23 Apr - 29 Apr 2018
This week has been a bit of a mixed bag. The first part of the week I was really quite productive before the wheels came off mid-week. I had plans to pull it back on Friday but spent the day suffering with what I think was a “sugar hangover”.
Sweet & Spicy
Not a lot happened during the working week to write home about. The only thing of note was that I chose to do my Thursday kettlebell workout in the evening after work. As it had been a nice day I decided to do it outside so I could do some heavy overhead carries and be less worried if I dropped it.
We had a ridiculously spicy stir-fry for dinner so to help calm my mouth down after gallons of water I ate quite a few sweets. I’d been bought an 80s/90s sweets selection a while ago and hadn’t really eaten many until now. I ended up eating a dib dab, parma violets, love hearts, a few jelly babies, fruit salads and refreshers while we watched the first episode of the new season of Westworld. I think they are what lead to the headache I woke up to on Friday morning.
Birthday weekend
My headache was still going strong but I thought a good nights sleep should cure it. Unfortunately I didn’t get a good nights sleep, tossing and turning throughout the night and was wide awake by 4am or so — still with the headache. Still, we had an early morning kettlebell training session booked. It was either going to kill me or cure me. It cured me. Score one for exercise!
Which was a good job - we had a big birthday weekend planned for my wife’s birthday. After our kettlebell session we headed to Lichfield to the Damn Fine Café for brunch. One I’ll be damned fried breakfast later and I could barely walk out the café…
In the evening we went to see Avengers: Infinity War. It was a nice culmination of the last 10 years of Marvel films and an interesting cliff-hanger ending. I’ll avoid saying anything else for the time being. But if you’ve seen it and want to nerd out - hit me up on Inline Block.
Sunday morning and we went bowling and I seemed to have terrible luck not getting a single strike or picking up spares. It was clear my wife had already won but I laughingly said, “you watch, I’ll get 3 strikes now”.
I am Groot
A week in Stoicism
”Just as when meat or other food are set before us we think, this is a dead fish, a dead bird or pig; and also, this fine wine is only the juice of a bunch of grapes, this purple-edged robe just sheep’s wool dyed in a bit of blood from a shellfish; or of sex, that it is only rubbing private parts together followed by a spasmic discharge—in the same way our impressions grab actual events and permeate them, so we see them as they really are” Marcus Aurelius
This week we have been reflecting on using the power of contemptuous expressions to neutralise some of the effects of our desires. By describing them using blunt language we take away some of the power that they have over us and remind us not to place them on a pedestal. We aren’t better than someone else because we wear nicer clothes or can afford a fancy car.
”When your sparring partner scratches or head-butts you, you don’t then make a show of it, or protest, or view him with suspicion or as plotting against you. And yet you keep an eye on him, not as an enemy or with suspicion, but with a healthy avoidance. You should act this way with all things in life. We should give a pass to many things with our fellow trainees. For, as I’ve said, it’s possible to avoid without suspicion or hate.” Marcus Aurelius
weeknotes