Bohemian Rhapsody was the G.O.A.T and you can’t argue that’s not a great song. My vote was for Stairway to Heaven which came in second and I hope they tell us the votes because I think it would have been close between those two. I didn’t win the $100k.
Enjoying Hauraki’s G.O.A.T right now — and wondering where my own vote will slot in. Also if I’ll win the hundred grand.
Art by Mark Powell.
My sore shoulder and existential angst about turning fifty have conspired to demotivate me this winter. I’ve barely ridden my bike and I’ve been casual with my eating, and now my latest bloods are showing me as heading mildly pre-diabetic. Mistakes were made.
I’m taking this as a positive though, a timely sign that I can no longer take my health for granted. When I was young my body took whatever I threw at it without question. But: no more. There are going to be some changes around here. You know, health is wealth and all that.
Today’s burning question: Should cake decorators learn spelling as part of their craft? Icing on a fancy celebratory cake at work said “Congrations”, and I once came across one that said “Congralutions”. (They both tasted good though.)
Thinking about mortality lately, feeling myself turning inward, taking stock. Where am I? What am I doing? What is important? All of this, with an incremental dropping of things. A subtle unclenching of my fist.
Chris Hadfield, quoted at Zen Pencils:
“Decide what really excites and challenges you, and start moving your life in that direction. Every decision you make, from what you eat to what you do with your time tonight, turns you into who you are tomorrow, and the day after that. Look at who you want to be, and start sculpting yourself into that person.”
Start sculpting yourself. A slow, purposeful process. Shaping, trimming, removing excess. I like that.
Art by Vadim Solovyov.
Have you had your death dream yet? The one where you kick awake from a half-sleep and know, truly know, not just in an abstract philosophical way but in the marrow of your fucking bones, that you are indeed mortal and that you are going to die?
It changes everything.
Mission status: Descent to the surface.
Now reading The Childhood of Jesus by J.M. Coetzee:
“We are here for the same reason everyone else is. We have been given a chance to live and we have accepted that chance. It is a great thing, to live. It is the greatest thing of all.”
We watched Hereditary and damned if it wasn’t the best new horror I’ve seen in ages, probably since The VVitch. Really well done, and best seen without first knowing anything about it. Best seen cold.
More movies: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Fun revisiting flicks I haven’t seen for years, and the boys enjoyed them too. “Freddy, what I am saying is, know your limitations. You are a moron.”
Further to the last, I could be in luck: NZ will be treated to three total solar eclipses in the next 20 years. The wide open spaces of Aussie look especially good for the one in 2028.
La Silla eclipse sequence. How much do I hope to get to see one of these in my lifetime? Very.
I like mountain biking as much as the next person who likes mountain biking, but this is insane.
My current obsession: playing with this website where you can take “a real-time journey through the first landing on the Moon”. So good.