August is long gone, and it’s feeling like fall already (my favorite time of year, I’m kind of excited honestly). Last month we went to Edinburgh, I saw my favorite movie of the year, we got our landscaping done, got rid of the trampoline, I went hiking, and the kids had their first day of school. Pretty great. I did a tiny amount of thinking too, like about The Goldilocks Rule and The Abundant Mindset. Read on for other updates, images, and miscellany from the month.

I began, at a very young age, jumping off cliffs. And as Terence McKenna always said, “The great lesson of life is that when you do that, you don’t land on rock, you land on a feather bed. The world exists to lift you up, not beat you down.” Jim Whittaker, the great climber, good friend of mine, said that “If you’re not living on the edge when young, you’re taking up too much space.” […] I’ve always believed that nothing is beneath you. Nothing is a waste of time unless you make it so. A cab driver can have as much to teach you as a professor at university if you’re open to the possibility. –Wade Davis on the Tim Ferriss podcast

Week 31 (Jul 31 – Aug 6)

Last week was another full week of kids off school, and my wife and I trying to work and keep them entertained. It was pretty successful overall. We went swimming one day, bowling another day, and spent a day in Edinburgh attending the Fringe festival.

I shared my July Monthly Review as well as my favorite music from last month.

I wrote about a new warm up routine I’m trying for running, but I think the general concept is something worth working into a lot of life’s activities.

I learned about The Goldilocks Rule at work and thought about how it applied to my family’s ongoing obsession with Nintendo’s first-party games.

Also, I saw Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse a little while ago, but it’s coming out on streaming soon and it’s my favorite movie of the year.

Week 32 (Aug 7 – 13)

The big deal this week was that another step in our house renovation, the landscaping work, finally got done. It’s so nice to have that step done, even though summer is kind of over here in Scotland.

I was feeling a little bogged down by the drudgery that can seem to dominate life as a responsible adult, and this snippet from Rakim, everything is inspiration, helped lift me up.

I shared an album that I discovered that is perfect to rob banks to.

I went to see Oppenheimer in IMAX and loved it.

Week 33 (Aug 14 – 20)

Last week marked the end of summer (it never really happened in Scotland this year anyway), the end of the trampoline era, and the first day of school for our kids.

I finally got around to sharing a little about the book Dilla Time and the 50th anniversary of hip-hop as well as learn a bit more about dub music. I also shared a poem by Derek Wolcott that I’ve been re-reading.

We also had a “big family bowl” event on the weekend that was really funny. Some family was in town, so we rented the private event space in our local bowling alley for a couple of hours and played a few games. Good fun.

“We are […] in the habit of imagining our lives to be linear; a long march from birth to death in which we mass our powers, only to surrender them again, all the while slowly losing our youthful beauty. This is a brutal untruth. Life meanders like a path through the woods. We have seasons when we flourish, and seasons when the leaves fall from us, revealing our bare bones. Given time, they grow again.” (Katherine May, Wintering)

Week 34 (Aug 21 – 27)

The past week felt like a blur with family in town, Kav out of town, and the usual busy school week filled with activities.

I did get out on a short hike up Dumgoyne Hill with my brother-in-law and it was cloudy and rainy as expected but still better than the alternative.

I started reading 4000 weeks and was inspired to share the bit about how there’s no need to be mean to yourself.

I’m on a sci-fi bent at the moment and started watching the second season of Foundation and the first season of Silo.

I was inspired by the latest Kō Strategies newsletter and re-shared the part about how we should all aspire to make some impossible magic.

I’ve continued to play Zelda BOTW pretty much any time I get some game time. I’ve finished all 120 shrines in the game and am now on to the DLC.

Week 35 (Aug 28 – 31)

The major event of the week was a weekend hiking trip I had been planning for a couple of months to the fabled Glencoe valley in Scotland. It was epic!

Related to preparing for that trip, I went down a rabbit hole (re)learning some useful knots.

I also shared a post about Terrace Martin, Jungle, and more of my favorite albums from August 2023.

My favorite thought from the week was The Abundant Mindset from Rick Rubin’s recent book on creativity.

See you next month!