Zack’s new album is out and it’s great. I really like Gravity Falls and Public Opinion.

SNOEY by Zack Villere 🎶

Reading now: It by Stephen King 📚

I’ve been clamoring for a little spooky Halloween read and wanted to read this initially, but went back and forth because of how long it is. No chance I finish by the 31st so I’m not going to rush it, but it’d be fun if I did wouldn’t it?… 🙂‍↕️

Watched: Bride of Frankenstein 🍿

I saw this for the first time last night at my favorite movie theater. I loved it and was surprised by how funny it was.

Watched: John Candy: I Like Me 🍿

Great documentary. Before this, John Candy was mostly a guy I recognize from movies but didn’t know much about.

Reading now: More Than Words by John Warner 📚

Breaking the Loop: Replacing Reddit with Quiet and Focus | Jishu

Reddit is deceptive. It gives the illusion of depth. It feels like I am learning about hobbies or subjects I care about, but looking back, I can’t remember many moments where casual browsing led to real insight. When I do find something valuable, it is usually when I search for it directly. Random scrolling has never brought that same value.

Do I really need to read another book on habits, minimalism, or fitness routines—or do I just need to take out the trash, sell some things online, and go to the gym and do the workout I enjoy?

I got a trackball mouse and I love it. Not sure if this makes me a genius or an idiot yet!

I listened to an older episode of the Search Engine podcast while driving today. It’s about kids using AI to do their homework, but specifically using generative AI to write essays for them. I think there is a lot interesting in here, but PJ talks to John Warner who wrote a book called More Than Words: How to Think about Writing in the Age of AI and he mentions an assignment he had to do as a kid to show how you’re always writing for an audience.

He had to write instructions for how to make a PB&J, later he had to make a PB&J without straying from his instructions at all. He said he didn’t get specific enough about needing to use a knife to get the peanut butter out of the jar and use it to spread it on the bread, so he was couldn’t finish making it.

I think I would’ve benefited from that a lot as a kid. Writing in school was always formulaic. They talk about the five paragraph essay too… Shiverssss!

Anyway, I’ve added John Warner’s book to my want to read list!

There was a point when all my screen time happened while I sat in the computer room in my parent’s house. Since I first went online, I’ve found that the internet, at its best, deepens and widens my curiosity. It connects me to my friends and facilitates making new ones.

Over time, the distance between me and the friends I connect with on the internet has grown exponentially, while the distance between me and internet access has become nonexistent. I’m considerably more connected, but I’m not considerably more curious. I don’t want to ignore the lopsidedness of my relationship with the internet anymore.

How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing.

– Annie Dillard, The Writing Life

I’m taking a step back from constant connectivity. I’m replacing my smart phone with a feature phone, and I’m going to use my laptop more like the desktop I grew up with: It’ll be there when I want to dive into something, but it’ll stay out of reach when I don’t need it.

In the short term, I’ll have two phone numbers. My primary number will still be connected to my smart phone while I take my feature phone for a trial run. I want to work out the kinks of life without a smart phone before diving in head first like I have before.

My primary number will be attached to my smart phone, but my feature phone will be my primary device. If you need me, call me or text me at the new number¹. If you forget and text me at my existing number you’ll get an auto-reply telling you how to reach me.

I’ll be checking my smart phone and social media² during this little trial period consistently, but infrequently.

Once I’ve convinced myself I can confidently move over to the feature phone full time I’ll port my existing number over to it and get rid of the temporary one. I don’t expect it to take much convincing.

I could talk about how I read more, or I write more music, or I think I’m a better listener, but all of these are small changes in the face of being rid of this horrible gut feeling I’ve been used to having. The feeling that if I just kept digging through the void hard enough, I could find the one scrap of it that made it worth all the digging.

– Leo Aram Downs, Six Months of the Light Phone II

I have good libraries nearby, a record collection I don’t listen to as much as I’d like to, and projects I’ve been wanting to start but never get around to. Plus, I started this blog. I’ll post long stuff, short stuff, pictures, books I’m reading you name it! You can come back to check in on me here anytime you think to, or pick up your phone and give me a ring.

I hope you’ll call, and hope you’ll pick up when I do.