Week Note #31 - Jan 30 to Feb 05

2025-02-06

• 🙈 This month I've decided to sign out of my Fedi account and pretty much everything else. I'm just tired of being bombarded by everything, and I have a propensity to doom scroll, or, rather, procrastination scroll. Not the best thing to do as I've been trying to keep on top of my school work. So I've decided to cut it out. I've also blocked Reddit (except for my city subreddit because I am paranoid, infer what you will).
• 🧑‍🏫 Often times, my English lit prof says stuff, and I understand each word she says, but I have no idea what she's trying to say. Other times, she manages to say something in her meandering way, and it just clicks in my mind, and I go, "yes!!!" I can't think of any example at the moment, but when that does happen, I always nod enthusiastically at my screen.
• 🎓 Depending on how things go, I think I might transfer out of my university after this semester, to a local Canadian one (I am doing an online degree). Right now, I don't know if I can trust the U.S. with my education. Some of my classmates have been asking our profs or TAs about it. Everyone is really on edge. One of my TAs said, "I know it's easier said than done, but we need a place where we can just not think about it. I think here is a good place for that." Ironic, because that TA is the TA of my American History course, and for the past weeks we've been talking about the Civil War era. That is the course where I think, "Wow, hm, I'm seeing a lot of parallels," or "That really explains a lot about Americans today," the most.
• 🎥 I finally finished watching Arcane. The pacing for the second season has been... Not good. I felt like I kept getting tugged in a new direction multiple times per episode. I think about the first season, and how I gushed over the writing. I could not do the same for this season. It's a disappointment, really. But, I will say that the finale was, good. Next, I'll be watching Attack on Titan. I never finished season 2 and my brother has been on my case for literally years about getting caught up. I have procrastinated enough on it!
• 📚 I finished reading The Murder on the Links. Love a good Poirot mystery. I also started collecting literary magazine PDFs, and I've been reading those of late. Stuff from undergrad lit mags, indie lit mags, super prestigious lit mags, everything. This all started because one of my classmates mentioned how they published some poetry in one. I've been obsessed ever since. I did, at the end of last year, subscribe to some Canadian lit mags (physical!!) so, they were on my radar before, but now I'm all in. If anyone has any recommendations, please send them my way!
• 💢 I haven't read much manga in a hot minute. I started reading and am now caught up with the English translation of Hibiki - Shousetsuka ni Naru Houhou. It's about a literary genius. The mangaka has a very rigid philosophy around talent, which, I'm not so sure about. It also sent me spiraling into an existential crisis. Maybe more about that later. I also started reading manga by Haruno Nanae. Their art style is so pretty. Not timeless, it's very 90s, but it feels classic.
• 💿 Two new albums came out last week. The Weeknd released Hurry Up Tomorrow. I'm actually a big Weeknd fan, but, this one fell flat for me. I have only listened to it twice, but I find it rather boring. There are some songs that I quite like in the first quarter, but the rest is a bit of a slog. L.S. Dunes also came out with a new release, Violet. I'm listening to it right now! Of the two releases, I like this one a lot more. However, the band has released sooo many singles for it already that I feel like I already know half the album? Whatever, it's a good listen.
• 🎹 Because I've been so locked in with school, I've been listening to a lot of piano music, specifically dark academia playlists. It's definitely reflective in my top albums this week. A little embarrassing, but I can't deny that's what happened this week.

Top albums from the past week:

• Lush by Snail Mail
• "Watch Out!" by Alexisonfire
• Awkward & Depressed by Canadian Softball
• After Hours by The Weeknd
• Serenity by Minoire
• Hurry Up Tomorrow by The Weeknd
• Dark Academia by Imaginary Poet
• Aemeralds presents: Library Aesthetics, Vol. 1 by Various Artists

Tagged in a 2025 blogging challenge

2025-01-23

I got tagged in a challenge by my friend, Joel!

Why did you start blogging in the first place

That's a good question. I started blogging in 2006/2007, on a website called GeekStinkBreath.net. It was a Green Day fansite that had a members only blogging area. I did it just for fun, I guess? I was a bored sheltered 11 year-old with unfettered access to the Internet, and my fellow Green Day fan friends were doing it too, so of course I started blogging. I didn't "actually" start blogging on a proper platform until a few years later. I got my first domain in high school and have been doing it ever since. I think I like the idea of having a place to let out my thoughts and talking to people on the Internet about them.

What platform are you using to manage your blog, and why did you choose it?

I use Grav, which is a CMS. When it comes to doing anything, I need the least friction possible. With Grav, I can access it easily on my phone, tablet, or laptop. I also feel like I'm actually writing. If I were to write in my terminal or a note editor or something, it feels too much like coding. I think I'm easily affected by my environment. I have to be in the right mindset, and where I do my writing influences it a lot. This is something I've learned since using static site generators like Hugo and Jekyll.

Have you blogged on other platforms before?

Yes. Yep. Sure have. I'll list them out in chronological order as best as I can.

1. GeekStinkBreath.net (Green Day fansite)
2. Piczo.com (a short lived website builder)
3. Blogger
4. Mibba.com (a fanfic site from the same people who made the GSB site)
5. LiveJournal
6. Tumblr
7. My own websites, on varying domains but using different software
   • CuteCMS
   • FanUpdate
   • Wordpress
   • Boltwire
   • Hugo
   • Jekyll
   • Publii
   • Grav

How do you write your posts?

Because Grav is a CMS, it's as easy as just logging in, creating a new post, writing it, and hitting publish. Most of the time, I just write it all in one go. A really boring setup but just thinking about adding more complexity is a sure fire way for me to not want to blog.

When Do You Feel Most Inspired To Write?

I'm someone who needs something to respond to. If I'm not moved to say something, it's hard for me to say anything at all. I don't like talking for the sake of talking (or in this case, writing for the sake of writing).

Do you normally publish immediately after writing, or do you let it simmer?

Post immediately. Well, after a read through or two. Usually I catch any typos after it's been published, despite the proofreading.

What’s your favorite post on your blog?

It's a toss up between Sweet Tooth and "I'm in love with this all" (Thoughts about To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf) . "Sweet Tooth" is, honestly, kind of a pathetic post for me to have written. At the same time, it is so genuine that I had to write it. And because it really came from the heart, I'm fond of it. I like how it was written, too, kind of prose-like. Now I want to go back and eat that same cake.

The other post, "I'm in love with this all" is about my favourite Virginia Woolf novel. I don't think I did a proper tribute to it in the post, but re-reading it now, I'm still in agreement with everything I wrote. She wrote the perfect book, and I really hold it to a high standard. I love how she moves from character to character, how she can capture the nuances of human behaviour, how she asks the big questions that we either avoid or pour over incessantly. A great book. Not a great post, but I like it nevertheless.

Any future plans for the blog?

I keep meaning to redesign the website, but I know that if I start on it, I will be utterly consumed by it, neglecting work and studies to do so. I think I'll (again) wait for the semester to be over before I attempt it. Other than that, I guess the plan is just to keep on writing?

Who will participate next?

I explicitly tag melo and Jam, if they are so inclined to do so (no pressure though).

And if you're reading this and want to do it, too, consider yourself "tagged!" Tell them isa sent you.

Week #29 - Jan 16 to Jan 22

2025-01-22

• 📚 I've been doing zero reading. I mean, I read a lot for school, but not like an entire book or anything. It's a little depressing how much of my time is being spent on school lately, but I think it's just a fact of life right now.
• 🎓 I say that all my time being spent on school is depressing, but I'm actually enjoying my courses right now. I have to take an American history course as a gen ed requirement. As a clueless Canadian, I'm learning a lot! So, I enjoy my time, but it's more that I lament my loss of time spent on other things. Obviously, not all is lost because I have enough time to be writing this blog post.
• 🎬 After work, I spend an hour on my stationery bike. I usually watch 20-30 minutes of Arcane Season 2 (so not an entire episode every session) and I just finished the first half of episode 4. I really think that Arcane is better as mini music videos. I used to really think that Arcane had great writing, but watching season 2, I'm not so sure anymore. It's just so utterly predictable, and doing a lot of telling instead of showing. It kinda makes me cringe inside, but Ella Purnell, pretty animation, lesbians, and Vi the character is what keeps me watching it.
• 🚲 Anyhow, I might switch out Arcane for reading starting tomorrow. I'm reading Murder on the Links with Joel in e-book format, and it might be easy to read on the bike? I won't know until I try it, I guess.

🎵 Music

• I am continuing with trying to listen to more albums. The nice thing about having moved to a downloaded library is that I can finally listen to a lot of Joanna Newsom. I listened through her entire discography twice. It's amazing, front to back.

• Ethel Cain's Perverts is still on my to-listen list because I want to really sit down and pay attention to it. I only really listened to the first two tracks, and it's amazing. It's like drone rock? Drone is really hit or miss for me, and I prefer my drone with a little sludge metal, but I like this a lot so far.

• New Lucy Dacus!!! I'm so hyped for her new release. The songs released are so beautiful, as expected.

• Top albums from last week:

  • Have One on Me by Joanna Newsom
  • Trilogy by The Weeknd
  • Symphony No. 3 / Piano Concerto No. 2 composed by Camille Saint-Saens
  • TANGK by IDLES
  • Divers by Joanna Newsom
  • The Unheavenly Creatures by Coheed and Cambria
  • Exodus by Utada
  • In Shallow Seas We Sail by Emery