On my first day in Gozo I ran from Victoria to Ta’ Ċenċ Cliffs and then back to town by way of Xlendi. This wasn’t my greatest run as far as they go because I didn’t realise the trail Strava said exists was a literal clifftop goat trail; I wound up having to cut across […]
Mgarr ix-Xini is a gorge on the south side of Gozo that terminates at a beautiful sheltered beach. Gozo is…compact. Towns and villages are concentrated onto high ground inland. Almost the entire coast of the island is one big trail because of this, which allowed me to go on remarkable walks along clifftops. The gorge […]
Works in Ruby on Rails versions >= 4 and in Ruby 2.5. This has really annoyed the shit out of me. I want to stringify keys and values individually, not turn an entire hash or array into a string. def deep_stringify(object) case object when Hash object.transform_keys(&:to_s).transform_values { |val| deep_stringify val } when Array object.map { […]
I am here, now. Mark now is Mark now. Mark then was Mark then. I’m not him. Last year has gone and next year will come. Everything in its own time. Tomorrow is tomorrow, yesterday is yesterday. Breathe in now, breathe out here. Here is here, there is there. Now is now. Here, now breathe […]
The town of Mgarr on the southeast coast of Gozo hosts the ferry terminal that’s the main point of access to the island. As Wikipedia will tell you, Mgarr has pubs and restaurants and churches and buses and homes and people. The town shelters a harbour of crystal-clear blue Mediterranean water, and that offers spectacular […]
In December I hiked the Western Way in Galway between Maam Cross and Oughterard. Timing from my phone and FitBit: 00:42:50 + 04:41:38 = 05:24:28 The part of the Way I hiked was 26 kilometres of spectacular rugged Connemara scenery-bogs, forests, mountains, lakes and rivers all in a breath of one another. Being out on […]
I’m a skinnnnnnnnny bitch now! On the other hand, today’s breakfast was two soluble Panadol, a croissant, a cup of black coffee, and two-thirds of a Dairy Milk. I try.
Weights and scales and charts and numbers are all well and good, but it’s the new hole I punched in my belt today that’s the visceral sign of losing weight. I’ve used each notch at one time or another.
I have been an abuser. I committed physical violence against my spouse and children. For the longest time I manipulated and isolated my spouse, played them against their family and friends. Gaslighted and undermined. I attempted to control them by withholding money. I cheated on both my spouse and long-term partner. I’ve been that oily […]
Home of the (former) Azure Window, Dwejra Bay on the west coast of Gozo is a glorious, beautiful place. The bay manages to convey a sense of serene isolation despite that several towns and villages are within a short march. On Saturday last I hiked from the bay over to the town of Xlendi. Photos […]
Yesterday winter came back around to grumble “And another thing…” in the middle of what otherwise should be a well-behaved spring. After Storm Emma I kicked myself that I didn’t get out of Harold’s Cross to see the parks or countryside around Dublin while we had snow. So when I saw snow on the ground […]
Given my personal history, how we grant agency has been a topic I’ve wanted to explore for a while. Despite her book’s many other problems, in Why Does He Do That? Lundy Bancroft shows insight when she describes abusive decision as a function of the abuser’s value system. Each person has a decision structure-their value […]
Over the last few months I’ve lost a bunch of weight-and continue to do so. At any given point, now will be lowest weight I’ve reached as an adult. Along the way here I learned the fundamental of compassion. With it have been able to reach out to the people in my life and become […]