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April 16, 2020

The There There Letter: Time, Taxes, and TAPAS.

Three things from DAH.

DAH is me, David Anthony Hance. I write, organize, plan, produce, manage, direct, act, sing, promote, and make change (not the coin kind).​

First up this week, Time …  
I have to remind myself of this almost daily, despite the fact that it seems fully self-evident to me. Sadly, that self-evidence doesn't always translate appropriately into my behavior. 
Remember then: there is only one time that is important-- Now! It is the most important time because it is the only time when we have any power.
(Leo Tolstoy, What Men Live by and Other Tales)
How We Make Sense of Time   

Second up this week, Taxes …  
Two days ago, 15-April-2020, I mailed off seven separate tax payments. Personal income tax payment, quarterly estimated tax payments, LLC annual tax payment and fees, taxes due for my mother's final year. Yes, I know that some (at least) of those payments could have been put off until summer, but I didn't see how that would be any easier. By summer I'll owe another quarterly estimated tax payment anyway, and paying taxes is a key part of settling my mother's estate. Still, seven separate payments seems like a lot for one day. 
Who first said nothing is certain except death and taxes?   

Third up this week, TAPAS …  
Not the little shared plates of tasty bits. I used to be involved in an organization called TAPAS (Tempranillo Advocates Producers and Amigos Society). It was a time when our family had a wine bar and shop in San Luis Obispo, a place focused on Iberian wines, like Tempranillo. I also worked for a winery making a rather nice and affordable Tempranillo. It was fun introducing people to this old grape and its wines. Tempranillo! Today, both the wine bar and the Tempranillo-making winery are gone. And I just learned that the TAPAS organization lives on only through social media posts of Facebook. Otherwise, TAPAS is shuttered. Nothing is certain, you see. 
A dozen years ago we thought we were onto something.  

That's all for this week. 
From Mary Oliver's poem "Sometimes" …  
Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it. 

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