# October 2022

- survived 1,560 weekends
- second "bananniversarbean"
- evacuated home
- funerals
- made a person laugh for the first time in their life
- attended [When We Were Young](https://www.whenwewereyoungfestival.com)
- shaved off my mullet at a Paramore concert
- became a "DJ"
- played
  [Astro Bears](https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/astro-bears-switch/)
  with the boys
- afflicted by the pandy

---

## taylor.town

### New Essays

- [How do I get the ability to see the gnomes?](/essays/gnomes)
- [Never Wait for Anything](/essays/never-wait)
- [The Scourge of "Someday"](/essays/someday)
- [Thank You vs. Sorry](/essays/thank-you-vs-sorry)
- [A Magic Question for Emotional Conversations](/essays/magic-question)
- [Beware The Grind](/essays/beware-the-grind)
- [The Only Way to Make Money](/essays/make-money)
- [10 Minutes is 1% of Your Day](/essays/10-minutes)
- [Accept Your Fate](/essays/accept-your-fate)
- [Extinguish All Notifications](/essays/extinguish-all-notifications)

### Updated Lists

- [Music](/lists/music)
- [Podcasts](/lists/podcasts)
- [Blogs and Newsletters](/lists/blogs-and-newsletters)
- [My Deep Daily Questions](/lists/daily-questions)
- [Bucket List](/lists/bucket-list)

### Project Updates

- finished configuring neovim plugins
- implemented passive life-logging
- completed early designs for secret app idea
- continued home-improvement
- continued spring-cleaning
- registered for
  [2023 AIDS/LifeCycle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDS/LifeCycle)
- posted [newsletters](https://newsletter.taylor.town) archive on
  [taylor.town](/)
- switched email newsletter service to
  [buttondown.email](https://newsletter.taylor.town) from
  [tinyletter](https://tinyletter.com)

---

## Recommended

### People

- [Clinton Boys](https://clintonboys.com)

### Purchases

- [amber reading lights](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09HSFKSBW)
- [Fellow Atmos Vacuum Coffee Canister](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B081C21KGW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

### Books

- [_Book of the New Sun_ by Gene Wolfe](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/968868.The_Book_of_the_New_Sun):
  These books are extremely subversive, yet the author falls prey to the exact
  tropes he's "subverting". The plot oscillates between mind-bending
  self-reference and painful self-awarelessness. Some of the twists are
  incredible. I suspect that this is an excellent book that aged poorly.
- [_Ubik_ by Phillip K. Dick](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22590.Ubik):
  Good sci-fi stories explore "cool ideas". _Ubik_ miraculously interleaves 3-5
  "cool ideas". And it keeps topping itself with bigger and bigger extensions of
  its core "cool ideas". Read _Ubik_ if you like "cool ideas".
- [_Triggers_ by Marshall Goldsmith](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22544758-triggers):
  This is a self-help book that delivers. It's an incredibly useful guide on how
  to enact lasting change in yourself. This book focuses on growth via
  environmental cues. I particularly liked the concrete advice on daily active
  questions, accountability partners, and actionable ways to change cognitive
  contexts.
- [_Discipline is Destiny_ by Ryan Holiday](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60018575-discipline-is-destiny):
  This book was inspiring but forgettable. All the examples of disciplined
  people got me _pumped_, but I didn't find much actionable content.
- [_Out of Your Mind_ by Alan Watts](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60545.Out_of_Your_Mind):
  This is one of my favorite audiobooks to revisit. Alan Watts' brand of
  secular-ish mysticism is incredibly refreshing. It's like listening to a
  pastor speak on behalf of the universe. At every stage in my life, I've found
  life-changing wisdom in these lectures.

### Videos

- [Ads in Video Games](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7PBNHyaoDc)
- [30 Minute Study Model - Here's How](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7GpYvyQoEs)
- [Carl Sagan testifying before Congress in 1985 on climate change](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp-WiNXH6hI)
- [George Carlin: Brain Droppings](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx21zEdhlPQ)
- [Mechanical circuits: electronics without electricity](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrkiJZKJfpY)
- [Howl's Moving Castle Makes So Much Sense](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpYDwuinIsk)
- [Andrew Bird & Esperanza Spalding Live 2016](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MhmOo2WPE0)
- [slightly above average FOV](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQ6s1zAtRkc)
- [the book with a multiplayer first-person shooter inside](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SiUnqMJEVU)
- [ANIMAL WELL | a game full of secrets](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHY0yrmvVj0)

### Documentaries

- [Kiss the Ground](https://www.netflix.com/watch/81321999): an excellent
  documentary on the importance of global soil health and the dangers of modern
  industrial agriculture

### Podcast Episodes

- 99% Invisible: _The Safety Bicycle_
- Endless Thread: _Anti-fans, online hate, and Caroline Calloway_
- 99% Invisible: _Walk of Fame_
- Radiolab: _No-Touch Abortion_
- Deep Questions with Cal Newport: _Work vs. Meaning_
- Software Unscripted: _Building a Database with Joran Greef_
- Patended: _Eco Farming_
- Endless Thread: _Lazy Geoff_
- the joe gardener show: _The Vital Role of Soil Bacteria in the Garden_
- Freakonomics: _Are Personal Finance Gurus Giving You Bad Advice?_
- Everything Everywhere Daily: _The Terrible, Horrible Vogage of the Russion
  Imperial Baltic Fleet_
- 99% Invisible: _Vuvuzela_
- 99% Invisible: _Wickedest Sound_
- Everything Everywhere Daily: _The Seven Days of the Week_

### Music

|       |                                                       |
| ----- | :---------------------------------------------------- |
| ★★★☆☆ | Hammock :: _Everything and Nothing_                   |
| ★★★★☆ | Ghosts and Vodka :: _Addicts and Drunks_              |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Chamsom :: _속마음_                                   |
| ★★★★★ | Arthur Rubinstein :: _Chopin: Nocturnes_              |
| ★☆☆☆☆ | Tori Amos :: _B of A, Boston, MA 8/21/05_             |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Weyes Blood :: _Rough Trade Session - EP_             |
| ★★★☆☆ | Cosmo's Midnight :: _Moments - EP_                    |
| ★☆☆☆☆ | Quruli :: _The Best of Quruli / Tower of Music Lover_ |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Starscream :: _Future, And It Doesn't Work + Remixes_ |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Albert Ayler Trio :: _Spiritual Unity_                |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Chinese Football :: _Continue? - EP_                  |
| ★★★★☆ | Forgive Durden :: _Razia's Shadow: A Musical_         |
| ★★☆☆☆ | 65daysofstatic :: _Don't Go Down to Sorrow - EP_      |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Blümchen :: _Verliebt..._                             |
| ★★★☆☆ | BADBADNOTGOOD :: _Talk Memory_                        |
| ★★☆☆☆ | The Jazz June :: _The Medicine_                       |
| ★★★★★ | Pink Floyd :: _The Wall_                              |
| ★★☆☆☆ | Seiko Oomori :: _Sennou_                              |
| ★☆☆☆☆ | Perma :: _Two of a Crime_                             |
| ★★★☆☆ | LINKIN PARK :: _Hybrid Theory_                        |
| ★★★☆☆ | Isles & Glaciers :: _The Hearts of Lonely People_     |
| ★★☆☆☆ | METZ :: _METZ_                                        |