Woke up to the news that Steve Jobs has died. Sad to see anyone go at 56 (and the older one gets the more that sadness resonates), but it also means I have another landmark to pass in my life where I realise how little I've achieved. I am older than Jesus (unless you believe he's nearly 2011 years old now) and Mozart and John Lennon and Bill Hicks. I am nearly as old as Douglas Adams got to be. I really need to find some less successful role models. If you're 96 and have done fuck all with your life, please get in touch so I have something to aim for.
About 15 years ago I told a friend that if I could be offered a contract where I was guaranteed to live until I was 45 that I would take that and be happy. It seemed reasonably old and a long time away and I was prepared to gamble as there was always the chance I might die before that. Now 45 is nine months away I am glad I didn't go with that contract (not that it was offered to me really - my friend was not Satan), but I told my girlfriend today that I'd be happy to make the same deal if I could get to 56. Come on 45 was stupid, but 56, that makes sense. I guess if you knew you were going to die on a certain day then maybe you'd make more of the time you do have. That might well have been the case for Jobs who said, "For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something."
It's a good philosophy, and probably helped him achieve as much as he has done (no one outside of comedy and family has had as big an impact on my day to day life as Steve Jobs has). As I do a job I like I think it might be better for me to look at myself in the mirror every evening and say, "If today were the last day of my life, would I be happy with how I spent my time today." I think most days I would be annoyed by the time I had wasted rather than satisfied with what I had achieved. I bet Jesus didn't have many days like that. He'd be all, "walked on water today, pretty chuffed with that!"
The only way I can beat these high achievers is to outlive them and take pleasure from wasting all the time that was never granted to them. What would John Lennon have done today if he had been given an bonus 24 hours nearly 31 years after his death. He'd have written a brilliant song about being suddenly alive again, I expect (or maybe just eaten ice cream or played practical jokes on people - who knows what the dead miss about life? Probably not what we'd guess they did).
Thanks to Steve Jobs for my iPod which got me into listening to music and my macbooks on which I've written and recorded much of my stuff and for my iPhone which has helped me fritter away thousands of hours that I might have used productively.
RiPod.
We went out for our last run before the big one on Sunday, just a gentle two mile jog as everyone tells me it's important to taper down before the race (though we haven't done quite enough training to have much to taper down from). But even though we're a bit unprepared I think we'll be OK (my girlfriend is less confident), we've avoided injury which was my main worry and today's brief spin felt relatively easy. But maybe remind me of this hubris at about mile 10 on Sunday. Though that would be quite a snarky thing to do. If you happen to be down
at the Royal Parks on Sunday morning and see my struggling then a cheer would be more appreciated than a heckle. You can try barracking me via Twitter, but I don't think I will be checking it. Not unless I am hobbling along.
