Three stages of a career - take 6

Stage 1: Nobody listens to you

Stage 2: People start noticing what  you have to say

Stage 3: People over-analyze what you say, reading more into it than intended !

For previous takes,
http://howmanyroads.blogspot.com/2011/03/three-stages-of-careertake-5.html

Rambling

The longer you live, the more you start believing in destiny.

There is simply too much going on in my life for me to pretend that I'm controlling it. There are too many connections, too many layers, too many externalities, too much history to account for.

I'd go crazy even trying to put this confusing mass of circumstances into any cause and effect order. Control is usually an illusion. Success is mostly circumstances.

Destiny has a way of getting us where it wants us.......stop fighting your destiny.

Discovering discovery

Clearly, I have babies on my mind these days.

They are fascinating to watch. Their behavior is not yet shaped by too many experiences, learning, or influences. They are exhibiting pure human nature.

And so it is that watching Amal trying to sit up is a wonderful lesson in why we do many of the things we do as grownups.

Till a few weeks ago she was quite content to simply lie down and look at things. Then she discovered that she can sit up (with a little help), and now all she wants to do is sit. Lying down she gets restless. It's not as if she has anything urgent to do which requires sitting up, it is not like she won't be fed if she does not sit. There is no real material incentive for her to make the effort of sitting - and it is quite an effort at this point.

It seems to be a simple mix of boredom with the status quo, a spirit of adventure, curiosity, and the excitement of discovering something new.

Sounds familiar does't it ? I know I'm stretching it too far, but I think one could say that most human development comes from a mix of these factors. This is why continents were discovered, and computers were invented, and mountains were climbed, and space explored.

We as humans appear to be hard wired to explore.

Economists like to think of the "rational" consumer, who makes all choices based on maximizing utility. Maybe. But we also do things for the joy of doing things. Perhaps as we grow older, we are forced to make more and more 'rational' choices when we are faced with responsibilities and constraints.

But deep down, all we want to do is to move one step ahead to see what else we can find.

Apps to amuse babies

Trying to calm down a crying baby ? There's an App for that !

Here are three Android apps which I've personally tested with my 5 month old:

Android Rattle Toy:

This is the all time favorite. I've tried it with a really cranky baby-mood and it almost always puts the brakes on the crying. It's a rattle with many different themes. Each of these has delightfully different graphics and sounds. This means as soon as the baby is bored with one you can quickly shift to the next.

Shake the phone, move it upside down, or touch the phone to play sounds and move the on-screen graphics.

 

The App is quite baby-proof as all buttons are disabled except the home button. Which means you let your baby touch the screen and make the sounds herself. 

2. Kids Musical Toy

As the name promises,this comes with built-in tunes to play. From Twinkle twinkle to the itsy bitsy spider. Plus it has a set of rattle toys, so you can shake the phone to sound a rattle, while a rhyme plays out in the background.

The only downside of this one is that there is is an ad at the bottom of the screen so the app is not as baby-proof as could be. The chances of accidentally touching the screen ad and going out of the application are higher. So this is more for holding yourself and amusing the baby by showing her the screen and rattling away for all you're worth.

3. Kids Piano Lite

This one is a simple piano as the name implies. It has a play mode as you would expect, but it also has a mode in which you can set it to play some rythmes. In this mode, the correct notes will play for a rhyme whichever piano key you press. Or you choose auto-play and the rhyme will play out. 

It has a special baby-mode in which most phone buttons are disabled, so you can put it in front of the baby and let her touch the screen and delight in making sounds.

There are a tone of baby-apps on the Android market, but these three are officially baby-tested by my 5-month old !

PS: Make sure your phone is drool-proof before setting it in front of your baby. Mine has survived about a ton of drool and one helping of thrown-up milk so far, so use with care ! On the whole it is safer to hold the phone yourself in front of the baby rather than putting it down in front of her.

About aging

Aging is a bit like the revolution of the earth aroud the sun.

We know it is happening - the earth orbits the sun at 107,218 km/h - but we don't feel it moving. As far is we are concerned, the earth is absolutely still. But the effects of the earth's motion become apparent as the weather changes.

And so it is with aging. You don't feel like you are aging from day to day. Indeed I could almost pretend that it is not happening at all. But sooner or later, its effects start appearing. The memory starts to fade, the eyesight starts to go and some white hairs start to make their inevitable appearance.

But while the earth will complete its circuit around the sun and return to where it started off a year ago, aging is a one way street.

I wish I could draw some deep philosophical meaning from this - but I cannot. Except that life happens, whether we like it to or not. We might speed up, slow down, sit back and observe it, or rush ahead to meet it, but life will keep on moving forward at a constant pace.

So lighten up and enjoy the ride !

Happiness is…

Look into the face of a smiling baby and you are looking at pure happiness.

Pure, unadulterated, unselfish, uncomplicated, unconditional happiness.

No wonder we spend our adult lives looking for happiness. We’re not looking for some obscure, philosophical nirvana. We’re simply trying to find what we lost while growing up.