maupuia calling

So I’m 45 today. Almost assuredly half my life has gone. It seems only the blink of any eye ago that I was 25, living in London, having just met Debbie.

The blink of any eye. I can conjure up vivid memories of those days, so young. A whole life waiting, spread out before me.

And now I sit. 20 years later. The blink of an eye. Half a life trailing behind me. A life that still seems to have been spent waiting for something.

And in those 20 years? I’m studied, married, mortgaged and parented.

I was somewhere and they asked what’s something you’d bring back from the future to now. I said my great-grandchildren. I’ll never see them. I knew 2 of my great-grandparents. A chain stretching through time, through me, from my past to the future I had a hand in creating.

The blink of any eye.

Perhaps your children are the enduring legacy you leave to the world. Tomorrow my Dad is 70. It seems only the blink of an eye ago I was sitting on his knee listening to stories.

It’s all 37 Signals fault. They wrote a post about flow. I’m interested in this as flow is an elusive state for me. Especially at work. So I read the post, and in particular this link from it about getting into flow.

This second post was like a revelation for me. Finally I knew what I needed to get into flow.

A pair of noise-cancelling headphones.

Nothing else would work quite so well as noise-cancelling headphones. I knew this in my very bones. Noise-cancelling headphone would enable me to get into flow, would enable me to be more productive, would increase the pleasure I get from a job well done.

Noise-cancelling headphones. Just the saying that made me feel better.

Google is my friend and showed me this blog entry. Comments 2 and 4 lead me to the wonder of Etymotic headphones. I did some further research on other headphones - active noise cancelling vs the passive cancelling of Etymotic - but my heart wasn’t in it. I knew the 6i Isolator Earphones were what I needed.

So, a few hours and a trip to ebay (where I didn’t even bid, just hit that “buy now” button) and I’m (nearly) the proud owner of a pair of noise-cancelling headphones. I just need to finalise shipping details.

I also feel good that during the whole scenario I was putting “The paradox of choice” into practice. I satisficed my ass off and it felt good.

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This afternoon I was feeling bloated, lazy and tired. So I took myself and my Ipod off for what turned into a 90 min walk. (Note to those following at home: apparently one should not use noise-cancelling headphone while walking because a) you don’t hear any outside sounds so cars could easily run you down, b) you *do* hear sounds like your hearts beating and the cord rubbing across your chest and this is just plain annoying. I shall let you know in due course).

It was wonderful. I found this old disused road road leading down from the top of Mt Crawford. It wound down the hill, through trees and fields to the William Massey Memorial. There were no cars, no people, just me walking, listening to Neil Young. (”On the beach” which is stunningly wonderful. The second side, in particular, is as good as anything, anyone, ever, has done. So there!).

We’ve lived at our house for over 10 years now, and although I’ve suspected that this road lead where it did, I’d never gone to find out. Now I have, I think it’ll be a wonderful place to go with the kids and Debbie.

I walked back along the waterfront and home via the Maupuia walkway. 90 mins after starting out I was home. I’d lost track of home. I’d been in the flow.

And in continuing evidence that we at maupuia calling are right there at the leading edge of the zeitgeist, this just in from the International Herald Tribune - “Quirky serifs aside, Georgia fonts win on Web“.

I’ve always liked Georgia, but have nearly always used Verdana. But I’m a tad bored with Verdana. And I’ve found I LOVE Georgia at larger fonts sizes. It would be rather nice to use it in a client’s website. One day!

It’s 8pm on a Saturday night. The kids are watching television. Michael is down in his office, and I’m in my little office space in the house. Separated, but… we’re chatting online together!

Welcome to the new generation of marriage… communication conducted at the end of a wireless connection. (more…)