From Morning Walk to Evening Conversation

Morning routine. Resolution Run 5K walk with Michael in the rain. Fixed a sandwich, listened to Wisdom audiobook. Cleaned up birthdays in Contacts. Called about Christchurch reservation. Studio cleanup. Napped. Exercised. Watered plants, stocked beer. Evaluated photos from yesterday's shoot. Steve came over—pizza and wide-ranging conversation. Watched half of Ancient Civilizations lecture.

A First Day That Balanced Movement, Maintenance, and Connection

January 02, 2026

These notes describe the events of Thursday, 01/01/2026.

A sunrise

I slept in until about 7:30, a luxury on the first day of the year. The morning routine proceeded without anything special, though I got a little acknowledgment of the posts I'd made the night before—small confirmation that the work reaches people.

Michael and I walked the HOTV Resolution Run together through overcast, chilly weather. HOTV is the Heart of the Valley running club, and we did the 5K walk in almost exactly an hour, breaking the 19-minute mile for a portion of it—a satisfying pace given the conditions. The walk provided a good start to the year, a commitment to movement and health made tangible through steady pace and conversation. We chatted about travel mostly, sharing plans and experiences while maintaining forward motion. Michael mentioned that hotel booking through Expedia is better than Booking.com—Booking.com doesn't tell you the true cost, while Expedia does. This aligned with my own frustrations trying to make adjustments to New Zealand reservations.

Afterward, I fixed a sandwich and ate some cottage cheese for breakfast while listening to the beginning of the audiobook Wisdom, which Steve had recommended to me. Then the day turned toward administrative cleanup and practical tasks. I worked through birthdays in my Contacts, removing excess entries that had accumulated over time. I called about locking in my Christchurch reservation, then later in the day closed on it via a phone call with Karl, giving my credit card number to Quest in Christchurch and confirming the booking. The New Zealand trip continues to solidify from abstraction into concrete arrangements with financial commitments attached.

I worked on cleaning up the studio after yesterday's photo shoot with Joey. The process took longer than expected—equipment needed to be properly stored, lighting gear returned to its places, surfaces cleared. I finished the cleanup, then took a nap, acknowledging that the previous day's energy expenditure had created a deficit that needed addressing.

I watered the plants and put beer in the fridge in preparation for Steve's visit, then worked on evaluating photos from yesterday's shoot. I likely already identified two of the three keepers—the process of selection moving quickly when the strong images reveal themselves clearly. Steve came over in the evening. We chatted and ate pizza. He's doing Dry January, so I was unable to share any beer with him, but it was a good wide-ranging conversation regardless. We discussed concerns about the financial future and assessed how fragile it is, those macro-level anxieties that hover at the edge of consciousness but occasionally demand direct attention. We also talked about Andromeda-related activities for 2026, planning and strategizing for the year ahead.

I finished the day by watching about half of an Ancient Civilizations lecture on Justinian and Theodora, looking forward to finishing it.

The day moved through multiple modes—physical activity in the overcast morning, administrative cleanup, creative evaluation, and intellectual conversation—each serving different purposes but together forming a first day of the year that balanced maintenance, planning, and connection.