Update: July 22, 2026

STATUS: Feeling beaten and defeated after months with little sleep and still falling short of my goals. Trying to work through it, paying back my sleep debt and walking out in nature. Also monitoring my screen time (so far, keeping to under 1 hour on the socials this week)

OPERATIONS: 43 unread emails. Been a busy week: A letter-opinion, an outline for a draft rule, and a slide deck for school. 5,447 notes to date. Dissertation is at 289 pages.

READING: Re-reading Seeing Like a State, by James C. Scott, which I hope to use as a component for a chapter in my thesis.

LISTENING: In and out of Apple Music’s J-Jazz Essentials playlist.

WATCHING: Yes Minister, and Yes Prime Minister.

Taking a break. Traveling with the wife in hot humid Japan. Popping my head up after being underwater for months. I might as well get it out of the way: I was not able my dissertation in time to graduate by September this year. I am at least one revision cycle and a couple of chapters short. I feel defeated, disappointed - but it feels strange to feel sad about this as the world burns and my own country slides from one political crisis to another. No other way but to work through it. Revise the draft, keep zettling, and get into the programming.