Carpe Diem

Carpe Diem.  Seize the day.  When you get older this ancient saying becomes more important. 

Young people mostly live in the moment.  They have much less to look back on, and at the same time lack the life experience to really see into the future.

And the Old?  I guess it varies among my fellow members of Geezer Nation.  Some are sadly still trying to live in past glory times or have a present that looks grim for reasons real or imagined.  But I'm OK with how things have gone for six and a half decades.  I see my past as an ever lengthening archive.  And while I have no aversion to momentary Fun I am more interested in adding interesting chapters that I can look back on fondly when I hit a level of age/infirmity that will keep me on a short leash.

I recently booked tickets for a journey to Vindolanda.  I'd been excavating at the Roman Fort site there for over a decade when Covid slammed the door.  For two long years.  Things are still a bit dodgy over there but I'm just gonna go for it.  In fact, I'm going for four weeks instead of two.  Will there still be masks and travel inconveniences and fears?  Sure.  But Carpe Diem, who knows how many more years I'll be able to walk up and down hills two miles to and from, with a long day of wielding tools ranging from a fine brush to a pick axe.

Robotics is a similar situation.  There is no physical work involved.  I and the other coaches keep hands off tools and apart from hauling supplies in and out once in a while its all the student's project.  But it does create other strains.  For weeks leading up to Build Season then worse after Kick Off, I worry and fret.  Will this darn project even be possible?  So far it has always worked, albeit some years better than others.  But what is it about my personality that can only fully enjoy something of this scale if there is a significant possibility of disastrous, public failure?  Not sure really.  But it is another example of do it while you can.  At least for robotics I am working towards an exit plan where things will go on without me.  I've been in Year Two of the Four Year Stand Down plan for about three years now.