Updated: April 12th, 2024
The mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
What I’m Reading
I have no idea why I have so many books going at one time but I’ve always been that way…
- The History of Jazz, 3rd edition, Ted Gioia
- American Comics, Jeremy Daubner
An Atelic Activity
I’m back to learning Scots Gaelic via Duolingo. I started doing this back in 2021 with the intent (goal > telos) of speaking Gaelic when we went to Scotland for my 50th birthday. It became “another chore” to do each night, and thus I abandoned it.
Now that I have no end goal, so far it seems more fun.
Moving!
That’s right. From “southerner” (28 years) to “Californian” (24 years) to “mid-Westerner.” We are moving to Cleveland, Ohio. Lord have mercy we’ve already committed a faux pas (according to family we aim to get closer to) by focusing our home search on the “east side.” They are “west-siders.”
Apparently there is some deep east- versus west-side history in Cleveland. Best I can determine, way ‘back in the day’ west side was “working class Catholic” and east side was “immigrant Jewish.” Each seems to think the other is uppity.
I haven’t decided whether to lead with “I’m from California,” I’m from ‘the south’,” or “I’m atheist.”
We close on the house soon and leave California for Ohio in May.
Recipes
I’m looking for the best (free) recipe plugin for this site so I can start sharing favorite recipes. I found a plugin. Now I just have to start…
I love cooking and hosting dinner parties. The harder it is supposed to be to cook it, the more I want to try. And this way I can stop annoying family with texts about what I’m cooking.
Same holds true for cocktails. My COVID hobby was craft cocktails (I understand some detest that term). I’ve invented a few but really like reproducing things from Death & Co, The Aviary, Canon, How to Drink, and Cocktail Chemistry.
Completing a 200-hour Yoga Teacher Certification
Further delays. I still need to finish the final test and complete the final project. I have a class developed, now I just have to find a group of willing participants. Any takers?
‘Mental Health’ is a Continuum
‘Mental health’ is a continuum. It’s not a dichotomy like cancer or other medical diseases where you either have ‘it’ or don’t have ‘it.’ (Author’s note: This is an excerpt from my zettelkasten, filed under “scraps.” I have no idea where it came from, but most likely from a podcast I was listening to. If you know where it comes from please feel free to let me know via the comments.)
Having a mental health ‘disorder’ is not a weakness, unless that is you don’t recognize it, or you ignore it, or you think it will just go away. Is it scary? Sure. But I tend to believe that growth is on the other side of fear, and only growth resists entropy.
“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.”
Joseph Campbell
Update: I do not have PTSD. According to a VA psychiatrist after a one and a half hour conversation and a half hour follow up. And I agree. So, back to my CBT sessions for “generalized anxiety disorder” aka: “anxiety disorder, unspecified.”
Remember this is what I had wanted all along… According to Donald Robertson (The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Stoic Philosophy as Rational and Cognitive Psychotherapy), Stoic philosophy is the root of CBT. Count me in.
The Centenarian Olympics
I am “de-trained.” I’m also retired from law enforcement–a group that suffers from higher rates of all-cause mortality, I think in part because they just stop. They are tired and worn out and what purpose is there NOW for training?
Enter Peter Attia and his centenarian decathlon. As outlined in Doctor Attia’s book Outlive, The Science and Art of Longevity, the centenarian decathlon is a frame work he uses to organize his patients’ physical aspirations for the later decades of their lives.
“Think of the Centenarian Decathlon as the ten most important physical tasks you will want to be able to do for the rest of your life. … I find it useful because it helps us visualize, with great precision, exactly what kind of fitness we need to build and maintain as we get older. It creates a template for our training.”
Peter Attia, MD
Time to stop talking about it and get started training for my version of the ‘Centenarian Decathlon.’ I need to line out my ten (or more) events and get to work on a training plan.
Regardless of the events the over-arcing mission is intentional, purposeful, deliberate, goal-driven training to optimize three physical fitness dimensions, highly correlated with longer ‘health-span’:
- Aerobic endurance and efficiency–for metabolic flexibility and maximum aerobic output,
- Optimal strength and power to weight ratio,
- Stability, balance, and coordination.
Writing a Book
This will be on hold while most of my books are packed in boxes… maybe even in a storage unit while we house hunt (yikes). But, I am (still) thinking about writing a book.
To move in that direction I’ll be reviewing old “common placing” books, book marginations and my indices, and developing my (analog) zettelkasten of 4×6 cards into my antique library card catalog (thank you Kathleen).
A small confession: I’m an organizing junky. I have common placing books from 1995(?) which was a combination of travel journal, spiritual practices, and the notation of interesting stuff I read or learned or found. Problem is the accessibility of this information is near nil. So too are all the marginations and self-developed book indexes that I wrote but never processed. That’s a big backlog of lost learning and knowledge.
For these reasons I’m likely to be blogging about this process and my re-reading and research.
Coaching
Due to my move and other projects, I am not accepting new athletes/clients at this time.
Like what you’re reading? Has this information been helpful or entertaining? It’s all free, of course, but if you feel moved to the point of spending money, I won’t stop you from clicking this PayPal donation button…
