Seasons of Your Life

This is a rationalisation about people and their personalities. It is about how their personalities are tied to seasons of their lives. First, an explanation of Seasons as it relates to a person.

When a person is born they are in the Spring of their lives. They have youthful energy. Everything that surrounds them is burns brightly. They have an explosive energy that is infectious. They grow quickly and without much care of consequences.

As they enter the Summer of their lives they have grown to full bloom. They will never be as strong physically. They are at their peak beauty.

As they enter into the Autumn of their lives there is a clear understanding of who they are as a person. While they still have energy, it is not the same vibrant energy that they had perviously. Typically there is a bright and sadly final flash of energy demonstrating everything that they can be .

Finally when they enter the Winter of their lives, things begin to slow down. The world and their horizon become infinitely shorter. They must make way for the next generation after them.

Oftentimes however, more often than you think, people tend to skip or stay in one of their seasons indefinitely. This tends to explain why some people are forever youthful even in their old age and why some kids might seem to be wiser beyond their years.

The Unlikely Way. Absolutely love this ad. Love it so much. It’s got that same quirky energy of a 90s Levis add that we would honestly wait to watch again and again.

🍳 Made some chicken souvlakis - Ryan’s absolute favourite. Yasmine was on oven fries duty. Quick marinade although I think this thing would have been next level if it had been marinated overnight. Next time.

Finally got around to watching Superman with the family. Great 70s vibe to it. Great portrait of Israel as the evil government (along with IDF style troopers). Krypto was amazing. Jimmy Olsen was a standout character.

I haven’t taken a tumble in a really long time. Decades. But tripped while rushing to get the kids back to school today over some pavement works, scraped myself in four different locations. I’m getting too old for this shit.

I don’t tend to link back to my own stuff, but this post from 20 years ago made a real impression. I don’t know who Housy is. I don’t have any recollection of this trip in any way whatsoever.

The magic of having your own site which all your thoughts across a lifetime is unearthing gems like this. Best thing I’ve read today.

Big cooking morning! Bolognaise. Pizza dough. Coconut chickpea curry. And made a quick salad for myself for lunch. Family meals done for 6 days in one morning. I want to make it into a habit to cook for the week on a Sunday and get it all ready to go whenever.

Damn, you loose it so quickly. 1 month of doing my 5 Tibetans every day allowed me to get to 21 reps easy. 10 days on holiday and I’m struggling to get to 17 reps.

🍳 Greek Lamb Shanks. Auto pilot. Great meal to come back home to after a second from final trip to the pool.

Last day of August. Just getting the house in order before the start of the new school year for the kids. Bit nervous for them as it’s a new school. Hopefully it will be a good one for them.

🐝 Yellowjacket season in Ontario is soo annoying. These things are out in force and really aggressive. Sitting outside is a roulette for getting stung

⚽️ Ok I take it back. They actually scored a goal from open play.

⚽️ No you a$$hats! I mean honestly, can’t score but get equalised! Just annoying 10min into the second half.

Spent the last few days unsubscribing from a million newsletters (mostly from companies I bought something of once). Now my inbox is much quieter.

While I do lament the end of summer, we’re coming up to my absolute favourite month of the year, September. Where it’s not too hot and not too cold, it’s the goldilocks of weather and the start of a ‘new school year’ brings opportunity in a way the fabricated New Year’s eve does not.

Just got my first Starbucks in Canada (ran out of coffee beans). Totally not worth $8 for a cappuccino. I won’t be partaking ever again

Trying something a little different.

My main site is all about my life and what I am up to. A cross between a journal and a record.

I do like the act of posting about cool stuff and my general interests in the world. A distillation I guess of my tastes in website form.

Enter Collections (working title for now). Plan is simple. A sentence (or two), a link and an image. Will be messing around with the design at some point (if it sticks).

⚽️ This team is just beyond words. What the hell is going on??? What is a Grimsby even!?

⚽️ For the first time, I can’t watch this shit anymore. Just puts me in a bad mood.

Summer KAA Site

This year, it’s all been about the yellow. Started off with my Kobo cover, but extended to my iPhone cover and the site.

Last real sunny day of our holiday. It’s been a little hit and miss these last 10 days which has been pretty annoying. When it’s been sunny it’s been amazing. Tomorrow bring another rainy day and then annoyingly 1 week of bright sunshine, after we’ve bloody left. I guess you can’t control the weather (ever). If we come back here it will be earlier in the season.

📚 Finished reading: Catwoman: Lonely City by Cliff Chiang. This was excellent. Can’t remember when I last read a Catwoman story but it was decades ago. Cliff Chiang isn’t a creator I’ve spent much time with but I’ve always heard great things about. It’s like a Dark Knights Returns but for Catwoman. The art and character designs are a real treat.

📚 Finished reading: Odessa by Jonathan Hill. I loved the two tone art (going to be leaning into this more). Story was very engaging and fun read for the summer.

In line for at least one hour to get some Shake Shack. It’s been 7 years since I’ve had one which is the only reason I’m doing this to myself - and because Ryan is super excited as well.

⚽️ Bruno never misses a penalty. Of course he would miss one today.

⚽️ He went for pretty much the exact same lineup. Bayindir in goal. Mount. I think he only changed Amad instead of Dalot. No Sesko starting yet.

My State

Summer has become my opportunity to reflect on the year that passed and where I am in life in general. Looking back, 2024 was a tough year on many different levels. This continued into early 2025 and I’m only recently coming out of this fog and am in a better place in many different areas which is encouraging.

1. Health

This is one of those areas that is incredibly significant for my overall wellbeing and life in general. 1 month ago, a switch turned off in my head. It wasn’t subtle it was instant and my hope is that I will be able to maintain it indefinitely.

Since then I have taken control of what I consume and when. In this limited time period I have been able to loose 5kg, which is the easy ones I feel. Having said that I am not in a rush. My body has been dealing with having an overabundance of calories for seemingly at least a couple of decades.

Truth is I have never had the body that I always wished for. I am essentially looking for healthy insides and outsides to make doing things with my family a pleasant affair, both now and into the future.

I have been doing my Five Tibetans and have enjoyed the process immensely. It’s a small lift and honestly I can tell that it is better than not doing anything.

I read my post from 5 years ago and it’s a little disheartening because I know what happened next after I had then lost 10kg. I completely fell off my No-S diet because of work stress and never came back until 1 month ago.

2. Finances

Last year I took complete control of 90% of my finances. It was one of the most liberating actions I’ve taken. My only regret is not acting earlier and it’s something I certainly had some control over, but I decided to outsource. A lesson for sure, and one I can certainly pass over to my kids. Read A Simple Guide to Wealth and don’t rely on a financial advisor from Dubai.

I can take control of a further 5% (the rest is in pension schemes I have no real control over), which I absolutely plan on doing even though I am going to be loosing some further money.

3. Creativity

This took a beating. Apart from writing to my website and the occasional small piece of art, this year was one of my lowest creative output years in over a decade. I fell off the wagon and it took me reading We Need Your Creativity (at least the start) to kick start this again.

I’m in a good place on all thing Stet. I’m 6 posts into the new season which I hope I will start publishing at the start of 2026. More importantly however I have the right setup that I can see myself continuing through this process as long as it remains fun for me.

4. Drawing

One area that I do want to add to my general activities is drawing. I have the projects, the art tutors (aka books) that can make me a better artist. I have all the gear. I just need to dedicate 10-15min a day to build that muscle.

5. Work

This has gotten much better. More satisfying as I have learnt to let go of certain things and embrace others. I feel like I have a lot more to give but the environment around me is one that allows me to give more.

One area that has not been in a good place has been my emails, notes and timeblock planning. They have been in complete chaos this last year and I want to get back to a place where I control these again.

6. Family & Friendships

This dial has been on life support for the last few years. It has slowly increased a little bit in the last year but I can certainly do more in this area. Hopefully seeing my family this December.

7. Hobbies

My hobbies can be listed as follows:

  1. Coffee
  2. Beer
  3. Stationary
  4. Technology
  5. Watches
  6. Reading
  7. Journalling
  8. Walking

These are all being fed a different times and in different capacities. I’m happy with how these are generally going and I look to add a couple of experiences or pieces to my collection.

🏖️ Tomorrow marks the last dog day of summer. Love the term but never realised which days it signified.

We had a visitor this evening on our patch of grass.

It’s becoming a family tradition. Have a meal at the Beach Club.

Seeing CDs being sold just takes me back to when music was a physical object that somehow enhanced the listening experience.

I’ve been on a little upgrade kick these last few months. Back in Dubai I bought this tiny Mi speaker that was better than it had any right to be for the price. It last a decent amount of time (and still works). Upgraded to a Roam 2 speaker and this thing honestly is tiny but fills the room with crisp tunes.

The last embers of summer. In Southern Ontario the seasons are totally distinct. The summer will be winding down next week where it is no longer this blistering heat. Still outside weather for sure but the heat and bite is gone by Sunday.

I don’t usually complain about the weather but I felt it was much shorter this year than I would have wanted in general.

The kids finally saw a real live Capybara. They’ve been talking about these things all winter (and singing about them).

Sadly we had to take Cookie back. Our eldest developed an allergy to her (puffy eyes, sneezing and a cough). As much as it broke our hearts giving her back it was the only call. Great dog, with an awesome temperament and just pleasant to be around.

⚽️ While I certainly don’t enjoy loosing, if you’re going to loose a match loose it with your head held up high. There were a number of opportunities that had the wind been blowing slightly differently on the day would have gone in. Encouraging signs for the rest of the season, if the result was shite.

⚽️ United actually playing well at the moment. Just super tight and some nice play.

⚽️ C’mon United! No Rasmus. No Obama - even on the bench! Love a new season, of anything really.

📚 Finished reading: Now Let Me Fly by Ronald Wimberly. I’d never read or heard of Ron Wimberly. Not a prolific writer/artist but this is his most comprehensive works and I absolutely loved it.

I really enjoy what I do, but there can be too much of a good thing. Summer holiday begins today. Just turn off and recharge.

Important day for our family. We got the latest member, a three month old Havanese doggy. She’s an incredibly chill dog. Incredibly well natured. Expect a ton of photos.

⚽️ Have the game on in the background. Good game so far. 2 goals in 17 min.

I couldn’t bring myself to read Tigana in printed form. It’s set in Times New Roman, and the ink was bleeding into the page just annoyed me. So instead got myself a Kindle version. Quick search and I found that it was also available on the Kobo (for the same reduced price). Might look into getting a bigger Kobo because you can tell the difference between two.

Notebook Review

Time to reconsider my notebook situation.

A general Lifebook is essential in my life. What I am now considering is actually combining my Lifebook and projects related book into one. They don’t necessarily need to be separate. I have a few more pages left in one of the notebooks will finish that off and then consolidate into one.

No idea why I haven’t done this which is to have a single sketchbook notebook. Fill it up with everything. I did this a few years ago and loved the output but somehow decided (foolishly) to create a Moon Racket! only sketchbook. That’s going to change. Back to paints and inks and all sorts of randomness in there for the sake of just letting my mind go a little.

Finally, moving away from my B6 slim journal into the Hobonichi 5 years is going to be interesting as it’s a few lines a day. If I feel the need to write more (which is not very regularly), there is a free page for that.

At work this has honestly gone to shit. Total and utter shit. I continue to jot things down in my A5 notebook, except I do it poorly and without a view to extract information at a later date. I need to be more purposeful in how I use this notebook.

Part of an early birthday present to myself, finally got another Hobonichi product, this time one that will hopefully last me 5 years and be a place to pile in my short missives.

Honestly someone explain to me what that trophy crap that Tim Cook/Apple handed to the 🍊 is all about? Low Tim Apple, very low.

⚽ This has been a proper transfer window for Manchester United. The attack has gone from toothless to one with fangs.

📚 Finished reading: Utown by CAB. This was excellent. I picked this up completely randomly and it was such a fun and perfect Oni Press book. Loved the characters and how they evolved throughout the nine chapters. You can read it all online, but I recommend the book.

🍳 Burgers & Fries.
Recently I found out what I was doing wrong with the burgers all this time - meat grind was non-existent. Did double patties for the first time ever. Was epic.

What a solid couple of weeks for creating new habits that are sticking. I usually don’t like to add to much new stuff because it inevitably means that something will fall off. This last couple of weeks I’ve added the following:

  1. Do my five Tibetans while waiting for the water of my morning coffee to boil.
  2. Armed with my coffee I write for 30mins every day.

I can’t fully see the results of my exercise (as little as it is), but the writing has gone to essentially writing one 500ish chapter/article per week. This subtle progress allows me to extrapolate both new habits together. I’m excited to see the results in 3-4 months.

We got rid of Nazism.
We got rid of South African Apartheid.
It’s time we get rid of Zionism.

Zionism has become the successor to these abhorrent, nasty and inhuman ideologies.

And none of them have a place in the civilised world.

At the rate that I’m going, I hope to be around my target weight and body shape by March 2026. That’s 8 months from now. My brain is there already, it’s just going to take my body a little while to catch up.

🍳 Coconut and Chickpea Curry.
Love the ingredients on this. Simple vegetarian dish that hits all the right notes. Used green beens rather than spinach this time but worked just as well.

It’s been a little over one week with my new relationship with food and exercise.

I don’t want to call it diet, because that implies that I will revert to form after I’ve maybe reached my ‘target’.

I can absolutely feel the difference and the scales are certainly confirming the difference - while modest overall, is a major shift for me as I have genuinely struggled to reach just this point for seemingly years. I am genuinely excited to track the changes week on week.

Have I missed anything during this time? Not a thing. I’ve enjoyed every main meal that I have had. Breakfast feels light and lunch doesn’t have the same ‘heaviness’ ever again. Cutting out bread from every meal really wasn’t that hard - I now have it as part of a special meal on weekends.

I thought my five Tibetan exercises would be more difficult, but again, using the water boiling for my coffee means I get an awesome gift of coffee after I’ve completed the exercises. I do lunges when I make afternoon coffee.

It’s taken me a while, but I finally ‘get’ how to use ChatGPT for myself, beyond just a curiosity. As expected these LLMs are getting better. The best way to think of them is actually that they are an assistant at the moment. They’re not brilliant, but they do a serviceable job. Over time, they might take over complete tasks (which is scary but also kinda exhilarating).

🍳 Butter Chicken.
Honestly what was missing was some fresh naan, but ran out of time today. Also fresh cream in the sauce would have been amazing but I went extra with the butter. Aromatic rice. Guelph Wellington IPA pairing. Listening to an amazing 90s set list. Classic Friday night with the family.

I just finished writing the first chapter of my new book, A Simple Guide to the Construction Industry. This is the new chapter of Stet.

I took a good while off to regroup my thoughts and efforts and reassess what I want to do with the project. It’s one of my favourite things that I have created and want to continue creating for it, just not in the way that I had started.

I’m probably 6 months away from starting to share anything, but as long as I can continue at this steady pace I think I will have something to share.

Also I really missed working in iA Writer, but my new favourite feature is the proofreading option on MacOS, which is part of Apple Intelligence.

The Hopeful Romantics. That’s two from two from Howey. He very well may have helped change my life - I will certainly be writing more about this in the coming months is true. But with this post he’s definitely helped me deal with the misery in Palestine. Incremental things. Do as much as I can.

It’s nearly been one week since I started my new ‘life’ as someone healthy. Howey is completely correct, it is 50% a mental game. Something in your brain has to switch for you to find a gear in anything that you do. Even something as difficult as changing your body. I’m shocked at how easy it’s been to remove carbs for 70% of my meals. I’m also shocked that I no longer crave any snacks, whether throughout the day or in the evening. For years this has been my achilles heel but once I worked through the mental game, poof, it’s gone.

It’s still very early days and so the impacts of all the little cuts and additions to my routines have yet to yield any visible output (I never expected them to), but I’m invigorated by what the future holds. 1 month from now. 2 months from now. 6 months from now.

🏊‍♂️ Parenting point unlocked today. Ryan finally was swimming in the pool without any assist. Didn’t think it would be so quick but the boy only took 3 weeks of regular swimming and he’s now swimming from one end of the pool to the other. Proud moment and totally worth the effort to get him here.

I’ve heard of this state. A switch flips in your head and it becomes your way of life. This happened to me 3 days ago. I do know what instigated it and what finished it off. The brain is the ultimate tool. Given the right types of prompts it will allow you to do things. Given the wrong prompts (or no prompts at all) and it will continue to meander. I’m not even concerned about falling back into bad habits, because my brain has been rewired. Willpower is not actually what is keeping this together. It’s my new way of life.

How To Make Better Burgers. I have generally honed my burger making to a level I am happy with, except as it relates to the patty itself and bloody shrinkage. This video explains why my burgers have always sucked and it’s all down to the burger and the grind. Guess I’m getting a KitchenAid meat grinder attachment.

🇨🇦 I fucking love Toronto in the summer. It’s got the right balance of hot and cool going. It’s a time to make the absolute most out of the incredible Toronto Public Library system. Pools/beaches are open across the city. Good vibes all around.

Diet is a mental state

For years I have know that the secret to getting trim, fitting into your favourite clothes and general long term health is down to the food you eat. Not sure where my brother heard this but I got it off him:

Diet begins in the kitchen.

I honestly thought that the No-S Diet was the thing for me, but turns out it was only the start of the journey (or at least that is where I am right now). One of the biggest concepts that the No-S diet gave me was the no sugar and no snacking. Even though it did talk about being in the right mental state for things I lost my way.

A switch has been flipped in my brain this week. It wasn’t revolutionary but clearly I am someone who likes things framed in a certain way so that I can get onboard. The feel of hunger is ok. There is an abundance of calories waiting for me to consume just a few meters away from me. Clearly for much of my life to my detriment.

Diet is fundamentally a mental state.

Taking control of my food in my mid 40s is a little late but I can see how this might define the quality of my life in later years. I’m in the worst shape of my adult life at the moment (in my teens I had an obese phase), but the truth is the barrier to fix that is actually relatively low, I’ve just never been able to course correct since I got married — not blaming Yasmine, but it’s only natural that mealtimes and meals become more important when you become a couple.

So what’s the plan Batman?

Simples:

  • Generally limit my carb intake. Maybe once a day at dinner.
  • Breakfast is yogurt with different toppings (fruit, nuts, granola), to offer some variation).
  • Lunch will be a pre-prepped salad (I have the containers so am ready to rock and roll on this).
  • Dinner is whatever I want. No seconds.
  • I don’t tend to drink sugary drinks, but orange juice and lemonade will be limited to a glass maybe on the weekends.
  • Water and a slice of lemon is my new favourite thing.
  • Beer consumption will also be limited (I do like a beer on a weekend though, so not going to stop myself from everything).
  • Chocolate intake was also limited, but now that’s off the table, except on special occasions.
  • The hardest one for me is salty snacks in the evening. This one is a conversation with the family to not bring this stuff into the house until I can break these cravings. Hopefully a month or so should do it. Maybe I get ahead of this and prep some carrots I can nibble on as a substitute.
  • Also, do the Five Tibetans every day and lunges. In time I might supplement this with some weight training as well for chest and legs.

The Five Tibetans . So I read Hugh Howey’s article about health and fitness, which lead me to his short, which lead me to the above video about the daily exercises to carry out and I think this whole journey will help me better understand my own body and how I can get healthier.

📚 Finished reading: Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara.

Easily my favourite book of the year so far. Great book. Very well written. Flowed incredibly well and ultimately told a fantastic story weaving how to manage people, life lessons from a father that wasn’t my own. Even though the fine dining scene is most certainly not my own, it was like reading the book the show The Bear was based on. Highest possible recommendation.

I’m so thankful for Mehdi Hassan, taking no fucks from absolute scum like Dershowitz. Anyone defending the Israeli psychopaths (and those funding/supporting) need to be called out daily. I couldn’t do it, but I’m glad Mehdi has the presence of mind to tackle these assholes constantly and regularly.

⚽️ Chelsea bullying PSG. I mean 3-0 at half time is some statement.

⚽️ Chelsea have come out strong out the gates. The PSG guys look a little in shock.

⚽️ Looking forward to the Club World Cup final. Something about this PSG team is just epic to watch.

🍳 Fish and Chips.
This one was by special request from Ryan. Both the fish and the fries turned out great - fries and fish we crunchy. Tartar sauce was too loose. I ended up adding a full red onion. Should have gone for half and maybe squeezed out the juice. Also too much lemon juice.

🍳 Granola.
Honestly it’s been so long since I had granola. Inspired by Unreasonable Hospitality.

In restaurants — and in all customer-service professions — the goal is to connect with people.
— Will Guidara

It’s a muggy summers day today in Toronto. I like feeling this way in contrast to what winter brings.

Gawd the neighbours are annoying. Their ill placed external unit which first turned on at the start of May. Their yappy little dog. They’re annoying conversations that I can’t hide from because they’re too loud. It’s all unwanted noise pollution.

Honestly, I am soo bored and exhausted of the 🍊 and the bullshit that comes along with him. Tariffs on. Tariffs off. Epstein list on. List off. Atrocious foreign policies. Ineffectual diplomacy. What you get when you put someone fundamentally ill suited for a role. Thanks ‘Merica!