Weekly Retro #2

Jan 19th, 2026

Christmas

Christmas is officially over in our home. All of the decor was put away to clear room to host my sister’s birthday party (a helpful catalyst).

Books

I finished Things Become Other Things, Craig Mod’s “walking memoir” this week. I recommend it. I was expecting a straight forward travelog but found an intimate memoir and reflection on class, childhood, loss, and the cultural differences between the US and japan. I hope to walk through japan myself some day.

I’m also reading Embassytown by China Miéville (recommended by my friend Kevin). I’m about a third of the way through and the plot is really starting to pick up. I’m enjoying it so far.

Music

I’ve been revisiting some mid-aughts electro-rock. I was searching for the album We Are Pilots by Shiny Toy Guns in the library’s catalog when i came across Nightmare Revisited: a compilation of Nightmare Before Christmas covers by alternative bands from the 2000s (Korn, Flyleaf, Evanescence’s Amy Lee, Rise Against, the All-American Rejects to name a few). Truly one of the most Hot Topic mall goth things I’ve ever experienced. Delightful.

All Ghillied Up

The weather has been a special kind of gray and cold with flurries that always reminds me of a mission in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare called “All Ghillied Up” where you sneak through Pripyat (the city made wasteland by the Chernobyl meltdown) in a ghillie suit. Thinking about that game in my head while i walk between my car and wherever I’m going is a little bit of pretend i still indulge in.

Name

A small programming update: I think weekly for these things is a bit too frequent and strict a schedule. Going forward I’ll post these as they come and under the title “journal”.