< Notes...

Each time I see me surrounded by “stuff”, mostly not mine, I must clarify, Mark Pilgrim’s “The Pursuit of Happiness” comes to mind:

1. Stop buying stuff you don’t need
2. Pay off all your credit cards
3. Get rid of all the stuff that doesn’t fit in your house/apartment (storage lockers, etc.)
4. Get rid of all the stuff that doesn’t fit on the first floor of your house (attic, garage, etc.)
5. Get rid of all the stuff that doesn’t fit in one room of your house
6. Get rid of all the stuff that doesn’t fit in a suitcase
7. Get rid of all the stuff that doesn’t fit in a backpack
8. Get rid of the backpack

Last note of 2025. Happy new 2026, everyone! We watched quite a few movies and series during this break. I will try to remember and recollect some of them later next year. Time, as always, seems to have slipped through fingers; simply incredible.

For the first time the boy isn’t spending the new year’s evening with us. There is a time for everything, right? Still, it feels odd, and we miss him very, very much. We miss the girl too.

Thanksgiving was a success! We had 21 people joining us, so much food that everyone got to pack take-away at the end of the night. Afterwards cleaning is complete, all is well.

Today’s coolish, with 6°C earlier this morning, and sunshine. After coffee with mum, and an early 2 miles walk with dad, it is time to chill in the comfiness of my couch.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and we are hosting, like we do almost every year. This time around we are expecting 22 people, all family. As you can imagine, it is going to be a busy day. I am on clean up duty, before and afterwards. Yay! 😅 Still, happy to see a bunch of the family at once, and share a meal with them. As Horsie said, elders have their time left counted—but, don’t we all?—and we never know if we will be able to share a day again with them.

Coming across Horsie’s many boxes and paper piles brings reflection. If it was up to me they would be gone long time ago. They are… attachments. I want to believe they are. Anyway, for that reason an old Mark Pilgrim’s blog post came to mind, and I had to go hunting for it.

“I had been waiting for the facts inside these boxes to change. Of course facts do not change; only people change. And with that, I dumped them in the trash and hauled them to the curb, still unopened after all these years.”

Will that time come for Horsie? I am going to work harder now to get rid of things I might have accumulated and left unused for years. If anything so that others—specifically loved ones—don’t inherit that burden.

Family elders engaged in petty fighting and family drama is so annoying! First because they do it; second because, as they are elders, there is no much I can do about it. We all have emotions, and make mistakes, and surely can get mad to each other. Now, holding grudges for as long as our elders do isn’t healthy.

As seeing in a picture a family member sent, after we were chatting—in the family group—about how the Grim Reaper was so busy lately. “Well, not busier than Quynh, but almost!”, to which she replied with the image of a coffe mug with the following written in it:

Re-tired
(adj.)
I was tired yesterday, and I’m tired again today.

I should have noted that the “well, not busier than Quynh…” was messaged because she has been very inactive in the group lately. 😂

Mum’s 79th birthday was the last day I drank alcohol (one beer). I shall not touch alcohol ever again. Not a grudge against it, I just didn’t like it much to begin with.

After eating too much on mum’s birthday, and not doing any cardio yesterday, and oversleeping today, I felt guilty and went out walking/running. It was not fun, with 30°C temperature. Showered and fresh, I feel great now. Not for long, now Kim wants me on errands. Heeeeelp!

Mum is 79 years old today. Wow! I know it is not a super advanced age, but I wish I could get to her age, with her health.