speed

Took Saturday to recover from a tiring flight, and ending the weekend () with some 大盘鸡 per AmandaTaste.

pet

It's been a slow start to reading, mostly because the 3rd story (The Cossacks) in the collection of Tolstoy's short stories did not capture my interest at all. Also because I started on another web novel series (Embers Ad Infinitum) after strong recommendations of another player on Immortal Taoist (the way he talks reminds me a lot of an RF friend heh). 

But I did enjoy the 1st short story (Happy Ever After) a lot, perhaps because it's a topic that I've been consistently thinking about. Two quotations that I'm hoping to remember:

I loved him as much as ever, and was as happy as ever in his love; but my love, instead of growing, had come to a standstill, and a new sensation of restlessness gradually invaded my spirit. Loving was not enough for me after the happiness I had known in falling in love. I longed for activity, instead of an even flow of existence. I wanted excitement and danger and the chance to renounce self for the sake of my love.

'Don't let us try to repeat life,' he went on. 'Don't let us deceive ourselves. And if the old heartaches and emotions no longer exist - well thank God for that! The excitement and anxiety of searching is over for us: our quest is done and happiness enough has fallen to our lot.

In other news, I'm not sure if I'll ever finish Anna Karenina 😅 

 

spirit jade

Playing Immortal Taoist with whales is practicing the mantra that it's the journey that matters not the results 😅

...

Two quotations that I jotted down but forgot which book they came from:

We bring to our romantic relationships an almost unbearable existential vulnerability 

Fear makes us curious, sadness makes us philosophize

column

Bliss Foster always makes quality videos, and his latest on Raf's first menswear collection at Prada has a concept of (clothing) uniform that I'd like to remember. Paraphrasing Bliss who is paraphrasing Raf, uniform is clothing that you keep coming back to and that the rest of your wardrobe is built around.

amendment

 I also spoke too soon about not writing reports at work. The first 3 weeks of the year was spent on one massive report. Like other massive reports in my life, this falls under great experience; never again. 

Piston

 Lately, I've not done a good job posting about the books I've read. The last three are Let My People Go Surfing (Patagonia founder’s memoir), Mating in Captivity and State of Affairs (both by Esther Perel) 

I have no direct quotations to share, but here are a few memorable ideas:

• True corporate social responsibility is hard to tack on, it needs to be the in the DNA of the organization. The critic of the response of many company’s support for BLM on social media last year supports this point. 
• Incorporating local practices is crucial to become an international organization. Otherwise you’re just doing business internationally.
• “[any duality] is not a puzzle to be solved but a paradox to be managed”. Not sure if I correctly recall the exact wording, but this can pretty much be my 2021 theme haha. Since listening to the Secular Buddhism podcast few years ago (actually I listened to Esther Perel’s podcast at the same time), I am internalizing that many opposing things are in fact dualities that cannot be separated or have one dominate the other. 

waffle

I wonder if it's just part of growing old that your mental stress directly translates into physical discomfort. It's arguably a good thing that the state of being stressed is more apparent, but it sure isn't more convenient. Being unable to hold back tears at all also falls in the camp.