Life doesn't wait for you.

I've always heard that life doesn't wait for you. It passes you by.

This isn't the case for my sister, who has been travelling in South America since the Fall. Apparently now her old apartment and her job are waiting for her when she returns in the next month.

I guess this is a good thing. You have something to come home to. But it's also a bit depressing. I was told that life goes on without you. Whenever you "come back" things are different.

That won't be the case for my returning sister. The same job and the same apartment.

It seems to me that whenever you're back, you should face a new situation. A new life. You could start over again and that's refreshing.

But returning to the same old has to be a bit of a downer. Within days, it will be like you never left. Your 6 month life journey will be reduced to a week's vacation.

That kind of sucks.

On the plus side, you don't have to worry. Things are in a holding pattern, and that can be comforting. It's all a matter of perspective I suppose.

Life advice from a 20 year old.

I was reading an online discussion about life and someone posted a long message about advice and wisdom, and the things they've learned in life. About halfway through the post they mentioned they were 24 years old.

I stopped reading. To be fair, I was basically only skimming the article anyway so I probably would have stopped in the next few seconds because I just wasn't interested.

As soon as I saw they were in their 20's, I automatically discounted everything they said. Remember when you were in your 20's? How wise were you back then?

I might take life advice from someone my age. Might. Especially if they've had a harder life than me and seemed to be coping well with the challenges. Someone in their 40s, I'd listen to. In their 50's and 60's, yes. 70s and up, surely.

While older people are the most qualified to offer advice, we rarely ask them. We equate old age with declining mental ability. So the people who can offer us the most wisdom and guidance, we ignore because we think they're no longer smart enough.

It's always good to have something to look forward to.

I was talking to my coworker and she said she was feeling down about the prospect of continuing to work indefinitely for our organization. I told her I felt relieved that my time here was coming to an end. Scared, but relieved.

It's always nice to have something to look forward to - even if that thing is uncertainty. Why? Because there's always a chance things will work out better. For example, I may find a better job that pays more money.

Not likely though. Most of the time things don't really get much better. But it's nice having "hope".

More than a change in my employment, I'm looking forward to the arrival of my new son and daughter. Though I'm very scared and nervous about it.

Back to my co-worker. She was trying to get me riled up on some issue here at work and I said, "You know, my concern with this problem in my life right now is here." I gestured with my hand, very low.

"My concern for my family and my future job and my future baby is up here." And I raised my hand very high above my head.

I wanted to put things in perspective for her.

A computer can predict what I do.

This is perhaps the most frustrating game ever. It's called MindReader and the goal is to fool the computer by randomly pressing a 1 or 0. Meanwhile, the computer is trying to "read your mind" and predict whether you're going to press 0 or 1.

The first one to 100 wins. I've played 5 times and I haven't even been close to winning. In other words, the computer has successfully out-predicted me 5 times in a row - and by huge margins.

The computer uses math; specifically a "Context-Tree Weighting Method", which the programmers call "adequate". The computer uses math to read my mind and predict what I'm going to do next. Even when I try to be unpredictable, the computer still wins.

This scares and amazes me. It scares me because it shows that I'm not so unique after all. I can be predicted. It amazes me because this knowledge can be used to predict how people will react in certain situations. It takes the uncertainty out of behaviour.

The most interesting thing is that the computer predicts my next move even before I've consciously made it. The 2 or 3 seconds of my brain's reasoning is totally useless. I should just have a computer make all my decisions for me.

In the end, it will have chosen what I would have chosen most of the time anyway.

At what age do you realize you were wrong about life?

When you're a kid you think that when you grow up you'll be special. Maybe you'll be rich or famous or powerful. An astronaut, scientist, explorer, inventor. You'll do something unique, be remembered forever, work hard and succeed at something.

Then, as you get older, you realize that in fact you're not special. You're pretty mediocre. There are millions of people like you. There are millions of people better than you.

You have accomplished very little, don't have much money, you are physically past your prime. At what age do you finally realize you will never become the adult that you dreamed about as a child?

I say 30. In your teens, you're still very young and naive. You still think you're special, and you haven't started college or lived on your own in the real world.

In your 20s, you start to get an inkling that maybe you won't be a smashing success after all. But you're still hopeful! Maybe you'll catch that break! Maybe something's going to change.

By the time you hit 30 it's sunk in. Sorry, you ain't special. You still have a small chance, perhaps, but probably will never be the roaring success you thought. You're running on the treadmill faster and faster, just to maintain.

This could lead to depression (mid-life crisis in 30s or 40s). Hopefully you will simply accept it and move on. Try your best at the few things you're good at. Or maybe you'll be motivated to try even harder and become the success you dreamed.

Who knows?

It would be hard living a "secret" double life.

The other day my radio station was asking callers to talk about their double lives. I think it would be hard to live a double life. I can barely live my own life. Imagine twice the bills, twice the hassles, twice the errands.



No thanks. Then if you want to keep your double life secret, that's a whole other area of effort. Lying every day to one family, then going to your other house and lying to your other family. Just thinking of new lies and stories would be exhausting.



An optimist might argue that having a double life would also mean twice the happiness. Sure, but this would be erased by the stress of lying to everyone you know. And the commuting time as you drive or fly between homes or cities or jobs.



Not worth it. In fact, I suggest it's impossible. No one could spread themselves that thin for an extended period of time. You might be able to do it for a month or two. Maybe.



The only way it would be worth living a double life is if both lives were awesome and stress-free. But then if you had one awesome, stress-free life, why would you need another?