This is the permanent version of a "Now" update from 2023-06-06:

  • ⌛️ Career Sabbatical: I’ve been enjoying some time off from my professional life since October 2022. You can read more about it on my Sabbatical page.

  • 🧘🏼‍♂️ Exercise: Right now I’m on a pretty good schedule of doing yoga 4-5 times a week, including a Yin class which I’ve really enjoyed. I’ve also been enjoying indoor rowing since January. I’ve been blown away by how much I’ve come to look forward to rowing sessions along with how it’s improved my balance, strength, and cardiovascular fitness so quickly.

  • 📚 Reading: I recently finished Homer’s Illiad and am currently reading Virgil’s Aeneid, Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey, and Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman.

  • 👨🏼‍🍳 Cooking: We’ve continued to work through Melissa Clark’s Dinner in One, which continues to be excellent.

  • 🎮 Video Gaming: Since I last updated my Now page, I’ve been working on two games:

    • I started playing Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla in April. The game mechanics are varied and creative, but, as you might expect, it involves a lot of killing and pillaging. Most of the games I’ve played that have included combat and violence have been in a fantasy setting. This feels a bit different. On one hand, it’s an interesting vehicle for bringing to life what previously felt like an abstract and distant part of history. On the other hand, like many similar games, it glorifies violence largely in an uncritical way. To be clear, the violence wasn’t at all surprising, but how real it feels was unexpected. I’m trying to sort through how I feel about continuing to play. I’d love to chat if you’ve had a similar experience!

    • I just started to play The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom a few days after it came out. Breath of the Wild is a difficult act to follow, but the introduction of some of the newer abilities and the expansion of the world has been really fun to explore. I think the biggest disappointment comes from this game being a lot bleaker. BoTW was very, very pretty to just explore for hours.

  • 🎲 Board Gaming: We finally played Love Letter: Princess Princess Ever After and had a lovely time. I enjoyed the fast-paced play and the simplicity of the game. It’s a great addition to the library for lower-energy evenings where we might not want to embark on a multi-hour game.

  • 🪵 Woodworking: I’ve now completed two terms of Woodworking classes at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education and will start a third in late June. The class only meets for three hours a week and I don’t have equipment at home, so progress is slow. I’ve learned how to use a tablesaw, jointer, planer, table router, hand router and some hand tools. I’ve made great progress on my Shaker Hallway table and expect to finish the core table in the next two to three class sessions before spending the rest of the term on building two drawers.

  • 🏺 Wheel Throwing Pottery: Getting into a Mudflat Wheelthrowing Class felt harder than getting Taylor Swift tickets (I didn’t try for them, to be clear), but now that I’ve started, I’ve been throughly enjoying it. It’s been such a pleasure to be so, so very bad at something when starting out and then getting better through practice. We’ve learned how to throw cylinders and bowls so far and I’ve bisque fired a number of items. I should get to glaze some pieces soon and get a better understanding of the end-to-end process!
Permalink: 2023-06-06
You can check out an archive of my "Now" updates in the Now Archive.