TIL that umop apisdn is upside down, upside down.

Finished reading For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway. 📚

I had an inheritance from my father
It was the moon and the sun
And though I roam all over the world
The spending of it’s never done.

For what are we born if not to aid one another?

But in the meantime all the life you have or ever will have is today, tonight, tomorrow, today, tonight, tomorrow, over and over again, and so you had better take what time there is and be very thankful for it.

So if your life trades its seventy years for seventy hours I have that value now and I am lucky enough to know it. And if there is not any such thing as a long time, nor the rest of your lives, nor from now on, but there is only now, why then now is the thing to praise and I am very happy with it.

You have it now and that is all your whole life is: now. There is nothing else than now. There is neither yesterday, certainly, nor is there any tomorrow. How old must you be before you know that? There is only now, and if now is only two days, then two days is your life and everything in it will be in proportion. This is how you live a life in two days. And if you stop complaining and asking for what you will never get, you will have a good life.

Whether one has fear of it or not, one’s death is difficult to accept.

Who do you suppose has it easier? Ones with religion or just taking it straight? It comforts them very much but we know there is nothing to fear. It is only missing it that’s bad. Dying is only bad when it takes a long time and hurts so much that it humiliates you.

The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for and I hate very much to leave it.

Daniel, aged about six as we lay on our backs on the grass at the park: “Big, big clouds. Small, small me.”

It’s good to be back on the West Coast. This might just be my favourite part of the world. I woke at dawn to thunder crashing down from the glacier, and now I’m in a warm dry cafe drinking good coffee and about to drive north to Rapahoe, a special place for me and which I know Daniel loved. Feeling grateful for all I have.

Holidaying and celebrating a big birthday with family in a luxury lake apartment rn. Life is good. ☀️

I spent a few hours with a friend walking around Christchurch. We checked out the city gardens and the food and retail precincts. New buildings and businesses are everywhere. The arts centre was a highlight, the stone heritage buildings have been strengthened and restored to their former glory. After eight years away I am surprised how heartwarming it is to be back in my second city and to see how well the rebuild is going. The place is thriving.

Epictetus:

The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control.