There is new Star Trek today.

I started watching Star Trek when I was probably 7 or 8. I watched Next Generation with my Dad. My mom bought a bunch of the original series on VHS for us and I saw some of those and basically just kept watching whatever Star Trek was to hand. At some point I realized that I liked Star Trek more than Star Wars? They have nothing in common aside from the word STAR but for some reason, society demands you choose a favorite and at some point I switched my allegiance from long, long ago and far, far away to where no-one had gone before.

Since then, with the exception of Season 2 of Discovery (I’ll get to it), I’ve seen all the Trek series and movies and read my fair share of novels and comics.

I’ve been thinking about Star Trek a lot recently, prompted by this twitter thread by an American history professor about the colonialist tendencies of Next Generation. I think he makes a lot of very interesting points that I hadn’t considered. I thought about it a lot during the first episode of Picard (which I liked) and wondered if the teams creating new Star Trek have thought about these things? It was an interesting lens to watch the new episode through and I’m gonna keep watching and thinking.

With some of these new thoughts in mind I want to re-watch all the Star Trek movies and see how my feelings on them change. Prior to my doing so, here’s the definitive rankings in descending order:

Star Trek: First Contact
Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan
Star Trek VI: Undiscovered Country
Star Trek IV: Voyage Home
Star Trek: Generations
Star Trek III: Search for Spock
Star Trek: Insurrection
Star Trek: Nemesis
Star Trek: Final Frontier
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Star Trek Beyond
Star Trek (2009)
Star Trek Into Darkness

Currently playing: MACHINEFABRIEK – “Stillness Soundtracks II”

Currently reading: CONVENIENCE STORE WOMAN, Sayaka Murata (CA)(US)

I’ve been reading about the different ways creators I like use notebooks. I finally started using notebooks when I started carrying a purse last summer (which it’s time to start thinking about replacing as it’s falling apart) and I’m still fiddling around trying different things in search of systems/routines that I like. I’ve been very resistant to the idea of the “bullet-journal” if only because the fervor with which they’re discussed by enthusiasts borders on the cultish. I have next to no design/artistic inclination so I don’t want to spend any time thinking about how I want to design/decorate a page in my notebook, but it’s interesting to think about how others are doing it and look for new ways to improve the way I operate.

As for the purse (not my “satchel” or “messenger bag”, it’s a damn purse, it’s fine.) I intentionally started with a small, cheap one as I wasn’t certain I’d stick with it. I’m certain now. I’m also certain that I should go a little bigger, and with more compartments (as well as some kind of change purse to keep in it as I have a shit-load of coins rattling around in the wretched thing now). I want room for the above-mentioned notebooks, my kindle, my external battery pack, a handful of usb sticks, wallet with a bit of room to spare for whatever special things I need that day.

It feels good to take stock of the kit I use every now and then, see what is working and what can be improved and if I’m feeling the energy for it make some changes and clean up, with my brain it’s best to ride these improvement/efficiency kicks as hard as possible and make it harder to slip into bad systems/habits once this particular manic episode is over, though also to be careful not to dig too greedily or too deep because if I get TOO ambitious I’m liable to end up with a half-finished mess when my brain turns against me. I must keep reminding myself of this as I’m now eyeing the mess that is my office and thinking “you know, a big external monitor mounted there in place of that white-board I never use might be just the thing…”, and “this scary bin full of 10 years worth of assorted cables should be sorted out!” or “hey! I bet I could build a shelf out of reclaimed driftwood!”

It’s a real tight-rope act in my head some days…

Currently Playing: Rubod & Stroudinsky – “Three Pianos and a Tape Machine (EP Version)

Currently Reading: THE ONLY HARMLESS GREAT THING, Brooke Bollander (CA) (US)

My relationship with twitter has changed over the years. Once, I was on it constantly, participating in the culture (this is code for: arguing about what anyone/everyone was/was-not outraged/enthused over at that moment. Lather, rinse, repeat). Over the years I’ve spent time tuning tweetdeck to only show me things that are useful/pleasurable and pruning the weeds that make their way in. It turns out twitter is alright if you do this and ensure to think of it as read-only (oh, and as long as you’re not a woman or person of colour.) As such, I have curated columns set up in my deck and things like notifications, mentions, main timeline etc are either removed altogether or dumped at the very end so I never see them by accident.

Today, for some reason, I decided to look at my notifications and discovered that I had been followed by a company purporting to be the “official beef jerky of e-sports”.

I don’t know WHY e-sports needs an official jerky? but they have one. I broke my own “read-only” policy and tweeted a joke (strong word) about being followed by said jerky company and that the internet had been a mistake. The result? Now myself and a friend who replied to my joke have now been contacted and followed by a second jerky brand, this one offering a monthly jerky subscription box, and they’re offering 25% off my first month.

Anyway, I’m going to delete my twitter account and move to Tibet to live as a mountain hermit. The internet was and is a mistake.

Currently Reading: ORIGAMY, Rachel Armstrong (CA) (US)

Currently Playing: Gaetir The Mountainkeeper – “Norðanátt”