“The grownup wish of cultivating wholesome young men will never come true.” That is a lot more convincing if you aren’t listening to Bach.

I may be a pretty happy person overall, but I am far from perfect. For instance, I am rather incompetent at my job. Even though I now love it, in theory at least, I seem to have a hard time improving. I am not even looking to advance in my career, more like being able to fill a whole workday with actually useful work when there is not an emergency.

In all fairness, our staff is dimensioned to handle a near-emergency. We do get overloaded when all khaos breaks loose, but we do have some over-capacity on a quiet summer day. Anyway, I am sure I could expand my ability and scope with more dedication. But it didn’t happen today either. And then I went home.

***

I came home about half past five (17:30), or an hour after I left work. I sleep or read on the bus home, so that is time well spent. But after that the hours went by, and by the time I took my daily walk the clock was a quarter to nine (20:45). As I walked, I wondered how I had managed to spend that much time doing nothing.

Well, part of it was writing yesterday’s entry. Even though I backdated it to the time I went to bed yesterday, I had it only sketched out in my head. It changed a bit in writing, and grew larger, and there was the actual physical writing as well. So that took some time.

I read and commented on a couple illustrated Sims stories by an online friend. I know from experience how much work goes into Sims stories. Even though my own Micropolis story line was edifying to myself and others, I just don’t have that kind of time on my hand anymore, I feel. In addition to playing the game, you have to take pictures, and later write out the story and resize the pictures, perhaps adding captions or effects. Anyway, I didn’t do that today, I just read and commented, which I feel they deserve.

I spent some time catching up with an unexpectedly long discussion in which I had participated earlier in the day on Google+. The question was basically whether government was universal or a human invention. I weighed in with the conviction that on another planet, people may not need government because they all follow the voice in their head, which would teach them everything and remind them of everything. Opinions were somewhat divided on whether this was a good thing, but I think it is clear that it would make government as we know it superfluous.

Furthermore I opined that even on our planet it is possible for an individual to outgrow the need to be governed by others, and instead govern oneself. I don’t think that is particularly far-fetched, since there is already considerable variation in how much various individuals need to be governed. And even the same person can change over time.

I also spent a little time setting up the Galaxy Tab with the new SIM card, which arrived on Friday but the PIN code did not arrive until today. Once it had a new SIM card, Google’s 2-step verification stopped recognizing the whole tablet. So I had to generate a new verification password for that as well.

But at least I found time to listen to Bach’s Toccato and Fugue in D minor for organ!  Surely that at least is time well spent. I reserve judgment on Ryuho Okawa’s assertion that Bach was actually an archangel, but I can understand why someone would think so. I do believe his music has increased the happiness of many people: Not mainly in the form of an immediate, upbeat joy, but rather by refining – or calibrating? – the soul of those who have reached a level where this kind of music can touch them.

Perhaps I should consider more seriously my threat of listening to some Bach each day – except each day is already this short. In fact, it is over right about now. It is my scheduled bedtime, and I have not even found time to play computer games or watch anime! What is the world coming to?