David Eisinger

Journal > Dispatch #19 (September 2024)

Posted 2024-09-15 under #dispatch

Highlights this month were our annual trips to Rehoboth Beach and Beaufort. There’s something I really like about travel traditions, especially with kids. You get the benefits of breaking the normal routine, but you’re able to build familiarity and not feel the need to see and do everything. It’s different than visiting some place you probably won’t see again.

Half-marathon training is going well. The timing of the Rehoboth trip couldn’t have been better, hitting at 4 weeks into my 12 week training program. I love running up there – the weather’s better, the terrain’s flatter, and the gravel trail at Cape Henlopen is just perfection. Felt like I could run forever.

We got Nev’s art table set up in the living room. It’s been a delight to see her take to it, defaulting to creative pursuits during downtime. I added some LED lighting and coat hooks. That’s the nice thing about making your own stuff: the freedom to modify and adapt.

Musically, I found a good deal on a pretty nice polyphonic analog synthesizer which I think will be helpful in properly learning subtractive synthesis (though this thing has a lot going on). So far just enjoying poking around w/ all the various settings. I’m also slowly working through a book on drum programming.

I finished Moonbound – I liked it, though it didn’t knock me over. It was definitely unlike anything I’ve read before, which I appreciate. I also listened to the Brotherhood of the Rose trilogy during my runs and long drives. I liked these a lot – tight, efficient spy thrillers.

This Month

• Adventure: Pigeon Forge, TN for my birthday
• Project: start thinking about the next iteration of my home studio + some ideas for Nev’s room
• Skill: drum programming; I’d like to get a good set of samples (hi-hats in all positions, multiple toms, etc.) and actually program in all of the patterns the drum programming book I mentioned earlier

Reading

• Fiction: Son of the Black Sword, Larry Correia (recommended by Kev Quirk)
• Non-fiction: The World Beyond Your Head, Matthew B. Crawford (still)

Links

• It’s okay to lower the bar

  I had to remind myself that it’s okay to lower the bar. That an average version of something is better than a perfect version of nothing. All I can do is have a go.

• Cultural Stasis Produces Fewer Cheesy Relics like Rocky IV

  The much-maligned 1985 boxing film provides a few hints about the causes of 21st century artistic stagnation: namely, popular artists now work in a risk-averse creative paradigm that avoids making instantly-outmoded artworks

• Okay, I really like WezTerm

  I tried it again with a bit more patience and I’m glad I did. My terminal is prettier than it’s ever been, more functional, and I can finally justify my mechanical keyboard purchase with all the keybindings I’ve configured.

• P(Dumb)

  I think this is a fantasy. It’s concocted by people rich enough to already enjoy human servants, assuming—​probably correctly—​that there are people out there of lesser means who want the same kind of access. My instinct is that a product like this would be extremely touchy, and that’s assuming you could even get it to work.

• Stock and flow

  But I actually think stock and flow is a useful metaphor for media in the 21st century. Here’s what I mean: Flow is the feed. It’s the posts and the tweets. It’s the stream of daily and sub-daily updates that reminds people you exist. Stock is the durable stuff. It’s the content you produce that’s as interesting in two months (or two years) as it is today. It’s what people discover via search. It’s what spreads slowly but surely, building fans over time.