Today is 10 years, to the day, that I arrived in China and the path my life too forever changed.
Though the whole moving to a new country and marrying a local is something I got from Dad (thanks Dad!).
Today is 10 years, to the day, that I arrived in China and the path my life too forever changed.
Though the whole moving to a new country and marrying a local is something I got from Dad (thanks Dad!).
Still impressed that I’ve managed to keep doing a photo a day that I, eventually, print and then put in the album.
Wordle 412 5/6
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Found this interesting. We want people doing exercise, especially as adults, but how do we get there?
As well, it’s currently the CrossFit Games currently and it reminds me that what the top, top, TOP athletes do in a given sport is nothing like what a ‘normal’ person who does that sport for fun/health does.
Elise has always had school lunch but with Yumo joining soon, we will soon be paying for 3 school lunches probably. With that in mind, last night we trialed packed lunch for dinner. Actually, surprisingly, improbably, it was a huge success. I did ham and cheese pin wheels with added broccoli.
Elise gave it a two thumbs up and her comment was that it didn’t need 2 biscuits, one was enough.
Yes to this, I don’t know how people can put the kids to bed and then do more work. I just can’t. As well, after working for 45 hours, I don’t have more work in me at the weekend.
I do not put the kids to bed and then crack my laptop to write. The gates of my brain roll down at 7 p.m. like a mall food court Chik-Fil-A on Sunday. time freedom and brainpower and then I had that additional kid.
If I’m on deadline, then I remove myself from the house to do it. Usually a bar on a weekday evening, because I struggle to bring professional energy of any kind to a weekend.
The happiest older people I’ve ever seen are hanging out with each other. The crankiest ones seem to be quite solitary. Here are the ten reciprocal virtues I’ve gleaned via some sloppy ethnography (i.e.: eavesdropping) on giggling and gray coffee clutches.
Dads on tour
I went away with some friends from work last week. 5 days away. 5 days away from Lyra and the kids. Writing about it, I’m not sure where to start. So much so that I had half a thought not to.
But then I saw this tweet and I thought I wouldn’t The Grey Man on Netflix and would slow down on watching The Expanse and take a moment to write about it.
It felt like, I stepped out of my body. Though maybe saying I stepped out of my life would be a better way of putting it. Not having the same pressures I normally did was like I was living a different life. As I said, ad nauseam at this point, I didn’t care what we did since it was time to myself that was important thing. I mean, we did end up doing some fun stuff.
Saw some caves, rode bikes and later scooters, went on a raft, swam a bit, ate some yummy food, had some drinks. All good times, had some COVID tests (a necessity of traveling within China).
As well I was forced to use my Chinese which was definitely a good thing since normally (and completely acceptably) rely on my wife to do. The problem is, to be a situation where I have to use it I think I’d have to be apart from here. Which doesn’t often happy.
Also… we also travelled a vast distance on trains too, our return journey was approximately 1000km which we did in a little over 5 hours. That’s about the distance of my hometown in the UK to Berlin. China is like the US in that regard, the scale is just different.
If I wanted to let Yumo play this at home, what would I need?
A nice reminder for parents.
You think you’ve got your act together, then you have kids. You think you’re someone with a good handle on their emotions…then toddlers and teenagers alike disabuse you of this notion. Because that’s what kids do, they stress test us,
For example:
If I wake up and check messages and social media … would I like to spend that time in meditation and journaling instead?
Source: We’re Always Training Something - zen habits zen habits
漏奶华。Fried toast with sweetened milk filling and covered in cocoa. So delicious. We had it in Guangzhou but the one we found in Chongqing wasn’t as good.
Focus.
I struggle with it, like so many of us do. I turned off notifications on my phone, now I just have to keep checking it in case I miss something important. (I don’t). Today, I’ve put my phone in my bag, so I can’t look at it. Which helps a little. I should buy a new bag for that. (I don’t need one).
From this list of advice was the idea of having task specific things. Which our phones did away with. I remember when I had a phone, a camera, a iPod and a book and that I used to keep them in this small black bag. I feel like I miss those days.
And it was nice to spend time doing this jigsaw this morning. To focus on one thing. I should do that more.
It feels like,
It’s not just getting
Time
To yourself .
It’s having time,
With the right
Frame of mind.
Which is where I fall down.
Everyone Everywhere Needs Waymond Wang - YouTube
Everything Everywhere All At Once is a genre bending multiverse movie but it’s also one of the most challenging and subversive representations of masculinity I’ve ever seen in any genre.
Lunch
Chongqing, China.
Urban population, approximately 8 million.
Province population, approximately 30 million.
Today there’s a single international fight leaving.
Found myself strongly agreeing with this.
“I’ve always known that I enjoy time with the kids more when we go out and do stuff. Hiking, bounce houses, driving, whatever. I thought it was because the kids behave better when they’re out of our boring house. But now I’m realizing that not having access to my phone is a bigger factor.
When parenting is the only activity I can engage in, and there’s no phone grabbing my attention every minute, I’m a better parent. And kids have more fun and fight less with each other when they’re with a more engaged parent as opposed to a parent who’s doing the bare minimum in between checking a phone.
I hate smart phones.”
https://critter.blog/2022/07/11/naturally-enforced-digital-detox/
The biggest barrier to creativity is feeling that it’s not for you. We were trying to bypass criticality and encourage them to be as free in making as they could be.
‘It’s manic!’ Turner-winner Mark Leckey’s dream comes true as he opens an art school in Cornwall
Car says hot!
Microphone help!
I have sometimes recorded me talking to the kids but feel like a microphone would do a better job then my phone for recording us.
Any suggestions? Thank you
We really enjoyed Everything Everywhere All At Once.
It was also cool to see the family switching between languages (Chinese, Cantonese and English).
We watched it in China on a sofa in a private room in a random tower nearby but the film hasn’t and won’t be released here because of the daughter’s relationship.
See also, Lightyear is also not coming out for similar reasons but McDonald’s Happy Meal toys are from the film.
