Arman's Antics (#084)
Latest from the curious contrarian Arman Khodadoost
Howdy amigo,
Coming to you live from Austin, Texas (we’re back!).
Here’s your weekly dose of Arman’s Antics — five things I’ve been pondering and exploring that will give you a good think, laugh, cry (or a nasty combination of the three).
A warm welcome to the fourteen new subscribers receiving this for the first time (595 total). I don’t take your attention lightly.
Hopefully nobody reads this, but if you do, please keep it to yourself.
Essay I wrote earlier this year
You may have noticed I haven’t published any new essays for the past few weeks.
I decided to take a break while on my honeymoon in Turkey (highly recommend).
This wasn’t an easy decision, as I’d published an essay per week for 100 weeks straight, but I’m glad I did it.
I hope you enjoyed some of my reposts, but I’m back baby.
Here’s my most popular essay so far this year:
A bizarre realization
I hate writing, but I love having written. I read this line the other night and it was one of those book drop moments. I’m sure I’ve heard it before and thought it was cute at the time, but now that I’m a writer, it penetrated my thick skull. After sleeping on it, I found that it can be applied to so much more than just writing.
Book I’m rereading
Technopoly by Neil Postman.
Reading new books is great and all, but rereading books is where the magic happens.
Technopoly was written in the early 1990’s, but it’s just as relevant now, maybe more so, than it was back then.
Here’s the description:
The story of our society's transformation into a Technopoly: a society that no longer merely uses technology as a support system but instead is shaped by it—with radical consequences for the meanings of politics, art, education, intelligence, and truth.
Postman wrote 20 books. Amusing ourselves to death is my favorite, but this one ranks as a close second. And is probably a more useful read.
Show I’m watching
I needed something other than mindless YouTube videos to watch while lying in bed on my honeymoon while my wife posted Instagram stories.
This show came to my rescue.
It’s a semi-autobiographical glimpse into the life of one of my favorite comics — Louis CK.
It’s weird, hilarious, and sometimes profound. My preferred trio for shows.
Here’s the trailer:
April habit tracker
Meditations: 15/30. Goal is 15 minutes every day.
Writing sessions: 14/30. Goal is 60 minutes every day.
Gym sessions: 4/13. Goal is 45 minutes a day, three times a week.
Hoop dreams: 10/4. Goal is 2 hours, once a week.
My habits fell by the wayside thanks to my honeymoon. This bothered me at first, but it was for the best.
Sometimes it’s helpful to take a step back and ask, “Are my habits serving me or am I just doing them to check a box?”
By not doing anything for two weeks, I realized some of my habits were merely done out of habit.
But there were a few that I was excited to get back to, so I’m taking that as a sign to reincorporate them. And let the others that I didn’t miss remain on the sidelines for now.
Random thought
Here’s an unpopular opinion: airplanes should have smoking sections.
Hear me out.
I had the unfortunate pleasure of sitting next to a smoker (I could tell from his scent) on a ten hour return flight from our honeymoon.
So for the benefit of us nonsmokers, airlines should congregate all the smokers in their own section of the plane.
Not so they can smoke, but just so the rest of us don’t have to smell them.
That’s it for the 84th edition of Arman’s Antics.
If you made it this far, you’re my kind of person. So hit reply and let me know what’s new with you. I love hearing from you.
Try to be a little more curious than you normally are.
Now back to your regularly scheduled nonstop scrolling.
Cheers,
Arman
A smoker's section sounds genius!