index.md (9347B)
1 --- 2 title: "Dispatch #20 (October 2024)" 3 date: 2024-10-01T12:00:00-04:00 4 draft: false 5 tags: 6 - dispatch 7 references: 8 - title: "Beyond survival mode" 9 url: https://austinkleon.com/2019/01/18/beyond-survival-mode/ 10 date: 2024-10-02T03:47:24Z 11 file: austinkleon-com-zppigr.txt 12 - title: "The Art of Taking It Slow | The New Yorker" 13 url: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/09/23/the-art-of-taking-it-slow 14 date: 2024-10-02T03:47:24Z 15 file: www-newyorker-com-l1a2a0.txt 16 - title: "Wealth = Have ÷ Need | Derek Sivers" 17 url: https://sive.rs/whn 18 date: 2024-10-02T03:47:25Z 19 file: sive-rs-lwvanv.txt 20 - title: "Attention, Spoiled Software Engineers: Take a Lesson from Google’s Programming Language | WIRED" 21 url: https://www.wired.com/story/attention-spoiled-software-engineers-take-a-lesson-from-googles-programming-language/ 22 date: 2024-10-02T03:47:25Z 23 file: www-wired-com-iimdi0.txt 24 - title: "To Learn to Live in a Mundane Universe - Freddie deBoer" 25 url: https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/to-learn-to-live-in-a-mundane-universe 26 date: 2024-10-02T03:47:26Z 27 file: freddiedeboer-substack-com-wmatij.txt 28 - title: "Coming home | A Working Library" 29 url: https://aworkinglibrary.com/writing/coming-home 30 date: 2024-10-02T03:47:26Z 31 file: aworkinglibrary-com-nhumyz.txt 32 - title: "A good assistant to your future self - Austin Kleon" 33 url: https://austinkleon.com/2023/03/20/a-good-assistant-to-your-future-self/ 34 date: 2024-10-02T03:47:27Z 35 file: austinkleon-com-yahlot.txt 36 - title: "Crypto's missing plateau of productivity - macwright.com" 37 url: https://macwright.com/2024/09/15/cryptos-missing-plateau-of-productivity.html 38 date: 2024-10-02T03:47:28Z 39 file: macwright-com-6wqpgh.txt 40 --- 41 42 Note: I'm trying to get back to posting these in the first couple days of the month, so this dispatch only covers the last two weeks. 43 44 I turned 42 this month (apparently I have a [very common birthday][1]). [_Hitchhiker's Guide_ aside][2], 42 doesn't seem a particularly important milestone, but it _is_ the product of six and seven, and so 42 represents the end of my seventh six-year cycle, which is an interesting way to think about the phases of life. 45 46 [1]: https://www.zippia.com/advice/most-least-common-birthdays/ 47 [2]: https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/42 48 49 <!--more--> 50 51 * 0-6: early childhood 52 * 6-12: elementary school 53 * 12-18: middle + high school 54 * 18-24: college + first job 55 * 24-30: my 20s; started at Viget 56 * 30-36: late single-dude period 57 * 36-42: family man 58 59 What will the next six-year cycle bring? Hopefully more of the same. Life is grand. 60 61 To celebrate, we headed to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, which was a **scene**. Nevie loved Dollywood and visiting with her grandparents, and we enjoyed some time at Great Smoky Mountains National Park. 62 63 {{<dither IMG_3999.jpeg "782x600">}}Little lion tamer shows off her rainbow roar.{{</dither>}} 64 {{<dither IMG_4010.jpeg "782x600">}}Family selfie on a wooded trail, big smiles from every generation enjoying the sunshine.{{</dither>}} 65 66 Nico started daycare last week, which is bittersweet; it's been wonderful having him around all day. But we love our daycare and it's fun to have him and Nev in the same place. 67 68 Just a few more weeks until my half-marathon. I'm feeling relatively good, hitting my mileage goals, though I'm discouraged with my pace and energy level on the longer runs. I'm trying to make time to run while it's light out -- I don't think running in the dark after a long day is doing me any favors. 69 70 Finished a couple small house projects: a hanging system for Nev's art table and some storage for our reusable grocery bags. 71 72 {{<dither IMG_6914.jpeg "782x600">}}Kids’ craft corner with drying paintings clipped to a wooden art station, surrounded by bins of supplies and bags.{{</dither>}} 73 {{<dither IMG_6919.jpeg "782x600">}}Wood-slat hooks corral a rainbow of reusable tote bags near the entryway.{{</dither>}} 74 75 One of my favorite things about running is this: it doesn't matter what else happens throughout the day -- if I run, it was a good day. I feel the same way about these little home improvement efforts: any day I use my tools, skills, and agency to improve our living space is a good day. 76 77 ### This Month 78 79 * Adventure: Wilmington to meet my new nephew, [Bull City Race Fest][3] half-marathon, camping at [Fairy Stone State Park][4] 80 * Project: make a new music track! 81 * Skill: keep working my way through my [drum programming book][5]; I loaded up some samples onto my SP-404 and have made decent progress 82 83 [3]: https://capstoneraces.com/bull-city-race-fest/ 84 [4]: https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state-parks/fairy-stone 85 [5]: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/6399596-drum-programming 86 87 ### Reading 88 89 * Fiction: [_House of Assassins_][6], Larry Correia -- this series isn't blowing my mind but at this point I'm invested enough that I'll see the whole thing through 90 * Non-fiction: [_The World Beyond Your Head_][7], Matthew B. Crawford -- this is really very good and speaks to me at a deep level; a little dense if you (like me) don't read a lot of academic writing but highly recommended regardless 91 92 [6]: https://bookshop.org/p/books/house-of-assassins-volume-2-larry-correia/218731?ean=9781982124458 93 [7]: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-world-beyond-your-head-on-becoming-an-individual-in-an-age-of-distraction-matthew-b-crawford/8484056?ean=9780374535919 94 95 ### Links 96 97 * [Beyond survival mode][8] 98 99 > There are moments with children, even in a boring, safe, suburban existence like mine, where you just feel like you’re in Survival Mode. And every once in a while it lifts and you feel like you’ve moved beyond just surviving, and you feel like you’re actually living. The children eat their food. You all tell stories and laugh. Books after tubs with no whining. You’re a quartet, and you’re all performing the same music. 100 101 * [The Art of Taking It Slow][9] 102 103 > Contemporary cycling is all about spandex and personal bests. The bicycle designer Grant Petersen has amassed an ardent following by urging people to get comfortable bikes, and go easy. 104 105 * [Wealth = Have ÷ Need][10] 106 107 > Making money depends on other people, so it’s harder. It’s not entirely under your control. It’s an outer game. Reducing what you need is easier. It’s entirely under your control. It’s an inner game. 108 109 * [Attention, Spoiled Software Engineers: Take a Lesson from Google’s Programming Language][11] 110 111 > Perhaps this is why I see the ethos behind the programming language Go as both a rebuke and a potential corrective to my generation of strivers. Its creators hail from an era when programmers had smaller egos and fewer commercial ambitions, and it is, for my money, the premier general-purpose language of the new millennium -- not the best at any one thing, but nearly the best at nearly everything. A model for our flashy times. 112 113 * [To Learn to Live in a Mundane Universe][12] 114 115 > You have to imagine a life you can live with, where you are, when you are. If you don’t, you’ll never be satisfied. Neither AI nor anything else is coming to save you from the things you don’t like about being a person. The better life you absolutely can build isn’t going to be brought to you by ChatGPT but by your own steady uphill clawing and through careful management of your own expectations. You live here. This is it. That’s what I would tell to everyone out there: this is it. This is it. This is it. You’re never going to hang out with Mr. Data on the Holodeck. I know that, for a lot of people, mundane reality is everything they want to escape. But it could be so much worse. 116 117 * [Coming home][13] 118 119 > There was a time when I felt some resonance between spending time in the social stream and doing my own work. As if the movement of the water imparted some energy or power I could make use of, and then return. But it’s been a long time since I’ve felt that way. 120 121 * [A good assistant to your future self][14] 122 123 > Yes, a diary is a good spaceship for time travel: for meditating on the present, flinging ourselves into the future, and visiting ourselves in the past. 124 125 * [Crypto's missing plateau of productivity][15] 126 127 > I think that even the most overhyped technology usually delivers some benefit to the world. And often succeeds quietly, long after the hype has died. Recent examples include 3D printing, which has found massive success in prototyping, medical applications - a friend had a filling 3D-printed right in his doctor’s office - and niche consumer items. Etsy is awash with 3D printed lamps, some even that I own. Or drones, which are now used all the time in news coverage, on job sites, and by people filming themselves hiking. 128 129 [8]: https://austinkleon.com/2019/01/18/beyond-survival-mode/ 130 [9]: https://sive.rs/whn 131 [10]: https://www.wired.com/story/attention-spoiled-software-engineers-take-a-lesson-from-googles-programming-language/ 132 [11]: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/09/23/the-art-of-taking-it-slow 133 [12]: https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/to-learn-to-live-in-a-mundane-universe?publication_id=295937&post_id=148918222&isFreemail=true&r=1dfk2&triedRedirect=true 134 [13]: https://aworkinglibrary.com/writing/coming-home 135 [14]: https://austinkleon.com/2023/03/20/a-good-assistant-to-your-future-self/ 136 [15]: https://macwright.com/2024/09/15/cryptos-missing-plateau-of-productivity.html