| Sunday, 07 April 2024 |
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Good morning [%first_name |Dear Reader%],
Good morning and happy Sunday! We’re in April and I’m finally able to listen to playlists!
Wait, what? Yes. Remember I’d talked about “The Album Hypothesis” in an earlier February edition?
So, my new resolution since last week is to only listen to albums on Apple Music for an entire month. No “Essentials”, no “Best of”. In an age of algorithms, AIs, and bubbles, it’s my attempt to take back a little bit of agency. An attempt to momentarily zag when we must all zig.
I’m happy to report that I didn’t listen to any playlists in all of March, but only albums released by artists. It was incredibly hard. If that wasn’t enough, I was also completely off added sugar (directly or indirectly) for the entire month.
And just so April doesn’t feel too liberating, I’ve decided to give up meat for the foreseeable future and become a pescetarian. I’ve done this before and my last stint lasted nearly five months.
Now, you must be wondering why I do this. And honestly, I don’t think I have the full answer either. Abstinence is a complex thing. Why do we do it?
To show we’re still in control? To whom?
To demonstrate that we still have the discipline? For what?
To impart some meaning to our choices? To what end?
Or, like I said earlier, to momentarily zag when modern life expects us all to zig? I think that might be the closest answer. Modern life is designed in favour of ease, consumption, and discovery. So, perhaps, every now and then, I choose the opposite of those to reassure myself that I still can.
Maybe it’s also why Gabru likes to spend his weekend mornings in a barking match with his arch-nemesis, the Labrador-retriever in the apartment above us.
A few weeks ago, I spent a Saturday pointlessly retiring my existing Linux home server with the latest Raspberry Pi. I don’t think I achieved any “gains” at the end of the exercise, other than perhaps some power savings. Technologically, there was nothing particularly hard about setting up a headless Pi that runs the wonderful network-wide adblocker Pi-Hole. But was it still worth it? Yeah.
If you’re interested, I’ve got a few more thoughts about my month-without-playlists later in the edition. Otherwise, we’ve got a wonderful edition for you. It’s perfect for laying back, reading, and contemplating.
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