52 Things I Learned in 2023

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  1. Reading still brings me joy
  2. Reading together is a much better experience. It makes difficult books easier to stick with.
  3. If pen & paper is something I come back to any time I’m overwhelmed, maybe it’s best to just stick to pen and paper always
  4. Especially if new stationary brings me so much JOY.
  5. Social networks are a platform. You’d never choose to stand on an unstable platform IRL, why stand on one online?
  6. Everyone needs to have their own website
  7. RSS is still low-key the best thing about the internet.
  8. Newsletters and knowing the emails of your friends is a close second.
  9. It’s possible to get used to the worst things.
  10. It’s important to continue to work to make them better.
  11. The only two options are to accept or to change.
  12. Knowing what you can change makes it easier.
  13. Journaling helps
  14. Morning pages help.
  15. None of this helps as much as therapy or taking the necessary medications.
  16. The "peak" of the internet was always the "small community" aspect of it. Forums. Blog comment sections. Local meetups. The closest thing that exists now is Mastodon, I think.
  17. Them Apple products with the M123 chips are really the best things ever. Haven’t experienced this much joy using a new product since my first iPod Nano.
  18. A lesson I’ve learned but not really "internalized" yet is that a little work every day really is better than lots of "thinking" and then one crazy sprint to get it all done last moment.
  19. Looking for a new job is fucking scary and takes forever. (and I’m one of the lucky ones)
  20. Kindle is the best way to read for me.
  21. My ideal number of "books to read at the same time" is between 4 and 5. Any less than that and I get bored. Any more than that and I get overwhelmed.
  22. You know what’s better than sex? A really good book.
  23. Knowing the truth when everyone around you believes lies is worse than not knowing anything at all.
  24. It’s also better, but I’m not sure that in the end it’s a net positive for me, personally.
  25. Depending on how you count there are either six or seven types of rest and you have to make sure you’re "hitting" each type to actually get rest.
  26. You don’t really "own" anything digital that you buy unless you take the kinds of steps that some jurisdictions deem illegal.
  27. L-Theanine to help with coffee jitters
  28. The whole "different" generations thing is booooooriiiiiing because I feel like there are more similarities than differences and focusing too much on the differences is just cringey either way (but more so when the olds comment on the youths).
  29. Future developments notwithstanding, AI looks like it’s going to do more harm than good.
  30. Luddites aren’t the same thing as the amish. They’re not against all technology — they’re against harmful technology.
  31. I accept that twitter has always sucked in the "abusive relationship" kind of way.
  32. Being on twitter now is just… saying to yourself that you don’t deserve to be happy.
  33. This one isn’t 100%, but living with two cats is better than living with one cat, but I think two is the cutoff.
  34. Old stuff that withstood the test of time (like, stuff that’s before my time and even before my parents’ time) is good. A lot of the "new stuff" we’re seeing now costs more than the benefits that it brings.
  35. Do not sync Obsidian using iCloud. It makes shit slow.
  36. Ember Mugs, dude!
  37. If you’re struggling on making something long, make something short instead
  38. If you don’t drink enough water during the day you should try getting a SodaStream.
  39. Everyone could benefit from a really good pair of headphones with noise cancellation.
  40. Air out your room before going to sleep and try to keep the temperature low (and the covers warm). 10x improvement in sleep quality.
  41. Get a good pillow.
  42. Fountain pens rock.
  43. As much as I hate it, I think time blocking kinda works for me.
  44. Getting Things Done is the foundation of all good productivity systems. Skip all other "productivity" books/videos/lectures and just read that.
  45. The fact that Adobe is a subscription-based service is stupid. I got all the Apple apps for the price of one year of subscribing and it does 99% of what needs to be done.
  46. You gotta have soup at least once a week.
  47. The more I look around the less crazy the preper people seem to me.
  48. If you’re not subbing to YouTube Premium, what are you doing? Best bang for the buck in the world.
  49. Everyone needs to learn how to use torrents. Not for piracy reasons… but… for reasons.
  50. "It’s about the friends you make along the way."
  51. Getting the ability you have to influence/improve your local community will be one of the most rewarding things you can strive for.
  52. The propaganda machines (plural) are working overtime right now, and it’ll only get worse in 2024. Media literacy is not a "nice to have" — it’s basically a prerequisite for survival.