Today is a good day.

I finally got my good friend @socraticmthd to allow me to help him publish the probably final edit how his Novel "The Man with the Luminous Eyes" as a pre-read here on PeakD. It's a Film Noir/Hardboiled Detective novel and one of the most addictive reads that I ever had. Very surreal, too, and over the years and the several reads I did through the different edits, I got more sense of the depths it contains. Both those who just like a good detective plot, as well as those who love metaphors and interpretations will have a lot of fun with this one, I'm sure.

Here's the link - I'd much appreciate if you'd give it a try! And if you have questions - fire away! JM will be happy to talk about his book, I'm quite sure of that. And he's an incredibly knowledgeable and well read guy, so you will most certainly get thoughtful answers to thoughtful questions.

It's going to be posted a chapter a week, maybe more, as the idea is to get the book itself published around European spring.

Though is feels incredible to me, it's not the only reason why this is a good day.

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Mom and Lily are making pancakes downstairs, because it's Saturday and that's pancake day for us at home in Ecuador, so we have to do that here, too. It has been a few very intense days. We spend the most wonderful time with the family, both Christmas Eve as well as Christmas Day. Back in the days, we always met the 25. at my Grandparents house. That tradition went away with them. But thanks to Lily being allowed to be in Germany for the first time, the aunt that I never thought would organize such a gathering did just that - and it was awesome. Everyone came.

Lily was the happiest child among her family. We don't have that in Ecuador. Sure, they come and visit, at least my brother and mother, and she sometimes visits her mom's family over in Colombia. But it's not the same. She misses having family, everyone else around her has family in Ecuador. So, coming here for Christmas, seeing everyone - it meant a lot to me, for her.

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Today we're meeting with extended family - cousins of cousins and such. I probably know like 2 or 3 of the 20 that might come. It's a good reason to spend time with my brother, who will pick us up there. And tomorrow my personal highlight - meeting with my friends from high school for brunch.

That's my kind of Christmas. Coming together. And now, after so many years, I do see a lot more in the symbolism, the traditions, the spiritual part of it. All that while reading Marcus Aurelius. Or maybe because of that.

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JM found this un-remastered album of George Harrison on Youtube:

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I wish you all the most wonderful weekend!

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Post written for the #saturdayselections by Galenkp inviting us to share music in the Weekend Experiences community on Saturdays.

Please feel free to engage in any original way, including dropping links to your posts on similar topics. I'm happy to read (and curate) any quality content that is not created by LLM/AI.