VIII II MMXXVI
Had another Super Sunday.
After the devotional, breakfast, dish washing, and reading routine, I tackled cleaning the kitchen shelves, which I try to do every six weeks, to wipe all the dust and ants off them. We used to have an infestation in this house. We don’t anymore, but it required a veritable ant genocide. We demolished dozens of colonies in our shelves before the six-footed armies finally retreated elsewhere into the building. We’ll see one or two lost scouts here and there, but that’s it. Regardless, I cannot ever let my guard down with them. They’re relentless little soldiers.
I also did the first load of laundry and hung it up while that was going on. At the end of all the cleaning and washing, it was time to prepare lunch. My wife woke up full of culinary zeal today, so after I was done in the kitchen, she took over and basically didn’t leave until 4 PM or so. She made a miso soup, some harusame (which I’d like to try out again myself), and some cabbage patties that are supposed to be fried. She tried to bake them in the oven but, predictably, they flopped. Everything else was great though, so she was happy.
Why am I telling you about my wife’s field trip to the kitchen? lol It’s because after I finished eating lunch and went out to buy the groceries, I came back to the fallout of her edible expedition (and we still prepared her sandwiches for tomorrow, which we do every fortnight). She wanted to wash the dishes, but I’m very territorial with my duties as a stay-at-home-husband, so I cleaned the kitchen myself, and got delayed. While I was busy with plates, bowls, forks, and knives, she sneakily stole my second batch of laundry and hung it up! Sacrilege!
Hence, it was already 6 PM when it was time for me to do my daily exercise routine, which I start at 4 PM usually and take about two hours to complete. I skipped the mobility and strength training part. I did the cardio on the indoor bike because that also combines my second reading period of the day, and that’s important for me.
Speaking of reading, I’m almost done with Atomic Habits. I might finish it in two or three days. I do want to put together a wish list of books to read next, particularly in the field of relationships, dating, and marriage, which I want to become an expert on, but there are two books that I have always wanted to read, but have been delaying, and I know that I’ll continue avoiding them if I don’t read them now. They’re Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning and Bronnie Ware’s The Top Five Regrets of the Dying. Not as peppy as James Clear’s book, but I think that I’ll get a lot out of them nonetheless.
Likewise, today I finished Sprīdītis by Anna Brigadere. I think I understood quite a bit of this colorful and popular Latvian fable. I already got my copy of Stāsti by Rūdolfs Blaumanis, but I recently found something amazing: mybook.lv, basically Latvia’s largest second-hand book marketplace where every Latvian sells and trades. I found a copy of Triloģija there, which is a 1973 compilation of Anna Brigadere’s three autobiographical works Dievs. Daba. Darbs (1926), Skarbos vējos (1930), and Akmens sprostā (1933). They’re considered some of her best works and are also her last. There is one more famous fable that she wrote, Maija un Paija, published in 1921, that I also want to read. I think I’ll have a good grasp on Anna Brigadere’s work with these.
Ah! I forgot to mention that while my lunch was cooking, I quickly answered to a reply to one of my posts that I got via e-mail. I also added the first message to the guestbook!
oof A full day’s work. I’m spent, but I’m satisfied.