Some other things I enjoyed in 2018:

My oldest boy coming to live with me
Stripey socks
My new bike
House hunting
Modesty Blaise comics
Homemade bone broth
Not having to fly on airplanes at all
Reading books
Making my first zine
Almond butter
Driving my new car
Micro.blog

“Dad you make the best bacon and eggs EVER.” #winningatlife

One thing that struck me about Steve Jobs after reading the Walter Isaacson biography was the man’s emphasis on focus.

Jobs said knowing what not to do was as important as knowing what to do. At Apple strategy sessions he’d condense lists of ideas into a single list of the best ten, then cross out all but the top three. When he returned to helm the company in the late 90s and was faced with a bewildering array of substandard products, he axed most of them and told his teams to focus on creating just four.

During his final medical leave Jobs met with and advised Google co-founder Larry Page. “We talked a lot about focus,” Jobs said later. “Figure out what Google wants to be when it grows up… What are the products you want to focus on? Get rid of the rest, because they are dragging you down.”

I’m not one for resolutions, but I’ve been kicking the last part of that statement around in my head these past few days. What are the things you want to focus on? Get rid of the rest, because they are dragging you down.

“Your fifties should be THE BEST of them all. You’re old enough to have a proper sense for all parts of the game. You’re young enough to still have a good amount of health and vigor. I’m banking on it being spectacular.” Troy DeArmitt ponders his 50th birthday.

“The Deadwood movie is now easily my most anticipated movie/TV show/anything of 2019.” Same same.

A thing I enjoyed in 2018 was introducing my oldest boy to some of my favourite films. We watched Lost in Translation, Pan’s Labyrinth, Raiders of the Lost Ark, American Honey, The Darjeeling Limited, Punch-Drunk Love and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. We delighted in Almost Famous and Juno, and we pondered life itself in Synecdoche, New York. Something about Donnie Darko seems to have struck a real chord with him – he’s watched it about five times now, and it’s so good to see him developing a love for films and finding ones he can return to again and again, like I do.

A week of eating primal and my energy levels are better than ever. Feeling good.

Half a week into my recommitment to eating primal, and feeling a little sluggish as my body adjusts. #paingain

There’s this thing I do off and on called zazen which involves sitting on the floor staring at the wall, trying to concentrate on my breath. If it sounds like watching paint dry, it is. Actually it’s even more boring than that because the paint on the wall is already dry.

It’s also the most effective way of chilling out I know. By just sitting there, trying to come back to my breath whenever I notice my mind wandering off, I’m seeing for myself the transient nature of my thoughts and emotions, and enabling myself to reground during the course of my day. The idea is the more I sit, the more natural this becomes, and the easier my life is to live.

Maintaining regular zazen isn’t easy though. Sometimes I find myself willing to sit, if not positively keen; other times I find myself utterly unwilling. But a dozen years in I see that sitting off and on isn’t enough – at some point I’m going to have to stand up (or, rather, sit down) and say, “This practice I have found, it is good, it is right, and I shall do it every day of my life.”

Am I at that point yet?

Road trip bands my 16-year-old son will not veto:

Radiohead

Since master prestidigitator Ricky Jay died a few days ago, I’ve been fascinated by this multi-talented fellow. His card tricks on YouTube are simply astounding, and there’s a doco about him which is well worth a watch.

After seeing caffeine described in New Scientist as an “insect neurotoxin”, I’m thinking about giving it up. Reading New Scientist, that is.

I was invited to ride The Old Ghost Road this past weekend but had to pass. Instead here is one of the great pics my friend Andy made without me.

The power has been out in town all day and I am running a serious caffeine deficit right now.

In other news, I just bought a house.

Trying to limit my grain and dairy intake but damned if Harraways Scotch Oats made with cow milk isn’t one of the finest breakfast meals ever conceived.

I know it’s wrong to internet small fluffy dogs but this one belongs to my kids and I like how the pic came out.

Having the intention to do morning zazen is good, but having the alarm clock across the other side of the bedroom is better.

I read Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy and found it much akin to his other novel The Road in that it features tortured characters roaming bleak landscapes in search of succour and punctuation and encountering grimness and violence and despair and dead babies hanging from trees all round. I know its sposed to be a great American western but danged if it wasnt tryin on the eyes and brain matter with its missing apostrophes and speech marks and commas and long strung out sentences and more than a little muddled and seemingly directionless for long bits. That said it had some jarring and monumental scenes and the judge sure is a memorable and evil character with some great and tenebrous things to say and I hope they make this one into a film but if they do they better be sure to give it to them Coen brothers or suchlike and not that Hillcoat fella who needs a dang good pistol whippin for what he done to The Road and I reckon even the kid would agree with me on that one.