From78

It is the morning of the fourth of February. I woke up early today and made my kids waffles for breakfast, which is something I would not normally have the time to do. I sat with them and drank coffee from a white mug with the words “You’re doing great, Jeevan” printed on it.

This is a reference to a scene from the HBO adaptation of the Novel Station 11, by Emily St. John Mandel.

In the scene, the male character Jeevan is trying to help a woman who is actively in labor, trying to deliver a baby. As Jeevan trying to talk to women through what’s happening, he gets freaked out and the woman who is struggling to give birth says to him, “You’re doing great Jeevan.”

When I watch this with my wife, we thought it was hysterical. Then we started saying it to each other moments. Loke when I was trying to run on a tree mill and my wife would ask if I was going to the store later, I’d say, “You’re doing great Jeevan.”

I don’t know if the humor of this will make sense to anybody reading this… but we thought it was funny.

I actually got the mug made as a gift for my wife.

My oldest son read the words on the mug and asked me what they meant. I tried to explain it, but I don’t think I was able to explain it in a way that his seven-year-old mind really understood.

Hello Daystar,

I’ve been thinking about how I’d like to use the From78 site/blog. One possibility is to use it as a space to record different thoughts, feelings, moods, associations, vibes, hunches, and all the other stuff that makes up my headnoise at the start of a day.

Here are some loose suggestions (to myself) for how to make it happen.

• Don’t overthink it
• Keep it short
• Aim to do it daily, but if I miss a day, don’t worry about it

Today: It is the first day in more than a week that I have not woken up feeling sick. It is marvelous. Be that as it may, I don’t feel like I’ve returned to what I’d call “baseline.” While I don’t feel sick, I feel like I’ve been sick and am still recovering from having been sick.

I wanted to exercise, but I decided to hold off because I’m worried I’ll overdo it. What I want is to return to baseline, so I can start training and get more benefit from it than I will if I start before I’m ready… which would actually set me back.

I’m also looking at how many podcasts, RSS feeds, and newsletters I subscribe to, and honestly asking myself how many of them I actually read, rather than skim. Some things need to be cut.

Today is set up in a way I like.

• Family: Morning involved getting my kids ready and to school
• Health: Followed up with cardio exercise today
• Me: Interlude where I was able to do some rolling/stretching and cleaned myself up
• Work: 5 hours working with patients

A good balance.