half year review - i'm doing this

I don't slavishly follow self - help websites as a rule, but there was something intriguing about Chris Guillebeau's post 'How to conduct your own annual review'. I'm not sure whether it was the way it stared knowingly at me across the crowded room, its eyes boring deep into my soul, or its witty, disarming charm but before I knew it, I found myself seriously undergoing a mid-year review.

Strangely enough, it turned out to be pretty handy in sorting out exactly what i needed to focus on and start a number of things I'd been putting off...and putting off...and putting off.

I've managed to join a gym, start up yoga again and I'm going to the dentist today. This is weird...I'm not supposed to be so healthy. Damn productivity.

how to live

I'm a few weeks into my PhD and it's not going too badly at the moment. There's a pile of books on my desk with dramatic covers, journal articles scattered across my floor and on my computer, and I'm starting to find some direction. I'm not really planning to use this blog for research at the moment, but that'll probably change once I start locking down my area of study.

But while I was wikipedia-ing Simon Critchley - who apparently is something like the James Cameron of philosophy at the moment – during my research, I came across this ridiculously awesome blog How to Live, and it'd be remiss of me not to share it with you all.

The blog was founded by Nemonie Craven and Shahidha Bari in an attempt to produce 'essays, images and arguments for a practical philosophy for life':

How to Live provides philosophical resources for those interested in asking vital questions about love, sex, art, literature, ethics, politics, friendship, war, violence, architecture, religion, walking, gardening, crying and laughing.

It's a cracking idea, and they've managed to coerce the likes of Simon Critchley and Slavoj Zizek amongst others, to lend a paragraph or two.

So if you’ve got a spare five minutes, I recommend dropping over there to read some thoughts on life, love, Elbow, and Welsh-in-Italics.