After the obnoxious events of last October, I had no hope for November. If you recall, I was exhausted, psychologically drained, and quite certain that I would have started digging.

Instead, the thing that happens every time I stop caring happened: I start doing things without overthinking them, I put myself in unpredictable situations, and – as a consequence – things change.

I don’t feel I am out of the pit I dug myself into yet, but at least I made myself comfortable in there.

So, in November, I started and won NaNoWriMo 2023 (I decided to join on November 1st), in order to concentrate, I started going to my local library and discovered a nice place where to work undisturbed for a couple of hours, I started going to my local volley team matches, met old friends, signed up for a writing workshop and found myself at the end of November with more “achievements” that expected.

And sure, not all my under-analyzed decisions have been spotless (I definitely made some impulsive spending), but I will happily deal with that.

Housekeeping

As I said in the introduction, I dedicated most of my free time to writing the 50000 words for my NaNoWriMo novel. Consequently, I did almost nothing of what I usually do to fill up this post. Don’t worry, though. I still have something for you.

Reading

I finally completed the fourth volume of the majestic History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps series by Peter Adamson. This volume was dedicated to Medieval Philosophy, a wildly understudied period in the history of philosophy. It has been a very interesting read. Even if most of the philosophical issues of the time was made-up problems generated from trying to make sense of the inconsistency of religion, the question and the solutions are still relevant in modern philosophy.

Watchlist

This month, I didn’t watch almost anything. I started watching the second season of Invincible—what a crazy, disturbing, funny, beautiful show—and that’s about it.

I also went to the cinema for the first time in years. As you know, it is impossible to find non-dubbed movies where I live, so I usually wait until they are released for renting or streaming. Sometimes, though, I come across some Italian movies worth watching.

(To be fair, there are many Italian movies worth watching. But I really don’t like going to the cinema, so my bar is set very high).

The cinema experience is terrible exactly as I remembered. I wonder how people are willing to endure such an annoying experience more than once a year. Oh, well. I guess there are better cinema theaters in bigger cities.

Anyhow, I am digressing. The movie was titled C’è ancora domani (distributed in other countries with the English title: There’s Still Tomorrow). The movie nods to the neorealismo era (for once, it is shot in black and white) and narrates a story set in Rome in 1946. However, its primary aim is to address 2023 Italy. It blends drama and humor to shed light on the theme of violence against women and women’s participation in public politics.

I really liked it but did not love-love it. Yet, I still very recommend it.

Fun fact: The ability to shoot a movie in today’s Rome, make no changes, and have people think, “Yes, this is Rome in 1946, after the war,” says a lot about the deplorable state Rome has been in recent years.

Music

I don’t have many suggestions this month. I listened to a lot of music, but mostly in a passive way—listening while writing, without really focusing on specific albums. I used a variety of radio stations and random playlists.

There is a new album by King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, but this is not surprising as there is always a new KG&TLW album. This one is quite unusual; it is an electronic album very inspired by Giorgio Moroder’s sounds. “Unusuality” is why I like them, so it is a win for me.

Other than that, here is a web radio I used a lot in November: Soma.fm. It is quite famous. But if you don’t know it, you are welcome.

Gaming

Not a lot of gaming happened during this heavy writing month. But I got the remake of Super Mario RPG, a game that I adored during my JRPG-filled young era. It is one of the games that drew me to RPG Maker and, consequently, to a lot of programming and game development stuff.

It is certainly a game showing its age. JRPGs, especially the classical ones, appear unexciting to modern players. While some changes have been made to modernize it, nothing has altered the character and feel of the game.

I am playing slowly, and I am enjoying it.

Conclusions

This is another brief version of The Changelog. I will certainly have more time next month!

Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays. See you in 2024.