Mutter Bundle #30: Snow, Slice, and Transactions

15 Jan 2026 00:59

Katowice, Poland.

15 Jan 2026 20:47

Cardiff, Wales.

16 Jan 2026 08:32

Sharing my opinion on whether a one-line-one-account or a multi-line account is the way to go on the Slice Mobile Community:

Even for the loneliest of the lone wolves among us, the need for multiple lines can still very much be a thing. Speaking of which, I quite like how SMARTY goes about managing multiple/group accounts.

https://slicemobile.discourse.group/t/how-do-you-roll/1176/2?u=fmr

19 Jan 2026 23:23

All human bonds, all human relationships as I tend to see them, fall into two broad camps.

1. Transactional. Which doesn’t necessarily mean cash changing hands, although that counts too. Any relationship built on what is essentially the business logic of very measured, minimal give and maximum the-world-is-not-enough gain. The “you scratch my back, I’ll maybe think about scratching yours… eventually” dynamic. Negotiations and renegotiations. Non-stop scanning for a better deal. You get me?

2. Spiritual. This is when someone wants to build a single, lifelong project called “The Rest of Our Lives” with a kindred spirit, signing up for the long haul and staying in regardless of hardship or outcome. Wanting the project to succeed, yes, but remaining in it, come hell or high water, not just for the dividend report. Commitment tied to the person, not the outcome.

Well… the vast majority of relationships are transactional. Not a tragedy, rather the default setting. Totally normal, human nature at work. This is how we are built.

Depressing points (if any) are either the pretence and deception (transactional relationships sold as spiritual) or the hypocrisy, when those in transactional relationships stigmatising others in very similar arrangements as immoral, merely because the commercial element of the latter’s relationships is less disguised and more candid.

24 Jan 2026 12:16

Couldn't agree more.

25 Jan 2026 06:45

Doing my bit for the ranks of TikTok procrastinators, I saw yet another video where some chap lugs a giant speaker, blares a tune, and invites fist bumps from strangers.

And some, most even, seem to groove along with gusto. But there are always those who just blank him. The sheer unsocial brutality of it, eh. I mean, why are there always those who are so egregiously unfriendly and oblivious?

Wait a sec. Were you, by any chance, thinking I was about to tear into those who ignored the fist bump invitation? Were you?

Well, let me stop you right there. I wasn't. And I wasn't about to criticise the speaker guy either. The real villains of this short rant of mine are the keyboard critics in the comments section posting barbs like "why such a sour face", "people need to lighten up", "people need to learn how to have fun".

Fun? Oh, those abstainers probably grasp fun perfectly well. Just because they don't ignite it on cue for you and their fun-o-meter just doesn't get tipped by a random fella with a boom box doesn't mean they don't. Is it that hard to appreciate? Who are you to judge some random stranger's momentary disengagement as a lack of sociability? What insight do you possibly have into what's plaguing them in that instant, as they wait for a train or stride along the pavement, interrupted by this enthusiastic soundman (again, fair play to him, this is not about him)? Is it too complex to understand that the person who ignores a spontaneous call to shared celebration is not deficient just because you judge him as such? Could be mourning a loved one? Digesting recent redundancy news with finances in tatters? Just learned of a cancer diagnosis? Struggling with one of a myriad other woes?

Not everyone is identical, not everyone copes alike. And they aren't rude, they aren't aggressive, they have simply chosen non-participation, they are civil in their refusal. Is that enough to call them saddos? Label them sour faces because they don't perform happiness for your comfort? Is their desire to be left alone less important than your expectation of a uniformly 'vibey' environment?

The sheer unsocial brutality of it, eh.

26 Jan 2026 10:28

Glasgow, Scotland.