Chris Brooks Newsletter 035
Greetings from Houston / Panama / Chile. I think this composition will span those three countries as I try to get this out before starting my backpacking trip in Patagonia. I did some training hikes to get ready but am mildly concerned about the weather ahead. Might have some heavy rain and cooler weather (some of the rain freezing?) as we start our adventure in Torres del Paine.
1. 🚘 Where I've Been Traveling
No travel for me again (except for the trip I'm on now), though we did have a great visit from Uncle Don and Aunt Carol who took the train cross-country from Burlington Iowa. This allows us to play tourist in the Napa area and we had fun visiting a winery, eating out, and visiting for the first time the Jack London State Historic Park near Sonoma.
I had a great 24 hours in Santiago. I'll have most of a day on my return back to the states and look forward to visiting some of the historical sites. Today I'm in Puerto Natales, starting our 8 days of backpacking Torres del Paine tomorrow morning.
2. 📖 What I've Been Reading
Articles:
- Interesting thoughts on how to actually read Ulysses.
- Using AI to... prompt AI.
Books:
- I finished the audiobooks for Mistborn: the Final Empire and The Well of Ascension. Good light stuff and no I didn't remember the various plot twists from the first time I read them. Now listening to the final book in the trilogy, The Hero of Ages.
3. 🍿 What I've Been Watching
TV Shows:
- Not as much TV viewing as we are sharing a house and media with Jacob, Kaitlin, and Rory. We are group-watching Severance and White Lotus as new episodes get released.
Movies:
- I watched the new Criterion release of No Country for Old Men (thank you Napa Public Library!). This always holds up for me and made me want to read the book again. The current-day interview with Joel and Ethan Coen was excellent.
- Julie and I watched a new-to-us Gene Hackman movie, Scarecrow, also with Al Pacino. Reminded me of Easy Rider, but with much better acting.
YouTube:
- 1 vs 1000 guitar picks (5000 picks/second) (hat-tip to Kaitlin)
4. 🎶 What I've Been Listening To
Music:
- Hackney Diamonds (our latest album club entry), a surprisingly good (final?) studio album from the Rolling Stones.
- The Whole Love by Wilco, our next album club entry.
- Raffi 😂
Audio Books:
- If you have books you've purchased over the years on Audible and want to "liberate" them (you didn't really buy the book... you bought a limited license from Amazon and they might pull the rug from you at any time), use the Libation toolkit.
5. 🎮 What I've Been Playing
- Jacob, Kaitlin, Julie, and I are playing through Ticket to Ride: Legacy. So much fun! Early games are very quick – about 30 minutes – and easy to get into if you've played the original game before.
- I introduced Jacob to Mistborn: the Deckbuilding Game, playing a competitive player-vs-player match that he won. We are both eager to try the co-op mission together.
- I have two wargames on deck: Fields of Fire Volume 3 should be in the house when I return from Chile, and I picked up a good deal on Undaunted: Stalingrad which I'm excited to play with Jacob.
6. Traveling as an American
It is awkward right now! I feel like I have to apologize to everyone I meet. Panamanians? Yep (sorry about the canal talk!). Canadians? Yep (sorry about the trade war!). Chileans? Yep (sorry about supporting Pinochet... we kinda have our own version of that now, haha!). Keep smiling, be humble, be a good guest.
See you in April.
-Chris