Getting Published, Pt. 3 My article for De Correspondent got published this Monday instead of today! I'm super thrilled about it, and the response was bigger than I expected. Got some pushback but nothing I didn't deserve ("you're simplifying things" "I'm discussing a 200+pg niche book about transportation in just 1200 words for a bigger audience, whaddidyaexpect"). Still, it is nerve-wracking to put something like that out for the world to see. Moving Got the keys to my new place yesterday! It was a surprise where in the flat I'd end up - I didn't even know the floor - but I ended up getting a room on one of the top floors with a view of the skyline of Delft and The Hague. On a clear day I might be able to see the North Sea. It's everything I wanted it to be - the studio is almost 300sqft of living area instead of the 180 I had. No slanted walls. The internet is 100 mbit fiber. The window is yuge. And as a student I'm eligible for rental aid, which means that this studio is 30% cheaper than my old room. Did I mention the view is amazing? Anyway, yesterday me and my dad painted the walls, moved some basic stuff and got started on laying down the floor. Until the rest of the moving this weekend I'm sleeping on an air mattress. It totally beats sleeping in the sauna that is my old room. I'm gonna spend the evening working on the floor, let's see how far I can get today.
I have a growing company, my wife is pregnant, and we've decided to renovate our home. Full renovation, need to move out during. We must be insane. The plus side is that one of the most talented people I know and one of my closest friends is our architect. That's right, sounds_sound designed my home. Met with the contractor yesterday and got the quote. H-o-l-y s-h-I-t! I about pooped myself. Sounds_sound is gonna have to help me shave some $ollars. Life is exciting right now. Much to be thankful for. A shoutout to ecib -Kicking ass and working hard! With mk, elfassy and b_b we are accomplishing some pretty amazing stuff. Wanna expand in to Canada! Big news to come soon! Hope all is well on the Hub.
hey pal. you told me you wanted your studio to be bad-ass so i drew some bad ass details that are apparently too rich for even your blood. :) that entry is still gonna be cool, but less so now. oh well. next project right? right? here's a teaser for everyone. the view is looking up from the creek toward the studio.
I love that thenewgreen wants a free-standing studio but refuses to upgrade from Pro Tools 7
It looks pretty awesome. I plan to record many a song there. Using protools 7. :-)
thenewgreen I can get you a used shipping container for a thousand bucks. It's on trend and really captures that raw, re-purposed vibe creators are so fond of. Problem solved.
Oh wow. One of my "maybe within reach" goals is to buy a pretty piece of land and build a small (not tinyhouse) home on it. Something more modern than the standard cookie cutter houses I see. Big windows and big open spaces inside. Your teaser looks a lot like the type of thing I envision.
I believe it was Benjamin Franklin that said, "a sollar saved is a sollar earned."
Thanks! You can be our first client in Montreal :-0 It's amazing how much you have grown too!! I remember when Elizabeth travels was in its infancy. I remember when flac was talking about his album and now it's here! I remember when insomniasexx didn't have a thriving startup and now she does. Hubski is full of people that do and make things. Pretty rad.
Driving my wife and daughter to the UP of MI through the night tonight. I only get a long weekend at the cottage this year. :/ It's been a while since that was the case. This month is not reasonable. I'm headed back to SF on Monday, then to NC, then back to SF, then to MI, then to SF then to San Diego, then to SF, then to MI, then to SF, then to MI, then to FL, then to SF, or something like that, all within the next month. LA is in there too somewhere, and maybe NYC. Apologies if I am slow to reply to something. Life is good, but difficult to balance everything atm. I'm giving a talk about FL and life extension at Google on 8/3 which will be on their YouTube channel. Trying to make it post-worthy.
last full week in the vo. family is coming next week and we're going to drive the Adriatic coast for 10 days and i go back to the US shortly after! i'll be driving from the East Bay to DC for the latter half of August and I know Topher planned a pit stop in Ann Arbor, so Ann Arbor folx git at me.
Wow. Time flew. It feels like you just left. Have a wonderful road trip! Not every day you get to say you're embarking on a 10-day Adriatic excursion. That's mad cool.
you're telling me! 10 months is both a long and short time, especially in the policymaking world. i'm really looking forward to the trip (minus the heat and I already know Croatia is gonna be a clusterfuck of tourists lol). my mom and i were commenting on how nice it is to travel w/ each other now as adults. and my dad is driving so that'll be fun too. he was telling me that on his Hippie Trail Adventure, he tried to go to Albania but couldn't. and i told him that i learned that nobody could get in or out under Enver Hoxha's Communist rule, so it'll be neat to show him all the neat Communist history stuff that was happening when he couldn't get in. and by neat Communist history I mean a shit load of bunkers (173,000+)
One year (and a week) married! We spent our first anniversary packing up and loading a box truck with all the stuff we crazy Burning Man participants bring along when we go to regional events (the PNW's "Critical Northwest", in this case). After about 5 hours of sweating in the sun, we got everything packed, drove back to the city, and over the next 5 hours unloaded everything at 4 different houses. Then we took a shower and went to bed with tired smiles on our faces around 7:PM. This seems to be the perfect metaphor for our relationship: Ignore the trivial shit (like days and anniversaries), and focus on the epic (making amazing things happen for and with our community). Oh yeah. And on the 4th of July I flew a drone through our annual fireworks show, until it freaked out complaining of "EM Interference" and shut down. I had to fly it back through the aerial bombardment by guts, since the screen locked up and it stopped transmitting video! Excitement. Work? Oh yeah. Work. Still doing that. Busy as shit. Gonna get back to that now. waves quickly and exits stage left
Speaking of - will you be coming to BM this year? I'd love to meet you in person so much!!! Just thrifted the first outfit peice last week - I'm so pumped! Might go thrift shopping some more this weekend :) Been trying to think of some funny thing to print on some stickers to vandalise the place a bit. Still got time, but I'm feeling inspired.
I thought I was going to go one last time, this year... but then my wife and I found cheap tickets to Europe, and decided to do our honeymoon instead! (Only a year-and-a-half late!) So no Burning Man for me this year. Maybe next year. My plan is to go to the "big burn" one more time, completely stripped down: On my motorcycle, camping alone, out near the walk-in camping area. When I went back to Burning Man about fifteen years ago, I went alone on my motorcycle. So going back one last time in the same, stripped-down way, seems like good closure to me. And yes ... I want to meet you, too! Very much. I think we would have a LOT of fun talking about traveling and adventures and marketing and working for yourself and all that stuff. I look forward to the day when we can make that happen...
We are figuring out where to go now. Stay in London for a couple of days to see friends, and make my regular pilgrimage to the British Museum and Dali Museum. Probably the bass guitar store in Camden. Then rent a car and head west to Stonehenge, on the way to Devon. I have friends out there with a lovely B&B in a 15th c. mill. Then north across the Devon Moors, to Bath. Around the corner to Cardiff to see the Dr Who Museum (wife is a big fan!). Work our way north through Oxfordshire (more friends there), York, Fountains Abbey, up to Hadrian's Wall. Then Glasgow to Islay for a tour of the distilleries - especially Laphroaig - and then back to the mainland for... Scottish Highlands? Edinburgh? Maybe a cheap flight to Budapest for a long weekend, to see my friends there? From Budapest to Paris on a train? Or maybe Berlin? Stockholm? Sarajevo? Then back to Heathrow for the flight back home. (Virgin Air upper economy class!) We shall see how it all works out...
We have an intern I'm struggling with. He grasps process well enough. "Do this and then that and then record the output." What he doesn't get is the feedback loop of understanding the output and using it to change the input. Engineering isn't process, it's more trial and error. I find it frustrating not for him but for myself. I can't figure out where I'm failing as a mentor. I can't really believe he can't get it, and since he isn't getting it, there must be something I'm not explaining. Communication failures work both ways. What am I not doing right? It's also exhausting, trying to find new ways to explain the same concepts again.
Some people are just terrible engineers they go through all the copy and paste motions and can enter data but cant interpret it or understand where the output is or isnt applicable. Those people either become manager or get relegated to roles where they cant do much damage. I figure if 4 years of schooling hasnt drilled in the idea that just punching numbers into a tool is a bad idea then I'm not going to make any progress in the next two months. It always surprises me how many terrible engineers there are out there. I always felt that most of the people in my engineering classes were really sharp but then I meet all these engineers that dont even understand basic concepts like tolerances and it just makes me sad.
You're right, and I've known other engineers who struggle to apply concepts and are much more comfortable just taking direction. I really wanted him to succeed, and he just isn't. While I've worked with others like this, maybe it's my first time training someone who doesn't pick up the concepts.
Success in engineering school is all about reading engineering problems. Success in engineering is all about writing engineering problems. I had a real inferiority complex in engineering school because everyone was always better than me... then we got to capstone design and these mutherfuckers didn't know how a doorknob worked. And, once shown, they couldn't take it apart, put it back together or repair it, let alone draw it or modify it. Sometimes you can get the unimaginative to grasp the issues of the boundless story problem by getting them to find the bounds. Iteration is a matter of understanding that the solution of the problem is the conditions of the next problem until you no longer care about the outcome. Sometimes.
I don't think a door knob is an example of a simple initiative designed. It's a really common object but it's actually quite complex and it likely not something most people could describe much less draw. I bet if you asked 100 engineers to draw a scketch of a door knob working mechanism you would get 90-95 different designs that look nothing like a door knob does
Your backyard furnace would be the kind of thing that would get you hired over another candidate.
If it were me, it's a story I'd remember for the interview. You're right that it might not fit for a programmer, but it might. It shows problem solving skills and a personal interest in learning new things. Sorry about bringing up a difficult topic.
That's pretty badass. How'd you keep the oxygen out?
And I think success in engineering school is about learning how to solve a problem where the method is given and the result is unknown. In my experience, in practice engineering is knowing the answer and then figuring out how various methods prove (or just as often disprove) that answer. I've tried this, and "unimaginative" is a good description. I had one success on Monday with "(blank) didn't have any effect" (which was the correct observation). Then today when trying to coax him into an observation he went back to "I could try (blank)." I'll have to think about why that didn't work.Sometimes you can get the unimaginative to grasp the issues of the boundless story problem by getting them to find the bounds.
Yep, it seems like most things go the road of "well, x is what I want/needs to happen given our current equipment/business processes, but y is what is currently happening. How do I get to x?" What about something along the lines of asking him to come up with multiple possible solutions, and then asking him to rank them with reasoning? Kind of promotes more typical problem solving and might indirectly lead him into the wonderful world of some basic principles of risk and project management.
Perhaps something you could try is getting him to explain back to you, in his own words, the concepts you just explained to him. Not only does this force him to process the information on another level, but hopefully it should give you a clearer picture of the things he's not understanding. As kleinbl00 said in a post of his a few days ago: the best way to learn something is to teach it. If you can get the intern to 'teach' the things he's currently not getting, it might go some way to helping him progress.
I've tried this a bit without stopping to think about it. Maybe I could ask him to write down instructions on doing this analysis under the guise of "documenting for future interns." It might help him think more about the why of his work. Thanks, I'll give this a try.
I had to look up the Socratic method, but I don't think it would make much progress. It isn't that he's doing things wrong or has wrong ideas, he's just trying to do without trying to understand.
I've had an Emerson quote knocking around in my head the past few weeks, and it's not one of the usual knock-around ones. "We see young men who owe us a new world, so readily and lavishly they promise, but they never acquit the debt; they die young and dodge the account: or if they live, they lose themselves in the crowd". Oscillating between abject fear and bootstrap-pulling. ------------------- New music project. 4 tracks. This weekend. Summer jams. ---------------- Met with cgod & co. the other day, jumping into their Pathfinder campaign next friday - very excited about all that.
I'm not doing too well. I spent the weekend unsober all day and am regretting it now, 3 days later. Haven't been capable of doing basic things, or I just keep getting distracted. I'll take a shower once I post this. Edit: It took me way too long to deliberate on posting this. Online comments are the closest representation to my head, but I tend to leave half finished comments unposted because I get embarrassed about going over the deep end. I wasted yesterday's therapy session, I think. My new (and first) therapist is very good at spinning things optimistically, and we're somewhat similar people. This is a disadvantage, because I can only imagine myself in a good mood while talking to him. Now that I'm in a bad mood- I'm not sure how to tell him. Something to my core feels broken. It occurred to me that my version of suicidal ideation is to have this deep desire to hand my life over to some other entity and tell them that they can do better with my life than I can. It's discomforting, but probably natural until I get over my failure to launch thing going on. Is it a dumb idea to throw a dart at a map of the US and fly and stay in a hostel there for a week, for some sort of mental health break? I want to get over my fear of travelling this summer. Two years ago, I traveled across the US to find a new life for myself and became so overwhelmed that I ended up staying at AirBnbs and watching Youtube videos all day, only going out to find a restaurant on the other side of the city to pass time. I was lucky enough to find a job in Pittsburgh after 3 months. My big fear is that 1. this is a waste of money and 2. i'll just do the same thing again. My current avoidance playlist is playing chess and watching youtube videos on chess. Last night I played a bunch of games in the worst mood, and I won one game after being a whole 21.6 points down according to stockfish. I bookmarked the game in pinboard, captioning it "how did you win this game you stupid piece of shit, this is a metaphor for your life." It's the worst game of chess in the world, but it amuses the hell out of me today.
If you're worried about it being a waste of money - have you considered a mental health break in your own city? I find sometimes acting like a tourist in my own town kind of resets my patterns. Just go to new places alone and try to keep your phone in your pocket. If you want to take it to the next level, check into a hostel. Go to a bar you've never visited, hang out at the park, go to a weird concert, wander around random streets. Research meetups or whatever things you do when you're in a foreign city. What makes you anxious about traveling?
The biggest thing that makes me anxious about traveling is that I'm not actually sure what I like doing that I could just do at home. You know in how in your last vlog you're like "I'm sorry for complaining about being at the beach?", I totally feel like that whenever I go out- cause I don't really enjoy much, and I feel like I should be enjoying things. I try to work in different cafes all the time, but I'm still me on the internet, so that doesn't really work. I'm totally thinking about the hostel idea though, it's a little silly because there's only one right next to the art space I frequent a lot, but a new lot of people would be good for me. Sometimes it clicks when I go out, sometimes I feel like I'm never going to be seen again and I can finally act comfortable in my skin.
Ahh the pressure of always be having the time of your life - I'm familiar with that. When you're halfway across the world, burned out and want to lounge around while there is so much going on around - it's hard not to feel guilty. Or feeling grumpy and underwhelmed at some of the earth's 7 wonders. But sometimes we all need a day off! I actually kind of like vlogging because it gives me an excuse to stay in, while not feeling guilty. I think a big part of it is to go to a place you're actually exited to visit, especially if you're going solo. With friends, you can make any shithole fun but if you're alone and not feeling inspired about the place then of course you'll just stay in. Go for a specific festival, or some museum or hike or whatever you don't have back home. And then, invite people you meet to tag along and let the trip unfold I guess. Going on the free walking tours, starting up a game of cards in the common room of the hostel, cooking up some snack for everybody, or inviting everyone you meet to a bar (or a hike the next day) are a great way to make friends to make the vacation more memorable.
Thanks for the tips! Hm. I need to go back to the drawing board, I'm kind of realizing I should probably look into working on the relationships I currently have instead of trying to find enlightenment with strangers, or something.
Heh, alright. Woah, I haven't even tried to do matches with that much time allowed. I really enjoy tactics puzzles and the 5 minute +3 second per move time controls feels like the best expression of that- it doesn't give you enough time to fully think through your position so both players just try to get to the muddled mid-game as soon as possible, and the adding 3 seconds part makes it so that whoever wins the midgame usually ends up winning the endgame. Are you ever on lichess? I'd love to play a correspondence game.
Sounds like you've got it going good for you! Glad for you, man. Are you going to be the one to tell us about the amazing properties of boron nitride interlaced with graphene? Like, does it bend light around itself in predictable fashion, thus allowing it to be made into an invisibility suit? Does it form particularly strong bonds, thus making it the next generation of armor?
Of course my life works like this. I have been trying since March of 2016 to have the City chop down trees on my lake front. They used to do it every other year but not in over 5 years now. I was first told by the Parks Department that it would be done in May of 2016. It wasn't so I contacted the City Councillor and was assured it would be done by July. It wasn't and was told it had to wait till next year. In March of this year I emailed the Parks Department, the Councillor and the Mayor and was assured it would be done by July. It wasn't. Contacted them again and told the Mayor a big sob story about my Mother having Alzheimers and that looking at the lake is one of her last pleasures . He probably knows who she is but I reminded him, with links, of the tens of thousands of volunteer hours she has put in for the City (eg. feeding literally thousands of people). He essentially said he did not care and it was not a priority. The Councillor did not respond. So I hired a private firm to do it even though I expected to be fined $1,000. The crew came today at noon and were done by 2:30. $700. At 3:00, I noticed a City worker out back looking at the trees. I went out and was asked if I knew who did this and admitted it was me. Explained how I was careful as to not damage the trees or the root system so as to not cause any environmental damage. He advised that he was not satisfied as it should have been taken down lower and wider and so he would send a crew by tomorrow to do a much better job. Bittersweet. I get the job done; but it cost me $700 to get their attention. Or maybe I saved $300 by not getting fined.
I cut a the major half of a scabby looking 50ft cherry tree down in my tiny backyard today. It had to fall just right to not destroy anything. It landed about 5 degrees off target an did no damage. It might have been a crazy thing for me to do but it worked out. After I process the fallen half into fire wood and garbage I'll knock the easy half down. Good fun!
That's a big job. I actually enjoy cutting down trees but this was definitely a job for the pros. Good work on the aim. Measure 50 times. Cut once. Good old fashioned dirty work. I had a good day last fall helping a friend cut the slabs for a table he is building this summer. My first time using a chainsaw mill:
Subheadings Career The job hunt goes reasonably well. I've had at least one interview every day, usually multiple. Finding something to like about each different place helps me feel enthused about the process. Finding some good productive hours building some basic skills. French on duolingo, python and html/css on codecademy. Started in on a Google Analytics course because hey why not. Grubski In lieu of baking, I've been doing hella salads. Two stand out exceptional recipes as follows. Both make big batches. 'Detox' Salad - A Whole Foods Clone Ingredients 1 head broccoli 1 medium size package of carrots 1 big handful of parsley (More or less to taste) 6 oz of sunflower seeds 6 oz of toasted pumpkin seeds 2 cups raisins (Or other dried raisin-ish fruit) Juice of 1 Lemon 4 tbsp good olive oil Salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste Instructions Allow it to sit in the fridge for a half hour or so after for best taste. Greek Chickpea and Kale Ingredients 1 big bundle of kale (Your preference on variety, just remove the stems) 1/2 red onion 1 medium package of carrots 5-6 roma tomatoes, with pulp removed 1 1/2 cups tzatziki Instructions Mix well with chickpeas and tzatziki, top each bowl with greek seasoning. Gaming Stellaris is fun, anybody else ever play? BIG EDITSKI I got a job. Same title as before for the first 6-12 months, then a bump to managing a few other folks.1 head cauliflower
Put everything through food processor, pulse into little bitty pieces.
2 cups cooked chickpeas
Remove stems from kale (Unless you're a masochist), chop all veggies into bite sized pieces.
I'm trying to avoid the 'Reenact Warhammer 40k and kill everyone/everything' route for my first playthrough because it seems simplistic. That said, there are numerous endgame scenarios where it seems that a powerful navy might be a necessity anyway. Might be time to purge some xenos.
Those salad recipes look amazing and I'm absolutely going to try them. They seem like they'd be perfect for the kind of weather we're having here right now (~100F and miserable). EDIT: Tried the Whole Foods salad today, thought it sounded better than turning on the oven or stove when the weather is actually hell outside. It tastes amazing and was ridiculously easy to make. This recipe is going down in my go-to list of meal prep/potluck foods for sure. Thank you!
Let me know what you think! The whole foods clone has become my go to potluck dish, I bring home an empty bowl every time. I've also done a variation with balsamic vinegar and strawberries too, vanished within a half hour of taking the saran wrap off the bowl.
The post-vacation half of summer always seems to drag on too long for me. Work is tedious, weather is hot, I get restless. I'm trying to start the habit of exercising. I have access to a very basic gym (only dumbbells and elliptical) and I plan on running. Running is gonna suck because of the heat even in the early morning, but I can't stand treadmills or ellipticals, and I'm sick of how poor my cardio endurance is.
Interesting times. A few days ago, a woman messaged me on the social network. Said she liked my comments under the Harry Potter fan group posts, so she wanted to get to know me. Said she never tried it, but there we were, chatting. I suspect her breaking her leg the day prior and spending all her time at home may have had something to do with it. Getting quite popular in the same fan group by doing my best to speak the truth, despite not being a member. One of my curator friends is a member, though, and because of that I get occasionally recommended the group's posts by the system. Sometimes, I comment - and likes come running. It helps that the group is predominantly occupied by girls and young women. I used to be preoccupied by others' attention and appreciation. As notifications for likes and replies pop up, I notice that I enjoy it, but it no longer holds sway over me. I'm learning to speak the truth - the kind of truth I know with my heart to be true, which includes expressing my own thoughts. Some things I say sound harsh to the echo of my soul from a few months ago, but unlike the pretense I used to put up not to harm others, it no longer makes me feel guilty. The tension is still there when I speak the truth, but my heart no longer races, as if it justify the intense guilt I do my best to suppress. With the truth, comes calm that I've been yearning for for so long. I'd like for more people to come to me to get to know me. It's not because I'm too timid to reach out on my own, though there's nothing to not admitting some tension remaining about rejection. It's because I've put so much effort into reaching out to others - to no avail, because they were the wrong people - that for once, I want to be desire, not to desire myself. Soon, I'm going to embark upon the journey to find me an apartment in a city that has rent market as a good deal of its tax profit. It's going to take some running around and a lot of calling. Most of the number will belong to a rent agent saying they're "not exactly an agency" but also "not the owner". I'm okay with that: that's the reality of things around there. Got my eye on a particular apartment on a pretty cool street. If the number's still on the board by tomorrow, I'm setting up the appointment. Any tips on living in a private house? Anything I should be looking out for?
I was looking more into the properties of the private house (as opposed to your typical multiple-storey apartment building) that I should look out for. Piping, easy access during winter etc. I've been renting apartments prior, so I know the gig as far as payments go.
I feel a lot better than I did last week. My birthday is tomorrow. This weekend I'm having a joint birthday & housewarming party. I'm mowing the ol' back lawn, picking up charcoal and party favors, and getting the place ready. It's a very eclectic group coming Saturday and I can't wait for the cross pollination. Just a month left in the summer before school starts. I secured a lot of financial aid in the form of grants and scholarships so I'm getting a sizeable refund check the middle of August. I'm going to be commuting a lot this semester so the first order of business is maintenance on the 2003 Civic. Then I might splurge on a thing or two for myself. What's on everyone else's wishlist?
Books I made it a fifth of the way through Critique of Pure Reason before I put it down, and returned it to the library. Maybe someday. His conception of time and space were interesting, but I just didn't care. I'm a tenth of the way through Wealth of Nations. It reads quickly, which is a nice surprise. Still planning on given Hegel a shot. Will that plan also go down in flames? Seems likely. I also have a copy of Darkwater coming in the mail, and the Library has a complete copy of Seneca's Letters on order. I wish I read quicker. I feel like I'm pretty slow at it. Politics Got a city commission primary coming up Aug 1st. Watching the candidates forum in chunks. There is 8 of 'em, and we got through the first question with no-one running over time. They respected the bell and stopped talking when their minute was up. Fucking amazing. There is also a union contract proposal meeting at fucking 8am the following Saturday. Why 8am? Why? Whyyyyyy? Shit's about an hour a way from here as it is. I'm following the developments within the Democratic Socialists of America interestedly. The closest branch is, you guessed it, about an hour away. Internet Our new ISP provider still sucks.No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable. It is but equity, besides, that they who feed, clothe, and lodge the whole body of the people, should have such a share of the produce of their own labour as to be themselves tolerably well fed, clothed, and lodged.
I'm not really far enough in yet to feel comfortable talking about the contents. Some of it is forward thinking, other bits have seemed naive and cold. We'll see how he progresses both strands. The form of those contents are pretty accessible though. He spends a few paragraphs writing in plain language to establish a notion and then moves on to what that development enables him to talk about. It is a conversational work. I wasn't expecting that.
Back in NYC until Monday - I love this city so much. My boyfriend will drive over to visit this weekend :) The vlog has been hard to maintain, but I feel like I'm getting better at photographing. Gotta work 4 extra days on weekends before burning man so my boss lets me leave. We have a small monument to photograph in San Diego - trying to do good work so that I have a chance of convincing them to buy me a plane ticket there. It would cut down my BM costs significantly.
Movies Baby Driver. Go see it. It's seriously amazing for a popcorn flick. Roommates I love them. They all drive me crazy though. There's almost zero peace and quiet in this house and I'm always amazed and frustrated to find that one of my roommates always seems to start vacuuming or engaging in various other loud activities as soon as I'm nodding off for a nap. Food Dala is bringing me falafels tonight from this Greek place. I'm excited. I fucking love falafels.