general update
roughly mid nov - now
non-travel thoughts:
i got tired of writing blog posts about feelings so now i’m making a website about feelings instead. super excited! i haven’t felt the Joy Of Web Development in a long time because it’s always been entangled with other goals. somehow it’s also my first time writing barebones html + css + js instead of using 500 js libraries. this should be finished soon
read the relationship handbook at the request of a friend. i hated it at first but came around over time. copy-pasting the review i sent them:
this book is annoyingly written and way too long it just repeats the same 4 things over and over in 100 different contexts + case studies. but also i think that’s kind of the point, if you force yourself to read all of it it’s like going through CBT and eventually you get what the author is trying to say
it actually does make good points about compatibility, how mood distorts perception/feelings, goodwill, the pitfalls of being too analytical. it takes these points to really sappy conclusions, so sappy that they’re uncomfortable to read and hard to believe at first but it starts to make more sense over time. i still don’t really agree with all the conclusions but i think they’re at least partially correct and i think ved is right that you actually do need to read the whole thing because it’s communicated in such a disagreeable way that the first few examples will feel kind of stupid and uncomfortable
though i will say even though the book (implicitly) claims to be able to solve all relationship problems it mostly focuses on interpersonal conflict / partners making each other feel bad. i think there are other problems which are more about dealing with internal shit that this book is less helpful for (though still a little helpful) and unfortunately those are the problems i struggle with most often
read steppenwolf. it was… interesting. talks about how duality of man doesn’t exist and how people contain multitudes, not just two personas, and you need to engage with real life instead of remaining in theory-land to understand these multitudes. while i agree with all this i didn’t really enjoy reading the book because it felt so difficult to get through, almost as if deliberately obfuscated
reread ender’s game after ~8 years and wow this book is so much darker once you’ve learned about things like attachment styles and adolescent development and abuse of power in the military, i can’t believe this is a middle school / high school book???
watched the boy and the heron, really beautiful art as usual, especially the fire at the beginning. also watched blade runner 2049, slow start but i loved the second half and i’m not really sure why. i guess i would say that it used a variety of plot points that i’ve literally never seen before in any other movie?
used this One Cool Trick to clean out a massive backlog of ~200 music recommendations in a single morning. the trick: let the recs sit around for ~3 years until you’ve forgotten who recommended them, at which point you can delete 90% of them without feeling bad and just listen to the most interesting 10%. (this is an instance of my hoarding instincts making it really difficult for me to delete things so they pile up uncontrollably >_<)
got into enneagrams. took a test that said my types are 4 (individualist) > 5 (investigator) > 3 (achiever) and… yeah the descriptions i linked to really fit. i think i’m getting better about alleviating the dark sides of being a 4/5/3 though
travel thoughts:
visited tokyo late nov / early dec
the urban design is incredible. decentralized with lots of small city centers in a way that reminded me of a pattern language. very safe and lively at night with a kind of joy i haven’t been able to feel in a while, partially due to mixed zoning. somehow manages to be as dense and convenient as nyc while having as many parks and green spaces as sf
visited many of the real-life locations that inspired various scenes in shinkai’s films. the most notable one was the staircase at the end of your name. i got there pretty early on a friday morning and saw… several groups of people taking pictures. you know you’re a legend when you can turn a generic residential staircase into a tourist attraction that people still visit years later. it was pretty cool to rewatch weathering with you and be able to recognize half the buildings in the movie
walked around very aggressively. here is one of my walking maps, for the shinjuku / shibuya / chiyoda area:
people have some bizarre anime preferences. it’s not surprising that there are still pokemon and naruto toys everywhere. but neon genesis evangelion posters are still up after almost 30 years (most kids don’t even know about this show anymore)? no attack on titan anywhere? who is making these decisions??
spent an entire day exploring shinjuku train station, with its six attached department stores and kilometers of underground connections
figured out how to interact with cashiers at stores without understanding any japanese. tldr if they ask you something you should assume they’re asking if you need a bag and nod/shake your head appropriately
calpis melon cream soda and fanta yogurt rush melon soda were great. they really have the yogurt + melon + carbonation combination perfected. also had some really good peach wine, the first alc i’ve been able to tolerate in around a year
teamlab planets is my new favorite museum. really cool immersive art rooms, manages to mimic the aesthetic of interstellar but in real life. you step on fish and they explode and blossom into flowers, it sounds bizarre but is incredibly beautiful to watch