Westley Winks

Pretty uneventful week followed by a very fun and restorative weekend.

I live with a state senator and one of my best friends does media for the legislature so I hear and think about Oregon politics a lot these days.

Though it comes in waves, I think I read more than the average person.

After reading The Lathe of Heaven, I had to have more from Le Guin.

I've had a seemingly typical journaling experience over the years: try journaling because someone smart told me it's good for me, white-knuckle my way through how I should be doing it, it doesn't stick, I don't journal for a while, and repeat that endless…

I heard about this book from Joel Chrono and his leading question immediately drew me in: "What if aliens invaded the planet, but they actually helped us build a utopia?

My friend foreverliketh.is shared a link to a treasure hunt hosted by Suntup Editions, a book publishing company.

Note: this is my submission for the IndieWeb Carnival October 2024 blogging challenge Multilingualism in a global Web by Richard Zin.

A few months ago, I started an experiment to run a private community platform for my friends called heyjohn.

Everyone is already too busy, most of the time.

Just three short months after rebuilding my website with Astro, I rebuilt it again.

This is my submission for the IndieWeb Carnival July 2024 - Tools by James.

I miss my friends.

This is my submission for this month's Indieweb Carnival.

I experienced my second and final Ramadan (رمضان) in Morocco.

To have your eyes widened and your organ of belief stretched, whilst remaining discreetly submissive, seems to me a faculty the [traveler] ought to cultivate.

I don't normally venture into this genre but this Goodreads Choice Awards runner-up for Best Mystery and Thriller 2023 intrigued me.

This is my first ever time taking part in an IndieWeb carnival and this is my submission for February, hosted by Manuel Moreale.

One of the most important and valuable activities that I do consistently in my life is a weekly review.

It's a typical, warm, sunny day around lunchtime.

Among the myriad of career advice out there, one that I have adopted as a Peace Corps Volunteer is to keep a brag document.

Summary Logan Ramsay is the son of the infamous Miriam Ramsay, the biologist who caused The Great Starvation with her genetically modified locusts.

One of my favorite things about Moroccan culture is the tendency to call people your family, even if they are complete strangers.

Summary Sam didn't have the easiest or most typical childhood.

Why Self-Compassion?

For the past 27 (roughly) weeks, a group of volunteers and I sit down one night a week for a few hours to play Dungeons and Dragons.

One of my favorite places in Morocco, among many others, is Essaouira.

I spent my free time this last month to learn some personal finance and, specifically, how to do personal bookkeeping.

Last week, there was a moussem (موسم) in my town.

Side note: I am trying out a new rating system/framework to think about and write my notes for fiction books.

Summary Set in a sprawling, fantasized version of Venice, Locke is orphaned at a very young age and is welcomed into an underground thief empire.

Brené Brown and her team started this project by gathering comments from an online class Brown was teaching where she asked two questions: What are the emotions and experiences that emerge the most often, and which emotions and experiences do people strug…

This is a very special two-part post!

Summary Mariam is born as an illegitimate child between her mother and Jalil, a rich businessman who lives in the city.

Overview My most used tool that I use on my computer is called Obsidian.

Summary We all experience emotions every moment of every day.

Summary The common advice for finding a compelling career that you actually want to work in can be explained as the Passion Hypothesis: Being happy with your job requires you to know what you are passionate about and then find a job that matches that pass…

Summary Nonviolent communication (NVC) is a way of communicating that manifests compassion and "leads us to give from the heart".

How I setup and use a physical notebook for task management and to make sure nothing gets forgotten Overview This is my personal workflow that I use for my task and date management.

I had just said goodbye to my first host family, to the Peace Corps staff, and to the volunteers that I wouldn't see for the next three months.

Housekeeping Finally.

On December 24, 2020, I applied for the Peace Corps.

This piece first appeared on the Until It’s Not Fun newsletter.

This piece first appeared on the Until It’s Not Fun newsletter.

This piece first appeared on the Until It’s Not Fun newsletter.

This piece first appeared on the Until It’s Not Fun newsletter.

This piece first appeared on the Until It’s Not Fun newsletter.

This piece first appeared on the Until It’s Not Fun newsletter.

This piece first appeared on the Until It’s Not Fun newsletter.

This piece first appeared on the Until It’s Not Fun newsletter.