When I was in Los Angeles in November, I watched Gattaca with my friend and her husband, which I’d never seen and is one of their favorite movies.
And in one of the last scenes, Ethan Hawke is swimming out into the ocean with his brother in a distance contest, and Ethan Hawke beats him, which shouldn’t happen given that he’s supposed to be weaker and inferior, etc, whatever, watch the movie if you want to know, the point is that his brother asks him how he does it and he shouts:
YOU WANT TO KNOW HOW I DID IT? THIS IS HOW I DID IT, ANTON: I NEVER SAVED ANYTHING FOR THE SWIM BACK.
And my friend paused the movie and turned to me and said, “Whenever anyone asks how I do so much, I tell them that: I never save anything for the swim back.”
All of which is a much nicer way of saying, “You can sleep when you’re dead.”
Which I agree with, in theory. In reality I am so fond of my bed.
So today I’m trying to think through how that works out with my personal philosophy of taking as many naps as possible.