Weeknotes 2025 W01: New Year

December 30, 2024​–​January 5, 2025
900 words

Happy new year!

I celebrated the end of the year quietly by myself, which is exactly the way I want to spend it. Grab brunch with friends, then head home and remain inside until the damn fireworks are over.

The fireworks, ugh. The air pollution makes it hard to breathe, the trash it leaves behind is vast, the experience is traumatizing for animals and even people, and of course it absolutely is dangerous for people and illegal bombs can cause serious damage to buildings. Yikes. And there were still fireworks going off til yesterday evening (January 4th).


Quick bits:


I wrote my 2024 in review. It’s been a good year overall.

I also wrote up my expenses for 2024. I’ve been successful at keeping my expenses down in 2024, made necessary by months of unemployment.


For 2025, I’ve been wondering what to do in terms of goals. I’ve decided to take it easy and use CGP Grey’s approach of specifying a theme. But not even for all of 2025 — just the first quarter.1 And so, this is the start of my Season of Writing.

Practically, this Season of Writing means that a big focus for this quarter will be on the following:

There are also the week­notes and my morning pages, but I don’t consider those to be a focus of the Season of Writing.

The interpreter book has seen some progress. I think I’m about one third through the first draft. It’s good to be working on it again.2


2025 is the year of the math nerd! Here’s the proof!3

2025=n=19n3 =13+23+33+43+53+63+73+83+93\begin{aligned} 2025 &= \sum_{n=1}^{9} n^{3} \\\ &= 1^3 + 2^3 + 3^3 + 4^3 + 5^3 + 6^3 + 7^3 + 8^3 + 9^3 \end{aligned}

Here is more proof!

2025=(n=19n)2 =(1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9)2\begin{aligned} 2025 &= \left(\sum_{n=1}^{9} n\right)^2 \\\ &= (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9)^2 \end{aligned}

Or even this!

2025=(20+25)22025 = (20 + 25)^2

Entertainment:


Links:

Tech links:


  1. I’m not calling it “Q1” because that sounds far too much like work. ↩︎

  2. It is difficult for me not to work on anything at any given time. I can’t work on zero things; I get restless if I try. But I also can’t effectively work on multiple things at the same time. ↩︎

  3. I am rather proud — as you can probably tell — of the math support on my web site. ↩︎

  4. I Saw the TV Glow, written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun (A24, Fruit Tree, Smudge Films, 2024). ↩︎

  5. Scanners, written and directed by David Cronenberg (Canadian Film Development Corporation (CFDC), Filmplan International, Montreal Trust Company of Canada, 1981). ↩︎

  6. Dead Ringers, directed by David Cronenberg, written by David Cronenberg, Norman Snider and Bari Wood (Téléfilm Canada, Mantle Clinic II, 1988). ↩︎

  7. High Life, directed by Claire Denis, written by Claire Denis, Jean-Pol Fargeau and Geoff Cox (Alcatraz Films, Andrew Lauren Productions, Arte France Cinéma, 2019). ↩︎

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