16th century german Caspar Huberinus, not Ovid, as it’s frequently attributed to, but I do believe that it fits Ovid’s themes.

From Fasti, VI, lines 771-772:

Tempora labuntur, tacitisque senescimus annis,

et fugiunt freno non remorante dies.

More colloquially:

The times slip away, and we grow old with the silent years,

and the days flee unchecked by a rein.

Hubernius rendered it as:

Tempora labuntur, tacitisque senescimus annis;

I’m turning 46 this year.

No, I have turned 46 this year.

I don’t really know how I feel about that. Well, other than maybe giving in to a little midlife crisis.

So, in the great tradition of middle-aged men who do somewhat crazy things to remind themselves of their youth and virility, I am giving myself two birthday presents this year:

• I’m going back to school (“Uni”, for my European friends)
• I’m applying for U.S. Citizenship

“So long and thanks for all the fish.” –Douglas Addams

With all of the changes at Twitter recently, I’ve been less and less enthused at the platform.

With a lot of the folks I followed on Twitter leaving, I have less and less reason to even use the platform.

With the elimination of 3rd party Twitter clients, is it even a platform any more, or is it just some rich guy’s*¹ web app?

The phrase, “patience is a virtue” always struck me as a little wrong. while patience certainly can be a good thing at times, I prefer to believe that patience serves a use, but is no more valuable than anything else.

After all, patience is certainly of very little use if someone is about to eat something that they are allergic to, or is having a heart attack.

But that’s not really what I’m thinking about.

2020 already.

How the last year has flown.

A lot of changes.

Some players left the stage.

Some new players enter.

What will the future bring?

But, definitely for a good long time.

So, why mention it? My doctor mentioned that in my last two blood tests, my glucose was elevated. Elevated enough to classify as pre-diabetic.

So, either I make changes, eat better, exercise more… or I’m looking at eventually full blown type-2 diabetes.

And that would be bad.

So, really, it’s not an “either” case. It’s an “I have to make changes” case.

Like the song said, “Don’t worry, be happy”.

Please?

You know that Bangles song, “[Manic Monday][1]”? It really feels like that today.

‘Anxiously’, although that sounds almost too strong, awaiting news. Although, perhaps “excitedly”, or “eagerly” might be better.

But, let’s be honest. I am both eager and excited. I am anxious.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been this eager. But, I can’t do anything to move things along faster. Things will either work out, or not work out. I can only sit and wait for now.

2017 is over.

finally

Long-live 2018.

Curves on the road can be dangerous, even when you know that they’re there. All that it takes is one patch of unseen ice, and before you know it, you’re sliding and spinning, trying to course-correct before you end up in a ditch…or worse, before you end up in on-coming traffic.

It never fails, that with the first real snowfall of the season, so many drivers seem to forget that they need to slow down, don’t slam on their brakes, and remember how to recover from a slide.

“Any road followed precisely to its end leads precisely nowhere. Climb the mountain just a little bit to test that it’s a mountain. From the top of the mountain, you cannot see the mountain. – Frank Herbert, DUNE”

Yes, I start with a quote from DUNE. It’s my favorite book, and counting just the books written by Frank Herbert, my favorite series. I probably can’t explain why. I don’t even know if I can say which one I experienced first – the original novel, or the film directed by David Lynch.