Now – 5 Jan 24

What I’m doing nowadays

Mondays to Thursdays: I’m working on the 42 Core Curriculum. After the Rains Retreat, I was (honestly) unsure if I wanted to continue with the 42 programme, as it seemed like more striving, more doing, rather than being and at peace. My personal inclination was quite strongly to NOT continue with the programme, and to just give it up.

However, since a key learning from my retreat was to let go of my personal preferences(see #6), it seemed only right for me to go AGAINST my own inclination. So I went to ask for a divination lot from the Kuan Yin template at Waterloo Street. Waterloo Street divination lot

Lo and behold, it seems like the choice is made for me. -shrug- In any case, I am adopting the mindset of using 42 as a vehicle to serve, however I can.

Fridays: I use to do admin stuff, like updating my blog. ;)

Thoughts

All thoughts are worthless and unreliable. Including this thought.

Read

Been reading a few books recently.

  • The English and their History by Robert Tombs : quite fascinating (but long) read. Chaucer’s England had a higher living standard than many 20th century developing countries! I also always wondered about the English Civil War and what it was about, and this book helped me understand a little better.

  • The Misinformation Age : explains how true and false beliefs spread through network dynamics. This is quite a fascinating glimpse into network dynamics: I had looked into this domain at EDB’s Strategic Planning, so have some familiarity with the domain, but not as applied to this. TLDR - it seems that polarization is inevitable.

  • Understanding and Using C Pointers: A really practical and useful book, diving into the use of pointers in C (which is the main language of 42, for the core curriculum).

Listened/Watched

I’ve been listening to a LOT of Dhamma talks recently by Ajahn Brahm, specifically the Dhamma talks he has given the Sangha on Wednesdays. Right now, I’m listening to the 2003 Rains Retreat talks.

Finished watching “You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment”, which is quite a fascinating Stanford-led study. The original paper is here.

Workout

Mondays & Wednesdays: 1hr of zone 2 cardio Tuesdays & Thursdays: Turkish getups with kettlebells, deadlift (work up to 5; right now 80kgs) Fridays: VO2 max (now 2 sets, building up towards 4 sets of (4 min exert, 4 min rest))

Updated as of 5 Jan 24