chlorine + endorphins = happiness?

I've been feeling a bit short on motivation this week, thanks to the hot weather, a general lack of sleep, endless minor & unproductive work problems, and spill over from trying to distract someone from their current crisis.

Fortunately the solution turns out to have been trivially simple: I did my full 5k Friday swim for the first time in a while and came out feeling happy, refreshed, and chloriny. I know I'm going to pay for it tomorrow, both in tired muscles and in the drain on my metabolic reserves, but for the moment I'm just enjoying the afterglow.

If only all life's problems were as easily solved...

A very convincing encore

Historically, I'm not much of a fan of Chopin. But Jan Lisiecki's encore from tonight's prom — the C-sharp minor nocturne — was utterly spellbinding and enough to make me reconsider my prejudices. Here's the mighty Claudio Arrau's interpretation of the same piece: