what in the underworld heatwave?

This will be one of those non-introspective posts meant to express mind garbage. Indulge me.

It’s hot and muggy outdoors so the plan was to stay at home for the most part of the weekend. I still haven’t finished James Rollins’ Subterranean, because it was getting gory…as in human-decapitation-by-jagged-toothed-spiky-creatures level. Spoiler alert. I still like it and just needed some mental breaks. I’m avoiding nightmares involving being chased by ancient reptilians in tight underground caves.

So last night, I decided to browse through available romance ebooks from the public library via the Libby app and found one that had an interesting description. I will disappoint you by NOT revealing the title, because it was *insert this post’s title + fanning myself*. maybe I’m embarassed—I know I shouldn’t be, because the author writes well, but the sides of my face are now very warm. The book’s heroine was an autistic econometrician (well, you could Google that and you’d simply find out, eh?). So many relatable aspects about her character, that…that…it’s as if someone picked my brain. I’m not on the spectrum, but share some characteristics. You know what? Fine. I’m embarassed that you, my imaginary/ non-existent, possibly bot readers will look down on me for having enjoyed a steamy piece of prose. I just finished the book. Read it in less than 12 hours. 🤓

So there’s that. I will now publish this post, go to the fridge and pour myself a glass of cold sparkling water.

i care, so i share

Brain drained and Anxious? Yes and yes.

Quick interwebs sleuthing led to this old article about the top 10 songs that neuroscience research has determined to be effective in reducing anxiety by up to 65%: https://www.medicinanarrativa.eu/neuroscience-and-ten-songs-that-reduce-stress-by-up-to-65

At the end of the article is a link to someone’s curated Spotify playlist that also includes a few other tracks. Somebody commented and linked their YouTube playlist with individual songs on loop. I particularly like “Weightless” by Marconi Union, which is actually an entire album of 6 ambient tracks. Listening to it right now and it’s calming.

techie neo-luddite

I write code as part of my occupation. It is now a mix of a few programming languages necessary for my field of practice. It continues to evolve due to developments in computational efficiency—which is why my peers and I have to regularly update our knowledge. Things become outdated so quickly these days. Even the language that we speak, whether our native tongue (Tagalog for me) or Modern English, is quickly being updated. Modern English continues to evolve as a hodgepodge of new generation social media colloqualisms and I cannot keep up. I’ve decided not to keep up…rather, I’ve decided to selectively keep up. 

On the topic of not keeping up with the Joneses, I have not signed up for ChatGPT. My gut and brain are telling me, not yet. A recent discussion at work mentioned something about malicious code that may or may not be included in AI-generated solutions. I don’t know anything about that and am honest about not knowing how to use ChatGPT. Attribute it to aversion or maybe fear. I’ve entertained the possibility that my profession may or may not exist in the future. Scary, isn’t it? I just need to be prepared to be adaptable. Or retire early? LOL. I was told that we won’t get replaced by AI anytime soon and should probably learn to embrace it. I suppose I don’t fully trust it. I’m still Team Homo sapiens. After all, the human brain that created and continues to create all these technological advancements is still many steps ahead of its artificial counterpart. It’s still incomparable in complexity. An incredible organic machine. 

In terms of new networking platforms…I’ve resisted TikTok, Threads, etc…I left Facebook a couple of years ago. I have Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn and log-out of those networking apps when not in use. I understand that many folks make a living out of those applications and that’s amazing. For me, I know that I’ve wasted many hours of leisure time by randomly and aimlessly scrolling the interwebs instead of moving my body, sleeping at the proper time, or resting my eyes from digital exposure. When I stated “wasted” I didn’t mean that social media engagement is bad. It’s just that I am not as disciplined in terms of the amount of time I invest in it when I’m immersed. I’m sure I’m not the only one. I certainly find enjoyment and inspiration in it. I just need to make sure that I don’t let it occupy most of my free time. The easiest thing for me to do is to log-out, which has provided me additional time for real-life endeavours. Simply due to the absence of notifications. I’m attempting to retrain my fingers and muscle memory to avoid clicking on particular apps. Works for me.

What I frequently use are my audio apps. Spotify has that new Smart Shuffle feature for personal playlists so that I can discover new music similar to the playlist I created…I have the option to skip that recommended song or add it to my playlist. I still have my Apple Music, because I used to have a tiny iShuffle and have purchased music and albums in the past. Amazon Music comes with Prime so that’s also a nice app for interesting playlists. Soundcloud is still great…I don’t use it as frequently because I only have the free version, but keep it because a lot of independent artists are there. It’s nice to discover gems.

I’d like to think that it’s possible to be a techie neo-luddite. Appropriately connected to the digital world. Such that the kinds of digital connectivity varies from person-to-person. Connected to apps that are essential and/or beneficial but completely unplugged from apps that are not useful to one’s activities of daily living. Not the complete luddites who have absolutely no connectivity nor the super social media savvy generation alpha.

staring into nothing is nice

 Have you ever done that? Stare into nothing? By nothing, I mean nothing in particular but everything at once. How do I explain…I’ll describe a scenario: I’m on the couch holding a pen while doing a word search puzzle, then I stop writing, I move my eyeballs away from the puzzle and stare ahead…I don’t move. I just breathe and stare…at nothing specific, yet aware of the full span of my vision. My breathing becomes rhythmically slower than usual and my chest feels light. My mind and senses are at some baseline. I like it when that happens. I imagine it to be similar to being in hibernation—alive yet not in a stimulated conscious state. Perhaps, like a computer in hibernate mode…the programs are still there but you are conserving energy. It’s nice. 

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Update: I wonder if you can smell this collage I made. Thought to share this good mood…at this very moment at 10:35pm EST as I listen to this Tetragrammaton podcast episode with Rick Rubin and John Mayer while browsing through random electronic magazines on Libby. I took a break from the magazine to write this. 

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Update 2: It’s early Friday morning (the next day) and had a nice plotless dream involving inspiration🏕️🌵🌻. What a great way to commence the weekend. Capping this post with John Mayer’s weekend-apropos track: https://youtu.be/ZzqLtnBc1dg Have a great weekend.

terranean

I’m currently reading “Subterranean” by James Rollins and spent most of yesterday in an island that was a short ferry ride away from downtown. A very Earthy weekend that was both relaxing and tiring. Relaxation attributed to the calming natural scenery and exhaustion from swimming and walking around. I was only able to read a few pages of the novel (borrowed from the public library), because I didn’t bring it during our island outing—it was a hardback edition and didn’t want to risk damaging it. The book is a sci-fi thriller about the potential existence of intelligent life deep in the antarctic that pre-existed the earliest humans. Exciting.

That’s the main agenda for the summer: go on outings, enjoy fiction, and exercise.