I traveled to Chicago for a project kickoff this week, so this will be a light update.

I have traveled a lot in the past six months. About as much as the previous five years combined. I realize here in the post-quarantine era that doesn’t mean much, but I find it to be exhausting. Travel like this would have been fun a decade or two ago and, more importantly, when I was single. Now it is tiresome and more than a little depressing, even when visiting cities like Chicago and Dallas. Most of what I see is through an office window, and at the end of the day I am too tired to go out and enjoy myself.

At least the food is good.

Reading

David T. Courtwright’s The Age of Addiction. Limbic capitalism, baby! It is interesting and well-written, and is giving me ideas for some of my own writing, both fiction and non-fiction.

And it must be said, it is a good wake-up call for how capitalism exploits human vulnerability. Then again this wake-up call has been shouted from the rooftops since the invention of advertising.

Writing

Little to no creative writing, but lots of code. Lots and lots and lots of code.

Weekly Writing Prompt

Subject: Addiction, Apocalypse
Setting: Frontier
Genre: Slipstream

Listening

Tennessee Ernie Ford, “Sixteen Tons.” Kind of the space my head is in right now.

Interesting Links

• The 2026 State of the World talk, hosted by Bruce Sterling and Jon Lebkowsky, just started. Interesting stuff, as always.