December 2021. A shitty month with dreadfully little sunshine and permanent dark, gloomy cloudiness alternated with rain. If I wasn't depressed yet, I sure am now. COVID spikes made us switch to online classes yet again and almost foiled my attempts to gather data for our latest study. I tried to focus my energy on writing the first draft of a book on creativity for programmers, which is progressing nicely. The hunt for publishers is on.

Previous month in review: November 2021

Books I've read

• Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami (4/5)
• De kunst van het ongelukkig zijn (the art of being unhappy) by Dirk De Wachter (2/5)

Murakami's bildung novel was as crazy experienced Murakami readers would expect it to be. The subject was less appealing to me than the Wind-up Chronicles but other than that, I enjoyed the read. De Wachter's little booklet is full of interesting philosophical quotes but way too expensive and left me wanting for more. Better to read the Ancient Great Ones instead.

Games I've played

• The Curse of Monkey Island by LucasArts (replay, 3/5)

Not much, really. Last week, I bought myself Dragon Quest VIII on 3DS and Mario Party Superstars, and got gifted Metroid Dread. A few days ago, a big sale was about to end, and I quickly grabbed the Guacamelee port on the Switch. Working my way through as we speak. So far, I'm not that impressed.

Selected blog posts

• Code is not literature by Peter Seibel
• A Career at the Center: Linus Pauling and the Transformation of Chemical Science in the Twentieth Century by Mary Jo Nye
• Stop Using Encrypted Email by Latacora
• A Standing Invitation in your blog about page by Patrick McKenzie
• My Open Source contributions for 2021 - Do you support any projects? by Mike Harley

Random stuff

• TuiCSS: a text-based DOS CSS User interface
• Retro Gamer magazine index archive, finally something searchable!

I wonder, should I try out https://jp.mercari.com/ to buy some good ol' Rockman on GBA?