thejdizzler
1d ago
- Work: nothing new to report.
- Fitness. Still feeling a bit off and a bit pessimistic for Chicago. Hoping for under 2:40 still but workouts have not been very promising. Depends quite a bit on the weather I guess. Last week: 60 miles in ~8 hours.
- Intellectual stuff: Wrote a third blog post about my Oura data (sleep doesn't seem to matter, at least not in my very consistent 6-8 hours). Reading Turchin and various Spanish books.
- Finances: Sat down with Claude and figured out from my budget that the main things I can save money on are unnecessary subscriptions (I hardly use Netflix right now for example) and eating out. That being said, I still managed to save about 15% this month, which is not terrible. Spending so far: $3425.
- Dating. Hung out with the girlfriend twice last week, things are going well. Masturbation and porn continue to be an absolute non-issue now.
- Tarot. No session this week.
- Socializing: fantasy book club on Sunday, science expo for the youth of Baltimore City, and hanging out with my girlfriend.
- Screen time: 1.5 hours phone
- Meditation: 5 minutes every single day last week. Now trying to get an evening and morning session in before extending the duration.
thejdizzler
5d ago
Yup! It's such an info hazard that I'm still looking for ways to radically improve my sleep despite the fact that my sleep is clearly pretty good.
I will say Guzy's response to that book was just as bad however. It's probably not good to force yourself to sleep less than your body needs.
I just did a big data analysis with Claude of the last four years of my health data.
Conclusions: Basically sleep doesn't affect anything. At all. This is probably because my sleep is in a very tight range (6-8 hours). This suggests I can probably chill out about my sleep needs, barring a major lifestyle change that would drastically improve some aspect of my sleep that I'm somehow blind to.
thejdizzler
7d ago
Girlfriend.
thejdizzler
7d ago
Man this made me really sad. I need to spend more time with my dad.
thejdizzler
8d ago
For context my PR is 1:12 from a few years ago. I'm hoping to do under 2:40 at Chicago in a few weeks, so this result was a little scary.
Good luck with your own half!
thejdizzler
8d ago
- Work: working on the figures for my paper.
- Fitness. Had a half marathon this past weekend and ran what I was hoping (1:19), but it did not feel as easy as I was hoping, as this was supposed to be a marathon-pace workout. Foot feels better but I'm still feeling a bit tired.
- Intellectual stuff: Two blog posts still, got another paid subscriber which was nice. Just finished Lenin for philosophy book club, and we are reading Peter Turchin next who should be super interesting.
- Finances: This should still be a net positive month, but I've still spent way too much. Need to sit down with the budget next week and figure out how I can do better. Spending so far: $2970.
- Dating. Met my girlfriend's sister at the race and hung out with her (the girlfriend) almost the entire day Saturday. It's difficult for us to meet up during the week, which has had the effect of making me more productive and more willing to do chores during the week so I have more time to spend with her over the weekend. Also have continued to be porn and masturbation free. Who knew it would be this easy all along.
- Tarot. Talked about meditation and my friend's job situation.
- Socializing: called my friend in Florida, went to run club friday morning, and saw both my friend Adam and my girlfriend at the race.
- Screen time: 1.2 hours.
- Meditation: 5 minutes 5x last week. Would like to make this more of a priority, although this week was significantly better.
thejdizzler
10d ago
I agree with the diagnosis of this book. Especially if you any significant amount of exercise, salt is such a non-issue.
thejdizzler
13d ago
I only take iron supplements in the AM. Could definitely be a blood sugar thing as I'm training pretty hard right now. What/when did you eat your slow-digesting food?
thejdizzler
13d ago
I do not. How would I go about this?
thejdizzler
13d ago
Anyone have any tips for avoiding waking up anxious? I'm sleeping an appropriate amount and the heart rate metrics that my ring tracks all look good but I'm waking up feeling like there's a murderer in my house or something.
thejdizzler
15d ago
Man have you had NA Guinness? It's really good. Like almost better than real Guinness.
thejdizzler
15d ago
- Work: signed an offer letter for the new job starting in May of 2027
- Fitness. Feeling really trashed from running and seem to have done something to my extensor tendon (shoes too tight) so this week is going to be a big down week for mileage. Hoping I can feel better soon for chicago! Mileage: 71.
- Intellectual stuff: Two blog posts this month so far. Feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the stuff I want to be doing, so haven't been as on top of my reading as I would like.
- Finances: Sold my shares in ZIM in my IRA for a nice profit. I didn't make a whole lot of sense to keep them as I was paying quite a bit of tax on the dividend in an account that is supposed to be tax-free. Bought some WM, a high-yield bond fund (6%), and a NASDAQ index tracker with the proceeds instead. Spending so far this month: 2551
- Dating. I officially have a girlfriend for the first time in about a year. Excited! This has helped me be completely porn free (for a week so far) for the first time since 2023.
- Tarot. No session this week.
- Socializing: Hung out with my girlfriend saturday night, ran with the boys sunday morning and got some NA Guinnesses with my friend sunday PM.
- Screen time: 2 hours. Mobile YouTube will be the death of me.
- Meditation: 5 minutes 3x last week. Would like to make this more of a priority (as I continue to say but not to do).
thejdizzler
18d ago
I wonder if the Counting Crows took that line in Mrs. Potter's Lullaby from that book title.
thejdizzler
20d ago
Barely sentient preschooler. I have no memories of the event, but I got my Star Wars toys taken away around that time because I was talking too much about Mace Windu in class.
thejdizzler
22d ago
For context my PR is in the 14:50s. I've run that pace for a half-marathon before, but have gotten fat the past few years so am slower.
I started running when I was in 7th grade and slowly built mileage throughout high school, college, and the first few years of grad school, which resulted in my peak fitness in 2021 with PRs of 14:54 in the 5k, 30:40 in the 10k and 4:17 in the mile. The key was just lots and lots of running, a substantial amount of swimming and biking, and some lifting. As well as heavy dose of natural talent.
Since not being part of an NCAA team, I've gotten slower and really since 2024 where I got COVID and then proceded to gain 20 pounds in a matter of months, my fitness has definitely taken a hit. I'm trying to get back into it though and have lost most of the weight I want to and am back to good mileage (67/week). So hoping it's just a matter of time.
Big tip from me would be to slow everything down. A lot of people end up running pretty hard on what is supposed to be their easy run, my past self included. Not only does this inhibit the system you are trying to train (your aerobic system), but it also reduces the amount of training you can handle and makes you hate running. If you really want to get better, I would suggest buying a heart rate monitor and capping all your easy runs at 60-65% of your max heart rate. This is going to feel really slow and you may have to walk all uphills, but you'll quickly see improvement. About 1-2 of your days you can go as hard as you want, but most runs should be this easy.
thejdizzler
22d ago
- Work: Working on starting to write up my thesis
- Fitness. Alumni meet was a bit of shock to the system: went out very hard and died very hard for a pretty bad 5k (16:49). Not too worried as I've been doing a lot of mileage and a lot of marathon pace stuff. Hours: 9 running, 67 miles
- Intellectual stuff: One blog post this month so far. Reading is going well. Finished the dev bio book, am still working on the other two (Lenin, Jared Diamond follow-up) as well as Brandon Sanderson in Spanish.
- Finances: Big divvy month which is nice, hoping I can save a little bit more so I can buy some more stocks. Spending so far: $2149
- Dating. Fourth date this weekend with this girl. I've stopped using Hinge and deleted my instagram, as I think this is going to go long term.
- Tarot. No session this week.
- Socializing: Was in Boston all weekend and had too many social events before.
- Screen time: 1.2 hours. Really good especially since I was on the train all day.
- Meditation: 5 minutes 3x last week. Would like to make this more of a priority.
thejdizzler
24d ago
Just finished Isles of the Emberdark by Sanderson. I'm not a big Sanderson fan, but new girl is and I'm trying to give him another shot. This one was very entertaining; I couldn't put it down, but it was also terribly written. Cringe, repetitive descriptions and dialogue, one dimensional characters, and chock full of millennial humor. I loved the plot and world building though, so think I will be diving back in for more Sanderson, probably in Spanish so I don't have to deal with how terrible of a writer he is on a sentence by sentence level.
Also reading State and Revolution by Lenin for philosophy book club. In contrast to Marx, who I found to be interesting and insightful, Lenin comes off as an idealistic and dogmatic blowhard. The closest analogy I can think of outside of leftist spaces is Saint Augustine and other early Christian writers versus the Bible (with the Bible being Marx for Lenin). Lenin's polemics against Kautsky reminded me a lot of Augustine railing on Origen: they both have very strong opinions without a lot to back them up, both in terms of logic and in terms of what their gospel truth actually says.
thejdizzler
25d ago
Thank you for this response. Think I will have to do some math once I own the house. My electricity in Baltimore has been ludicrously expensive the past few years, so it may make sense in the end.
thejdizzler
25d ago
thejdizzler
25d ago
Is rooftop solar a good investment if you're a homeowner? Thinking about an install after getting a house.
thejdizzler
29d ago
My roommate called it "the worst thing he's ever tried to read". I don't think it's that bad, but it's certainly not "good".
thejdizzler
29d ago
I'm part of UBI pilot scheme that my friend Alex runs in Baltimore. The idea is that you donate 7% of your income and then you get the average donation out. So I earn $4k a month, and contribute $280 or so for example. If the average contribution is more than 280 I get some money and if it's below I give. When the program started I was receiving small amounts of money, and now I'm giving about $50/month.
- Work: Nothing new to report.
- Fitness. Another week another 65 miles. Did a silly ultra marathon here in Baltimore this past weekend, but dropped out at 23 miles or so. Hours: 8.6 running, 1 swimming.
- Intellectual stuff: Four blog posts last month and over 30 hours of Spanish immersion! This month I want to focus on kicking my scrolling habit, so will be less strict about what language I'm reading in, but want to get the total amount of reading up. Currently working on Lenin (he is not a good thinker, I see where woke get it from), Why the West Rules and developmental biology book in Spanish.
- Finances: Below 4k (barely) for August, which was pretty bad (-7% savings rate). This month should be better, but I have a lot of extra expenses (Boston Marathon, Spanish lessons, etc.) so will need to watch my spending still despite paying ~$550 less in rent.
- Dating. Third date went really well, but need to escalate things from just kissing. Will see her again after I get back from Boston this weekend. Really want to completely quit porn and masturbation and I think this potential relationship is giving the motivation to actually do so, as I've only masturbated one time since last week.
- Tarot. No session this week.
- Socializing: Went to Philly with my roommate, social for guaranteed income club.
- Screen time: 1.4 hours. Too much scrolling.
- Meditation: 5 minutes 3x last week. Would like to make this more of a priority.
There is hope out there, however dim. I was in this exact situation for the last few years, and happened to somehow meet a good one on hinge in August. Things are going really well, and I don't see any red flags at all yet.
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