The Happy Hermit

Wasting Time

Posted on 2014-12-17 by Andreas Moser

A few years ago, I installed the Chess application on Facebook and played rather regularly with people from all over the world. With one of these virtual chess partners I played almost every day, sometimes for hours on end, often while I was working or should have been working. It was perfect because we were both equally strong (or weak), more interested in an exciting match than in winning, forgiving about mistakes and on top of that Mladen from Serbia was an intelligent and knowledgeable guy so that our chess matches came along with chats about literature, history and politics. We later even met for real when I visited Belgrade.

Because I was still working as a lawyer full-time back then, I had more than enough work to keep me busy around the clock. So one day I announced to Mladen that I will have to cut down on the chess matches, stating that “I am wasting too much time online playing chess when I have more important or urgent things to do.”

He replied, ever the philosopher: “If you didn’t waste time playing chess, you would waste it doing something else.”

I often think about this sentence when I do something which I enjoy more than what I “should” be doing. Of course I waste time by some standards, even by some of my own. But as long as I don’t feel like I am wasting my life, I don’t mind too much.

How can this be a waste of time?

Or this?

Posted in Life, Philosophy, Sports, Time | Tagged chess | 7 Comments

Video Blog: Quiet Forest

Posted on 2014-12-16 by Andreas Moser

You city folk, office workers, commuters, parents of noisy children and fighters in the Syrian civil war must be longing for a peaceful, quiet forest like this.

Specifically for you, I recorded this quiet forest video:

But what was that? Yes, that’s how a forest really sounds. You don’t have a forest to yourself. There are millions of animals. Very noisy animals. At least there were on that July day on the island of Zvernec in Albania.

Posted in Albania, Photography, Travel, Video Blog | Tagged forest, Zvernec | 2 Comments

Souvenir from Afghanistan

Posted on 2014-12-16 by Andreas Moser

Thousands of NATO soldiers will be returning home from Afghanistan soon. The toughest thing about being away for 6 months is knowing that your wife won’t be happy about your return, unless you bring a souvenir with you.

I expect the following situation to happen in many homes across the US, Britain, Germany and other troop-contributing countries:

“My husband was in Afghanistan for 6 months and all I got was this stupid burka.”

Posted in Afghanistan, Military, Travel | 1 Comment

“For the Rest of my Life”

Posted on 2014-12-15 by Andreas Moser

He closed the heavy door behind him as he left the grand house on Westbourne Terrace. It had become too late to catch a bus and anyway, it was still warm enough to walk. After midnight, London was at its most beautiful. Wide roads, which in other cities would have been called “Avenues” or “Boulevards”, but almost no traffic. Beautiful buildings with lights shining at them, and no people who ran into him when he paused his steps to take in the view. It was quiet, or as quiet as a metropolis of 8 million people could get, and the air felt almost fresh.

The date, their fourth one, had gone well. She was lovely to talk to. They had both enjoyed the film, but not too much to be totally consumed by it. The more intimate part of the evening, which we shan’t describe out of a protective feeling towards the uncorrupted minds of our youthful readers, had also gone well. He had enjoyed the ice cream which she had prepared. Girls who didn’t forget to add strawberries when serving ice cream were good girls. Good girls were rare, at least he had rarely met one in the 22 years of his life.

All the more he felt sad about how it had ended. Very messy. There wouldn’t be a fifth date.

“Why do people force me to make promises?” he wondered. “What is the value of such a promise?” But he knew that it was also his fault, and sharing it would not diminish it the least. Why was he so obsessed with sincerity, with keeping his word? At times he was proud of this character trait, at other times it felt like a burden which prevented him from leading a normal life. Others seemed to function perfectly fine despite breaking their promises. He couldn’t. And by now, it was too late to change. Not only because of tonight.

He had meanwhile walked past Paddington Station, which at this time of night was a sleeping behemoth of brick and steel and glass, only intermittently oozing with short bursts of smoke or steam from its various orifices. “Why did she have to insist like crazy that I promise to stay with her for the rest of her life?” he wondered as he ditched the knife, still seeping blood, into Paddington Canal.