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Making your Nothings into Somethings

2019-04-19 · letter vlog · Hank, John · 3:59 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Philosophy & meaning (also: Personal life, Books & writing, Internet & YouTube) · mode: Personal essay

Replying with a cold to clips of John's 'Doing Somethings', Hank agrees passivity is part of doing nothing but splits choices into active and passive nothings and somethings, and argues the best use of limited choice-making energy is to set up 'passive somethings' (habits, meal kits, weekly days) so his non-choices aren't nothing.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Hank's son sneezed into his mouth; he has a cold but will answer John's video

  • ★★ Hank says that two days ago, during a father-son bonding moment, his son sneezed into his mouth, and now he has a cold. (playful) — 00:00:00 · Orin Green
  • ★ Hank says his brain has tiny chickens in it and he isn't thinking clearly, but John's video made him think and he wants to work through it as a back-and-forth. (playful) — 00:00:00 · tiny chickens

00:00:27 — John's E.E. Cummings line and poetry as a puzzle box made of words

  • ★ Hank teases John for assuming he knows an E.E. Cummings poem; he had to hear the line about seven times to grasp it. (playful) — 00:00:27
  • ★★ Hank says having to work out a line is sometimes the point of poetry, like a puzzle box made of words, and he likes those boxes. — 00:00:27

00:00:52 — Active and passive nothings and somethings; setting up passive somethings

  • ★★ John: In a clip, John says doing nothing means not making an active choice to do something. — 00:00:52 · first in: 2019-04-16, Doing Somethings
  • ★★★ Hank calls this a great insight but not the whole thing: passivity is part of doing nothing, but not all of it. — 00:00:52
  • ★★ Hank says scrolling through Twitter is nothing for him because it's the default he ends up with when no structure is left. — 00:01:21 · Twitter
  • ★★ Hank says that for him, unlike John, taking his medicine is the default choice. — 00:01:21
  • ★★ Hank says many things we don't really choose are not nothing, work being a big one; that is how he does like 95% of the things he does. — 00:01:21

  • ★★★ Hank proposes a grid: active nothings (good), passive nothings (the worst), active somethings (hard) and passive somethings (the best). — 00:01:50

    “There's passive somethings.”

  • ★★★ Hank says it is better to spend his limited mental energy creating more passive somethings; making everything an active choice would annoy him and he doesn't have it in him. — 00:02:23

  • ★★ Hank says that is most of a meal kit service's appeal for him: he has to cook it or it goes bad, though he would not actively choose to cook. — 00:02:23
  • ★★ John: In a clip, John says he is not choosing between doing something or nothing, but which something. — 00:02:23 · first in: 2019-04-16, Doing Somethings
  • ★★★ Hank calls John's point absolutely true but says he can't imagine the world that way; it sounds exhausting. — 00:02:53
  • ★★★ Hank says he would rather spend his choice-making energy setting up passive somethings, making some active choices while being realistic that he has few in him each day. — 00:02:53
  • ★★ Hank suggests weekly days such as a call-your-mom, draw-something or podcast-with-a-friend Tuesday as passive somethings. — 00:02:53
  • ★★ Hank says what he needs most days is for his non-choice not to be nothing, and asks how one sets up passive somethings. — 00:02:53

00:03:27 — Hank's YouTube history as a passive nothing; sign-off

  • ★★ Hank says he doesn't know how to set up passive somethings; he has had a lot of practice and is still not great at it. (unsure) — 00:03:27
  • ★★ Hank admits his YouTube history is full of Lockpicking Lawyer videos and one of a man carving a pencil from a pencil from a pencil: great, but a passive nothing. (playful) — 00:03:27 · YouTube

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description says John's intentionality is wonderful but Hank doesn't know how possible it is for him: he doesn't like making decisions. — video description · John Green
  • ★ The description says Hank is a habit guy: he has put the seat down every time since his mom asked at 13 and signals in one-way parking garages. (playful) — video description

Humor (significant)

  • Hank describes a tender father-son moment, his son looking him in the eyes — 00:00:00

    “as he sneezed into my mouth”

  • Hank explains his foggy head with the old illness bit — 00:00:00

    “So my brain's got tiny chickens in it”

  • A clip of John casually cites an E.E. Cummings poem — 00:00:27

    “I like how here you assume that I know an E.E. Cummings poem. It's adorable.”

  • Without a meal kit forcing him to cook, the evening slips away — 00:02:23

    “And then it's already 6.30 and you're Uber Eats-ing Krispy Kreme.”

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: decision-making

Also: E. E. Cummings · Krispy Kreme · LockPickingLawyer · Orin Green · tiny chickens · Twitter · Uber · YouTube

Also centred on decision-making: Doing Somethings

Replies to

  • answers · Doing Somethings — “I did watch your video, and it did make me think a bunch of things”

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