I heard some good advice once. Never waste a transition.
Life is full of transitions, big and small. So some, just naturally, are going to pass you by. But I have a big one coming up. My oldest is starting Kindergarten. And there’s a lot that’s about to change. The butterfly effect of his now slightly altered schedule and transition to the bus is going to basically change up my entire routine.
And that can be a bummer, if I let it be. But I’m not going to let it be. It’s going to be a chance for me to have some 1 on 1 time with him, which is something I don’t get enough of. It’s going to be a chance for him to try some independence. And for me, it’s going to let me move things around in my day so that I can have longer hours of being productive.
Here I am, putting it out into the universe. A transition is coming, and I’m going to embrace it.
Kierkegaard on the nature of regret
If you marry, you will regret it; if you do not marry, you will also regret it; if you marry or if you do not marry, you will regret both; whether you marry or you do not marry, you will regret both. Laugh at the world’s follies, you will regret it; weep over them, you will also regret it; if you laugh at the world’s follies or if you weep over them, you will regret both; whether you laugh at the world’s follies or you weep over them, you will regret both. Believe a girl, you will regret it; if you do not believe her, you will also regret it; if you believe a girl or you do not believe her, you will regret both; whether you believe a girl or you do not believe her, you will regret both. If you hang yourself, you will regret it; if you do not hang yourself, you will regret it; if you hang yourself or you do not hang yourself, you will regret both; whether you hang yourself or you do not hang yourself, you will regret both. This… is the sum of all practical wisdom.
September 8, 2024
Since reading this, I’ve been tracing the zyntranet, for at least the reason that it’s a demographic that a) Trump seems very interested in and b) almost certainly won’t vote. It’s a movement without a personality, a subculture without an identity. The superficial output of a flattening of culture. The next wave of boomers.
Over the last ten years or so, a broad community of fratty, horndog, boorishly provocative 20- and sometimes (embarrassingly) 30-somethings–mostly but by no means entirely male–has emerged to form a newly prominent online subculture. This network is adjacent to the “sports internet” of 40something dads and the “hustle internet” of Miami crypto bullshit and the “reactionary internet” of trad influencers, but is its own distinct community with its own distinct cultural referents–college sports, gambling, light domestic beers, Zyn nicotine pouches–and influential personalities and media outlets, among them Dave Portnoy, Pat McAfee, Antonio Brown, and Call Her Daddy, in addition to dozens of minor podcasters and hey-fellow-kids content creators who nearly all work for sports-betting concerns.
