#327
Jan 5, 2025
Books
This week I read:
Atomic Habits by James Clear
I’m not a new years resolutions guy, but I can’t deny that I probably felt like reading this book (which has sat on my shelf unread for years) this week of all weeks due to them. Cultural conditioning is a powerful force. And, funnily enough, one the book mentions.
I’m a bit skeptical of the self-help genre as obviously these authors are in the business of convincing people that they have problems which can only be solved by buying more books, rather than being in the business of actually solving problems. But I really enjoyed this book, it’s clear the author does actually want to help you fix things, and provides good straightforward advice to help you stick with good habits and break bad habits.
I’ve already put it into practice. I am really bad at remembering to floss my teeth: it’s unpleasant, so I don’t like doing it. Isn’t just using more mouthwash enough? (no) Anyway, on the advice of this book, I made a small simple change to make flossing more attractive: I decided to floss my teeth in the shower. I greatly enjoy my long, hot, morning shower. It helps wake me up and relaxing beneath the water just feels nice. I already shave in the shower, so I just added flossing in as well, and so far I’ve flossed three days in a row which might be a new record.
Going back to new years resolutions, the reason I don’t like them is because they encourage you to make a bunch of big changes at once, inevitably fail, and get frustrated. I do have some more ideas for habit changes from the book, but I’m going to stagger them, rather than fall into the very same trap.
Roleplaying Games
The Halls of Arden Vul
Every week I ask the players what they plan to do next, and almost every week something happens to derail that. Ah well, it’s why we play: it would be boring if everything went as planned all the time.
This time the players found a secret door, a secret back entrance to a sublevel they’ve previously only glimpsed the main entrance to. There’s some weird stuff going on, they’re not quite sure what happened here, but one thing’s for sure: they can make a lot of money if they’re able to remove the loot without angering the animated statues or powerful ghost!
Akkadian
I took this week off as well (as it was still partly December) but now it’s time to hit the books again. I think I’ll stick with my previous schedule of Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays; but I need to make sure I’m balancing study time with translation time, as translating real texts is much more fun than just working through grammar exercises.
Miscellaneous
I’ve been playing a lot of Caves of Qud this week. Definitely a new favourite. I’m slowly getting the hang of it, there have been many character deaths (last one got dismembered by fish), but each time I learn from my mistakes and die in a different way!