August 2026

1

Going through the day with half a brain. Forgot my wallet, had to leave the groceries, run home and come back. Later spilled soup all over myself. Took a long nap in the afternoon. Missed a walk in the rain. Memories of Tallinn, check the record, not as lazy as I remember.

2

Sounds like the guy was drunk, driving in bad weather, caused the accident. He survived, but one woman was killed and others severely injured. I’ve driven drunk before, many years ago now. Could have caused an accident, killed someone. I was stupid, and I was lucky.

3

Four years since we moved to Andorra. Now the longest I’ve lived in any one place since I was a teenager. Lots of things I like about living here, a few things I don’t. As expected. No such thing as a perfect place to live. There are always trade-offs.

4

Strange how an idea can energize you. Felt exhausted today. Then a seed was planted. And that changed everything. Instead of taking a nap I wanted to get to work prepping and planning. Looks like I’ll be in a different part of the world a week from now.

5

When you’ve been hearing a song for decades but the lyrics never really resonated until now…

Don’t you know, no one alive can always be an angel?
When everything goes wrong, you see some bad.
But I’m just a soul whose intentions are good.
Oh, Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood.

6

Letting myself off the hook with various habits this month, breaking a bunch of streaks I had going. It was starting to feel like every day was one big checklist. Usually it’s an act of self-kindness to stick to a healthy habit, even when it’s hard. But this month the kind thing to do is let it all go.

7

Methinks most critics aren’t creators. When you’re a creator yourself, you know what it takes to put something out there in the world, the anxiety that comes with that, awaiting the judgement of strangers. So even when you don’t like something someone else has created, you respect that they gave it a shot.

8

Thinking about that guy. A decade ago now, can’t remember his name, surprised to see him bouncing a door between Bourbon and Frenchmen. His life had changed quite a bit since we’d first met, Uptown in the house of the lady with the strong views and lettuce wraps.

9

Gretchen Rubin and her Four Tendencies. Been a while since I read the book, skimming through again in the middle of the night at the edge of the bed, searching for sense. I find it, already highlighted, but it doesn’t comfort me much.

10

Mitch: You ever been in love?

Curly: Once. I was driving a herd across the panhandle. Texas. Passed near this little dirt farm right about sundown. Out in the field was this young woman, working down in the dirt. Just about then she stood up to stretch her back. She was wearing a little cotton dress, and the settin’ sun was right behind her, showing the shape that God had give her.

Mitch: What happened?

Curly: I just turned around and rode away.

Mitch: Why?

Curly: I figured it wasn’t gonna get any better than that.

Mitch: But you could have been, you know… with her.

Curly: I’ve been with lots of women.

Mitch: Yeah, but you know, she could have been the love of your life.

Curly: She is.

11

My first flight in a year, trying to loosen my tongue, leave the language barrier behind. An attendant named Penny, reminds me of a girl I worked with in Dunnes Stores eons ago. It’s Penny’s birthday today. Quick banter with her getting off. A little awkward, but glad I tried.

12

10K to the end of the track and back, 34 minutes total. Put on the new playlist, reminders of the kind of man I was in Amsterdam. Still a hint of the eclipse beyond the wisps. I take my hands off the handle bars as the electric kicks in and I’m flying free, a big smile on my face.

13

He tells me about a woman he met many years ago. He wasn’t too keen, she was persistent. Sex was had. Then it got weird. Showing up unannounced, letting herself in, getting possessive, threatening self-harm. He called the police. Nothing they could do. He took care of it himself in the end.

14

And what can I tell you, my lover, my killer?
What can I possibly say?
A long time I loved you, laughed and cried with you,
I’m glad you stood in my way.
We’ll soon say goodbye here, near ten years deep.
We were wound so tight, and now we are free.

15

54 years ago she cast a spell at the Metal Man. Strong boundaries, holding firm. Hugs for the bros. Music as we move, Caledonia and The Old Man. Barbecue bliss, flex the social skills, community and opportunity. Basketball and bounce house with the smallies. After party chats, songs on guitar and all them stars. Twas a beautiful day.

16

Pretty sure this was my first truly lazy day all year. Not proud of that, but there you go. We could have gone to the spa, or for a drive somewhere. But we stayed at the gaff, no schedule, had chats, took a walk, watched a movie, probably ate a little too much.

17

Ninth night in a row, less than seven hours sleep. I’ve been waking around 3-4am, mind racing, exploring all this fresh uncertainty, the many possibilities. Takes me an hour to two to fall back. Sometimes I get up and type out the thoughts. Sometimes I meditate. Tonight I’ll take a pill.

18

Excited about work again. Diving into an update of the agency website today. Planning to rebrand the newsletter, make it stand alone. An overhaul of eBizFacts is long overdue. Many more ideas swirling. Time is tight as usual, and sleep is still a struggle. Reminds me a bit of Bali 2019.

19

Poor sleep again last night, but that’s okay. Making the most of la madrugada. Few folks at the cafe, sneaky coffee and croissant. Sitting and thinking, plenty on my mind. I head up the street after, stop into the old church, sit there quietly for a few minutes with my eyes closed.

20

He was my basketball coach 30 years ago, my teacher for a few classes, too. He met me in Dublin at the start of my RTW trip, before I hopped the overnight ferry to Liverpool. Hadn’t seen him in a long time. And now here he is, with three other men, lighting candles and holding space on Zoom.

21

Looking to cut to the chase with this guy, find the deal breaker, or several, if they exist. The work would be exciting. Money sounds good. But if we do this, I’d need to spend a few months each year in Thailand. That’s the deal breaker.

22

I like being an uncle. It’s that famous thing where you get to enjoy hanging out with them and having fun, but then hand them back to the parents to deal with the messy stuff. Fun times with these two kids today at the arcade. Pool, air hockey, video games, foosball.

23

Working on a much improved version of niall.bio. Current version looks shit, like a bare cupboard in an old house. I fancy myself a high-level web designer, but you can’t tell by looking at my own sites because I haven’t refreshed them in years.

24

Saw an interview with a 105-year-old Irish man, sharing his wisdom. Not sure someone should be considered wise just because they’ve lived a long time. Think of the dumbest person you know. If they somehow live to 105, what are the odds they’ll have attained great wisdom?

25

Reminded of something a friend once said…

Business is a game of relationships. The person with the most relationships, the best relationships… that person’s going to win.

I’ve lost sight of that in recent years. Trying to rectify.

26

Still struggling with sleep. Averaging 6.5 hours per night this month, an hour less than usual. Energy has been good though. Maybe too good. My mind is buzzing, feeling scattered, hard to stay focused and prioritize. A million things I want to work on at the same time.

27

A friend complaining that Ireland is expensive now. Dude, pretty much everywhere is expensive now. We moved into this apartment in Andorra four years ago. If we moved out they’d be asking the next tenant for 50% higher rent. And they’d get it.

28

Redoing my whole Claude Code setup, following the Authority Hacker training. Those guys know their shit. Blows my mind seeing examples of what you can do when you have it set up right. Suddenly all those projects I thought I’d never have time for seem entirely doable.

29

AI analyzed my Momentos. Tells me I’ve never used words like association, bollocks, bishop, costume, craic, democracy, division, divorce, equally, leader, perfume, printer, solar, suicide, surveillance. And two things stand out in my writing…

Time dominates — time, now, today, day, years, hours, days, last, week, month, ago, morning, year, night, past all sit in the top 60. For a project that’s a dated daily log, that’s the form asserting itself on the vocabulary.

And "but" at #12 is unusually high — 2,563 uses, ahead of "on" and "with". Most prose puts "but" well below both. You write in reversals.

30

Up in the middle for an old man piddle. Took a while to get back. Sleepy podcasts about China’s first emperor and the history of measurement couldn’t drown out all the ideas and future plans bouncing around my brain. Drifted off eventually, up and at em a couple of hours later, eager to do things.

31

It’s been a long month. A transformational month. My future looks completely different now than it did four weeks ago. Lots of uncertainty, but I’m feeling more confident than I have in a long time. Excited. Optimistic. Life is funny. You never know what’s coming for you.