01/21/23: Space Capitalism
TLDR
Update: New Year Resolution
Playing: No Man Sky
Reading: Real Tigers by Mick Herron, Far Sector by NK Jemisin
Watching: The Bodyguard
Around the Internet: Interesting articles I’ve read since the last newsletter
End Notes: You can contact me at jadettman@gmail.com
THE UPDATE
I try not to make resolutions at the beginning of a new year unless I really mean them and feel I can stick to them. This year, I resolved to be bored more often.
Being bored is important for creativity. Letting your mind wander allows you to make new connections and gives your brain time to churn and surface weird things from your unconscious.
I realized that I’ve been almost constantly doing something with my waking hours for a while now. Definitely since the start of the pandemic (possibly as a coping mechanism). Whether it’s playing a game on BGA or listening to a podcast when I’m not working, I’m constant putting something into my brain.
Sure, I also spend some time trying to process what I’ve listened to but even then it’s just a few minutes and then I’m off to the next thing.
So, despite feeling like I’m falling behind in my podcast listening or itching to play something on BGA, I’m doing my best to just not.
I’m staring into space more. I’m thinking about what I listen to and read more. I’m letting ideas bubble up and trying not to hold on to them too tightly.
It’s hard. I want to be distracted. I want to watch tv while also playing a stupid app game on my iPad. I want to play games on BGA and not think about the state of our politics or the world in general.
Maybe I won’t stick with it, but I’m going to try.
EATING / COOKING / BAKING
The braces have meant making some adjustments to my diet. Instead of baking bread, I’m buying it from the store because it’s softer. I’m eating apple sauce instead of apples.
PLAYING
I’m back to playing No Man Sky, the game we refer to as our Space Job, because it so very much about capitalism (and colonialism).
I’m playing on Permadeth this go round, which means that if something in the game (usually pirates, in my case) kill my character then I lose everything and have to start over from scratch. This has been annoying enough the first two times that it has happened that I’m not sure I’ll continue in that mode.
My goal, from the outset, is to create a lovely underwater habitat where I can just chill at the bottom of an alien ocean and occasionally motor around in my mini-sub. Of course, it takes a lot of work to build up the resources to that point so, in the mean time, I’m working the gig economy and pillaging resources from alien worlds.
READING
I just finished Real Tigers by Mick Herron. If you are familiar with Slow Horses on Apple TV+ (and you should be, it’s good) this is the book series that it’s based on.
Real Tigers is the third book in the series, which is about British spies who, for various reasons, have been assigned to Slough House, the place where they send screw-ups so they don’t have to pay them a generous pension.
At this point, I’m just trying to stay one book ahead of the TV series. I like the books well enough but this third book felt a little tired. I will likely check out the next one in the series in a year but if the author hasn’t brought something new to the formula, I’m likely to stop there.
WATCHING The Bodyguard (on Netflix). I’m not entirely sure how to describe this chameleon of a show. It’s a UK show about a bodyguard. It’s largely a character piece about the lead and how he’s handling his complicated life. But then, every episode is like a three-episode arc of a different show. So Much Happens! And I enjoyed it, or you wouldn’t be hearing about it.
END NOTES
If you’d like to send me some feedback or discuss one of the topics I’ve talked about here (or even a different topic), email me at jadettman@gmail.com
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