Nocturnal Wisdom » Thou shall not sleep at seven in the evening

I don’t know if it it’s worth writing what I have to say, because basically I am talking to a half-sleep idiot – which is myself. But I’ll say it for the two or three of you who are not. 

I only got three hours sleep last night because of watching that damn TV series “The Legend of the Seeker” which, by the way, lacks depth. After watching a few episodes I find it has a very common story plot – but I’m still planning to finish season one, and even bought season two DVD. Isn’t it idiotic? Well, still nothing beats Heroes, Lost and Prison Break.

Nocturnal wisdom

But I digress, I force myself to wake up early for work – sleepy and edgy the whole day, drink a bottle of beer at 6:00 p.m. while waiting for the heavy rain to get heavier. I felt really tired and wish that a lightning would perhaps strike that nearby tree or the radio antenna of the adjacent Paragon building – you know, just to break the damn monotony of this damn Monday. Karen Carpenter is right – rainy days and Mondays always get me down.

Expecting nothing unusual will happen today, I decided to go home and violate the bachelor’s unwritten commandment – Thou shall not sleep as early as seven in the evening. 

The annoying thing is that I wake up before midnight having these random thoughts about life. I cannot force myself to get back to sleep so I grab my laptop and decided to write my random midnight rants. 

Here’s  my self-help nocturnal wisdom:

Opportunity is not a talking peacock

I repeatedly ignore opportunity so maybe it loses its interest in me too. I now realize that opportunity is like a bird suddenly showing itself one sultry afternoon at the veranda. Because I thought it is just a common bird I see everyday, I immediately lose interest and turn my back on it. Then it spread its wings as it flew away, showing its bright and rare color hiding underneath – but of course, I missed it, because I’m impatient and turned my back on it. If I look a little longer and waited, I might saw it and be able to grab it. I beg to disagree to those who are saying that opportunities are rare; it is actually presenting itself to us everyday, the problem is how we look at it. It’s not always appearing as the flamboyant-talking peacock saying “Hey moron! I am opportunity, would you like to grab me?”

I always leave self-discipline on my pillow when I wake up

I always buy a Stradmore organizer at the start of every year. Written on the first few pages of it are the things I accomplished the previous year and what I intend to accomplish for the coming year. For the past three years I realized that I haven’t fully accomplished what I set three years ago – because I lack self-discipline. I always start a plan or project with fiery enthusiasm for a few months, only to be neglected and abandoned without any solid result. I can’t imagine what I could have accomplished if I could simply get myself to follow through on my best plans and intentions no matter what and if only I could always carry with me the art of self-discipline. 

Next time, don’t leave discipline on the pillow you bastard!

I guess I need a round of LATIGO whipping

I heard the military are the best teachers of discipline – so maybe educational institutions should include in their curriculum a one month stay in a military academy to learn about discipline? But of course, in any school even in military, they don’t actually teach the important life lessons; like discipline, attitude, and life in general. You have to learn it in the real world, in actual interaction with others and oftentimes learning it all by yourself.

So here I am, in the middle of the night, writing this nonsense and feeling stagnant.  I’ve written a number of blog post about discipline and I know I’m sounding like a crazy cricket here, repeatedly screaming meaningless and annoying noise in the middle of the night.  I guess what I need now is a round of whipping with a latigo – yes, that old trick of gaining self-discipline over our behaviors with the latigo (Filipino term for a whip).

However, self-flagellation with a latigo is a crazy 14th century practice of those obsessed Opus Dei members. Hence, I just make an acronym for LATIGO to make a convenient way to remember self-discipline.

What? An acronym for LATIGO? Yeah I know you’re probably thinking of those corny Filipino acronyms like I.T.A.L.Y. (I Trust And Love You) – I can’t believe they even make it a movie title, or C.H.I.N.A. (Come Here I Need Affection) or the worst - P.H.I.L.I.P.P.I.N.E.S. (Pumping Hot.. I Love It! Please Please.. I Need Erotic Stimulation!)

All right, all right let’s stop it. Here’s my acronym for L.A.T.I.G.O. (Lifelong Attitude Towards Initiating Goals Outstandingly)

See? I just gave my own definition of self-discipline meaning:

SELF-DISCIPLINE = LATIGO (Lifelong Attitude Towards Initiating Goals Outstandingly) 
{Applause! Applause!}
 
Ok, I’m not yet sleepy but I’ll stop this nonsense. Maybe a few pages of Umberto Eco’s Turning back the Clock and a glass of warm milk will help me get back to sleep.

…Oh shit, the milk carton is empty.

I didn’t expect comments but if you would like to drop one, I’ll appreciate it. Goodnight and Good morning folks!