3-2-1: adulting, death, and decomposition
3 IDEAS FROM ME
I.
I became tidier recently.
The difference between the tidy and untidy is doing instead of deferring all the tasks that take <2 mins.
Put things away. (Prerequisite: Make sure everything has a place.)
II.
I started actually budgeting this year (h/t my friend Mahesh).
Budgeting can be fun and easy. Download the YNAB mobile app, link your credit card, set up categories. Then review your transactions as needed, at least weekly.
I ignored Mint when I was using it, but I don't ignore YNAB, since YNAB requires me to review each transaction and allocate money to each category.
III.
Throwback: how to clean a bathroom.
Sequel: how to clean a bathroom as a household (print, laminate, and write names with wet erase markers).
2 QUOTES FROM OTHERS
I.
Poet Mary Oliver on the death of a friend:
Where has this cold come from?
"It comes from the death of your friend."
Will I always, from now on, be this cold?
"No, it will diminish. But always
it will be with you.
What is the reason for it?
"Wasn't your friendship always as beautiful
as a flame?"
II.
Tolstoy's character Ivan Ilyich when he realizes he, in particular, is dying:
In the depth of his heart he knew he was dying, but not only was he not accustomed to the thought, he simply did not and could not grasp it.
The syllogism he had learnt from Kiesewetter's Logic: "Caius is a man, men are mortal, therefore Caius is mortal," had always seemed to him correct as applied to Caius, but certainly not as applied to himself.
That Caius – man in the abstract – was mortal, was perfectly correct, but he was not Caius, not an abstract man, but a creature quite, quite separate from all others. He had been little Vanya, with a mamma and a papa, with Mitya and Volodya, with the toys, a coachman and a nurse, afterwards with Katenka and will all the joys, griefs, and delights of childhood, boyhood, and youth.
What did Caius know of the smell of that striped leather ball Vanya had been so fond of? Had Caius kissed his mother's hand like that, and did the silk of her dress rustle so for Caius? Had he rioted like that at school when the pastry was bad? Had Caius been in love like that? Could Caius preside at a session as he did?
Caius really was mortal, and it was right for him to die; but for me, little Vanya, Ivan Ilych, with all my thoughts and emotions, it's altogether a different matter. It cannot be that I ought to die. That would be too terrible.
1 QUESTION FOR YOU
When you die, what would you like to happen to your body?
Tell a friend.