Eid al-Adha 1447
We prayed at Masjid Darussalam this morning, going for the second shift of prayers for Raya. The mosque is very much in the middle of being renovated, and I found myself joining a small group in a tiny room on the second level, but all was well.
And all was equally well when the family popped round to share some grub with us that The Missus magically cooked up after we'd got back from prayers.
Better than working. (Though I did manage a fair amount of marking in the gaps.)
18.30
Just came round from an afternoon nap and rather wish I hadn't. To say that my head is pounding would be an understatement. A timely reminder that fasting isn't easy. Especially on the first day. Must say, I'm glad there are no more days to follow.
21.17
My head now seems to be back on straight. But still feeling fragile, despite the bellyful of good things (teh tarik, mushroom puffs, dates) I've taken on board. Mildly astonished at achieving my marking targets for the day, which suggests I wasn't entirely wiped out by the fast. (Though that's the way it feels.)
20.18
Have been winding down for the last half an hour or so to bits & pieces from Maestro Ennio Morricone. A wise course of action to pursue. Recommended for all with ears & hearts. Almost fully restored.
It's pretty late and I still have work-related stuff that needs to be cleared before bedtime. And, yet again, I'm trying not to moan about this, but moaning all the same. But I'm also attempting to see far enough ahead to a time when I won't feel like I have the weight of the world on my aging shoulders.
That time isn't close, I'm afraid. But neither is it so far off as to be invisible. The day is marked in my diary. And on it I will dance. But don't worry, it will be a very private dance. I have no intention of traumatising the innocent. (Or even the guilty, for that matter.)
I remain mightily weighed down with marking & other bits & pieces. No point in complaining. There isn't time. In fact, just trying to look ahead is a tricky proposition considering the demands on attention in the present moment.
But we have scanned the horizon and Noi ensured the twinkling lights are back in action, from yesterday, in happy expectation of Hari Raya Haji coming soon. It's also oddly relaxing to look forward to a day of fasting ahead of Wednesday as a way of stepping out of time, even as time relentlessly requires things undone (still quite a number) to be done.
Right, that's it. Back to work.
A demanding day of marking, marking and more marking. Brain now fried. Left side & back fiercely aching. And a feeling of being reduced, narrowed, confined.
But the scripts are done, the twinkling lights are back on and I'm full of what Noi terms a 'simple' mee goreng.
The demands met for another day. The bills paid.
I must have been a fish in a past life. - Not a sentence one ever expects to hear, but the source of some little joy when a colleague muttered it this morning.
And a lot better, I'm sure you'll agree, than USB device not recognised, which keeps popping up on the screen of this laptop every time I plug in my trusty mouse, which is, sadly, trusty no longer.
I haven't been impressed with myself lately. That's a good place to be. There are a few things that I know I'm good at. It's important to be reminded of the many, many aspects of life I'm entirely hopeless in. Ouch.
If I'd heard the Stones' latest single back in 1972 I'd have thought it brilliant - a stone-cold classic, if a little overly produced. I think much the same today, except the idea of a single as a 'classic' no longer applies, does it? And it sounds a bit too much like the 1970s Rolling Stones. I sort of want them to sound their age, even whilst admiring the fact they've still got plenty of fuel left in the engine.
But watching the video just takes me to another level of confusion. I vaguely admire the edginess of it all, but can't help think they're taking it a bit too far. And the AI generated aspects of it are just doing my head in - as young people used to say. I'm all for not going gently into that good night, but this doesn't seem a terribly dignified way to be raging against the dying of the light.
It seems a lot's been happening of late regarding the sale of some Swatch watches. This on an international scale, in case you didn't know. This involving people in very long queues sometimes behaving badly.
Let me tell you, I have no understanding of the phenomenon whatsoever. I'm told it involves someone or something named Audemars Piguet and I'm not proposing to find out who or what that is. Or isn't, for that matter.
I make it a habit to catch up on what is happening in the world by checking the headlines pretty much as soon as I wake up. And at weekends there's usually time to read a few stories before the day gets into gear.
But given the downbeat nature of every single item from this morning's news I think it might be time to wean myself away from any desire to find out what's going on and pretend none of it is really happening.
I don't recall things being quite this bad in the earlier decades of my life. But they probably were.
