Weeknotes 2023 W39: Respite

I’m back to work as of this week, considerably earlier than I expected. I’m not entirely sure whether it was wise to come back this early, but I seem to be doing well.

I will certainly keep a closer eye on my mental health going forward.

This week, my performance in acting class just felt off — straight up bad, even. I couldn’t quite figure out what it was at first, but I’m now fairly sure that the burnout has had the effect of closing me off emotionally. I felt numb. For acting, being emotionally closed off is poison.

I also feel that I’m lacking basic technique, so the 8-week intensive course later this month, which is purely technique, will be quite useful.

I upgraded to macOS Sonoma and it’s quite nice. My highlights:

• The screensavers/wallpapers are stunning.

• I like being able to create standalone web apps. I replaced my Unite apps for Fastmail and YNAB with built-in Safari apps, and it works really well.

• I like being able to stick widgets on my desktop. I’m primarily interested in weather and upcoming events. I’m still a little confused why the clock widgets are all analogue, not digital (I struggle to read analogue clocks).

Behold the loaf of bread I made:

I wrote a screenplay for a short story, Respite. I wrote the first draft on Tuesday, and it has gone through a few revisions since then. There is still some work to do, but hopefully I can finish it up soon.

My dream would be to find people to turn that into a short film. How amazing would that be? I need to get my butt to the filmmakers’ meetup this afternoon and see whether I can rouse interest.

Also: I suppose I’ve given up on the Alphabet Superset project entirely, but at least I’m creatively busy, which was the point of it all anyway.

Entertainment:

• Cyberpunk 2077 is still a mess. It’s a game that needs an SSD, as it need to load in lots of data fast. When I play it, there are occasionally sections of the city that are devoid of cars and humans, and where the level geometry is missing (car is driving on roads that haven’t loaded yet). But that still doesn’t explain all the bugs I’m seeing.

Links:

• The Biggest Lie Social Media Feeds Photographers (The Photographic Eye)

• Burnout or Boreout? It’s Always About the Lack of Control (Anne-Laure Le Cunff): Relatable!

• Input Cipher (David Jonathan Ross): I did not think typefaces could do that, and I think DJR is a bit of a mad genius.

• Are Modern Games Designed to Waste Our Lives? (SUPERCULTURE): I feel this strongly, and is maybe one of the reasons why I greatly reduced the amount of time I spend playing games.

• Internet Vs Ocean: the essential wires we never think about (Map Men)

Tech links:

• The Seven Meetings You Hate (Rands)

• Optimizing for Taste (David Cramer): Yes!