I have not been looking forward to turning 40, and it certainly wasn't something that made it on to my "Things to do this summer" list when I started my journal in November 2001.

I've never forgotten turning 30, and 20, and on both occasions being overwhelmed by existential dread that a milestone was passing that I could never return to. That a barrier now existed between my youth and myself, and that I was edging only closer to death.

Well in hindsight it turns out both those times I still had youth on my side, and now I have the life experience to know for certain that a barrier between my youth and myself now exists and I am edging only closer to death.

But, other than dying, what can you do to avoid turning 40? Nothing, you just live as best you can, helpless in the epoch, admiring the flowers occasionally and wondering if there are things you should be trying to do before the day arrives. But there's nothing.

And when it finally happens you expect relief because at least now it's over, but it's even worse than you expected.

You wake up and eat cake for breakfast and go for a walk with your dog and wife and you see family and drink coffee and eat more cake and look at the ocean and feel the sunlight and smell the jasmine on the breeze and pat your dog and talk to friends and beat Connections on the toilet and do forty-five minutes of stretching and rehab and some single leg squats.

And that's why I don't want to turn 40. Because I could do this every day forever.

The last six days of my holiday (2.4% of a Jupiter day) have passed by at the normal, inevitable speed of life on planet Earth. Overall, an excellent break, where I accomplished nearly all of my to-do list (leaving enough to feel justified that it was a suitable amount of tasks) as well as relaxing and living in the moment occasionally as well.

Tuesday - a leisurely stroll around Morialta, with a break for breakfast, and then coffee on the way home. Plus more home-made pizza because, why not, it was holidays.

More wattle.

Wednesday - the sun was forecast to be shining, and I'd thought of doing a bike ride in the morning but after putting on my red shorts I decided I'd prefer just to walk around Croydon looking at flowers with Nash and drinking coffee. Here we are both enjoying a sun-patch.

In the evening, caught up with J and then took on the quiz at Big Shed with other members of Pump up the JAMB. Took out second, which I was quite elated about.

Thursday was my Azure Certification study day, noting that a lot of that study was while walking around the neighbourhood, clearing out my closet, walking clothes to the charity shop, cooking dinner, and working out. But mostly it was a lot of Azure study. I did walk Vanessa over to a friend's before dinner, and walked home westward watching the dark-purple sky light up with lightning flashes in the distance. As I wasn't getting rained on, this was pretty epic. I was listening to Azure study material at the time.

Friday was more exam revision (while walking around Croydon) followed by the exam which wrapped up around lunchtime. The rest of the afternoon was a blur of eating, working out, walking in the sunshine (and rain), and then writing up all my feelings about the intense cram session as my brain decompressed.

Saturday was a busy day, starting with a very short, slightly misty walk around North Adelaide with Nash who enjoyed the occasional patch of sun, but wanted no part of the activity once she realised the bakery wasn't our destination.

After that, went to the Central Markets for some produce and a good coffee and a brunch with Vanessa's friends, followed by a workout and then afternoon tea with in-laws. Then, dinner and showdown with Alex.

Sunday, the final day, partly cloudy but no rain, has had the feeling you get when you spend the afternoon in the winter sun and then the night settles in, multiplied by sixteen. That's not to say it hasn't been pleasant or productive. It began with the customary North Adelaide walk to bakery, pide-based pizzas for lunch, and then an afternoon doing some coding for the quiz night.

Before sunset we drove to the beach for a final walk in the sun.

I bought coffee all but two of my days off. The garden is looking fresher, the seedlings are shooting up ready for planting in September. I've seen family, friends, the beach, the hills. I've hiked and walked and been productive around the house. I watched half of a movie, and didn't play any video games. I've exercised nearly every day of the break. I've eaten desserts every day of the break. The flowers in the backyard are just starting to bloom, and there's fresh skin on my fingers after the friction burns of the first Tuesday from using the pruner... Hopefully these are good omens for the next chapter of entries tagged 'Office'. If not, I am not afraid of temporary unemployment once more.

I'm not retired, but for a week I'm technically unemployed, and its been ten days since I last got paid to use the toilet.

To give my memory even more of a break, I'll capture what I've done so far on my holiday.

Saturday - cloudy with some rain. Managed a coffee stroll with Nash and Vanessa to Anchovy Bandit. In the evening, Callum's 40th which featured a thirty minute epic video and way too much food.

Sunday - Bakery stroll. Vanilla slice. More strolls between showers.

Monday - Dad Hike, followed by apple pie.

Tuesday - Finally, bluer skies. Bike ride into town for physio in the morning. Coffee, bike ride back home. Much mulberry tree pruning. Bike ride back to town for dentist, and then home.

Deadpool and Wolverine in the evening. Many laughs, but the tiny seats may have reverted all the work the physio did that morning.

Wednesday - Road trip to Willunga and Encounter Bay. Much sunshine. A lot of coffee. Sea air. Later, a walk to the supermarket.

Thursday - Jasmine coming into bloom.

Banana pancakes and puppy walks to the cafe.

First trip to big box hardware for a few months. Planting seedlings ready for spring.

Friday - foggy morning by the beach, then sunshine.

Drive to Freeling for lunch and family. Watched Boomers vs Serbia basketball - epic game.

Saturday - Sunshine. Morning walk to markets to re-up on fresh food and drink coffee. Aerated the future vegetable patch, added compost and erected the trellis. Stuck one stake in upside down. Then workout, salad in the sunshine, followed by visit to Alex's in the evening to watch two close games of football.

Sunday - More blue skies for the bakery walk.

Beer in the sunshine in the afternoon, followed by homemade pizza and watching USA vs France basketball.

Monday - Ridiculous amount of sunshine. Another walk to Anchovy Bandit, and around Prospect.

Some more gardening, another workout, then a visit to Semaphore with Nash - wearing shorts - for ice-cream and a walk down the jetty.

For those who are new to this website, every Olympics I pretend it's a joke to reflect on my own life since the last one, and not the successes and memes of the actual Olympics.

You would think that having one year less between Olympics would mean one year less of accomplishments and adventures. And you would be right. In that time I've only managed to have four employers and two major injuries. It feels like I've been living in the same house for as long as Patty Mills has been representing the Boomers.

Despite all of this, I still made it to Paris... Last year, on a holiday, where I didn't get any medals but I did get to stare whimsically down the Seine from a spot on the Pont Neuf. And just like that evening, it's now time for me to reflect on the shit that's constantly flowing by every time it rains. (Metaphorically).

Life is not a sprint, it's a marathon, but like the Olympics there's actually both and in the past three years I have not won any sprints but I'm doing okay in the marathon, I think.

My family life is a private paradise. I'm married to my best friend, we communicate well, support each other through everything, have our own independent pastimes but also a shared collection of routines and happies that make life worth living.

I've broadened my technical skills across many disciplines, notably architecture, software development, and understanding generative AI. I've contributed to a lot of projects and organisations, as well as my own side projects.

Despite big and small issues affecting my body, I've recovered from injuries and recovered from setbacks during those recoveries, and fought on a daily basis to keep myself from turning forty without actually dying.

I've managed the finances relatively well, mostly by not buying a new house or a new car or a new computer or a new couch in the past three years, and by cancelling Netflix. I did buy a new camera after 13 years of the Canon 500D and that camera did then motivate me to spend many thousands more on holidays and road trips. I did buy new headphones after 16 years of the HD-515s. I did buy a coffee like five times every week, but I never regretted it once.

Creatively I have done more between Olympics. I wrote 75% of a novel in 2022 and then dropped it. I wrote one short story. I don't really like a lot of my photos. I tried DJing again for a few minutes.

I spent more time on video games this Olympics than I can recall any other. Which is not saying much. I finished three games in three years. That's mostly because my house is super cold in winter and at times my wrist has been too sore to write stories or build side projects.

My goals for the last Olympics were: to be vaccinated, on my way to financial independence, travel overseas, live in a house that isn’t cold in winter, and go camping.

I am vaccinated against Covid, flu, whooping cough and tetanus. Did it stop me from getting Covid? Not every time! But the experience was pretty mild and left me only with a weird metallic taste when I snort my nose in the shower.

Retirement finances seem likely to depend more on interest rates than savvy investments, based on my recent history of unsavvy, yet thankfully small investments.

I did travel overseas, and it was amazing. If I'm creative, I can also claim this as living in a house that wasn't cold during Winter, because that Air BNB I booked in Colmar last June was not chill.

I did not go camping. Well, maybe in Hyrule.

The next Olympics are in the USA and maybe my goal should be to make it back there too. Or at least somewhere cool and not in Australia for a while. I'd also like to configure a private GPT agent to make my life easier. Plus make a DJ Mix to commemorate twenty years - or five Olympics - worth of seasonal mix tapes. And maybe this time I will actually go camping properly, as I bought RDR2 last summer sale. But mainly, my goal is to keep steady on the marathon, with maybe some side-quest sprints for a medal along the way. And no breaking…

I've always disabled the "On This Day" updates on various cloud services. I'm not allergic to nostalgia, but I do have an intolerance...

But one cloud provider has turned it back on recently with the worst timing, and through June I have rewatched with horror the warm, sunny joys of life in June in the northern hemisphere while it is currently 13° at midday in my house in the southern hemisphere.

For example, today's onslaught included:

Mornings in Austrian gardens.

Hiking through North American wilderness.

Riding the tiny train in France.

And what did I take photos of today?

Frosty family walks for coffee.

Evenings with friends and dogs by a fire.

It could be worse.

They say that strength training is 70% diet, and having eaten the following over three days of a crossfit competition that I watched, I can only hope they are right.

Pide and mixed skewers
A whole tub of high protein Greek yogurt, half a kilogram of berries, and two cups of oats.
Multiple apples.
Protein bars and mixed nuts.
Aloo Ghobi, lamb saag, chicken tikka, roti, lamb.
Four jumbo rolls.
Four 185g tins of tuna.
A small tomato
Not enough mayonnaise
Loaded fries with beef brisket
Most of a litre of salted caramel connoisseur ice cream
Satay Chicken and slaw on rice (was supposed to be on fries)
A whole thing of fries to make up for no fries under the chicken
Mixed nuts
Many, many coffees
A whole plate of beef shawarma, with a side of mixed grill.
Half a punnet of raspberries.

I have to leave Brisbane around lunchtime tomorrow so I only have enough time for three or four more meals...

Excess Morning (with excess rainbow)

Excess Steps

Excess oats and golden syrup.

Excess Love

It's always jarring when you realise how much you can enjoy life over a four day weekend, and contrast that with all the five day work weeks you live through in your life. Always better to have loved and lost, though. So here's some memories in photo form that my brain will confuse for actual memories a few years from now.

Good Friday began with a sunrise walk around West Lakes and several fish impressions from Nash. And breakfast.

Cowan with his haul, despite wearing an inappropriate shirt for the occasion.

Later on, it was the 18th annual Easter Beer Hunt. I continue my decline and again finished last in terms of found beers. But I still have love for the game.

On Saturday we enriched our usual morning stroll to the Central Markets with some home-made dark chocolate and apricot eggs, to go with excellent coffee and then a spree of cheap fruit and vegetables.

On Saturday evening we had dinner at Mum's where among other things I enjoyed these over the top table decorations.

On Sunday morning the usual bakery was closed, but Nash was kind enough to tolerate a full size sausage roll from one that was open.

In the afternoon, to mark our anniversary, Vanessa and I went to Mount Lofty Botanic Gardens for a walk and a few rounds of Articulate.

There weren't a lot of autumn colours yet, but it was still sunny and pretty.

After a lot of walking in the sun, we chilled in the beer garden at the Crafers pub and I drank this triple choc easter stout which was very chocolately, and delicious. Actually contained more chocolate in a cup than the table at Mum's.

After beer it was pizza for dinner with my beautiful wife. I also ate some of that pizza on Monday and Tuesday, to keep the anniversary going.

Monday was a more chill day, but I did have time to make a batch of hot cross buns that I also ate some of today to keep the easter holiday going. I also did some work on a professional blog site, which is not pictured here.

I did not got to any big box hardware, which I am very happy about.