I’ve got a shipment to pickup from Home Depot. Sixty red bricks.

They’re going to become a planter. Not on their own volition, as you might have guessed.

I’m not sure it’s going to work but I’m going to try. Beautify the yard before redoing it later.

2

Tried self-driving on the way up to a concert in LA. Very sold. But did have to make a few interventions. Almost there.

3

The concert in question was the “Cretin Family”; supergroup cover band put together for a Ramones 50th anniversary show. It was fun. Setting was the Hollywood Forever — a fancy cemetery that hosts events amidst the graves. I bet most of these people didn’t expect become posthumous churro vendors.

John Travolta hosted it and also made us watch his new short film about life and planes which was mediocre. Then we watched Carrie which he’s also not great in and I was unimpressed again.

My brother says I’m overly critical (mostly of restaurants) which is probably true. But the dream job has always just been to be these guys.

4

It’s been weeks since I marked a new bird I’ve seen. Someone come with me. There had been news of some rare sighting of a juvenile purple bird in Irvine but I didn’t wade out into the marshes with crowds. If this damn heat wave would leave I could go on a hike with the binox.

5

I finished After Many A Summer Dies the Swan. Disappointing and disjointed scattered with great lines and passages is probably my best vague review. The story itself seems fine, but it’s just not a smooth or enjoyable read. Conceptually the ideas are good until the end — but with Bryan Johnson always in the news it’s a good reminder to that even if you could stay immortal your body and mind could never keep up.

fin.

Meanwhile the more foolproof human options (the talented people) will just become more expensive. Apparently it was rage bait, but I still saw it nonetheless, was a $10k deep cleaning service — honestly with how deep it went, I’m not that shocked by the price. It would probably be unable to be done by a robot for decades to come.

When these things work, it’s great, but the days they don’t, all appreciation and gratitude goes out the window as I begin my decline into speciesism and start throwing terms around like “clanker”2. Ironically, the video is voiced by an AI; while helpful, further advancing dead internet theory. You even see recommendations by some of the worst (internet )people — “hustlers” who suggest that you could spin up a channel of AI content on YouTube or wherever. Yes, you could probably make money. But how it’s getting views (unless by mostly other robots) or that people nowadays generally don’t care, I don’t know. The clanker video above is a rare look into the utility of them. Maybe there really are that many internet addicted billions in the world that even casual clicks end up getting people thousands or millions of views. Hard to say.

Meanwhile, I spent my night writing thank you cards — not even that many — and my wrist is a bit sore. I need to return to writing by hand or the muscle will atrophy. (Though I would love to stop using a mouse so frequently which hurts a different part of my wrist) Something could be written on the difference between what comes out when typing vs. writing, I’m not sure what it would be, but it would be something.

2

There is a kind of joke online that future bigotry will exist against humanoid robots that make us modern humans bigots like people view their grandparents disapproving of biracial or multi-religious dating.

How many times have I shared this video? This won’t be the last.

My first major pop concert was Karol G on August 16, 2026. A bit late you ask? No, earlier than expected. The only other football stadium concert I’ve ever seen was Metallica/A7x/Gojira, quite a bit different.

A few less in basketball/hockey stadiums; Muse, Eric Clapton, a bunch of older rock bands like Alice Cooper, AFI, Death Cab for Cutie, many others. See the difference? Most of them make music. Karol G had a band playing but they were barely visible. A few segments had music breaks — a guitar solo, a mariachi band, but she’s mostly just dancing around singing with a nameless horde behind her.

We weren’t that close up so luckily we could see on the screens, but even if we had been up front, we’d have missed a lot of the show since it’s so spread out. A lot of their moves are directed towards the camera.

I have tickets to Young Miko in October, that’s a basketball sized concert. It will likely be too big for me still but hopefully a little more visible for the show aspect.

Preferably all shows should be in little clubs where you can see them sweating and they’re playing live. I don’t care much for the big shows, even if I like the music. The stadium shows are great for them making money but have pivoted a bit to content making and spectacle. Do you know how many people I saw filming themselves singing the songs last night?

Am I going anywhere with this? I suppose this is a possible essay akin to A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again that I could write, but it’s just this little rant here today. I’m tired and I’m doing this late so this is what you get.

Based on the above, you might assume I didn’t have a good time. That is not the case! I simply didn’t not enjoy much of the surrounding activity (traffic, drink prices, etc.) or attendance of the event. The show was good and I enjoyed the way the songs were performed live (at least the ones I knew) and the dancing was good (from what I could tell from up high).

Without sounding too crass; the people watching highlights, or lowlights, were huge women in tiny shorts, lots of orange, see through, and sparkles, all unfitting, and a morbidly obese man getting some kind of medical help from a huge team of paramedics and watching people try to film it but getting flashlights in their camera (rightfully so).

Raising Canes had a DJ before and after the show though which is insane, but being sandwiched between SoFi and Intuit, you know they print money there. We’ve got a Tender Box with our name on it for the next show.

Time to start practicing my Young Miko songs so…

I’m finding out that Guatemalans really aren’t big fans of burritos. They just don’t get the flour tortilla. Sometimes delicious ingredients can convert them, but other times not. Today I found out two in particular (my now cuñados) thought that poke in a burrito with beans was strange to them. Maybe it’s like me thinking lime juice in soup or hot soup in the heat is strange but I’m not really sure. At least one of them is a very open minded eater — so I’m not sure what happened. I’m not shaming them for not liking it, I don’t care. I was just trying to understand while sharing one of my favorite things (the poke burrito from Bear Flag).

Just an observation.

I got married this weekend so I almost skipped but I’m trying my best, that’s no excuse.

Ugh I can’t wait for the new Bear Flag down the street so I can buy all of my fish there. We have an abundance of great butchers, but a dearth of fine fishmongers, weird for a coastal beach town. Or have y’all been gatekeeping?

OK — I’m using my get out of jail free card. Here’s some fun stuff from X this week. It’s short, that’s fine. See y’all next time.

And we’re bumping this until the next one:

“Did you know it’s Greek” in the voice of the character of My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Speaking of Greece, a new Hardcore History just dropped after what feels like an eternity, covering none other than Alexander the Great.

I haven’t had the chance to listen yet. One I did listen to (the free preview anyways since I don’t subscribe) is a new one called Articles of Interest.

Derek doesn’t need more marketing as he has much more exposure than I’d ever hope to have, and yet, here is a podcast I’m sure most of you haven’t encountered yet. I’ve mentioned him before, he’s one of my favorite online personalities, of which I have very few I follow. Oddly, I only follow a few people1 who discuss topics I don’t’ personally engage with much. Maybe it’s only for fascinations that I don’t feel comfortable doing my own research w/o guidance? That’s worth looking into as well.

Articles Of Interest

Philosophy Club: Bernard Mandeville

I’m so excited to announce that I’m launching a new series with none other than Derek Guy- one of my favorite minds in fashion…

Listen now

a month ago · 216 likes · 5 comments · Articles Of Interest and Derek Guy

I was inspired by the podcast to read the original print first; I should be essay maxxing the past but I’m working my way through some modern things first. I need to get back to my roots of now obscure but once praised intellectual writings. Those are fun, and always let me lean into history lessons I’m due for.

A quote to summarize (part of) the ‘poem’, though it’s worth reading the whole thing. As always very fitting even today despite the centuries long difference.

Thoughts on the podcast: It seems fun and I like the direction. Will I pay to subscribe? I don’t know yet. I might just read the book they’re using as a guide. We shall see. Depends on how much time I want to put in.

1

Should I catalog some folks I like? At least with regards to fashion, style, and culture, this is my short list. How did I end up here? I’m not sure — they all touch on history and philosophy which maybe is the core driver. I should find more people who talk like them but in other fields to help learn about those things.

Find the core of what drives your curiosity and use that to learn about other interests rather than from the outside in.

Here are some channels I like w/ their most popular video (or a top one that I prefer)

Derek Guy

David W Marx

~

The ancient Egyptians made rings out of hemp and papyrus to symbolize eternity (how we know this, I’m not sure). It was then that fourth finger of the left hand became the ring finger. Long before the Vitruvian man, they thought a specific vein ran straight to the heart — we still wear rings on that finger. Unless you’re from any number of Latin (or other countries) that have swapped it over to the right. (As confirmed by conversation at a recent wedding in Madrid with two couples of (very) mixed cultural backgrounds. There are lot of options if you happen to be born outside of “the west”, or just other places in it.

~

Romans had iron and made it a legal thing. Apparently rich ones used gold. So basically the same as now already.

~

Once the Church got invented everything got more complicated. Some more funky ones include:

• Poesy rings: plain metal bands with secret love notes, initials, or religious couplets carved on the inside

• Gimmel rings: three-piece puzzle bands split between the couple and a witness during the engagement and then snapped back into a single piece at the wedding

~

Marketing and mining weren’t international businesses yet so gemstones weren’t the focal money maker they are now. Caesar didn’t go to Jared. They were about magic and utility.

• Romans carved family crests to stamp hot wax on official letters — basically their version of the signet ring (which already existed)

• Renaissance lovers chose stones for powers like in Diablo (but less interesting): Sapphire for heavenly purity and loyalty. Ruby for vital warmth. Emerald for eternal hope.

• More recently, think the last few centuries, English people made “acrostic” jewelry, setting rings with combinations like Diamond, Emerald, Amethyst, Ruby, Emerald, Sapphire, and Topaz to spell DEAREST. I wonder if it was actually that common or happened just enough times to be on the internet. Does anyone still do that?

• Diamonds, still MIA, until Archduke Maximilian of Austria “famously kicked off the royal diamond craze in 1477 by giving Mary of Burgundy a ring set with tiny, flat diamonds arranged in the shape of an M.” But Leo hadn’t made Blood Diamond yet, so it couldn’t really become a standard.

• 1860s South Africa finds a whole bunch and boom goes the dynamite.. Next thing you know the marketers go crazy in global print and more and more media formats, we teach rocks to think, so they can sell us more rocks to wear… We haven’t escaped this part yet.

~

Pre-1940s, men almost never wore wedding bands, but it turns out that shipping young men off to the trenches meant women wanted their boys to remember them (or something like that).

These were simple gold or steel bands that they kept on once (if) they came back.

Jewelry companies pushed the idea. (Watches also became masculine in the trenches.)

Fast forward: Great Depression crushes diamond sales, “A Diamond Is Forever.” is written, they plant diamonds all over Hollywood stars and con the world into spending salary requirements to spend on a diamond— ya, that was their idea too.

So you can basically do whatever you please. As with all things in life; standards can be great guides but they can also be a remnant of somebody’s bullshit. You ever looked into 10,000 steps? Actually good advice, but arbitrary.

~

Metals are interesting too.

Gold is pretty standard these days and has been around forever. But if you lean platinum, you’ve got more modern tastes. Cartier invented intricate platinum jewelry in the mid-1800s (the fact that their old is a big part of why people like to spend too much money for their stuff) Worked great for Art Deco styles gold could never support — I still don’t really get what art deco is so that could be another week’s investigation.

During WWII the U.S. government banned platinum for civilians which forced jewelers back to white gold. And sometime after that it came back. I know I’m a genuine reincarnation of Will Durant my history storytelling is so good…

I asked AI to recap and it gave me the most AI sounding AI slop of all.

“When you look at the full arc, the ring on anyone’s finger isn’t a static piece of tradition. It’s a layer cake of Egyptian geometry, Roman property law, medieval poetry, wartime nostalgia, 19th-century metallurgy, and mid-century advertising genius.”

Take that Beyonce. 2

2

Not Beyonce related, but I wanted to add an ending note. I really wanted to share a million Twitter posts but it wouldn’t carry the same weight as doom scrolling the million takes on The Odyssey, Angel Reese, the weird ass racoon, and whatever else was going on. But it’s the best companion social media to substack, so if you’re here, go there too. C’mon, gold.

This has served it’s purpose, but is it still? I enjoy the writing process but lately this has become rushed.

It’s meant to be thoughtful. To help me organize what I’ve been thinking about. To share what I find or can’t answer so that whoever is reading can find a thread to pull in their own investigations. Related to what I was doing or not. A catalyst for your own journey.

I’m technically writing this on Tuesday, so I missed it. No one is keeping track but I think that gets an asterisk, it’s still Monday in California.

I’m in Madrid now. It’s been a great reminder of the friends I have here and how great they are. Coincidentally Spain won the World Cup while I was here, I promise that wasn’t planned. I got to pretend I was a Spaniard and be excited, though I will admit they just made the top 5 of teams I was rooting for, even if I see this as one of my core cities.

I’m heading back home soon — maybe since Madrid still feels like a home I didn’t have any real draw to do anything in particular. Simply being here made things happen. Maybe that’s what it means to really know a place. When you finally have story filled days where you seek nothing, you only exist. Maybe it’s just the circumstances of how I’m here. Maybe it’s the overbearing heat that prevents any serious urban hiking that I’m known for, if I’m even known for anything.

I met lots of people, forgot a lot of them, but will consider myself new friends with others. The webs all connect somewhere and it gets tangled. But you don’t try to undo it, the webs get woven and they connections are strength. I guess it’s all the live in the moment stuff people say.

Anyways, it looks like I should take back the concession since I’m getting some self-realization here that this a deeper topic than I expected to land on. I’m too tired to keep this going but hopefully I can tap back in to this idea again.

This is why even when you don’t feel like it, you must do the things you say you want to do. The inspiration will come to you. Push through the minor inconvenience to unlock the gems. This is no minor threat to your future. If you let the inconveniences stop you, you won’t do anything.

And with that… I guess I’m safe.

Most of civilization has been created in order to thwart surprising things from happen. They allow for planning and consistency. In general terms, this is a good thing, it makes thinking easy. Overall however, it makes life a bit less exciting.

You must create your own opportunities to see surprising results. You must let some risk in (some surprises aren’t good after all, and most opportunities can go both ways).

~

B&Bs might need to make a come back. They can be both more personal, cheaper, and higher quality than amateur run AirBNBs or chain hotels though they could be worse too, see above. Take the chance once and a while; Ted and Sally up in Vancouver taught us local history and provided custom breakfast while staying in their safari themed “Hemmingway Room”.

~

Things are overwhelming. Get rid of as many things as you can. Ideally more than you can in operate in a slight state of need. You will be happier. Probably.

~

Be hungry more too. That’s appendix to the one above. Always do a take a little less than you need.

~

Break more stuff. Use it hard. Don’t give it away or replace it until that thing fucking snaps. Unless it’s for safety than replace it earlier than that.

~

Go on hiatus for something — is that me asking for a break from these? It might be. Don’t just stop doing the thing though, replace it with a totally new thing. See what changes.

~

Stop giving advice. I don’t know how I started here but I don’t like it. Don’t listen to me. I’m just talking to myself.

~

2 days until new Protest the Hero. That’s not advice, it’s just a heads up.

~

In case you missed it..

They “one more couched” in Newport last night. I was upset about this one though. Hypocrite or getting older? Here’s a pic of the original (I think) — I wish I had saved the One More Couch Daily headline — I think a friend framed his, smart.

Ours was nonviolent and we did it mostly safely though the fire dept. There had been fireworks going off after there was a power outage, I don’t recall if it was summer or not. This Newport one was violent and destructive of others’ property which is inherently different. Not as bad as the other famous burning during my college days though.. that’s worse.

This is what Newport looked like — you can find more videos online.

On the plus side, fireworks were at an all time high for 250th birthday and Balogun back in the lineup. America1, frick2 yeah.

Maybe they are really just being open about them selling false hopes and dreams; the opportunity to imagine what could be — people fail to see the negatives that could be if they endlessly gamble their money away. To me it seems like they’re saying “imagine all the things we can do with your money, if you just give it to us”.

Has there ever been a lottery system that benefits society? Where does the revenue from the lottery go? Roads? I’m sure it’s published but I’m not that interested as I don’t participate.

What I really want to share is the following two, famous (to me at least), short stories that evoke a similarly dystopian view but with a darker twist. Here they are for your reading pleasure.

Lottery of Babylon (Borges)

The Lottery (Jackson)

They’re short, I promise, and they’re far more interesting than hearing about me and my thoughts this week. I’ll follow up with a Dallas/World Cup debrief perhaps next week.

With regards to that WC, how about them upsets today? Sadly Japan wasn’t one of them. But Germany and Netherlands out in Round 1 of Knockouts!? Anything can happen.

Happy reading :)

I don’t have an answer. Some times you don’t have the luxury of swapping back and forth interchangeably. Often one decision cancels out the other.

There was a study a long time ago where people were happier when they didn’t have a choice, they just got a poster to enjoy. There was no room for regret.

Enter Paradox of Choice among other books on irrationality and behavioral psychology.

I spent my early twenties only reading things on this. Humans have an almost hell like situation where we have the illusion of choice everywhere leading to decision fatigue and regret even when often times our choices are made for us — either by other people or by ourselves subconsciously.

I’d doubt many of us think decisions through the same way. There are obvious frameworks we learn as children like pros/cons but most of us probably have a unique weighting system, heavily lean into bias and emotion, and are affected by others. Maybe there is some correlation between how someone makes decisions and where there life results are — but as you can see by reading biographies of successful people, and any other proxy for learning how someone else did something, you can’t replicate everything. We are each playing a unique game, there are just some similarities between them. You can’t learn the plays and run them as is, you have to adjust them to what’s in front of you. Which means understanding why they work, not simply that they do.

Want more analogies or sentences like this? I could give them but I’m not sure they’d help anyone. I’m not sure the rest of this helps anyone either. But let me know if you want to chat about this, it might kindle something in you or rekindle something in me.

~

Disclaimer: I’m honestly way to wrapped up in the World Cup to be diving in to anything new I can share with you. I’m not listening to much new or old music, I’m reading an Aldous Huxley book that’s not Brave New World but I’m just getting started.

I’m also listening to The Witcher, which is great but has only covered stories I knew from the show and video game. The latter being more promising, I’ll probably read more.

The barber asked if I’ve seen anything new that was good lately, I haven’t and we ended up on the enshitification of movies and how everything is a franchise and made for money. A more visible version of what happens when PE buys things and makes everything cheaper and optimized for sales. Then they can boost sales and sell based on those numbers before dumping the tarnished name on somebody willing to take it even lower.

So many things I used to be interested in have devolved to the point it’s interesting but I’ve lost interest — mostly due to social media optimizing for algorithms, data driven decision making making things for the averages and quantity of sales rather than for the best outcome. I want to stay positive generally but this is what happens — at least in mainstream spaces.

If only there was a way to just stay in the shadows, in the place where there is real growth, not just GMO corn fields (the generic slop culture). The worst part is, I know that I fall victim to it all of the time. Not only my purchases, but my taste. No one resists, it spills into the real world.

Maybe the trick is just making a choice to try and avoid it or at least to notice it when it’s happening. Then at least you can relax because it was an inevitability and not a fault of yours you should regret.

fin.

It’s fun to be wrapped up in something. This should be your life all the time just with your own self direction. Find your mundial with me.

Spent some time at a Spanish speaking party — a new person I met mad a comment that I was really into languages. I guess it must have seen that way but maybe it’s true. Time to re-dig into Japanese and maybe brush some older ones off the shelf, even if I have a bunch of Spanish improvement to do.

This dovetails nicely with the auto translation on Twitter, now X, that has been making the worldwide communication happen that much more. World cup + languages + engaging with foreigners is bridging gaps, at least when done w/ good intent; no bot farms, political trolls, spam etc.

Let’s keep it going.

Outside of walking; look into these genres of music, they will lead down fun paths. No direction from me, I want to keep it open to your own discovery this week.

Enjoy your descanso from me ;)

• Ethiopian jazz

• Japanese ska

• Korean hardcore

• Taiwanese math rock

• Argentinian indie rock

• Australian, well anything!

If you like I’ll be over at @brobcohen so you can connect on one more platform.

I’m probably grossly misrepresenting the city. People still love it and there is a lot going on there for innovation, but it seems like the basic beauty that had been there before is decaying. The trees and birds are still there (along with the swarms of mosquitos) but the streets are run down.

I can’t say I don’t like the city. Despite the above, I enjoyed the water life — river setting and weather were great; with amazing houses alongside to boot. While fun for a weekend, I’m sure the Havasu style boat parties get old as a resident. (Lake Austin)

There is some further riverfront development, Barton Springs, and the other outdoor lifestyle spots that give the city a ton of points. Those same points get erased by “dirty sixth” that is basically a mini mardi gras. The other famous streets of Congress and Rainey were a bit better; at least cleaner and calmer despite plenty going on. I think it will need another revisit.

My little time there has always been very enjoyable but I’ve never really dove into searching for the things I’d normally search for — rather it’s been more of a party vibe. Maybe one day a food, artisan, nature, and coffee tour will happen and I’ll find what I thought was there. SXSW + ACL could be fun options too if they’re not ruined — it sounds like they used to be much more unique and forward thinking back in the day.

Supposedly San Antonio is also thriving these days, and while it’s been 25 years since I went, I still haven’t forgotten The Alamo, so even if this issue passes you off, you can’t get mad at me for doing that. It’s like the only real rule in Texas, right?

This trip was brought about by a bachelor party — so I’m fully aware I was contributing and participating in the negative development of the city that I mentioned. But more meaningfully than any critique of the city, was the time spent with friends I haven’t seen in a while. As you might have imagined I spent more time than probably anyone else wanted sharing deep cuts and recent finds; some you already know of if you read this with any level of consistency, some were more reactions to specific questions and haven’t been shared before. Let’s see what I can remember; apologies for the repeats if you’ve seen these.

~

I know you’re sick of hearing this, but this was a big topic as I found and gathered more birders on the trip. It’s a surf/skate style video about guys who didn’t bird watch but who dove right in. Great watch, even the second time through.

Tunes - I shared a couple playlists but these two were probably the best received. Boat party we kicked off with my playlist from back in London a couple years ago.

The other one was one part of a large playlist transfer to my friend Evan who always is looking to dabble in new tunes. He’s been diving into Dance Gavin Dance lately and so this was a more chill path to continue down since he doesn’t always need screaming in the background, unlike yours truly.

Coincidentally, I had hoped to go to a DGD concert with my cousin Jason this summer but I will be out of town. Here’s the song I’d probably want to hear most. It was on heavy repeat back in the day.

This was their first album and my favorite — so I’d not hope too much to hear all of my favorites from there. They have so much member turn-over I don’t know how they handle setlists.

One of their ex members is inn Strawberry Girls, another rec I gave Evan since he’s a Ben Rosett fan, also in the band.

This wasn’t discussed as I only just now saw it, but there is new Protest the Hero and I am excited since this single holds up to the past.

In sum, Austin was fun. If only I had gotten to see the Painted Bunting then it would have checked all the imaginary boxes. Instead all we saw were a ton of doves and grackles.

I don’t have mine yet. It’s on my to-do list. (This isn’t a joke). Most people have their own version of whichever one they grew up with or culture they grew up around. A lot of it is trial and error but most of it is just proximity and familiarity. Religious people and those who study philosophy are often the only ones who ever really question their beliefs but it’s generally (consciously or not) rooted in reaffirming what they already believe.

We’ve also all added secular gods1 to our beings — individuality, money/capitalism, whatever the hell social media is pushing.

So we’ve got a whole lot of garbage other people put in our heads. But someone said somewhere your body is a temple, they’ve got the memory palace, and some other metaphors about how your mind should be sacred and clean. Well, stop letting people trapse mud in with their boots and taking a shit in your bathroom (you’re lucky if they don’t just do it on your entry mat, though that’s more likely!)

Your practice is how you live — look at it, decide what’s important.

Your prayers are whatever you’re grateful for and you want to appreciate in the moment. Even if it’s just saying itadakimasu2 before eating after Japan convinces you; basically just a really short hamotzi if you think about it.

Your ideology is your bible.

Something like that. I’m not trying to convince you to do this; that would be shitting on your couch. Do whatever you like.

I’m just shouting at the clouds saying that people should do this. Not everyone should do this. Religion works because people want a template. They want to know it’s worked for others. They want tradition. But some people don’t like default. Many of you who read this can handle making your own choices and being beholden only to yourself and not afraid of the repercussions. The more or less chaotic you want the universe you believe in to be the better, All hail entropy! Go for it. Even if you don’t like what you make, it’d be fun to come up with one.

Believe me, you’re already doing it on accident — your habits have changed when you traveled somewhere, when you were exposed to something new, and you adopted it into you. It happens consciously sometimes, more often accidentally. Sometimes from family and friends, other times from strangers. Go wild. There’s a Flying Spaghetti Monster, you can be anything you want.

@thatbuschlatteguyYou can call me anything you want but dont call me that😂😂😂😂 #livelaughlatte🍻 #lakelife #dadsoftiktok #laughter #fyp

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…I had something good here and then Chrome crashed and I lost my progress and I had to relog in to everything. Something shady probably happened. I shouldn’t be using Chrome, that’s my first mistake but here I am anyways. Didn’t I say above we shouldn’t use default? It wasn’t when I adopted it but there are better options now.

What the hell was I talking about? Could it have been my Harrison Bergeron-like mental inhibitors were firing? Maybe it wasn’t that important? Why are you crying? I don’t remember.

More on the move in, organize, and resettle front. Send inspiration and tips in exchange for good will, maybe something interesting? Who knows.

Last parting advice. Buy and extra firm mattress and also this badass thing from Ikea if you have a place for it.

Ok, adios.

Two hours after building a bed, that worked out fine in the end, but after a few messed up steps, we find out the mattress doesn’t fit. So now what?

I had a flashback to all the Lego instructions that didn’t have words and were only visual and made me build aimlessly after abandoning the instructions I couldn’t figure out.

I am not a visual acuity kind of guy — I’d much prefer words alongside it. I could easily pawn this fault off on the designer, but I know I couldn’t do that job either.

My mistakes generally come from a lack of understanding what you’re actually building. They break the problem into sub-problems but they don’t identify each section, you have to trust with blind faith and hope you interpreted the hieroglyphics right. I’m not great at that. It hurts me to admit that. Perhaps you engineer, visual puzzling types like them and can’t fathom not seeing how it all comes together. I can’t see shit. I have an astigmatism.

Apologies that my frustration is still settling down and it’s leaking into the writing. Dashing some Bukowski1 into my normal calm like the paprika on the Mahi Mahi in the oven right now.

I actually love Legos — this one especially I remember from childhood. Conceptually, story wise, the games, the idea of it.

I might actually enjoy the calm of it specifically because it’s not something I need to use — but it frustrated me a lot as a kid, the way things are frustrating me on this bed now. I love the building. I hate the backtracking because something went wrong.

It’s all about the mindset — when you’re building Legos, the struggle and puzzle IS THE POINT, whereas I just wanted a damn bed and I thought it would be easy enough to not pay $90 for some guy to do it for me. It was easy enough, but it took more time that the pro doing it and I’m not sure it is rewarding in the end….you know, with the whole mattress doesn’t fit thing.

I guess what I’m saying is that I need to give Legos another chance. If you have an old set I can try, let me know. It better be damn complete before I lose my mind for a missing piece that prevents it from being completed.

I never did get to finish this game since it always glitched but it was still fun as hell. Did everyone’s glitch or was my CD scratched or something? I have so many tales of games glitching back then and I never knew if it was just me or my poor maintenance of the discs. Even now, any technological pause or setback I assume it’s not my fault, but it could be — hardware, internet connection, maintenance. But it’s probably them! If the designers made it simpler even dumb people could do anything. So, get better designers.

Chrome absolutely shitting the bed as I write this one — freezing up, proving my point.

*deep breath* I’m zen…

A movie you probably haven’t seen is Surf School. It stars Sisqo2 and people you’ve never heard of. One of my favorite lines in it is “How about a little mahi mahi” or something like that. You should watch it if you can find it. It’s so absolutely terrible, it’s amazing. Shout out my friend Matt who appreciated it with me more than anyone else. They even had their own theme song ~ surf school surf school surrrrrrrrrrrf school.

It’s so quotable, it’s one that will give you a full arsenal of useless quotes to drop in and for nobody to recognize. One of my trademarks, and it can be yours for 19.95 + S&H…3

I’m out. Big wave.

1

Is this guy just reposting old writers? Is he getting paid? Is that legal? Whatever.

Poetic Outlaws

now, if you were teaching creative writing, he asked, what would you tell them?

I'd tell them to have an unhappy love affair, hemorrhoids, bad teeth and to drink cheap wine, avoid opera and golf and chess, to keep switching the head of their bed from wall to wall and then I'd tell them to have another unhappy love affair and never to use a silk typewriter ribbon, avoid family picnics or being photographed in a rose garden; read Hem…

Read more

2 years ago · 534 likes · 36 comments · Poetic Outlaws

In the process of moving and I guess that’s all it took, despite all of the other conflicts I’ve had in the past. My time competing with itself for my attention.

So it goes.

Japan

I’ve been following a lot of accounts doing dad jokes and puns in Japanese/English. While I haven’t practiced any Japanese I can follow with translations and hopefully I can back pocket a few of these. One that stands out this morning is something like..

How do you feel when eating in the morning?

Super shocked — cho shokku // which sounds like breakfast (chōshoku)

Not sure this is any better for learning than anime, but it’s fun and I send voice recordings to the gorditos in Japan for laughs.

I’ve also been listening to this guy a lot. Itadakimasu.

As an aside, I need to find my Kindle so I can finish Shogun, it was getting pretty good and I’ve got a bit left to go.

House, not the MD

I mentioned I’ve been moving. Many of you have done this before, set up a house, etc. Please send recommendations of best things to have, best life hacks, etc. I run a pretty tight ship, but there are always others who have sailed other seas. Just don’t get mad if I disregard some suggestions. I tend to do that.

Game Night

Played a gamer called 7 Wonders with some long time friends — it was a great game, great night. We had Greek food. Ben was there (he doesn’t like it when I don’t name drop him).

We watched an intro video ahead of time but it was much easier to learn while doing — playing open handed, with questions and discussion. I’m not sure all learning is better this way, but I think most is. No risk in making mistakes, you can try and fail. Test things out with the expectation they won’t turn out. All that is learning, just not the same as a list of things to do. You remember what not to do better from a little loss than from only sticking to the basic instructions where you might not think as creatively. Something, something life lesson.

I’m clutching at straws here in the name of consistency, but this is a lazy week since I’ve already lost, I’m making the best of it. All you can do.

What did Aaliyah say? You can dust it off and try again? But didn’t she die in a plane crash maybe from the illuminati or whatever the conspiracy theorists say? Beyonce? Anyways, she didn’t brush herself off from that, but hopefully your failures in controlled settings when learning are a lot less dangerous. Unless of course it was a staged death so she could live out her life and enjoy her riches in peace, though that’s a whole other conspiracy theory.

Oh that reminds me, I should probably buy some tinfoil for the new house…. (I hear parchment paper is the safer bet)

Deliberate set up mostly.

What’s been done so far? Salvaging garden plants. The hopeful in question:

• A toasted bay leaf plant

• A twig that had been a olive tree

• Several pepper plants and cuttings; jalapeno, bell, and shishito

• A citrus plant?? I thought it was a pepper until I jabbed my finger on a thorn. It might just be a weed? Honestly, I can’t tell…

• A dwarf peach tree with one leaf

What’s next?

• Assess the space and build a planter

• Get some seeds/starters for things like zucchini and tomatoes

• Save and resprout scraps from veggies we buy at the store — more pepper seeds, onions and the other allium greens not buried, maybe some other stuff

• Herbs

• Not edible, but try to make some jade plant bansais

• Ger my indoor plant game down — need to straighten out a some vases + get the low light jungle pals revitalized and ready to go.

Am I a plant guy? I’m getting there. I want to be. Taking Cohen’s Gardens back to the top (I have my grandma’s old business card from however long ago that was — 70s? 80s?).

More systems underway — workshop and office build out and plan, skills tracking & building agent + the actual skill building itself, some kind of cookbook, creating processes for the pantry/kitchen maintenance, and I’m sure a whole lot more.

I’d love to hear what kind of stuff you’ve got going so I can copy shamelessly :)

Hmm.. do I have any beer and circus recommendations this week? Not many; for the “beer” section I found a vermouth in Buenos Aires called Carpano that I was a fan of.

Circus we’ve got a bit less to pick through, but I’m digging the TV version of Man on Fire, like the Denzel movie but a mini series from Brazil on Netflix. Classic CIA guy gets called back into action story, except the guy sometimes looks like a cross between Kevin Durant and Kevin Hart, idk why though.

aannnnnnnnd these two old foreign screamo groups you’ll probably skip.

I shared live videos because that’s more fun.

More to come, I’m fighting off a cold, so I’m a little slim today… shikata ga nai.1

I always say intent matters. It does for actions. It does for just about anything. There are a lot of routes this could go down because it becomes nuanced the closer you look — as is everything. We’re going in circles here so let me break out and move on.

Start here: https://www.sirlin.net/articles/playing-to-win. I don’t know where I found this, it was an open tab in my browser, this has become a common problem for me.1

In games, you can play to win - which means all is fair (in love and war2) or you can play for fun3. This is where if you’re trying to cooperate with someone (games aside but it helps to think about them since it’s an easier concept) you need to have the same goals and intents in mind. You might want the same outcome but want to get there differently. This is perhaps objectively worse that wanting a different outcome but wanting to get there the same way, as you could enjoy the ride and part ways at the end. Whereas in the first example you end up bickering and disagreeing the whole way there, and while you might be successful at the end, you had a shitty time.4

What the hell was that whole “saw is the law” thing at the beginning? I’m glad you asked. Yes the villain in the movie Saw is Jigsaw, but that just gave me an excuse to share a song I think you’ll hate. Enjoy!

Of course, I chose this option. I could have stayed in the sterile docility of a Sunday afternoon in the apartment. No street noise from cars and construction, no stress emanating from the world like heatwaves on a long stretch of California highway. I instead chose to enter the world and try to think. Like drinking a fifth before getting behind the wheel, like slamming a Monster energy before bed, why the fuck would you do that?

I feel part of the world and unable to close it out and look inward. I must look outward, and thus not spiral1 or write too narcissistically lest I fall into some kind self-help, motivational message to myself but penned to you. John Mayer just came on with a song (Born and Raised) that was on the first album of his I ever listened to; I was a late entrant and still barely know any songs — this calms me back down a bit.

You can’t do anything in a vacuum. Surely that’s the best way to do it, but sometimes you need to exist in the public sphere. Something that, whether it’s true or not, happens way less “nowadays”. I still see more people than ever when I’m out and about, are there really billions just staying home. Am I out more or less than other people? I don’t know. It’s not really an important question.

Some days I come out in public to actually try and do something and I’m stifled by the humanity of it2, other times I end up doing whatever I’m doing now.

Ok. enough with the environmental diatribe, that’s just procrastination anyways, here are some things I’ve been working on, paying attention to, enjoying. I think they’ll be of interest.

Skills library / RPG tracking tool: Basically gamifying all of my activity and creating learning paths to unlock new skills — and help me find how to develop them. Here’s how Gemini mocked up my character.

Personal advisor agents: So far CFO, COO, and Longevity Coach. For now it’s just preloaded info into a specialized agent vs. just chatting. Not much extra unlocked there yet.

Cobbler: Unfortunately I haven’t had any of the pastry, though there was a great apple/blueberry coffee cake in Bariloche that we couldn’t get enough of. What I’m really talking about is the shoemakers. I met the guys over at https://www.calzadoscorrea.com.ar/ which is a local, multi-generation family business making great shoes. I didn’t splurge on any bespoke boots as I had hoped but I did land a pair of black whole cut oxfords which can officially retire me from ever buying those again I think. I’m going to go back before I go so I can get a full tour of the workshop, so never say never on the boots…

Mate: Turns out I like mate, this was unexpected. Just dipping my toe in and peeking around stores I’ve seen the wide blend options and customization of flavor/herbs available. I’m still at the getting the cheapest suave option from the corner store stage. I’ll stick there until further notice3. Maybe if BA/Argentina becomes a more common destination for me, honestly this is very possible — and the amount of Twitter/X propaganda I’m seeing from accounts down here to buy in BA and/or Patagonia along with my love of this country is dangerous; but could be the move ;)

My office/workshop setup: I don’t even have the specs/dimensions yet, I’m in a different country, but I’ve been grinding to prep the plan for what’s going in each spot, how it’s going to come together and how I’ll utilize it. You need more projects. This is what they mean by work can be fun — of course, I’m just planning, but that’s what I am good at and like doing. Much better when it’s a self serving result too.

fin.

It’s not all bad, I still see the purpose of this newsletter as adding fuel to the fire inside and passing a spark to every one of you that you could choose to feed or put out, but chopping wood won’t keep you warm in the winter, only starting the fire will.

At least my analogies are on fire today — you can thank the tirelessly capricious Patagonian weather today. It’s been up and down to freezing temperatures and back, seen serene skies, torrential downpours, hail, wind-blown barreling waves, and massive snow capped mountains on the horizon sliding out of view behind the fog. Shitty weather inspires you to point inward. How did the Greeks and Romans come up with all that philosophy in the sunny Mediterranean? Maybe it’s because they had fewer distractions, maybe I just have excuses.

I wrote two mini-fictions this week. The story behind why each of them was created is a little anti-climatic and, frankly, a little disappointing, but I’m not here to sugarcoat things, I’ll be straight, but I’ll let you read the stories first.

~

The Regular

There’s a diner near the harbor; one of those 24-hour spots that gets seedy after 9 PM when the creatures crawl their way in. Drunks and truck drivers are forgettable, invisible, but it’s hard to forget the ones that find comfort there, that look like they belong.

“There he is again,” Javier thought. “Desde donde llegó este tipo?”

Most regulars aren’t noticed at first, they slowly arrive and begin to stand out. This guy was different.

He was forgettable, but his Antigua, Guatemala hat inspired Javier to say something, that’s where his parents were from. The man had just moved back from there, it was his first time dining in. Then he just kept coming back.

One night he didn’t look like talking. Javier brought him some coffee. “On the house, amigo”. No response.

Something had changed. It looked like an unbearable weight hung from his shoulders. His eyes were different. He was wearing the same Antigua hat, but the brim looked a little rusty. Come to think of it, it matched the stain on the cuff of his sweater.

Javier knew that color and didn’t want any part of it.

He brought him his pancakes and kept his distance.

~

Meet the Wrexhams

Sally and Sean Wrexham thought of themselves as travelers, but they were pretty mild tourists. They had taken countless cruises, been to the Mediterranean, some lesser known beaches as well. Compared to their neighbors in Liverpool, they were as worldly as it gets. However they had only stayed in hotels, with service, with guides.

This year they tried something different. As age came on, their aches lasted longer, their walks were more costly. “Before I get old honey, I want to hike somewhere hard to get to.” “Like where?” “Patagonia.” “Now that’s adventure!”

They picked the most touristy spot in Argentinian Patagonia. It was easy enough to get there via Buenos Aires, the challenge now was to navigate without Spanish and in spite of their aging bodies. They’re only in their sixties, how hard could it be..

The weather wasn’t factored into their plans.

They had pre-paid for hikes, bike tours…their tour agency had assured them it was a better price. Without the urge to lose their money, they went clodding up muddy hills in big jackets; rode bikes in the snow.

Sometimes, however, the weather was too strong for the tour to happen. So they stayed in their Airbnb and stared out the window, at the gales pushing the large lake to whitecapped surges, with foggy skies and mountains fighting to escape and steal just a slice of a glance.

And they were happy.

~

I’m not that used to sharing this type of writing. Hell, I’m not used to finishing anything. Maybe I’m dodging judgement but that’s just like skipping bail — the bounty hunter will come for you eventually — just hope it’s not Dog. There I go again…

Ok if you’re down here you wanted the background.

As many of you, I have been playing around with AI a lot. I’ve been pretty vocal about it here — even though I acknowledge I’m a novice by most standards.

I’ve been trying out features that are a bit more powerful than simple chats, or dedicating channels for specific task. One of my dedicated Claude channels is a Creative Coach — but the instructions are basically there to help me come up with small mini-projects (think 30 min - a few hours) that I can do in multiple forms so that I can be more consistent rather than just binge creating which is generally followed by an inspiration hangover. I can also squeeze little things in here and there so I can fill mini gaps that might have otherwise been wasted staring at a wall, or worse, my phone.

The prompt for The Regular is not straight forward. The original idea was to draw a painting by an artist you like and deliberately make it terrible.

1. Pick one piece from your influences

2. Reproduce it — from memory or reference, doesn’t matter — badly on purpose. Not carelessly. Intentionally wrong. Exaggerate what you don’t understand. Rush the parts that intimidate you.

3. Then sit with both versions and identify exactly three decisions the original artist made that you couldn’t fake, didn’t understand, or instinctively avoided.

The bad reproduction isn’t the failure. It’s the diagnostic tool. You’re basically a doctor using the wrong answer to find where the real knowledge lives.

Still Life by Candlelight (Dali) was the reference:

Now you may know that I’m lacking in the drawing department, but this is what came out on my end. Luckily I had the “badly on purpose” to hide behind.

We chatted for a bit and my next idea was to recreate my version, ignoring the original. The story I had built up after talking through the pieces was that of a comedic horror story (maybe?), something like A Nightmare Before Christmas.

“I interpreted as an outdoor perhaps back alley doctor or sketchy person with a table full of rare things mostly human parts maybe they are a cannibal also eating fish. I rushed everything. More of a sketch since I wouldn't know where to begin in recreating” ← that’s me

Skip, skip, skip to my lou and we arrive at version two.

I tried coming up with some AI images to make the scene but it just didn’t work right.

And then I put everything down.

The next day I asked Claude for a short writing prompt — forgetting this was all in memory, which leads us to actual story prompt.

The original went way over 200 words and then I had to edit it down.

Wrexham story is more straightforward. I hate the last name because of the soccer team but it was the first British thing I thought of.

And for the notebook fans you can see my initial work, behind the scenes if you will.

I feel a little self-pity in that I outsourced my ideas, but it worked. I think too much about the pieces I care about and they get either written piecemeal or I can’t stop editing. Here with no restraint or care I can spend 20 minutes and actually end up with something at the end. It feels good and is probably healthier than adding another draft to Drive and another chunk of a story in the back of my head for later. I’ll get to them but I need to get the wheels greased. Feels like a good start.

This reminds me maybe I should also post these over on Nobody in Particular, it fits a bit better there. Not to be confused with the Weekly Appetizer of the same name.