justing.net

Week Notes No. 28

By Justin G. on 24NOV04MON

Quite the packed week this week.

Almanac

Much cooler temperatures this week; we have entered through the autumn passage. Morning lows in the 40s, afternoon highs in the mid 60s or lower; there could be some clouds in the middle of the week. The new moon is Friday; dark nights with the moon up during the day. Daylight Savings Time ends this weekend; we get an extra hour of sleep and return to natural time.

OCT28MON

It rained some actual rain today. I finished my run right before the shower really started, thank goodness. It’s not the absolute first drops I’ve seen this season, there were a couple on the windshield a week or two but I don’t think it counted. This was enough to wet the street. Perfect night for a bowl of ramen at Ramen Champ. I’m glad my mother-in-law suggested it!

OCT29TUE

WFO. Jiminy it’s busy at work now. I’m in the middle of a six week stretch of two different projects battling it out for my attention. It’s the right kind of challenge for me, and the stress of it isn’t all bad. Still stressful though.

OCT30WED

Blissfully my schedule is basically wide open so I could focus on making concrete progress during the day. There was a lot of progress to make and I do make an adequate amount of it. Another daytime run.

OCT31THU

Much longer gaming session tonight. There’s a new Expedition in NMS (No Man’s Sky), and it’s shifted the approach to play by force. The player is constantly harried by phantom jellyfish, or whatever, and there is a new resource meter that must be maintained. Instead of being kind of methodical about achieving my goals I am simply frantically trying to survive and scrabble together enough resources to get the next step. It seems to be working, but I don’t think I’ll have enough actual play time to finish the Expedition in the short window that has been allotted. It’s interesting to see my play pushed and pulled like this.

NOV01FRI

NaNoWriMo begins. I’m giving it a low expectations shot. I don’t have a good plan for the novel, even though the story has been kicking around in the old brainpan for years. Thirty minutes a day of getting ideas out will probably help in a couple of ways. First, I have a short term habit-type goal of writing about it for a half hour each day. Second, the structure of that will try to jostle it into novel-ish shape. Third, since I’ve never written a novel before so this is a chance to really examine the form from the author side. How does one build a novel? Fourth, since I don’t actually have the expectation on myself of finishing a novel here, any progress toward a better picture of what this story will look like as a novel is a form of success.

NOV02SAT

First time in Boulder. Surprising amount of bookstores. Too many bookstores. Some towns are so lucky.

NOV03SUN

Yes, folks, we have flown to Colorado for a concert. Thing is, when we left the forecast wasn’t so confident about rain and snow. But, folks, that was days ago. And right now, I am dancing, ok “dancing”, in the stands facing away from the stage because there is a fell voice on the wind, and it is sharp and pointy and it stings. The music is great, and energy of the crowd is good, and the setting is spectacular. I just think someone forgot to payoff the weatherman. And I like, no, I looove bad weather. But at some point, enough is enough. Rain, a little at the beginning. Then heavier rain, and lighter again. Eventually snow, and sleet, and much more snow. It hasn’t started to accumulate here, still too warm for that. But when my socks start to get wet, it’s time to call it a night. Great show, horrible weather. And I say that as someone who loves horrible weather. Well, how about this: uncomfortably exciting atmosphere!

Media

Television

Kaos fun and funny. Not for kids.

Podcasts

• Search Engine update on OpenAI. Just pay attention, ok? And not only to OpenAI.

Music

• Nintendo Music the app
• Nils Hoffman at Anjunadeep open air Seattle
• CRi at Empire, Anjunadeep explorations
• Marsh at Anjunadeep open air Red Rocks

Reading

Making solid progress on Nexus. There are some chapters that I am objecting to, and I’m glad that Harari is addressing those objections. I don’t think I agree with his understanding of how tech companies actually work when it comes to updating and changing their algorithms. But I’m also not sure it matters that much. I mean, it’s better to have the objective truth here, but it’s also ok if the basic results are the same if some of the middle steps get muddled.

One of too many books that I picked up in Boulder is Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey, and dang does it hit. This is a far more impactful text than Fagles’ version that I read before. While that was fine, it was also kind of hard to relate to. Wilson’s is much more direct. I could see referring back to it in the future, when I need a bit of inspiration for some compact wordage that really delivers. I’m looking forward to finishing that unlocking the later translation of The Illiad. I mean I wasn’t even planning to read that next; I was thinking that the other Ulysses by Joyce would be next. But this has grabbed me.

Email me your Denver area recommendations for the next trip.