-
I started a newsletter! Well, not exactly. Rather it’s now possible to get these weeknotes delivered to your inbox. This uses the new RSS integration that’s included in the free version of newsletter provider, Buttondown.
-
I finally got a library card! It’s coming up on a year since we moved but better late than never, I suppose. The main impetus for it was to borrow books for Emma to practise her Japanese reading. Eri and I are a little worried that her Japanese comprehension is behind where it would ordinarily be for a child her age and that as she progresses through primary school, this will increasingly impede her learning. I don’t know if just reading more regularly will solve that problem, but regardless of whether that occurs, it seems like a good habit to build nevertheless.
-
The Steam Deck arrived! It’s physically larger than I imagined it would be but feels comfortable. So far I’ve only installed Rocket League (of course) and Return to Monkey Island but both work well. I am having problems linking the Epic Games account I used for RL on the PS4 with my Steam account but I’m talking to Epic’s customer support people about it and hopefully it’s not a permanent cleavage.
-
Perhaps not coincidentally, I developed a case of tennis elbow over the weekend. I think it’s a coincidence because while I did play a bit on the Deck, I didn’t play that much and the occasion where I first felt the pain was pushing Emma on a swing. I must remember not to put my arm into hot water if this happens again, though. I did that in the bath on Sunday evening and pain shot out of my elbow the instant I tried to bend it at all. I put some ice on it after getting dressed and it immediately felt better.
-
I’m roughly the same age as Freddie deBoer so take it with a grain of salt that I think he’s absolutely correct that the 90s were objectively the best time to be alive.
-
I enjoyed this 15-minute YouTube video on Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks. I have done zero due diligence on who the Great Art Explained people are, though, so I’m assuming the video isn’t wracked with errors. Since I know almost nothing about Edward Hopper, take this recommendation with a slight grain of salt, too.
-
I try to avoid engaging too much with U.S. politics these days but for whatever reason, I did watch the entirety of Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech (YouTube). I want to like Biden so keep that salt shaker handy but his apparent comfort with the back-and-forth of it all worked well. He did occasionally stumble with his diction in the way that Biden sometimes does; I chalk that up to his oft-referenced stuttering impediment but if you wanted to attribute it to cognitive decline, you could do that, too. I will say that if I’m that with it at 80, I’ll be pretty stoked.
-
I was surprised to see that the Smashing Pumpkins’ ‘Tonight, Tonight’ was not one of the starred tracks on Apple Music’s listing of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (Apple Music). I mentioned this on the social.lol IRC server and it was pointed out that the two songs that are starred (‘Bullet with Butterfly Wings’ and ‘1979’) both charted higher as singles on the Billboard Hot 100. That was a surprise to me but I double-checked and it’s true! No grains of salt required.
