Thoughts> Two small rants in A-minor

A small rant about generalizing geography

I meet a fellow traveller from Germany. They ask me where I'm from, and I tell them, Finland.

"Oh, Finland, cool. I actually went to Sweden two years ago."
"Uh. Alright. So, you're from Germany, right?"
"Yes."
"Oh, cool. Yeah, I went to France last year."
"But..."
"Yes, not even close the same thing, huh?"

And that's happened to me a lot, actually, in more or less that pattern. I'm not surprised nobody's been to Finland, good for them, but when they tell me they've been to a neighbouring country that happens to be in the same general direction and maybe shares some border, I just need to retort with an analogy.


A small rant about the meaninglessness of weekdays

I'm in Port St. Johns, in front of the computer since many days, and I get an IM from a friend, our short discussion paraphrased (with consent) below.

"hey dude... what are you doing at your computer?"
"hey buddy. just checking emails and stuff."
"it's friday night.... you should be out drinking and having fun and enjoying your trip"
"yeah.. well, i'm enjoying my trip for sure, just needed to get some stuff done"
"go out and party!"
"sure thing. gimme a sec"

I closed the computer and felt awkward and uneasy for a while, at first not realizing why, but soon seeing what my reply should've been:

"Oh, it's Friday for you? Fascinating. Actually, I don't have weeks and weekends. For all I care weekdays don't exist. Why should they, anyway? What is this tyranny of a biblical seven-day week that forces us to muddle through our life in small chunks that mirror each other, squashing this squared time through a particle accelerator that makes us look back every once in a while and wonder 'where did all the time go'? Months and dates have some meaning, they help in understanding the shifts of the moon, the tides, the right times to sow and reap the land - but weekdays? You made them up, you built them with thin steel walls around them and boxed yourself in. I denounce your week entirely, discredit it for being ugly, arbitrary and without merit. So don't you come to me with your petty excuse of a weekday and tell me what to do."

EDIT: I realized after posting that it's Friday today. Sorry. Enjoy it nonetheless. You're obliged to, really.