October was supposed to be ”The Month.” After a complicated summer and an awful September, I had my October well planned. It was meant to be filled with things I wanted to do, fun events, enjoyable travels, and inspiring experiences that could have helped me reverse the spiraling downward momentum of the last few months.

Instead, everything went down the toilet.

I went to Greece as planned, and then everything started to go wrong. My suitcase was lost for five out of the six planned days, my stay was complicated, and to add insult to injury, I returned home with COVID-19. Consequently, I had to cancel my trip to Padua—a trip I had booked ten months ago and had been really looking forward to. This marked the second trip I had to cancel this year, by the way.

In the end, October has been no fun. I had to forgo all physical activity, and now I am in terrible physical shape. Additionally, my mental health has continued to deteriorate.

So you will excuse me if this month the ChangeLog will be in a reduced version. I have no brain space for anything.

Reading

Fortunately, I completed all my reading before October 7th. Within seven days, I managed to bring home three books, thus achieving my yearly goal of reading 32 books.

• To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip José Farmer. This is a 1971 sci-fi book that I read for the first time in my early teens. It serves as the inaugural book of the Riverworld series. It introduces the setting, and the main character, raises 100 questions, and answers almost nothing. So, take this book as a big introduction. The series’ premise is fascinating: every human being ever existed, resurrected along the shores of a never-ending river. Unfortunately, it is very 70s for the modern reader. Still worth it, though.
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. This is a famous one. To be honest, even if I am kind of a nerd myself, I found that it was too much. It is really hard to believe. The worldbuilding is more clichéd than what I could get from ChatGPT if I asked for an 80s-nerd plot. Nevertheless, it is fun. If you don’t take it seriously, it is an entertaining adventure.
• How to Keep an Open Mind. This is part of the lovely series Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers. It is a collection of selected passages from Sextus Empiricus, a skeptic of late antiquity. It is very technical, so I will not recommend it unless you have a philosophy discussion group (like I do).

Watchlist

• Only Murders in the Building (Season 3). It is always fun to watch. It is a good product. Season 3, though, was weaker. I think the chemistry between the trio was off.
• Lupin (Season 3). I binge-watched it during the main COVID-19 day, so my judgment could have been impaired, but I liked it. It’s still wildly unbelievable. But that was true for the original Lupin stories as well.
• Castlevania: Nocturne (Season 1). I binge-watched it in one day as well (the day after Lupin). I am always conflicted with all these Castlevania animated series… but ultimately, I’d say that the positives outweigh the negative.

Music

When I am disconnected, I listen to very little music. So I don’t have any suggestions this month. I can only say that the new blink-182 album is quite disappointing. There are some excellent songs, for sure, but overall, unfortunately, it is mediocre.

Gaming

I’ve officially given up on Starfield. I couldn’t endure its dull emptiness any longer. If even a whole week stuck at home didn’t make me think, ‘Hmm, I’d like to play Starfield,’ nothing ever will. What a waste of time.

Fortunately, I received Super Mario Wonder at the perfect moment. It’s a classic 2D Mario platformer, but it’s truly enchanting.

Conclusions

And that’s all for this month. There is no way I’ll plan or predict anything for November. Therefore, next month will probably be in a reduced form as well. I haven’t decided yet.

In any case, I wish you a wonderful November!