taking time to read
zero thought all vibes; sharing taste one newsletter at a time
In this newsletter I cover writing and reading, an island movie, mahjong, 2016, and discipline.
They say great is the enemy of good, and the enemy of great is perfection, but how do you know if something is Great?
That’s how writing has felt recently. Each time I decide it is done, I look again and see it is massively flawed still. Less about the words and more about the structure, but even that is difficult when you're writing the first time.
So, to make up for that, I have been reading. I just made it to Part III of East of Eden, and I am about 70 pages into a new book called Foster Dade Explores the Cosmos. East of Eden has been for pleasure, and that has made it challenging to complete. Foster Dade Explores the Cosmos has been for research, but has also been a pleasurable read. Maybe this is self-inflating, but in reading FDEC, I strangely see a lot of comparable themes and writing to what I have in my own novel. Reading has, in turn, helped me better understand structure and pacing. I don’t need an explanatory introduction; in fact, that type of introduction would kill the novel. Nobody would get through page 5 before being bored by the details they were being told, no showing, no urgency, no sustenance. This new revision will have that.
Eden
Friday, we went to the gym, got some miles on the legs, and then came home with no plans and decided a movie would be nice. A few days earlier, I saw an ad for Eden pop up on Netflix and decided it looked interesting, so after returning from the cold, we ordered some Mediterranean from our favorite new spot and turned on the movie.
I had no real idea what we were in for, but I knew many of the actors looked familiar. The entirety of the movie played out almost like a Mother by Daren Aranofsky or an early A24 film, sort of oddly eery, but explainable. Come to find out, this was actually a true story of events that happened on Floreana Island between WWI and WWII.
Mahjong
On Saturday, we packed Bisou’s things, bought some wine and headed to Park Slope to learn how to play Mahjong with some friends. I have actually been wanting to learn how to play Mahjong for some time, some day I would like to get good enough to play with a bunch of grandmas in a little den with incense, tea, and vibey music playing, but until then I will continue practicing.
If I had to compare Mahjong to other games I would say something like Rummy Cube meets Gin Rummy (Cards). The Chinese Tiles are ergonomic, I am looking at some sets on Amazon, they come with a cool briefcase, if you are looking to learn, Sabrina and I learned pretty quickly in a night and would be happy to show anyone how to play.
Bisou came with but once again him and loki sort of just ignored each other… honestly Bisou can be a brat sometimes, but we all had a good time.
Also here is a video of Bisou being anti-social at the park.
2026 →2016
If you haven’t heard yet in 2026 we are running back 2016, so in honor of that I have taken the liberty to put together a playlist of songs from 2016 which, if you are close to 30, when listened to will bring back a nostalgia that is freeing and maybe a tad bit melancholy considering 10 years ago these songs were likely silently lining some of your favorite memories with your best friends.
Feels weird to realize how long ago 2016 was… I blame covid… now I am getting existential 1996 I was 1, 2006 I was 10, 2016, I was 20, 2026 I am 30, 2036… I’ll be 40… bruh WHATTTTTTTTT THE FUCK!
Discipline
This is the word I am trying to dissect the rest of January and into February. It’s not about motivation, it’s about discipline, it’s about being consistent despite outside forces, the first half of this month hasn’t been bad, but there is much room for improvement. Particularly, I would like to start signing up and showing up to some morning workout classes. Once I sign up I won’t miss, but I need to convince myself, it will be worth it. A couple stats I want to increase:
6M Average HRV: 60ms
This Month Average HRV: 53ms
6M VO2 Max Avg: 48.4
This Month Average VO2 Max: 44.2
Thanks for reading
This was was a short one, I want to get back to revising my novel and the night is slowly slipping away after a trip to the gym. I appreciate you all for reading.
big hugs and lots of love,
derek