Now
Last updated
The Workshop
Working on
I’m developing a stronger structure for my PhD so I can triage data and become more organized. I really like the program, but it is difficult because it requires doing many things simultaneously. I’m trying to use systems to stay sane, efficient, and capable of working at a high level. I have high standards for myself, and I do not want to compromise them simply because I am stretched thin.
Reading
A collection of PhD and graduate-school writing books. I think I understand the greater themes now; the next step is to execute and follow through on them. Eventually, I would also love to build a bookshelf of what I have read on this site.
Small pleasure
Recent discovery
Liza Minnelli’s mother is Judy Garland.
Looking forward to
An upcoming trip to South Carolina at the end of August.
One open question
I’m so caught up in the immediate act of doing at this point in my career. I wonder whether everything I’m doing now will eventually pay off in the future.
Something I recommend
Making a /now page!
On Screen
Processed Recently watched
Se7en
Watched July 28, 2026
Two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his motives.
View on IMDbRead my notes on Se7en
TikTok said this movie had a plot twist, so I finally got around to watching it. It became one of the highest-scored movies in my Obsidian vault.
I thought Se7en was good, and the conversation in the car near the end was probably my favorite part. The ending is poetic, but it did not hit nearly as hard as it could have because the emotional buildup was not there. The envy and wrath parts felt rushed, and the movie could have been much stronger if it had developed certain characters more.
One of the major investigative breakthroughs also felt like such an unrealistic leap that it genuinely annoyed me. I have no idea why the IMDb rating is that high—I’d give it around a 7.
Cast: Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey. Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar; 29 wins and 44 nominations total. Box office: $101,040,643.
Processing Watching
Two and a Half Men
Started March 15, 2026
A hedonistic jingle writer’s free-wheeling life comes to an abrupt halt when his brother and 10-year-old nephew move into his beach-front house.
View on IMDbRead my notes on Two and a Half Men
I saw the show off and on at home while growing up. I started the series again to have something on in the background, and I love it. After watching the Charlie Sheen documentary, Charlie has been on my mind; almost immediately, he also reminded me of an older version of Drake Bell from Drake & Josh.
Season 9 is when Ashton Kutcher joins, so I plan to stop after Season 8. I really hate how they killed off Charlie.
S1E18: so funny. A great episode. Joke after joke. It is also funny how Alan is always making pros-and-cons lists—it becomes a recurring, very Type A bit.
Cast: Jon Cryer, Ashton Kutcher, Angus T. Jones. Awards: Won 9 Primetime Emmys; 30 wins and 73 nominations total.
Heavy Rotation
Current favorite song
Warm Safe Place
The harmonization at “and then I find you here” is like bliss.
The current thread
My musical interests are eclectic, but a recent attempt to name the genre of some new music turned into a deeper conversation about why it resonates with me. I realized that I’m drawn less to depressive themes than to a dreamy, isolated atmosphere—a mixture of shoegaze, ambient, slowcore, and horror.
That led me to mono no aware, the Japanese idea of finding beauty in impermanence. I made a playlist and an eerie cover around that feeling, with a solitary figure representing the shadow impermanence casts over life. A great deal of the music, art, and philosophy I love seems to revolve around finding beauty in things precisely because they cannot last.