it's going to be a fine day today

Here's the latest forecast from the bureau of meteorology. 32 C is about 90 F. I can honestly say that I've never seen a forecast for "fine" before. What does that mean!? Usually you don't try and editorialize in forecasts (e.g. "Streamflows this year are forecast to be the lowest since 1977... Poopers!") because you never know what's good or bad.

When I was in high school I had the nickname "Stoic" and it was used so much that some friends didn't know my real name. I think many people interpret stoicism as meaning that you should be cold or unfeeling because everything is predetermined and you have no control over your life, a lack of free will. Maybe true but the version that appealed to me always was that no matter what happened, you never had enough information to judge whether something was good or bad.

Your house gets wiped out in a flood (bad!) but it causes you to move away and miss the earthquake that happened there a couple months later (good!). You win the election (good) but now you have the worst job in America (bad). You miss the bus (bad?) but now you have some time alone (bad?) to reflect on an idea and come to a breakthrough (good?) that makes you a lot of money (good?) but your new found fame (good?) makes you fall in with a bad sort (bad?) and lose all your old friends (bad?) etc etc.

I think Christine thinks that this outlook prevents me from enjoying life or celebrating achievements. I think instead that it's a good coping mechanism for suffering. Ironic of course that my roman/irish catholic upbringing orients life towards suffering but also has an unambiguous sense of good vs bad.

I guess all I know is that it's going to be a fine day today (in some other city at least).