Much like exercise, I’m beginning to get to that point where if I don’t write every day I start to feel like something is missing.  Even a simple little blog post can scratch that itch.

So – what’s up in Anthony-land?  Anthonyville?  Anthonytropolis?  Not much, and yet everything.  I had a birthday yesterday – if you haven’t yet sent in your present, SHAME ON YOU , and it was very nice.  Parts of the day were extra special, and – I’ll leave it at that.  I also got 10 hours of sleep last night, which helped make the day nice on a couple different levels.  Oh my god, here I go again with the cryptic narrative.  I just can’t spill my guts out all over the page EVERY DAY or pretty soon you’d go back to reading Scoble or Pavlina or god knows who else, out of sheer disgust.

I had a good day.  I’ll stop there.  But let me repeat: it was good.  That’s unusual, and welcome.  I want to bottle it and apply it in short bursts throughout the week.

I’ve been working yesterday afternoon and this morning on a side project that involves digging through level after level of superfluous complexity that puts everything else I’ve ever seen to shame.  I saw a Coen Brothers film recently, a bad one, called “A Serious Man”, and one of the characters is developing a mathematical probability theory in a book he calls The Mentaculus.  The book is really just page after page of scribbled numbers in various patterns – lists, columns, whirls, vortices, spirals.  To look at it is to immediately wish one were taking hallucinogenic drugs, in hopes of discovering The Secret To The Universe.  Anyway, this code I’m looking at reminds me of The Mentaculus.  I’m imagining the guy who wrote it wears an Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and wears two pairs of glasses at a time, just in case. I only have the benefit of two dry cappuccinos to help me navigate the waters.  I’m slowly going insane.

I’m looking forward to working more tonight and this weekend.  Now that I’ve half-cracked the code, I can start to feel productive and hopefully get in that flow state.  I may take some time Saturday morning to go on a long bike ride, if it’s not too rainy.  I have a couple destinations in mind, and will have to make some plans before I go to bed on Friday.  Can I do 50 miles this weekend?  Why not?  I can do anything.

Everything else?  What’s the French word for shit?  Merde?  Yeah, that.  So I’m focusing on what’s good, what I can control, and what I can revel in, take delight in, and what I can do for others.  The secret to  happiness is not absence of merde; it’s accepting the notion that despite the merde, there are still areas of your life that are good; friendships that make you happy; circumstances that one can appreciate; needs of others that you can fill.

So I’m working on it.  Wish me luck.   Hope you’re having a great day!