being an energy source

“Manage your energy, not your time” - heard something similar a couple of days back. I took it as figuring out your energy cycles, doing energy audit for ourselves, finding out when you are most energized (morning person vs evening person etc) and planning for the high impact activities during that time.

Extending this further, being an introvert and having no option to avoid people, I have to switch myself on for large parts of the day, perform the roles I am expected to play which exhausts me by the end of the day. I have to do an energy audit one of these days. 

I read this framing also recently - about being a sofa person or a treadmill person. Sofa person is someone who exhausts you with their negativity that you want to lie on a sofa afterwards. Treadmill person is someone who gives you so much hope and energy that you want to run on a treadmill afterwards to burn that off. I could relate some of my interactions with these definitions. I believe in our work and personal relationships, we should try to be somewhat of treadmill people - who can lift others up than bring them down. 

Leaders are supposed to be people who give others energy. Does it mean they suppress their fears, disappointments and frustrations? If they do, wouldn’t it explode sometime in unexpected ways and cause more harm? Or will the stress eat them up? I read somewhere that there should be someone in our work and life who offers a shoulder to cry on, someone with whom we can open up, voice our fears and lighten our load. My experience is that we cannot treat our manager as this person since they have their own bigger burden to carry than take ours too. Hence maybe the adage that “I want to hear your solutions, not your problems” (I saw this quote hanging in one person’s door). It cannot be our team since they will get depressed if you reveal all your apprehensions, just like a father or mother may not tell the kids about their financial troubles. It doesn’t mean we hide all emotions - be authentic, but knowing ourselves well, hold our irrational, unverified, impulsive, ugly ones that doesn’t help anyone who sees it. 

It will have to be a peer or a friend who can take us as we are. I read recently in “The Covenant of Water” (fiction) about these benches raised to the shoulder length along the pathways in Kerala about hundred years back when there were no vehicles, for travellers who carry loads on their head and walk long distance, to temporarily unload themselves, take a bit of rest and carry on further. This peer or a friend whose shoulder we can cry on may be like those rest stops. But then what about this friend - they will need a sofa to lie on after talking to us. I was lucky to have one or two such peers and friends with whom I can share my irrational and ugly fears, talk things out and feel relieved. 

I also read a phrase sometime back about “emotional vomit” - as ugly as it sounds, having heard of this once, I cannot unhear it ever since. Hence I am careful not to take advantage of even friends such as this by covering them with my ugliness, but to talk things out, coming at a situation from different angles, to reason things out in the process of talking. 

Now what are these things that saps our energy? I stopped reading Newspapers for years. I lost count as to how many years it has been since I stopped. I don’t watch news on TV. The best explanation for this was written by Aaron Swartz here. Most news is sensational, intended to shock, shame and make us angry. News moves slowly, stories develop over time and I don’t need to follow it minute by minute or day by day. I will still get the news I need when I go look for it or if it is important enough, it will come up somewhere. I uninstalled Facebook and Instagram - friends who truly matter to me will reach out directly and I don’t need the algorithm to recommend feeds that will amplify my fears or fill my head with junk. I archived school groups, college groups and alumni groups in WhatsApp. I stopped reading the algorithm recommended news feeds. I have put timers on Youtube and LinkedIn so that I can use them just when I need. 

Now what more can make us depressed? I read recently that if your job is to take care of others, you need to take care of yourself first. Sleep for seven hours, eat healthy, regular exercise and get some sun everyday. Being a vegetarian, I am chronically low on Vit D which is a mood killer. Hence I don’t depend on the sun alone and take supplements. 

There is still more that is needed. Seeing the glass half full since I can’t imagine being a pessimist. Seeing the good in others, actively looking for qualities in others that we can like and respect, since we can work or live only with people we like and respect. Not going to extremes in any spectrum whether it is politics or religion - I imagine those on the extreme left or extreme right will be very angry with the world since they will see wrong everywhere. 

Being able to forgive and forget easily and not holding grudges. Being able to trust people first, not needing them to prove to you first why they should be trusted. Not being rigid with one’s principles or using the principles as the crutch to fight the world and its perceived injustices at every opportunity. Not burning with righteous indignation at every perceived slight. Looking for success stories and small wins in what we do and celebrate them. 

Having a sense of proportion about the problems, injustices and unfairness that we see every day - we need to save an injured calf in the flock that we are responsible for, but it cannot be at the expense of hundred others who are not complaining and who need our time and energy too. Being able to listen and soak up the pressure, but being able to prioritize which ones we act upon. 

Taking effort to understand and make sense of the world so that we can explain it to everyone who needs that clarity and light their way out of the darkness. Looking up frequently to elevate the collective aspiration of everyone around us so that we can one day rise above the current troubles. 

Holding one’s tongue to avoid making a sharp remark when we are provoked, suspend immediate judgement and allowing some breathing space between stimuli and response. Listening deeply, listening between the words, understanding the other side, understanding the unspoken. Trusting that fixing root causes takes time and having the patience to see it through in the long term, while we absorb short term pain. 

It takes effort to be an energy source and avoid being a black hole that sucks all energy. 

going to war together

This past weekend, I watched a final - EFL cup football, between Chelsea and Liverpool. On the Chelsea side, expensive players who collectively cost about one billion dollars. Other side was missing all of its front line three, their first choice goalkeeper, defenders, midfielders - all out due to injury. Liverpool won the match in extra time. They fought fearlessly for 120 minutes and they wanted it more.

Liverpool’s manager, Jurgen Klopp, announced stepping down as a manager by the end of this season. He said he is running low on energy, “we are not bunnies anymore, jumping up and down”, that felt like “running on three wheels”, “a race car that can go at 180 mph, but running on fumes and needing to take a rest stop”. Since then, the players and the fans want to make memories with the remaining matches, win everything they can and close this season as a long goodbye. How do one create such a following?

He hugs every player coming on, shouting good things in their ear as they wait to enter the field, very happy, smiling, energetic, nothing make-believe in his mannerisms. Likewise he hugs each player getting replaced, appreciating them. Like a father-friend figure. He seems to naturally love them all. He was throwing kids who are 18, 19 years, to play in Wembley stadium, in front of more than 80,000 people - they didn’t seem nervous. Their manager trusted them completely and the commentators were talking about what kind of growth would this give these young players going through this experience at such a young age. Pick the right people, train them, believe in their abilities, make them believe in themselves and then allow them to go into fire and trust them. One friend had told me about someone he worked with years back that “If I ask, she will go to any war with me” - how does one create such trust?

If two teams are balanced on the basis of talent, training, practice and preparation, it seems to me that the team that is more cohesive, who supports each other, wants to be each other’s company will fight to win it for the group. I watched another Chelsea match where one of the players was shouting at another for wasting a chance or not passing the ball, in front of 40,000 people. It seemed ugly to be shouting at a peer like that. At the same time I watched Liverpool captain, a big brother to all these young kids, shout instructions, sometimes even appear angry, but doing it in a way that is asking them to be better and when the same captain scored the winning goal, how everyone was burying him under a human pile. Their injured teammates were all watching on, cheering, going through the emotional anguish, being there for the team. This is a united group who will win any battle.

I believe being a disciplinarian will not cut it as well. I had been following another football club for more than 15-20 years, Manchester United. They have been going through a tough time for many years now. Their current manager, Erik Ten Hag, is supposed to be good, and had a track record of creating good teams and winning. But I wish he would smile more, loosen up, get out of being in the news all the time about disciplining his players for going out to celebrate birthdays, or to be with friends and all such. Deal with all such behind closed doors, but then enjoy the ride afterwards, through struggles and wins. I think that is why I liked Jurgen - he is authentic, comfortable in his skin, speaks his mind, all his emotions, good and bad, are there for everyone to see and when we see someone is as human as us, that builds the connection.

At the end I watched them collect the trophy, have the time of their life in front of the adoring fans, hug each other and Jurgen Klopp with a permanent smile that a Guardian newspaper article said “will have to be removed through plastic surgery”.

“It was really touching the way they played and the way they contributed,” Klopp said of the young players. “The situation before we scored, when we got the corner, I don’t think I will ever forget it. ­Caoimhín [­Kelleher] passes the ball out to Wataru, the ball goes left to [Jarell] Quansah, passes it down the line then Dannsy [Jayden Danns] chips the ball, James [McConnell] passes the ball to Bobby Clark, who is waiting between the lines. That is wonderful because these details in football are incredibly important – the positions you are in – and these boys are doing it. It shows it’s possible. I didn’t know it was possible.

“If you’d asked me before this lineup: ‘Can you win a game in extra time against Chelsea?’ No. Impossible. But seeing it and being part of it is super special. I know we won bigger trophies, it just didn’t feel like that in that moment.”

weekly notes, wk 8 / 2024

1. 

I had been thinking about this quote for some time. 

I want to talk about everything with at least one person as I talk about things with myself.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Idiot

Is this really possible? How many will find someone else who will meet this criteria? Some of my thoughts may be ugly versions, uncharitable and wouldn’t I filter to present a better version of myself to another? If we unburden in an unfiltered way, would anyone be able to tolerate it? I was thinking about the free conversations where I don’t check myself for political correctness or trying to impress someone, but to talk things out to make sense of what we are thinking about. 

2. 

I woke up early one morning this week, wide awake and was trying to analyse how I was feeling. I wanted to sit up and write everything down, but couldn’t bring myself up, instead I was drafting it in my mind for an hour or so, never got to write down fully. It started something like this.  

“I wake up from a weird dream and am wide awake. It is 4:52 am. It is all still, I watch the play of light on the ceiling, from the electricity substation next door, making patterns of the grills of the windows. I can distinctly feel my heart. I can visualize the contours of the heart inside my ribs, a bloody organ. Does it feel like someone reached in, squeezed and left it? Hence it feels a bit raw? Or does it feel like it bumped against something, like sometimes I hit my foot against the door or the bed and there is a dull pain for some time. Or is it like the sharp pain of chewing on a fresh chilly - it burns.“

3. 

I did about ten interviews on Saturday. It depressed me to see the quality of people coming up now in the software industry, about lack of guidance and their awareness level of what they are doing. No understanding of why they are building something, who it is for, how it helps business and how to build quality software. No one reads anything, no passion for the career they are in. All say they are taking it up to learn, looking for new challenges, but it seems to be just switching jobs for maximizing what they can make. 

4. 

It was Attukal Pongala on Sunday. Preparations were going on for months and there were pandals on both sides of the road right outside our place. We are about 10 kms from the temple and we are still not at the end of the line. We got the payasam in the evening from my sister, they do it at home itself these days. 

5. 

I am reading two books, half way through both. Thakaran’s Grandhavali by Benyamin (Mayalam fiction) - an experimental fiction where one can start anywhere and read in any order, every chapter feels like a story, but all connected. It is difficult to keep a clear picture in mind, so unless I read at one stretch it gets difficult to remember. I hope the scrambled puzzle will make sense at the end.  

Second is a non fiction, 48 laws of power, by Robert Greene. I had bought this on an impulse since it came up in so many recommendations, but recently when I read the list of laws, felt it is pure evil, was disgusted and closed it. But I started reading it now, to know the psychology behind these, with the rationalization that I can at least spot it when some people apply it consciously or unconsciously, rather than being naive and being on the receiving end of it. 

6. 

Watched two movies. Jigarthanda DoubleX (Tamil, Netflix) due to one of the songs (ever since Enjoy Enjaami, became a fan of Dhee, Santhosh Narayanan and Arivu) and read a review about this movie paying tribute to Clint Eastwood etc. Weird one, “Paandya Western” as a theme/genre, even though I am a little reluctant to watch violent movies these days. It was an explosion of colour and raw life. Nimisha Sajayan pops up in odd movies like this and gives it authenticity.

Other was The Hand of God (Italian, Netflix). Along with Cinema Paradiso, Call me by your name and Malena, this is the fourth “coming of age” story from Italian cinema that I have watched - seems a coincidence though. I had watched a documentary of Maradona going to Napoli and winning the Serie A football league - that was real life superhero story, of a genius going to a beaten down club, making them a national winner (couldn’t finish that documentary since in the later part, when he breaks down with drug abuse and declines, it gets harder to watch). The frenzy of that town when Maradona goes there and wins for them was mad to see. It also seals Maradona’s legend as a revolutionary at heart, winning it for the common man. This story is set at the time Maradona goes to Naples, about a boy falling in love with making of cinema, wanting to be a director (same theme as Cinema Paradiso) and his life getting shattered by a tragedy. So far the Italian movies that I watched were all very bright, sunny, of good natured people, tangled in ordinary problems of life, carefree, open and taking life as it comes. I have to explore more though since Italy has a rich pedigree of cinema and I haven’t even scratched the surface. 

weekly notes, wk 7 / 2024

1.
I had been thinking about limits of communication this week. It is so hard to communicate feedback, build bridges between people who take fixed positions, teach how to use tact in communication, being politically savvy, compromising on minor issues so as to achieve the larger goals together.

2. 

There is no outright declared recession right now, but the impact of the topsy turvy economy is stressing everybody out. All businesses are trying to cut costs, improve margins and survive a difficult period. Its impacts are reaching my doorstep as well. I read somewhere that an unprecedented number of elections are happening across the world too this year and from the overall trends, the world is continuing to move to the right. I hope to get through the next six to nine months with minimum impact. 

3. 

We attempted to teach a group of beginners about moving from fixed scope/time/budget projects to building products. Realized the need to take further steps back to teach business and customer context, how much the people who started their careers during the pandemic are missing and the limits of “hybrid” mode of work in building a cohesive team. 

4. 

Finished reading The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. I read somewhere recently that you need to write about a book to read it better. If I have to write about something, I would think about what I liked specifically and what I didn’t. Of late, I had been thinking that I should spell out what I liked about anything (people, books, movies, situations) rather than one word judgments. 

This is a retelling of the story of Achilles, told from the perspective of his companion from boyhood. It is a love story of an exiled prince (Patroclus), one who is not a fighter or a killer, who is awkward socially and another who is goddess born, perfect in every sense and who knows he is destined for glory. Their childhood, coming of age and loyalty for each other that endures till their death were heart touching. This was a world of brutal men, who lived and died for a code of honor. I liked the story until the siege of Troy and from there once the ugliness of war and how it changes people comes into the story, it went downhill for me. 

I had avoided similar mythical retelling as a genre so far and I am not sure I would pursue this further as well. I would rather read about the thoughts, feelings, struggles and triumphs of ordinary human beings. 

4. 

Watched two movies - Shiva Baby (English, Mubi) and Meenakshi Sundareshwar (Hindi, Netflix). 

Shiva Baby is a story of a bisexual jewish girl attending a jewish funeral memorial function along with her parents and coming across her married lover and his family, also attended by her ex girlfriend. It could be classified as a social horror film, uncomfortable to watch, with the lies being uncovered layer by layer, by prying family and friends who dig into her like vultures. 

Watched Meenakshi Sundareshwar due to Sanya Malhotra, she can carry films on her own. I have watched a few of her other films - Dangal, Badhai Ho, Pagglait and Kathal. This one had a make-believe mediocre story line. It is a story of a couple leading a long distance relationship due to usual tropes of reasons which can only work in films. Colourful visuals of Madurai and old traditional homes, a very good supporting cast and Sanya’s character which added layers even in a mediocre role made it worth watching.           

weekly notes, wk 6 / 2024

1.
Finished reading “The Covenant of Water” by Abraham Verghese. It is a book written by an American, born in Ethiopia, to Malayali parents. It is a story of three generations of a Christian family from 1900 to 1977, based in my place, Trivandrum, along with a diverse cast including a missionary from Sweden and a doctor from Scotland. It made it to Barack Obama’s last year’s book list. Despite its size (700 pgs), it was a breezy read and at stretches felt like the book I needed right now with a story of good people, with kind hearts. My eyes were wet while reading some parts. There are love stories of many in these generations and medical adventures including one in which a doctor finding an innovative way to make an unborn baby retract his hand that stuck out of an abdominal injury to his mother. I felt uneasy reading about the lives of lower caste, upper class privilege and politics - while the author has taken care to bring out a counter view, I am not convinced since I feel it felt like a superficial treatment. Overall a good read. Some good quotes (from many good surprising sentences all throughout).

Halfway through the book, Big Ammachi wants Philipose to ask Koshy Saar if this Moby-Dick isn’t all made up. “It’s entertaining. But isn’t it one big lie? Ask him.” Koshy Saar’s response is indignant. “It’s fiction! Fiction is the great lie that tells the truth about how the world lives!”

“But, oh, Elsie, please wait. Give me at least a few years.” The couple in the seat in front turns to glare at him—he must have spoken aloud. The man says to his wife, “Avaneu vatta.” Yes, I am mad. You can’t set out to achieve your goals without a little madness.”

“She had learned a lesson: to show weakness, to be tearful or shattered didn’t serve her. One shouldn’t just hope to be treated well: one must insist on it.”

“If two people at the very same moment hold visions of each other, perhaps atoms coalesce into invisible forms, like radio waves, and connect them.”

2. 

Two of my favourite words are deja vu and serendipity. A song that I was humming a minute back coming on the FM radio. Going through situations which seem to be repetitions as if in a dream long back. It must all be coincidences, but every time something like that happens, it is a wonder. 

I came across this tweet one morning this past week, about an artist hearing his music being played in a cafe and the satisfaction and smile on his face when it happens. About “finding your creations in the wild”. I was thinking about that, what would it feel like to see something you created come across you unexpectedly. Then later that day, read the same thing in the Covenant of Water. 

“I met my painting again in your living room just now,” Elsie said, smiling. He waited, but there wasn’t more. 

“What’s it like to see your work long after you let it go?”

A fleeting trace of pleasure crossed her face, an emotion that hadn’t found purchase for a while. She considered her response, “It was like.. running into myself in the wild.” He nodded. Their voices were low. “After I got over the surprise, I was pleased with it. Usually I want to fix things. But I was satisfied… I also knew that the artist was no longer the same person. If I did it again, it might be quite different.”

She looked down at her hands, which were quite still in her lap. 

Digby said, “Art is never finished. Only abandoned.”

3. 

Attended the marriage of a good friend this week, took a day leave and travelled to Cochin, via train. We had gotten into the habit of driving everywhere, to Kollam and even to Bangalore and Chennai multiple times and hence I had a break of a few years on the train journey, almost forgot when I travelled by train last. It is its own vibe I guess. I took second class sitting, it was crowded with almost all seats taken, many travelling for work in the morning and returning in the evening. I saw the person who sat next to me in the morning while returning in the evening. What are the chances of that in such a crowd? I think the change in these years is that there is less talking among passengers since everyone is buried in their phones.  

Marriage was a calm ceremony, with a small crowd. There was no rush to have food and run, no long speeches by the priests. My friend’s father, whom I hadn’t met before, sat down and spoke to me at the end, after most guests had left and he was peaceful. My friend had gone through a lot, with sickness in the family and many setbacks ever since Covid. While leaving, he held on to my arm to stand up and walk and the familiarity was touching.

4. 

Today morning, I was going through my playlists on Spotify and favourites saved on youtube and adding some of them that I hadn’t listened to in a long time in a queue. It made me remember someone I had followed on Twitter. Some days, often late at night when she couldn’t sleep, she used to ask her friends to suggest songs and she used to post some new discoveries and from those, I had picked up some new music. She had quirky views about life, full of energy, picking fights, trying activism. Many people posture in social media, for likes, for self promotion, but hers was like a genuine life force. About five years back, I messaged her once out of the blue, thanking her. I felt it was nice to let people know. She passed away during Covid - one week she was talking about something she wanted to do, then we hear a post about her passing away suddenly and so many people pouring in their interactions with her. I couldn’t believe that, even though I didn’t know her at all. 

This was one of her suggestions - Reflejo de Lune, Alacran. It also reminded me about this quote - we carry pieces of memories and habits from others through our life. 

“You think that maybe the romantics are right. Maybe, you will find home in some other person, a better half. But the truth is that you will find a piece of you in every place you have ever been, in every person you have ever loved. You paint your nails the way that senior in your school did when you were 12 years old. And there's an album in the corner of your room that your first kiss suggested for you to listen to, and that's how you discovered your favourite rock band. You find your habits lingering in the way your brother arranges his books—separating hardcovers from paperbacks and organising them by colour. Nobody does that, you think.

You realise that blueberry yogurt on toast and little flowers of butter and orange jam isn't your recipe; it's the way your Mother used to make toast for you when you were five. You notice that your best friend still plays your road trip playlist when she drives, and you cook chicken the same way your roommate in college taught you. You share your habit of clicking pictures of flowers by the roads with your Dad, and like your ex, you always check traffic on maps before leaving. Even if you don't talk to them anymore, you will always have tenderness in your heart for people. You will realise that so much of them is you, and so much of you is them.”

a vignette

I was waiting in front of chakki’s school, to pick her up after an extra class. Now that exams are near and portions are not complete, teachers are racing to finish. Rush in front of the school is over. Few kids were waiting for their parents who may be late. It is getting to evening and it is calm everywhere.

I see a small fussy kid coming out, she is so small that she doesn’t even reach to her father’s knees. She seems to be I was waiting in front of chakki’s school, to pick her up after an extra class. Now that exams are near and portions are not complete, teachers are racing to finish. Rush in front of the school is over. Few kids were waiting for their parents who may be late. It is getting to evening and it is calm everywhere. 

I see a small fussy kid coming out, she is so small that she doesn’t even reach to her father’s knees. She seems to be complaining about stomach pain, her father bends down and pokes her stomach to check where it is paining. He has her bag slung over one shoulder and a lunch box in the other hand. He picks her up, walks not more than ten steps to their scooter and lands her on the front foot rest. She wanted to be picked up for just those ten steps. She is chatting away. He is tall, gaunt, grey hairs in his beard, silent but listening to everything she says, nods while going through their routine of preparing for the trip. He takes off her hair bow, puts her helmet on, packs her lunch bag into the storage under the seat, the seat cover does not click back when he tries to close, has to bang it a couple of times, clips her school bag in the front and stands her up in the front. As they pulled out the scooter, she was gesturing and continuing her tale. 

I miss the stories and those days. 

 about stomach pain, her father bends down and pokes her stomach to check where it is paining. He has her bag slung over one shoulder and a lunch box in the other hand. He picks her up, walks not more than ten steps to their scooter and lands her on the front foot rest. She wanted to be picked up for just those ten steps. She is chatting away. He is tall, gaunt, grey hairs in his beard, silent but listening to everything she says, nods while going through their routine of preparing for the trip. He takes off her hair bow, puts her helmet on, packs her lunch bag into the storage under the seat, the seat cover does not click back when he tries to close, has to bang it a couple of times, clips her school bag in the front and stands her up in the front. As they pulled out the scooter, she was gesturing and continuing her tale.

I miss the stories and those days.

weekly notes, wk5 / 2024

1.

One change that I had been thinking about was to confront problems immediately and directly. I felt many of us put up with the inefficiencies, weaknesses in ourselves and others, imperfect ways of working etc out of respect for others, being diplomatic and to avoid conflicts. Acting on the “Be kind, not nice” maxim which is in my wishlist for this year. I listened to a podcast on Radical Candor as well to learn further. 

This week consciously called out two such situations, it might have felt uncharacteristic of me, for people on the other side. I have to learn further to do it much more calmly, one on one, going to the root of the problems and illustrate with examples. I found that in such cases, people react sharply since they may not have heard anyone articulate this aspect about them before. I had one or two rare people in my life who could distil what was happening and tell me an insight which felt obvious. I hope to do the same for others. 

2. 

Communication is a nuanced topic with so many levels. This week had problems that arose from communication between people that led to bitter arguments and it also pointed to lack of strong relationships as a base which can withstand such situations. Coincidentally, we were reading a chapter from the book, “Making Things Happen by Scott Berkun”, in our Engineering Book Club that was addressing the exact same topic. It is basic and obvious, but all social groups run into conflicts due to the limitations in communication. Patience to listen, to repeat one’s message in different ways with different kinds of people to ensure understanding by all, staying in the conversation rather than withdrawing, adapting with circumstances etc needs to be learnt further. 

3. 

I am trying to practise “writing culture” more this year. Trying to write down what we want to change this year as a written document that can be shared with the team and develop collaboratively with inputs and encouraging them also to write out the arguments in full sentences in a document, rather than presentations, to communicate changes. Hope this leads to more thinking and clarity. 

4. 

Met a friend, Vinod, for coffee in a place oddly named “Stylish Juice and Tea”, next to a football coaching camp (few such have come up in the city) and a tourist village. Good conversation on so many topics that we kept switching from one to other non stop, from diversity in our workgroups and why it strengthens the teams, what we were reading, building products etc. Got an idea to get a session organized on women in leadership for next week, will see how it goes.    

5. 

Continuing to read “The Covenant of Water” - at times I felt it is the perfect book I needed now and then the author goes on a killing spree and creates a melancholic scene just like the Kerala monsoon season that he paints with his words. 

Spanish learning is continuing with a 65 day streak and continuing the Hundred Days of Running without break so far.