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What did you do this week (and weekend)?
As part of a weekly series, these topics are a place for users to casually discuss the things they did — or didn't do — during their week. Did you accomplish any goals? Suffer a failure? Do nothing at all? Tell us about it!
I went to a funeral. Over christmas my friend was diagnosed with a very rare, very aggressive cancer and died last month in their early forties. They left instructions that everyone was to come dressed in purple and yellow, which the several hundred people who showed up did, and there was a beautiful, colourful service with a lot of speeches and laughter and occasional tears.
As sad as it was, it was really nice to see many people I haven't seen in person for a lot of years, and we followed up the formal event with a couple of other extended hangouts/drinking/dancing sessions over the following days - which is exactly what the departed would have wanted. Very strange weekend. Good times, but for all the wrong reasons. Happy, but with a deep sadness underneath it all. The friend in question was someone I knew fairly well, but was one of my partner's best friends of the last 20+ years, and I think that final send-off was more important for them than it was for me.
Was very impressed at my six year old for handling it like a champ. They didn't come to the actual funeral, and barely knew the person it was for, but did encounter quite a lot of the emotional fallout. Seeing them come in to the room and survey the scene before saying "it's good to be sad sometimes, it means you loved that person" followed by leaping in for a big hug damn near broke me right there.
Did some renovations on a basement suite (changed some lights, installed a custom desk, changed a toilet, framed a bathroom mirror, touched up paint, fixed a doorbell, hired a contractor to change the bathtub) and advertised, showed it and got it rented to a great tenant. Very satisfying to see someone praise the look and feel of a comparatively inexpensive suite and say its the nicest one they've seen.
I went to the Paris air show on Saturday!
I have always been interested in aviation, and the Paris air show is basically the place for innovation. Every time I would look into the history of some aircraft, it would say « first introduced at the Paris air show in 19xx ». I never thought it would be something that I could go to though. I am still here in Bordeaux (specifically Pauillac), so Paris is pretty close by train. And it just so happens to line up with a Paris air show year, since it only happens every two years. It was an opportunity I couldn’t pass.
It was an absolutely fantastic experience. My only regret is that I didn’t properly plan my day to include the Concorde tour. It closed at 18:00, and I got there at 17:55, and they had already closed. They have two Concorde there, and I would have been able to walk through the cabins. But oh well, it was still a fantastic experience.
One interesting anecdote: the 747 doesn’t seem that big. It does seem big, but not exceptionally so. On the other hand, the A380 seems huge. It’s just a dominating presence from wherever you see it from. Maybe it’s because the 747 seems more curvy and elegant?