July 2021
Events #
We had a small team reunion with my ex-Uber friends. A running joke is that everyone wants to be fired again, as we now know how to handle and enjoy the whole process.
Visited KABK Graduation Show 2021. I think all universities should have a graduation show, not just art schools. My university thesis was a waste of time partly because I knew no one would see it except few people at my faculty. At this graduation show, there was a video project about the political situation in Turkey where they’ve tortured prisoners with songs about how great Turkey is and lyrics like “The Turk has no friend but the Turk”.
Took a train to Berlin and stayed over at the friend’s place for a week. Berlin feels like Moscow from a different timeline (with the “post-apocalyptic freedom” feel). Everyone wears masks indoors compared to Amsterdam where it seems I am the only one doing it. Still no one speaks English, but finally you can use cashless payments almost everywhere. It was my first trip in a long time and it felt great to see good friends.
My anarchist friends took me to the former squat place called MKZ. They have an anarchist library and the food is prepared by the community volunteers, you need to wash your own dishes in the end.
Got my second Pfizer shot and it went much smoother than the first one.
Projects #
I’ve learned a bit about macOS app signing and finally sent Save to Roam to the App Store review. Doing Safari extensions is a pain in the ass compared to Chrome extensions.
Played around with Apple Maps on the web on web for some work in progress project, it felt quite good.
Did just 6 runs for 48.76 KM that is significantly lower than July (105.89 KM). As I am signed up for the full marathon in October, I definitely need to run more. At this point, I am quite far behind the Strava schedule and I probably need to reset it.
Struggling with the guitar arpeggio, but got faster with chord switching (not barre chords though).
Entertainment #
Trying an audiobook for the first time, went for the Guns, Germs, and Steel. Thoughtful listening feels very different from reading.
Got a HomePod mini and enjoying it much more than the Sonos Roam I’ve bought earlier. Siri works most of the time. Apple Music feels buggier than Spotify though. Discovered Julia Holter.
I finished Disco Elysium which I didn’t want to pick up for some time and I’m glad I did it. It threw me back to the point-and-click quests that seem like a lost genre these days. And the lore unexpectedly did remind me of Morrowind. More obvious references would be Twin Peaks and True Detective.
A movie I’ve enjoyed the most is Still Walking. It is a Japanese movie about a family reunion composed of mostly static shots where essentially nothing happens but is captivating to watch anyways.
Next month #
Would like to limit unintentional screen time, get better at scheduling activities, and in particular schedule some trips.