Don’t know if this is creepy (dog owners, let me know), but I love to take pictures of dogs waiting for their humans near shopping malls. I have quite a collection, so I thought I’d use these pictures in my newsletters.
This is the first newsletter since my twitter announcement, so let me be brief before I scare away someone.
Progress
May 2019 stuff:
- Visited wonderful Oslo and spoke at flatMap 2019. “Genetic programming is waiting for better tools” (YouTube). About an alternative, fantasy mode of computation and what stops it from being real.
- Completed the 3-month podcast experiment and published 12 episodes of my Russian podcast.
- Started office hours and had several great conversations. I really hope it’s been as helpful to them as it was interesting to me.
- Wrote a short guide on podcasting, a rant about 80 characters and a plea to make nicer slides.
- Got rid of dozens of things.
- Can’t remember other things I did, so I’m going back to bullet journaling in an attempt to better capture my life.
Plans for June:
- Launch two new educational projects. I will let you — newsletter subscribers — know about them first.
- Launch a new podcast about computer science in English.
- Get back to bullet journaling.
(I’m also thinking about starting some sort of project (probably another podcast) on digital essentialism, to talk about “deleting things from my life” and not going crazy in this whirlwind of data and computers. Let me know if this interests you.)
Reading
Slowly (trying to stretch this damn thing) finishing the third book in the “Three Body Problem” series, and god, is it wonderful! I can’t recommend this enough. If you like science fiction, you must try this.
I’ve picked up The Quantum Thief as my next science fiction treat. The author is Finnish, by the way!
The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield was the last straw. I forbid myself to read any “help your creativity” books! They are rarely helpful, but take away too much energy.
If you like audio books and podcasts, I have a tip that worked for me: only allow myself to listen to those when I work out. Cycling, running or gym. Once you get used to this rule, it becomes a great motivator.
Head
I’m pretty sure I’m enjoying a “high” wave at the moment, where I’m full of energy and ideas. If I disappear or this newsletter stops for a few months later this summer, don’t worry, it will be temporary. It always is.
This too shall pass.
Things I know for certain help maintain and prolong the “good” period:
- getting rid of things, minimizing objects and information around
- removing strangers’ voices (social media, comments, etc.)
- working out and bicycling
- doing more work in fewer areas
Gotta make coffee now. Bye.
Drop me a line at contact@rakhim.org.
Thanks!
P.S. Now that I visited all 4 Nordic countries, I can confirm — this is where I want to live. Gotta see Iceland, too, but for now, I’ll do my best to grow more roots into the northern European soil.