future seems short

i started listening to Owen Jones’ new book The Fall of the West. its pretty gloomy. so are some of The Rest Is Politics episodes - nuclear war and AI ruling the world seem like near future threats according to some experts.

my headphones (Bose NC700) battery life is quite poor these days so im thinking of whats next. Another pair of Bose or Sony perhaps? battery life is crucial, as is ANC, as is controls. there doesnt seem to be a clear winner, and in any case i should go to s shop maybe and see how they feel. but im surprised how often tech reviews focus only on the specs, and very little mention might go to usability/UX. ive enjoyed Bose’s touch functions, and im not sure i’d get used to enjoy losing them in the new models. so im leaning towards Sony. for me, the touch controls thing. i get that its a preference that a reviewer might not want to affect the score, but i would prefer they shared their experience anyway. also on Reddit people will go ”choose X over Y” if so and so, no one ever brings up the differences in touch controls or lack of them, i guess its not a priority or very meaningful for most. 

doctor just had a birthday and we held a small party for him at home. several of his friends came, we ate turkish food and it was altogether enjoyable. now he is traveling, visiting his friend in Toronto. ive had some friends ask how i feel about being alone at home, and it takes me by surprise every time. and when i shrug and say im ’good’, it seems to take them by surprise, or they are maybe expecting something less nonchalant. i blame it on being an only child, i can entertain myself. 

yesterday i enjoyed a brunch outside by myself. i do that maybe once a month or so. i would like to say i look at the birds when i go out and smell the coffee in the restaurant while i make acute observations about people and feel philosophical. but, i mostly listen to audiobooks, or am lost in daydreaming or texting a friend. okay, theres a little space for enjoying my surroundings and taking in how good my life is, also.  

im thinking about random things like Hannibals grave, just saw an article on the elephants, like they figured out the path they took. okay. the driver for us english teachers took us to see Hannibal near Istanbul, Kocaeli, in about 2010. that was a funny small afternoon thing before work but i still remember it so well. 

James Blunt and James Acaster are a delight in Celebrity Traitors. Blunty i knew already of course, his self depricating humour is amazing, but he also just seems like a very likeable person. Acaster i did not know but he seems sweet and someone i’d get along with. me and doctor watched one of his comedy special on Netflix and it was okay but not my fav, i enjoy him more in a reality show, it seems. Hannah Fry was also great, and now ive watched some of her online content as well. it was a finnish friend Antti who introduced me to Hannah originally. 

a while ago, I was selling and donating our old rugs as I was getting new ones. this one guy picked up an IKEA short pile polypropylene rug which is a very typical living room type of semi soft rug. turns out he was gonna cut it shorter or something and use it in his bathroom. I gently said that I don’t think it’s a good idea that it’ll get wet and gross, maybe moldy. he felt like it’s not really an issue, that it’ll dry, he’ll just step on it with wet feet it’s not gonna get soaked. I persisted and suggested a bathroom rug which is designed for the very purpose and he could machine wash. he said he’d bought a bathroom rug from Temu for like a pound, but it had fallen apart shortly after so he’s not gonna bother. I then proceeded to share how our £5 IKEA bathroom rug had served as well for many years. I’m not sure why I felt the need to try and convince this adult male who was older than me that a bathroom rug is the way to go. he did seem like he started to hesitate but of course off he went with his new rug anyway. with the history of carpets in this country I felt like this was just a very British thing, if a bit unusual. I could imagine many weird things happening in Turkey but this conversation in a particular I think could only happen here. 

in Rhodes a couple weeks ago. travelled there with Raissa and Aleks for six days, it was still fairly warm although not sunny in this particular picture. very nice chill adults only hotel, we just hung out there mostly and then visited the old town on one day.