After the vacation

I just returned from a beach vacation. I needed to rest, and a place and way to spend my time that wouldn’t even make me think about what to eat. I made it, but it was so boring.

During the holidays I started reading books again. I missed it; it’s something I couldn’t do with a decent amount of attention anymore. I also started reading Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita again. I had abandoned the Feltrinelli version edited by Margherita Crepax and bought the Mondadori version edited by Serena Prina, a whole different story¹. Translators and editors do a lot with books like this. I had to start again, but it was fantastic.

I haven’t done any major digital things, and I didn’t want to do them by choice. Moreover, it was my first vacation—travel aside—without my MacBook. I know that in my new experience, I’m not yet central to everyday life and that there wouldn’t be a primary need for my intervention. And I have extraordinary colleagues who, meanwhile, knew how to fill in for me. And in any case, I intended to minimize this possibility: what the eye doesn’t see, the nerd’s heart grieves over. I took a risk, but it was restful.

Like every year, as I’m coming to the end of vacation, I realize I’ve listened to very few podcasts. Podcasts fill my daily life with news and insights I can’t live without, but I realize that, aside from a couple, they’re not at all essential to my media consumption. As with every return, I’m considering cutting back, but I already know that, like every year, I’ll add more as the seasons change. I need to find a balance, and perhaps the only one I can imagine is a clear separation between essential and non-essential podcasts: I have to cut the latter. I’ll miss them, but it’s become necessary.

I ate a lot, walked a fair amount, and swam little, but the sea was often rough and didn’t allow it. I suffered, I admit, and I would have liked to swim more. I was lazy, but it was worth it.