Fair Grounds is closed today, so we will be meeting up at Cafe Stella instead at the same time. The address is 1907 Colonial Ave, Norfolk, VA 23517

Shortform #145 Audio Journaling | Rethinking Shortforms

I tried audio journaling for the first time today, it felt weird but I think the experience was actually great! Recorded for about 30 minutes on an old non-internet connected phone (to pacify my paranoia) and then listened to the recording and got hit in the feels in all sorts of good and helpful ways.

I like writing these shortform posts, but am not sure how valuable they've been over the last few weeks in particular (I know writing the posts as a whole has been incredibly valuable to my personal development and overcoming shyness so just targeting the last few weeks). I've increased my in-person organizing commitments and have a lot going on in my life, including a possible job change. Those things plus...I do feel bad when I write a shortform post that feels rushed or low quality, and I've felt that way about too many of my shortform posts recently. My time is important and your time is important, so I'd like to ensure these posts are generating the kind of value I want them to. No more shortform posts this week, I will post again on Sunday October 16th.

No shortform post today...I developed a migraine early afternoon and it's still with me though not as intense as the worst part of it thankfully. I met my "wake up at 5am" commitment today and felt really well rested & great today until the migraine struck me in the early afternoon (not sure the cause, might have been too much caffeine). I enjoyed having the extra full hour or so in the morning to devote to whatever I wanted: I listened to more of a good audiobook, sent an email, and did another thing or two, it was pleasant.

Shortform #144 Pre-Registering commitment actions

This week I may have meat on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday.

Saturdays I am intending to Sabbath hard and go home for the sake of supporting my increased workload on the rest of the days of the week and having one day where I really unplug and engage in pure non-work leisure. No shortforms on Saturdays.

Commitment: wake up at 5am three times per week, those days this week are: Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

2 mile minimum walk: I will almost certainly do this on Sundays, probably before or after Virginia Rationalists' Sunday workshop.

Tomorrow I intend to go through the character sheet that I built today, sort the features by order of desired acquisition, and make my plan of action for acquiring those.

Shortform #143 Taking small actionable steps to improve my life

Starts Monday Oct 10. I am coasting now on my past commitments because they have become habits (for the most part). Time for new commitments! Note: I find that small continuous actions of improvement, (see also Kaizen), more sustainable & actually doable than big innovations, so those are my guidelines with most of my new commitments.

Health:

• Eat one or less egg per day instead of the two I've been averaging
• Eat meat no more than once every other day instead of the once a day I've been averaging
• Increase stairs climbed per day from an average of 7 flights per day to 12+ flights per day (note that this is a full weekly average, not just during workdays where it's easy to climb 10 flights a day given my current duties).
• Continue walking as much as possible to reduce car utilization, plus, commit at least one 2 mile minimum walk per week that's separate from my walking commutes.

Mind:

• Continue the habit of going to bed by 9:30 and falling asleep by 10 except for occasional (no more than once a week) staying up slightly later. Waking up at 5:45am every morning for the last few weeks has been great for me, I want to continue that and possibly move the wakeup time earlier.
• Set a five minute kitchen timer once per day and write in a designated notebook about thoughts that crossed my mind that day.
• Set a five minute kitchen timer once per day and read a designated nonfiction book or textbook about biology (this will be one recommended by commentators from my Have you considered getting rid of death? post that was also posted on LessWrong).

This feels like quite a few new commitments already, yet I'm feeling like writing several more paragraphs worth. Let's start with the above, I'll add more as I go.

Shortform #142 What entertainment are you consuming or interacting with?

Right now I am listening to Fragments, by Bonobo. I love that album!

Tonight was my once or twice a month "watch YouTube videos" night, and...I'm not sure how much I like that habit. I do skip a lot of videos I used to watch almost compulsorily when I watched YouTube videos multiple times a day...so that's an improvement at least.

I am not watching any TV shows right now, but I will possibly watch a movie this weekend. I'm reading a book on Kaizen which I'm quite enjoying and am also slowly making my way through Ward. I had hardly played video games for the past six months or more, but right now I'm occasionally playing Borderlands (first playthrough) with some forays into visual novels too.

Thank you :) I did not used to have regular hangouts like that, and now that I do, I find that they are a nice improvement to my life.

Shortform #141 Weekly workshops & good things to come

I will now be running weekly workshops for Virginia Rationalists: Norfolk. I'm excited for this and am looking forward to the growth and fun we will experience! Nothing will change with our weekly socials, I wanted workshops so am running those separately from social meetups as was recommended by many other organizers at the organizer's retreat in July.

I have an interview tomorrow for a job I'm a really good fit for on a team that would be great to work with. Here's to good things to come hopefully :)

I did not write last night's shortform because I was eating delicious homemade from scratch pizza with friends.

Shortform #140 Routine-breaking Weekend

I tend to settle into a fairly predictable routine, and this weekend roused me from that.

On Friday there was a tropical storm and no power in my apartment when I went home after work (though it did come back on that evening thankfully). Because my building sustained no damage, it was a pretty relaxing night, I read some while it was still light out and then the power was back on by nightfall so I hopped on my computer and was somewhat social virtually for a bit.

On Saturday I went to Richmond, VA for the ACX Meetup Everywhere meetup there and that was fantastic!!!! Had a wonderful time :) I then attended a lovely dinner at a friend's house after making it back to Norfolk.

On Sunday I helped take care of my niece for most of the day.

I don't feel as well rested as I usually do after a weekend, but I do think an occasional few interruptions to my routine is probably good for me in that it helps avoid stagnation in some ways in case my routine turns unproductive or unfulfilling (which does happen sometimes).

We are outside at the patio.