2024-06-20 - High and Low
- Lather: Talent Soap Factory - Abyss
- Post Shave: Moon Shaving - Astoria
- Fragrance: Imaginary Authors - Every Storm a Serenade
- Razor: Gillette - Travel Tech
- Brush: Maggard Razors - Synthetic Tuxedo
Sunny Days
Unifying Theme: Aquatics
#photocontest Bucket
You can't say that photo doesn't feature a bucket.
Old_Hiker Day: This whole thing is relevant, I promise.
The first part is about work and about taking control of one's direction
in life. I concede, in advance, that the course of action that I'm taking
is a luxury that isn't available to everyone.
At this juncture, I want to just reference a couple things, but only by vaguely
pointing at them, otherwise it'll become a whole drawn-out thing, and no
one wants that:
-
Albert Camus' famous "One must imagine Sisyphus happy,"
which I also mentioned a bit the other day.
-
Friederich Nietzsche's Will to Power.
Despite his reputation, Nietzsche was hugely optimistic, as was his philosophy.
He advocated taking control of one's own life:
casting aside one's burdenful existence, baring your claws, defeating
what prevents you from being you, finally becoming free to play!
That's what Zarathustra said, anyway.
Anyone? No? Alright, I digress.
Those are lofty ideas, certainly easier said than done—not the least
because pursuing such things is frankly a luxury that not everyone has.
Later today, I'm going to be on the phone with my past employer, reinstating
remote access for me because I'm going to continue doing a small amount of
work for them on a contractual basis, just to fill some of my off-hours.
It was an enjoyable job. I liked it—for the most part.
It was nonetheless constraining such that it limited my options for growth.
Earlier this year, I became aware of an online graduate program at my alma
mater, one that unites my past graduate career in Linguistics with the programmy
path that I later found myself on.
I got it into my head that I would apply/enroll in the program,
quit my job so that I can unilaterally focus on school,
and get the fuck out of this bullshit hellscape of a climate I live in.
I wasn't happy with the direction—or lack thereof—that my life had, so I chose
to take control and change it.
As for the goal of freeing myself from barren wasteland that exists
in an impossible location inches from the surface of the sun:
I postponed that part.
I decided that relocating right now would require a lot of mental energy that I
need to reserve.
Anyway, I resolved even before the Games even started that I would not shave
under the impossible sun of this climate.
So I didn't.
I headed upwards by some thousands of feet:
Saguaros to pines.
#FOF
Check out this
horribly unflattering—but not altogether long—clip
of my ramblings.
I did that because I knew I wasn't going to remember anything that I had been muttering to
myself. Talking to a camera for the sake of a recording feels wildly unnatural, by the way.
Some of us are a little bit more bold than to censor our own faces, u/Priusaurus.
I don't blame you; I'd be embarrassed if I were you, too. 😜
What I didn't mention is that Abyss is easily my favorite scent now.
It starts cucumber-heavy, which is beautiful and which yields to rich
watery notes once the cucumber mellows out.
What's Aaron's u/? That dude needs to keep making this scent forever.
On top of that, it lathers like a dream. Why is there no Abyss aftershave?!
I almost want to empty my den and keep nothing but Abyss and Every Storm a Serenade.
Almost.
Edit: He said it's pretty much retired now, so I straight up panic-bought some more. Grab it while you can! If there's none left, tell him you want more!