The Point of Writing this is…
There is no Point (Day 1):

“WORDS are not living creatures; they cannot breathe, nor walk, nor become fond of one another. Yet, like the human beings whom they are destined to serve, they can lead unique lives.… So, it is with ‘chaos’.” — Edward Lorenz, The Essence of Chaos.

This year, my goal is to be the subject of a Thought Experiment whereby I will randomly capture thoughts each day,one hour at a time.

Why?

Life is random, isn’t it?

My mother passed away from Breast Cancer on August 5th, 2012, which set me on a journey this past year to seek out meaning in life.
So, it was meaningful that just three days before my September 17th birthday, I came across an article about Medium.com on my Wired app (only the British edition was available for installing here in Canada, can you believe that?) and decided to register.

I Google for more information about this “new platform” — the vision and people behind Medium. I discover that Evan Williams and Biz Stone, two co-founders of Twitter, were behind this. Sounds credible.

More research leads me to another article about Evan’s thoughts on the future of media. So they want to disrupt Twitter-type ”News crap” and focus on meaningful content creation and curation. More research on youtube leads me to an online interview with someone named Kevin Rose. I see the Google logo on the interview intro screen.

I’m hooked.

Hours later, I receive a confirmation Email.

Surprisingly, there is an invitation to contribute as a Writer to Medium. Apparently, not everyone who joins automatically gets this invitation.

Or so I’ve read.

I’m now feeling kind of, well … “SPECIAL” to be hand-picked by someone on the team.

Or perhaps it was more a random selection from Medium’s “intelligent” Author screening algorithm.

Whatever the reason, I am honoured. This inspires me not only to start writing on Medium (I’ve started with Topic ideas during the past week), but also to finish up a new archive-type blog of this project which I’m calling, lifencoded.com.

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The Point of Writing this is…
There is no Point (Day 2)

“The universe is like a computer. The laws of physics are the program. When you give it an input? — the present positions of all the elementary particles in the universe? — the computer runs for an appropriate amount of time and gives you the output, which is all the positions of the elementary particles at some future time. Within this view of nature, nothing happens except the rearrangement of particles according to timeless laws, so according to these laws the future is already completely determined by the present, as the present was by the past. This view diminishes time in several ways…” — Lee Smolin, Time Reborn.
This year, my goal is to be the subject of a Thought Experiment whereby I will randomly capture thoughts each day,one hour at a time.

Why?

Life is random, isn’t it?

Monday, September 23, 2013
8:44 a.m. I get up and walk past the alarm clock: 8:44 a.m. I think to myself “Eight, the number of good luck. Four, the number of bad luck. But DOUBLE four… ”44", back to good luck as 4+4 = 8, so that counterbalances the bad luck. I ask myself, “Why do these cultural artifacts from my childhood keep re-appearing in my thoughts?” I think to myself that today should be a good day.
10:21 a.m. I am editing Day 1's writings. It is taking longer than I expect.

[TIME WINDOW: Today is actually September 24th, 8:19 a.m., I am editing the writing from September 23rd, 10:21 a.m., which talks about editing September 22nd’s edits. Confused? I’m time shifting. Going back in time to finish editing. Maybe I’ll use these square brackets as a way to represent “WINDOWS” back in time. The time on my laptop says 8:22 a.m. Going back to September 23rd…].
Yesterday, I made it a goal to write “every 5 minutes after the hour”. But as the Thought Experiment is to write about the “randomness of life”, I will try to write “approximately” every hour.

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The Point of Writing this Is…
There is No Point (Day 3)

“Can you build a time machine? The answer is yes…. There’s just one, tiny problem — if you can build a machine capable of time-travel, you can only travel into the future. You can’t come back.” — Brian Cox

This year, my goal is to be the subject of a Thought Experiment whereby I will randomly capture thoughts each day,one hour at a time.

Why?

Life is random, isn’t it?

8:05 p.m. I open the bedroom door and go out into the hallway. I shut the door and head for the laptop. I click on the “On” button to awaken ACE as she usually takes a few minutes to get ready.

I head for the kitchen to open the blinds, which reveals a picture of the Lake. I remember when we first moved to Stoney Creek, I felt so lucky to finally be able to live on the Lake. I would stare out into the water for hours. Today, it’s just a quick glance, as I have to start organizing my day.

I switch on my Samsung SmartTV and head for the couch to log on to ACE. Why is she taking SO long to let me go onto the Chrome browser?

I bought ACE (Acer Aspire laptop) two years ago because she has a 64 bit architecture, 8 GB memory with 1000 GB hard drive. She was the most powerful thing I could buy at the best price.

It is taking me over 5 minutes — what seems like a lifetime — to log back onto Medium.

Last night, I had attempted to read Lee Smolin’s Introduction to “Time Reborn” —

[TIME WINDOW: I am going back at this time to yesterday’s Writing to find the exact time from yesterday when I had read that Introduction…12:45 a.m., September 23rd. Was it that long ago? I reflect that it is really 8:16 a.m. September 25th at this moment, and I am editing “yesterday’s” Writing that has not yet been released, which is really what I had written from two days ago. How time flies.]
Correction, two days ago — I had attempted to read Lee Smolin’s Introduction to “Time Reborn” two days ago and couldn’t help nodding off.

I nodded off a lot in university when it came to reading textbooks. In fact, during the second year of my undergrad program, I came up with a picture/drawing method to help me remember facts. I must remember to try to find those notes. It’s somewhere in the basement.

[TIME WINDOW: It is actually 8:23 a.m., September 25th — that’s right, I’m writing from the future at this time, while you are reading this entry in your present; this is my past. Confused yet?
I forgot to add that I have eleven Windows opened in my Chrome browser, three of them for Medium.com … One window is Day 3's Writing; the other Window is Day 4's (i.e., today’s writing which for the most part is still empty, other than my 7:51 a.m. log), and the third Window is Day 2's Writing, where earlier, I had wanted to check the time that I had read Lee Smolin. See the previous TIME WINDOW. Ironic that those three Windows are helping me also move back and forth in time.]
I feel lucky to be living in today’s world of Twitter posts, Facebook statuses, Wired news summaries, and TechCrunch headlines/subheadlines, Reddits and SubReddits. I never seem to fall asleep reading these posts.

I open up a new WINDOW to scan other articles on Medium.com.The layout and design makes me feel comforted. Somehow, the font size, typeface, and word spacing gives me a Zen-like feeling. It feels “quiet” in here.

I wonder if this is a result of Medium.com’s research to create a Zen-like experience with that part of my Mind that seeks tranquility, calmness, and reflection?

Or, is this just Evan’s (hahahah, I’m calling “Evan Williams” by his first name, and I don’t even know or have ever met the guy!) quirky pet project, a techno-geek like me who has made it rich in today’s brave new world? Maybe there is method to his madness.

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The Point of Writing This Is…
There is No Point (Day 4)

“Flies live in Matrix time … Flies avoid being swatted in the same way that Keanu Reeves dodges bullets in the film The Matrix — by watching time pass slowly…. This could also explain why time seems to speed up as we get older but move slower for children.” — Ellie Zolfagharifard

7:51 a.m. Got up early today. Lot of things of things to do: Day 3's Medium.com update; Excel document reviewing for meeting. Private and Group lessons.

TIME WINDOW: Today is really 8:31 a.m., September 26 (Day 5), and I am from the future. I am going back in time to edit Day 4. I notice that I am starting to write in point form notes to help quickly recall what I was doing that day. In trying to reconstruct the past from these notes, I wonder if my fuzzy memory this morning may actually be an accomplice in an unintentional re-writing of history. Plus, today is a busy day as off to teach at Dundas Valley High School, so time feels even shorter.Perhaps will leave most of yesterday’s point form notes intact.
Going back in time now to edit. Am I rewriting history?

I do the same thing every day. Click on laptop. Open blinds. Switch on TV.

Medium is new part of my morning ritual. Usually have TV on. As I edit, am finding the TV distracting. Decide to turn it off.

10:12 a.m. Have just finished editing Day 3's Writing. And soon will release that out to Medium.com and Twitter. I wonder what Collection(s) Medium will suggest for today.

I quickly scan the statistics, and it looks like the Read Ratio (people viewing the two previous two day’s Writing) is averaging 50 to 70%. Not sure yet how to interpret this. Time will tell.

10:19 a.m. I am reading through Day 3's Writing again to check for typos. Elton John is singing “I’m still standing … after all this Time”.

10:34 a.m. I am editing Day 3's Writing, and Beverley has walked into the room and asks “Is this in Real Time”?

I am confused.

She refers to the Ellen Show on television.

I said I didn’t know.

As I continue editing this entry, I ask her, “Is this in Real Time?”

She is confused.

I was referring to whether the show was on LIVE on television, or on PVR.

She says she doesn’t know.

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