thejdizzler
4d ago
- Work. Going to resubmit second manuscript this week as soon as protein database gets approved. Very excited to be done.
- Fitness: Did a DEXA scan yesterday and found out all the extra weight I've gained in the past few years has been fat. I am up from 14 % body fat (the healthy hunter gatherer percentage) to 25%. This alone explains many health issues and lack of running performance. Will keep the forum update as to my progress, but planning on losing this gradually over the course of 6 months. Goal is to get back to 150.
- Intellectual Stuff: Meditating consistently at least once a day now for 5 minutes. Reading Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Stories and am thinking about getting into film more!
- Finances: Third roommate is still not locked down. Spending on track for a pretty conservative month. I will have some European travel this summer, but that should only set me back a few months.
- Dating. Really would like to stop watching porn. Going on a date on Sunday afternoon.
- Tarot. Great session on Monday night. My old roommate seems to be doing much better now!
- Socializing: visited my friend Dhruv in Florida for the weekend.
- Screen time: 1.33 hours phone! Would like to be consistently under 1: the only thing holding me back is travel and porn.
- Mental health: feeling excited and motivated.
thejdizzler
9d ago
Share price of fixed income will always go down slightly when the market is rising. The share price isn't what you care about, it's the monthly dividend.
thejdizzler
10d ago
I'd be interested!
thejdizzler
10d ago
It's sitting in my Fidelity account still as a combination of index funds, CDs, and cash. I'm going to buy a house with it once I get a job post PhD.
thejdizzler
11d ago
- Work. Job interview went well, although I'm not sure the start date is going to line up how I hope. Otherwise, wrapping up the resubmission for second first author paper (some drama there), and plugging away on my final paper.
- Fitness: Started running again, and going to start Norwegian singles/doubles next week.
- Intellectual Stuff: Plugging away at After Virtue. Discussed the Pacific War trilogy with my friend Dylan last night which was also very fruitful. Meditating consistently at least once a day now.
- Finances: Third roommate is still not locked down. Spending last month was only 2.6k, which led me to have an almost 30% savings rate!
- Dating. Nothing to report.
- Tarot. No session this week
- Socializing: Spanish happy hour and watching the Kinetic Sculpture race
- Screen time: 1 hour phone! Now do my PC haha.
- Mental health: feeling excited
How goes it @FtttG, @self_made_human @bird_crombie @falling-star @Tollund_Man4 ?
thejdizzler
15d ago
Think I've learned from endurance exercise that the most important thing really is just putting in the time. Details can be important, but what matters in this case is just sitting more.
thejdizzler
15d ago
I've also been investing! I have a blend between individual stock picks, index funds and fixed income. I was originally investing in individual CDs, which are about the same as a HYSA, but I've since diversified to some high-yield bonds and ETFs. Happy to chat more if you want!
thejdizzler
16d ago
I am following the mind illuminated instructions. In the morning sitting for 15 minutes and focusing on the breath. In the evening doing a walking meditation where I focus on the soles of my feet when I walk.
Have really noticed how off the rails my mind is while doing it!
thejdizzler
16d ago
Have been doing it more consistently these past few days.
thejdizzler
18d ago
I have been training seriously since I was 10 in various endurance sports. In high school and college this was about 10 hours a week with lifting and cross training etc. I do about the same now. Starting from zero, it would probably take a few years of this to be ready for the marathon.
thejdizzler
18d ago
I have not, but the parents still live there so logistics should be much easier.
Boston is my default every year now because all my MIT alumni track friends do it so it's a good way to stay in touch. It is unfortunately at an annoying time of year (I wish it was a bit later or a bit earlier) which makes it hard to do other fast marathons.
thejdizzler
18d ago
Congrats! That's a real solid time, hope you auto qualified for next year!
I'm looking forward to Chicago in the fall where it'll be completely flat. Hoping to feel a lot better in miles 20-24 (miles 24-26 are always terrible).
thejdizzler
18d ago
- Work. Finishing up my second first author paper!
- Fitness: Still recovering from the marathon/think I got sick so mainly walking and trying to run a few times a week right now.
- Intellectual Stuff: Plugging away at After Virtue. Beginning to meditate once a day for 15 minutes (only did this once this week, but want to make it into a daily habit.
- Finances: Third roommate is still not locked down, but we have multiple seeing the house today. Spending is still very low this month.
- Dating. Facetimed with this girl I met in Spain last Saturday.
- Tarot. No session this week
- Socializing: Spanish happy hour and potluck
- Screen time: 2.1 hours phone (train)
- Mental health: anxiety is back baby!
Makes me want to learn Welsh, especially since my ancestry is almost 100% British and Irish (with some Scandinavian blood). Would be practically useless but is very beautiful.
Do you know about the Winter King mod for CK2? You can just directly play as the book characters in the 480 start (edit: I see that you talked about this, guess the mod isn't that good)
thejdizzler
21d ago
What I'm actually reading.
Finishing up the last book in The Warlord Chronicles, Excalibur, which I'm really enjoying. It's a gritty (although maybe not that historically accurate) Arthur retelling that I think thematically captures a lot of what the Arthur mythos is going for. Also reading After Virtue, which I am starting to enjoy more.
thejdizzler
21d ago
I hated that book. Review below
First the plot. I think I could live with an unbelievable speculative world, and even with arrogant writing, if interesting stuff happens to interesting people. Very little happens in this book, and very little of what happens is due to the agency of the main character. I get that that's part of the point: women in this literary universe (and in the world in general) are so often oppressed and powerless, and its difficult to them to feel like they have any agency. But it doesn't make the main character very interesting, or even very feminist. Offered is kind of sniveling coward who goes along with pretty much every thing that's done to her, only taking matters into her own hands when she wants to have sex with the chauffeur (which I suppose could be read as empowering, but did not come off to me that way).
Secondly, the world building. Margaret Atwood markets herself as an author of "Speculative Fiction" rather than "Science Fiction" or "Fantasy" because she prefers to think of herself as someone who writes about things that could happen. The thing is, The Handmaid's Tale could never happen in this country, especially not on the timescale suggested. Polyamory is not something acceptable for the Christian right (although not so on the left), and the reduction of Women to sex objects is not something that Christianity preaches (the most revered women in the faith is A VIRGIN). Even if some kind of twisted version of the faith was to appear, there's no way it would be able to seize power in the country, and have such widespread support on the timescale suggested. And that's not to mention the whole issue of political conflict in a society with a declining birth rate. Atwood does this kind of okay in some aspects: most everyone in the Handmaid's tale just seems tired: no one actually believes in all the crap that the regime puts on, which I think fits with the general narrative of declining population. That, however, does not fit with the brainwashing or the force of belief required for Gilead to overthrow the US government. Again, I think this speaks to a fundamental misunderstanding of Atwood's about fundamentalists. A lot of fundamentalists actually really deeply believe what they say they do. What Atwood presents here is yet another caricature of religious extremism: hypocrites who don't actually practice what they preach.
Given some historical context in which this was written (aftermath of Reagan's election and Iranian Revolution), the world of this book makes a little more sense. However, Atwood's concerns about the rights of women have, at least in my opinion, aged badly. Although the Supreme Court struck down Roe v Wade in 2022, many states, including Massachusetts, still have the right to abortion enshrined by their constitutions. The religious right is increasingly irrelevant: their champion is a hedonistic old man who fails to even make lip service to any kind of religious morals. Threats to women rights rather have come from capital, and the insidious reduction of everything, from bodies, to free time, to meaningful relationships, to the grasping hand of the market. Atwood so poignantly critiqued this system in her MaddAddam trilogy, and it was frustrating to not see that same level of analysis here.
Finally, I found the writing to be unnecessarily convoluted and confusing. Frequent, un-signalled flashbacks, and lack of quotation marks were the worst offenders. I get that this was supposed to be due to the framing device of these being audio transcripts, but it still grinds my gears. Atwood is not unique in this regard (looking at you Cormac Mccarthy). I also found that the framing device didn't really do it for me: somehow this being a university lecture ~100 years after the fall of Gilead made the whole speculative world even more unbelievable for me.
thejdizzler
23d ago
Agreed. The section on the problems with Buddhism is extremely undeveloped compared to the rest of the essay and basically amounts to complaining that the author didn't experience any spiritual progress with Buddhism without actually seriously trying to make spiritual progress with Buddhism. No shit dawg.
thejdizzler
24d ago
You're 100% right and I will. Time to add it to the new years check in.
thejdizzler
24d ago
I really should meditate, but I constantly avoid it for some reason.
Those things help relax the body but they rarely seem to relax the mind, which is the real problem. Lots of racing thoughts.
thejdizzler
24d ago
Stretching, warm shower, reading.
thejdizzler
24d ago
Explain
thejdizzler
25d ago
Thanks! I'm trying not to be too disappointed, as this is the best marathon since my PR in 2023 (2:35:34). I know what I need to do better next training cycle, which is getting me quite excited!
thejdizzler
25d ago
Any tips on relaxation/decompression activities that I can do in the evening to help me prepare for bed/do during the work day to help manage stress? Thinking my marathon training wasn't as effective as it could have been because of poor stress management, but not sure how to do a better job.
thejdizzler
25d ago
- Work. Nothing new to report
- Fitness: Boston marathon went not how I was hoping but not exactly badly. Went out conservative (1:19 first half) and was hoping to pick it up the second half but ended up fading to 6:30s and running a 2:41 high. A few weeks off/extremely easy then I'm planning on starting up the build again. This time I think I need to be more running-focused, serious about recovery and sleep, and hit the gym at least once a week.
- Intellectual Stuff: Plugging away at After Virtue and The Warlord Chronicles. Trying to find an Italian speaking group in baltimore to keep up with.
- Finances: Found a third roommate starting in June, and spending is on track to be below $3k this month.
- Dating. No news to report
- Tarot. No session this week
- Socializing: Saw all my college friends at the marathon.
- Screen time: 1.5 hours phone.
- Mental health: feeling pretty relaxed post-marathon.
They also have the smallest remaining oil stockpiles, so it's possible Hormuz is finally hitting them.
More options
Context Copy link