On Sunday afternoon, we went to The Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy. This is always a good day out. So many works and such a fascinating mix. And if you find anything you really like, you can buy it too.
I’ve never actually bought anything, but we were saying that next year, if we have our longer-term home by then, we could try to go earlier and actually try to buy something. There would be a lot to choose from!
Something happened a few months ago that forced me to reflect on my own mortality. All is good now (I hope!), but it was a reminder that it will not always be the case.
It made me think of a quote at the top of one of my favourite pages on the early Internet, Mark Rosenstein’s Sailing Page:
“For the truth is that I already know as much about my fate as I need to know. The day will come when I will die. So the only matter of consequence before me is what I will do with my allotted time. I can remain on shore, paralyzed with fear, or I can raise my sails and dip and soar in the breeze.”
– Richard Bode, First you have to row a little boat
I wish I could say that’s how I’ve been living since I read it (I even read the book), but convenience and routine came between.
I wouldn’t say I’ve wasted time, per se. I realised during Covid that it’s the little things you do every day that add up to a life, and I’m definitely living those. Nevertheless, in the spirit of appreciating those moments even more, and maybe adding in a few more bits, I have now created a life tracker.
This is inspired by a post I saw on Pinterest in terms of the format, and shows how many weeks I’ve used up and how many I may have left, assuming I live as long as the average man of my age in the UK.
The tracker is updated automatically, based on today’s date, so the clock is ticking.
Food for thought, when you see it like this.
I’m back in the UK after 2 weeks in Sweden.
The one thing I bring back every time is a big bag of pick and mix candy.
Might this be Sweden’s most important contribution to the world? 😋
A throwback to my time in the navy. It’s far behind me now, but this pic, which doesn’t even use a filter, makes it look even longer ago!
Notion — The AI workspace that works for you
Miro — AI Innovation Workspace
Slack — AI Work Platform & Productivity Tools
Why does it feel as if every single company has lost track of why we use their products in the first place?
🤮
My biggest frustration with how AI is eating the world is perhaps the hijacking of the sparkle emoji.
✨ used to mean a bit of sparkle. Now it means literally the opposite.
My holiday is over and it’s time to get back to work! 💪🏻
Sculptures by Tony Cragg and others
In my element
It’s been 6 months since I last bought clothes and while I’m able to ride out the summer, it will be time for a wardrobe reboot this autumn.
As always with these kinds of things, I will spend an impressive amount of time overthinking everything.
These are my initial requirements:
After some initial thinking, I think the required numbers look a bit as follows.
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