly good day.

Came to without much difficulty after a sober, not so late Friday night.

Son is recovering from covid therefore no school, so no rush to finish homework or get ready.

Took car to garage due to unpleasant rattling underneath floor and dropped it in at 9am saying hi to the guys.

Dropped a couple of Archers into the charity shop.

Went for coffee in the old cafe and did some proof-reading of The Luminari, chuckling despite myself at bits I'd forgotten writing.

Got a call halfway down my cup that car was already fixed.

Went back to pick it up (bumping into fellow West Lothian Writer and Film-maker Susi J Smith outside said charity shop) and they said a heat shield had come undone possibly due to going through water too fast (which I do recall doing). Didn't charge me.

Drove to car park behind Scotmid, kindly manoeuvring out the way of another car, the driver of which gave me an appreciative wave. Car no longer rattling.

Purchased some bread rolls and cartons of OJ.

Went for a walk around the graveyard of the old overgrown Kirk with my camera, but ultimately felt it was wrong to take any photos.

Thought about life and death, permanence and longevity, and counted my lucky stars I'd made it to 47, as back in the 1800s it didn't seem a given, or today.

Walked back to car where I put the seat back, wound down the windows, turned up the volume and listened to some Kaiser Chiefs asking me why I was so sad and reassuring me that sex makes everything better while proofreading more Luminari.

Drove home with unrattling car.

Actioned new edits on Luminari and scrolled social media until lunch.

Made myself a couple of rolls, a pot of tea and consumed while reading more of Billy Connolly's excellent autobiography, 'Windswept and Interesting'.

Prepared for lesson and went out for walk.

Narrowly avoided being roped into buying alcohol for underagers at the garage. Continued my stroll imagining what I'd do if I'd been confronted with a knife.

Had a nice good lesson.

Got an absurdly high after-buzz. Smashed out a few folk songs loudly on harmonica and guitar without realising wife had gone to bed.

Chatted briefly with son's friend through his earphones while in middle of Switch gameplay.

Powered by the hunger, came downstairs and made several hummus on crackers with sliced mini toms.

Continued amending blinds, now finished the whole right hand side.

Sat down with a cup of green tea and wrote this.

Got movie night and possibly a glass of wine to look forward to.

It's good to be alive.