30th year around the sun
As 2023 comes to a close, it has now been five years since my foray on this annual summation began. The first year was solely a book list consisting of mainly Stephen King novels. Why? I’d been unemployed the first three months of the year and flew to Washington DC to regroup at my parents’ home for a while (bless them). Perusing the hallowed halls of Barnes & Noble, I found The Stand—a 1,200 page tome doubling as both a novel and dumbbell. With the sunroom floor as my dais, I immersed myself in the book and consumed it within a week. Lo and behold, five years and 37 Stephen King books later, I’m still hooked.
2019 also began with a period of unemployment after being laid off on my birthday (#blessed). My personal method of combatting any despair and unease during these moments is to establish a routine. I set up shop in the front window of my favorite coffee shop—shout out to Once Over—and applied for jobs, pleaded for introductions, and read as many Michael Crichton books as I could get my hands on.
To start 2020, I was happily employed, maintaining a fitness regimen, and all set to take on the new decade. Boy howdy how that came to a screeching halt. Keeping up with my daily statistics and ensuring my clock radio alarm still chimed at 5:37am, that I still went for morning walks, and still had a semblance of normalcy were paramount to staying sane.
Over the course of 2021 and 2022 I introduced new items to track. These ranged from movies, tacos, poops, biked miles, beers, etc. It has become a daily ritual to quickly tally up everything, jot down notes, and continue until the notebook is full. Summarizing everything at the end of the year is far from a burden. I get to question why I ate eight tacos one day in May, wonder what could have caused me to shit six times the last day of March, and how my diet consisted of nuts, jerky, and power bars when I was swamped with work.
If you’re still here, thanks for reading all these years. I always enjoy the messages, comments, and questions sent my way—even though I’m still full of shit (albeit 18% less than 2023). Happy new year.
“Sonnet 29” by William Shakespeare
When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate;
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
By The Numbers
Honestly, how did I eat more sandwiches than tacos? There’s not even a good deli in Austin.
My movie of the year goes to Poor Things.
Reading List
Recommendations: Where Men Win Glory (non-fiction), Mickey7 (fiction)
Bird, Kai American Prometheus
Bogdanich, Walt When McKinsey Comes to Town
Brown, Pierce The Lightbringer
Caro, Robert Working
Carreyou, John Bad Blood: Secrets & Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
Chomsky, Noam Requiem for the American Dream
Cixin, Liu Three Body Problem
Cixin, Liu Dark Forest
Corey, James S.A. Leviathan Falls
deWitt, Patrick The Sisters Brothers
Edward, Ashton Mickey7
Enrich, David The Spider Network
Frumes, Max; Indap, Sujeet The Caesar's Palace Coup
Gwynne, S.C. The Perfect Pass
Hope, Bradley Blood & Oil
King, Stephen Carrie
King, Stephen Needful Things
King, Stephen The Eyes of the Dragon
King, Stephen Gerald's Game
King, Stephen Later
King, Stephen Joyland
King, Stephen The Colorado Kid
King, Stephen Insomnia
Krakauer, Jon Three Cups of Deceit
Krakauer, Jon Where Men Win Glory
Larsen, Erik Lethal Passage
Lewis, Michael Going Infinite
Michaelides, Alex The Silent Patient
Schwager, Jack Hedge Fund Market Wizards
VanderMeer, Jeff Annihilation
Movies
Recommendations: Poor Things, Beau is Afraid, Decision to Leave
Quotes & Notes
“Editing is an intelligent and sympathetic reaction to the text and to what the author is trying to accomplish. Basically, it is expressing your reaction.”
“Stop using old words for new situations.”
“When different political camps exist in separate information universes, they tend to demonize each other.”
“The simple understanding that one thing can be another thing is at the root of all things of our doing. From using colored pebbles for the trading of goats to art and language and on to using symbolic marks to represent pieces of the world too small to see.”