This kid has basically always been a meme. The low key kind, that you always find funny because they don’t burn themselves out.
Time traveling aside, he always seems to show up, never say anything, and yet sticks in out memories.
The kid has presence.
Literally.
I go a little overboard at New Year’s, reflecting and planning and all that. Because so many changes happened in my life (and the world) this year, I think my need to reflect went into overdrive.
This year I started extra early, back in November.
Here’s a note from my bullet journal:
On a micro scale, 2017 was…not great.
On a macro scale, it has been AMAZING. Trump, carnivory, new job, moving, etc.
2018: year of micro?
In my years of working, I’ve come to realize that the most useful vantage points are either on the ground, the front-lines staff who works directly with the data or the people or digging in the dirt–where you have an opportunity to make decisions on a personal and behavior level and impact the world in that way– or high up, the decision-bearing leadership who has responsibility and a clear view of the landscape–where you have the opportunity to craft a coherent strategy.
In other words, strategy and tactics.
But in a bureaucracy, there are a lot of other layers in between. Those tend to get muddy and lost and don’t add much value. The top and the bottom are where things get done. (Ideally. I realize politics is like fifty shades of grey.)
Looking at my micro/macro observations through this lens, it’s clear that 2017 positioned me in a different place strategically. I’m in a different town with a different job and a different way of eating with better health. That’s great.
What I didn’t do in 2017 was a lot of the projects that I had planned. Writing a novel. Working on art. Learning something new and useful. Making new friends. Improving my style. Focusing on fitness.
My macro changed, but my micro didn’t.
However, now that my macro is better, I feel like I can focus more on the micro.
Not the grand, sweeping decisions, but the small moments of my life, the things I do to propel myself through my day.
I’m trying to focus on the incredible gift it is to have the consciousness to be able to plan strategically, but the blessing to be only in one moment of time at once. Focus my consciousness on the task at hand.
(She writes as she pulls up a YouTube video in the background. SAD!) (I put it away.)
Habits, actions, and the doing of it. That’s what 2018 is going to be about–and has been so far.
I’ll check back at the end of March–my first self-imposed deadline.
For the past few days, the main referrer of traffic to this blog has been some sort of Russian Youtube situation.
I don’t know who. I don’t know why. I don’t know what they’re after.
But at this point in history, I feel like it means something when the Russian bots show up.
Right?
You know that tired feeling you get after binge-watching a show all day?
It feels hollow–unearned–because at the back of your mind you know you didn’t do anything to deserve it.
On days like this, I almost feel disgusted with myself. I’m tired, because I want to sleep, because I want a reset.
Contrast that with the tired feeling born of a long day of work.
The right kind of tired.
Your body is tired. Your brain is tired. Sleep pulls at you–but in a satisfying, tantalizing way.
Nothing like a good night’s sleep after a job well done.
Like “hunger is the best sauce,” a productive day makes any bed more comfy.
It’s 2018!
You know what that means? (Of course you do, you read the title of this post.)
It’s WORLD CARNIVORE MONTH, which is conveniently timed to coincide with both the new year’s resolution crowd and with #veganuary.
I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather spend the month eating steak than raw carrots.
Most people think that eating only meat is extremely weird (which, yes it is) and/or potentially unhealthy (I disagree). If you’re one of the intrepid few who is doing some research before diving in, here are some quick resources for you.
Disclaimer: I’m biased, as my health has improved dramatically after becoming a strict carnivore.
Yes, all of us poop. I myself have gone from nothing but off-the-charts urgency to fairly civilized, almost gentlemanly poops. (FYI, I have a digestive-themed autoimmune illness.) Others have had their constipation relieved. It varies, but the general consensus is “no pooping problems, other than a smaller volume of waste.”
I’ve never heard of a case of scurvy amongst the zero carb crowd. Even those who have been eating nothing but meat for 10 or 20 years are scurvy-free. It turns out that vitamin C and glucose share similar molecular structures, so if one is not digesting glucose, one can be super-efficient digesting vitamin C (and there is vitamin C in meat, believe it or not). This topic is discussed more during Shawn Baker’s appearance on the Joe Rogan podcast.
It can be, if you eat nothing but wagyu tenderloin (although I wouldn’t recommend that because the tenderloin doesn’t have much fat). Typically I spend between $10 and $15 per day on food. I’ll eat a 2 or 3 lb meatloaf, plus some cheese, coffee, and maybe a little butter.
Easy, through beef. I eat plants like everybody else…they’re just pre-digested. 😉
Nope! Any meat is fine.
It’s incredibly different, believe it or not. My journey to carnivory started when I was following a ketogenic diet last year. I lost weight, sure, but my body was stressed out and my digestive system was not improving. Switching to “zero” carbs has made a world of difference.
Functionally, it’s pretty easy: just eat meat (and drink water). You’ll go through a period of adaption, which can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. I won’t lie, the adaption period is not always fun–when I first detoxed from gluten I was a raging bitch for 2 weeks–but it doesn’t last forever. Your hunger signals will change, you may experience withdrawl-like symptoms from gluten or sugar, and you’ll probably get “keto breath,” which is a sickly sweet smelling byproduct that means your body is adapting to running on fat instead of sugar. Keep eating meat, drink lots of water, take it easy on exercise, get lots of sleep, and you’ll be fine.
Well…there’s lots to find out and lots that’s still unknown. This diet takes mental fortitude to follow, because it goes against socially-acceptable diets and it feels like a risk from the outside. I suspect that’s the reason that carnivory and bitcoin are so closely linked.
But you never really know until you try! I encourage you to take advantage of World Carnivore Month. Eat only meat for 30 days and see how you feel. Don’t rely on what other people (“experts”) say you should be feeling–feel it for yourself and then decide.
Happy (meat) eating!
After so many amuse bouche posts about k-pop teasers and comebacks, I’m finally going to serve up a main course by telling you my thoughts on an entire album.
This is largely because EXO’s latest winter album, Universe, actually sounds like an album.
One of my biggest problems with k-pop is that it the industry focuses almost exclusively on singles. (American pop does this too, so I shouldn’t complain too much.) But as someone who appreciates the musical journey that a well-crafted album can provide, I miss that in k-pop. At its best, you get a 4-minute chunk of a pure emotion-bubble. No story, no journey, no connection.
So when the songs on this summer’s The War feel like they belong together, like they could all be found on the same menu in the same restaurant, I was ecstatic. Some of the songs are quite good, too.
I’m pleased to say that the musical cohesiveness has continued into the winter album. All the songs sound related, in roughly the same color palette–even though they have different emotional hooks.
Universe is just beautiful. A sweeping rock ballad with a generous dash of “longing” and and an English hook of “I’ll search the universe” with the unspoken FOR YOU that hooks all of us womenfolk.
The b-side that I’ve heard the most chatter about is Been Through. This might be because the songwriters are good at promoting themselves on Twitter. Part of me wants to love it; it’s a beautifully-orchestrated, sparse pop song. It’s not often that you hear pizzicato in pop strings, and the effect contrasts well with EXO’s lush vocals. What I don’t love is how the chorus sounds like American pop music. The rhyming “You shine like the stars / you light up my heart” takes me immediately to the arena of overly saccharine indie pop which spoils the mood somewhat.
A contender for my favorite is Stay. The piano and the semi-flat analog sound of the recording are a refreshing change of pace from the normal bright and clean acoustics. This song showcase’s EXO’s vocal ability well, with a repeating motif of thirds (I think–my music theory is a bit rusty) that weaves subtly through the different verses. Honestly I’ve never been much of a fan of Suho’s vocals but he’s winning me over in this song. His verse with Kai–who tries so hard–is charming.
My nominees for “most forgettable” on this album are Fall and Good Night. It’s not that they’re bad, it’s just that they’re not as good as they other songs. Fall is a pretty standard R&B ballad, nothing too special. The guitar line is nice. As far as Good Night, I want to hate the synth sound for being so jarring with the acoustic (or fake acoustic) sounds of the other songs, but if I take a step back it’s a nice palate cleanser.
Finally, we have Lights Out, which has a beautiful moving bass line under the piano line and melody. The use of voice-as-instrument reminds me of Enya’s Shepherd Moons album–absolutely stunning. Sung by our vocal line (Chen, Baekhyun, DO, Suho), this is the song I would most love to see performed live with a piano and an upright bass.
SERIOUSLY SM ENTERTAINMENT, LET EXO SING WITH LIVE INSTRUMENTS FOR ONCE. SERIOUSLY.
Anyway, if the vocals on Universe have not already inspired you to wish for a Chen solo album, Lights Out will. [Edit: it appears that Chen wrote this song as well, so I will upgrade this wish to a Chen singer/songwriter solo album.]
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed listening to this album. I have two overall criticisms. Though I’ve praised this album for sounding cohesive, sometimes I wonder if it doesn’t sound too much of the same. The fact that I can skip 2 songs out of 6 without changing the “feeling” of the album says a lot for the repetition in tone and in instrumentation.
Universe delves into melancholy territory that EXO has never tackled. It’s nice to hear some songs predominantly in minor key (not just for effect or contrast), but the overall effect is downer rather than upper. One of the things that I like the most about K-pop in general is that it’s optimistic and happy without being overbearing about it. Even when EXO’s previous winter title tracks have been sad, they never dwelt on it (musically at least–I can’t speak to the lyrics). This album leaves me feeling hollow in a way that K-pop never has. I appreciate that, but I’m not sure I like it.
Moving forward, I hope that the members and SM’s music team can capitalize on this year of excellent music and keep up this level of quality. The Japan album looks to be great. I’m hoping for another “Forever” in our future.
“A Very Personal Review” means that I’m no expert, this is merely my subjective opinion that I’m writing because I like this album and want to share it with the world. I don’t listen widely to (Western) pop or to K-pop, so I can’t situate this group or this album in a wider context, nor can I give a good music theory perspective on it.
They say that the best way to build credibility is to make predictions in public, stand by them, and wait for them to come true.
Of course, that’s contingent upon one’s ability to ~~predict the future.
The next best way is to say you’re going to do something, and then do it.
It’s like predicting the future, but you get near-complete control over that future.
Instead of, say, trying to predict the stock market.
So it would make sense that I could list a bunch of New Year’s resolutions here, and then track my progress as I achieve them.
Truth be told, I am too chickenshit to throw my specific goals out for public consumption–or accountability.
Vaguely, my goals involve:
I’m sure I’ll chronicle some of my endeavors here.
Last year ended up being “year of macro,” in which I made some major changes in my life.
This year is “year of micro,” and I’m intending to focus a lot more on my individual actions. How the little actions accumulate over time.
That is the non-stressful way to get to goals. Don’t focus a lot on the decision, but focus more on the doing of it.
And, the volume of “doings” is convenient in letting one document extensively along the way.
Which feeds in to the credibility cycle.
Uncanny.
I’m a bad publicist. EXO just released their winter album, so I should be shilling for that.
Instead, here’s a photo from the teaser from their Japan debut, which was released a month ago and scheduled for a month from now.
Please note: vaporwave.
Twice and EXO looking to have a Japan vaporwave showdown.
I’m here for that.
Happy last Friday of 2018, y’all.
Christmas was the first time I drank any alcohol since going full carnivore back in May. I had one bourbon. It seemed to metabolize perfectly, to disappear without a trace.
Tonight, I had another in a night out with some friends. Not the same reaction at all. I can’t think, can’t concentrate, can’t string two words or thoughts together. I’ve started two different posts but neither of them are coming together, and the more tired I become by staying up, the more my brain is shutting down.
Since I now regret that I did not write today’s post before I went out, I will write one of those “random updates” posts.
Life is lots of these little moments, and I intend to stack so many of these on top of each other during 2018 that I rip a few holes in the universe.
Good holes, tho. No airlock catastrophes.
It’s the end of the year, when it’s instinctive (or is merely traditional?) to look back and tally how we’ve been doing.
Even though this blog has only been in existence for about six months, I’ve always been curious about what the top posts are. A handful of title always pop up in my “Site Stats” area.
Let’s see if we can learn any lessons.
While I very much regret to say that I didn’t finish the initial 90-day carnivore cohort over at N Equals Many, I was really excited to help out at first. I’m still definitely a carnivore, but I stopped tracking around 30 days in at the end of September. This is mostly because the “roller coaster” portion of my year kicked in and I prioritized keeping my sanity amidst getting a new job and moving, instead of trying to track everything. If you’re interested in carnivory, join us during World Carnivore Month in January 2018.
Anyway, I linked to NEqualsMany from that post, and I get traffic from the pingback.
This one surprises me, as it was born on a day that I had no idea what to write. I was looking around for a “quiz” or fillable question set to use as a template, and since Jordan B Peterson was on my mind, I found this questionnaire. It’s an interesting metric to check creative achievement against. I appreciate how it encompasses all different types of creativity, including scientific and architectural achievement. I question if someone can be truly well-rounded in this modern era of fine-tuned achievements, but it’s still a fun way to measure. Since posting this, I haven’t moved earned any new points, but I’m building a plan to do so in the next six months.
There’s no pingback on the post that I linked to, so people must find it from search.
Ah, when I was new in town and spending a lot of time on Tinder and had just launched a series called “photo of the week.” Dating still sucks, and I try to avoid being in those positions.
I linked to this one on Twitter and tagged the person who took the photos, so it makes sense that this post gets traffic.
My very first fiction review! It’s not a great review, objectively, because my book reviews are very green at this point in my writing career. My thoughts are numerous, but I am not yet disciplined at corralling them into strings of paragraphs that make sense. I always want to tell the truth, but sometimes it’s difficult to write the truth of what I think about something with the thought in mind that the author could read it. The double-edge sword of the internet, I suppose.
I suspect that this post gets hits because I doubt there are very many reviews of it out there, especially outside of Amazon.
This is an old post. “Old.” Back at the beginning of this blog, I challenged myself to come up with a longer piece each week, like a weekly column. This was the first establishment (of two), and it gave me an excuse to delve into a people and writing problem that had been bothering me.
No idea where there traffic on this one comes from, which is kinda cool. Looks like I should write more of these long, introspective (extrospective?) posts.
In conclusion, there’s not much similarity between the five posts. The breadth represents most of the topics that I write about, except for fashion and k-pop.
It’s fascinating to me that only two of the posts had easily-identifiable pingback links. Perhaps I can extrapolate new blog ideas to explore from the organic traffic-attracting posts–like doing more looking into “creative achievement.”
It’s also obviously worth writing about my life as a carnivore, and writing book reviews.
But I’m still going to write what I want. That’s how I made it this far, and how I’ll make it another six months.
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