I appreciate all the advantages of summer, but I don’t love it. That’s why the three hot months of the year almost always pass unnoticed for me, blending into the daily routine. And this summer, apart from one sad event in my life, was no exception. I’m still the same, and I’m still in the same place — admiring the sunsets over the dusty high‑rises of Novosibirsk. I’ve returned to strength training. I’m trying to get my weight in shape and start paying attention to my diet, step by step.

I don’t really feel like going to the gym in the mornings, but not everything useful has to be enjoyable. Fate still keeps bringing me back to dumbbells, barbells, and exercise machines. That’s why I try to find in this an exercise not only for the body, but also for the mind and will, as the Stoics taught.

Reading. Less than I would like, but more than in previous years. I can’t get through Cicero’s “Tusculan Disputations,” so after Marcus Aurelius, I switched to Seneca and his “Moral Letters to Lucilius.”