This Weeks Adventures

Seth’s (my roommate’s) girlfriend came out for the weekend from Houston, TX. Like most weekends where Seth does not plan out the weekend for the other 3 of us roommates, Collin, Rex, and I spent almost all of our time at the house. On Saturday, per Seth’s request, all five of us visited the Gulfport Aquarium for a nice change of pace – Gotta say, prices were a little steep. Almost 30 bucks? Geez, Louise, your North American river otters weren’t that exciting. Calm down there Gulfport.

On the plus side, those steep prices got Rex and me to bargain with the cute girl at the ticket window. We genuinely thought she was going to hook us up with some sweet discounts, but alas it was an uneventful encounter. About an hour later, after we walked around the zoo, we circled back and talked to her for a couple of minutes.

The real kicker was about 2 hours after that when we got back to the house, and just to prove a point, Rex half-jokingly called the Aquarium asking for this girl’s number… Like… the front desk… of the aquarium.

Some rando answered and they took a message for him, inviting her to the Beau Rivage Resort for a double date to the Nutcracker Ballet. All as a joke…

Well, joke’s on him (us?), she got the message, gathered his number from the call directory, texted him, and now they’re supposed to go on a date tomorrow.

That sounds like a win if I’ve ever heard one.

Morale of the Story? I’m going to start asking more girls on dates by calling their employers. There’s untapped potential in that arena.

Concepts I’m Trying to Internalize

• Time blocking instead of to-do lists
  
  

I first heard this idea from my aunt. My mother’s sister mentioned it to me in passing one time (pretty sure she doesn’t remember) – Time blocks instead of to-do lists.

Damn it is hard to internalize. It requires so much more planning. It takes effort. But I find when I’m able to plan out the day beforehand, my days are much more fruitful. I find I spend less time dilly-dallying about because I no longer have to spend time thinking about what I’ll be doing and can instead just do it. Thanks, Nike.

Evolution 2 of this idea is that once I start a task (say that I’ve allotted 30 minutes for) I’ll set a timer and if I stray away from the task, I have to pause the timer. It makes you way more conscientious about distractions.

Every 2 Weeks

I’m starting this new thing where I try to be [[Benjamin Franklin]].

He created a system of 13 characteristic traits. I first learned about this from a book… might’ve been [[Happiness Hypothesis]], can’t quite remember. The whole idea is that Franklin took 13 things he was awful at (drinking too much, spending too much money, talking too much, etc) and planned them out by the week.

Each week was devoted to one ‘virtue’, and the next week the next, and so on. He figured he couldn’t improve his whole self at once but could break it down into factors.

Great CNN article on the method here.

This dude engineered the odometer, helped write the Constitution, and apparently partied like an animal so in my mind he’s got some credibility. I figured I’d give his method a go.

This week’s traits are ‘saying like’ when I talk and ‘paying attention to others as I have a tendency to drift into my own realm when other people apparently are around.

For the last 2 weeks, I attempted it but found there was no measurable difference because there was no accountability. These 2 weeks I’m going to find some measurable factors to track progress.

Things I’m Struggling With

Sundays and Planning

Gosh dude. This is so freaking hard. I try to use Sundays mildly productively, whether it’s writing, reading, working on the podcast or something else. It’s so freaking hard. Naturally, I am not a planner, but I realize that I need to plan or nothing gets done… like ever. I have several hobbies I realize that if I don’t actively plan them in advance, the enjoyment is left out of the day.

It’s like I just need somebody to remind me that I have hobbies in the first place. It’s a weird dynamic.

During the week we have so many things going on that during the weekend when all external pressure is off (ie jobs) I am deduced to a lazy sack of turds and don’t do anything. Planning seems like the solution but doesn’t sound all that fun.

Songs Stuck in My Head

Snow on the Beach by Taylor Swift

Dude this song has been seared into my brain for the past 2 weeks. It’s so dang good. I kid you not it’s blasting through my headphones as I write this…. “like snowww”

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What Is This?

The whole point of this ‘weekly newsletter’ is to share bits and pieces of my life that I think could be helpful or interesting to some other human on the planet. I’m hoping it’ll also be a way to keep in contact with more people in my life. I figure I can use this newsletter to reach out and hope they’ll reach out to me if there’s anything that strikes a chord. That means you. Reach out. Pls. At the very least I hope it serves to keep people somewhat included and looped into my life as I’m not always the most proactive with that.

Apparently, people care (mostly just my mom) so hopefully, you’re able to gain something valuable from these newsletters. If not, I suppose that’s why I’ve got the unsubscribe button.