Weekend Wrap 10/26/2025

Each weekend, I like to pause, reflect, and look back on the past week. This isn't a deep dive or grand reflection—just a quick review of a handful of things that brought me joy, made me think, or challenged me.

Music

I have a complicated relationship with Halloween.

Growing up, my mother loved it. Truth is, she loved all holidays. But there was something special about Halloween. It was the only holiday when she would paint the entire front window with a scene. She went above and beyond.

And I was part of all of that. I painted the window with her. I spent hours making my own costumes every year. It was a highlight.

Then something changed. I can't even really pin down what it is. The thought of coming up with a costume stresses me more than I can explain. I don't enjoy it at all. I hate scare movies. I would never spend my time going to a haunted house.

I really, really dislike it.

In fact, the closest I ever come to "celebrating" Halloween is listening to The Vision Bleak. They are an excellent band, not just for Halloween, but every October I am reminded how much I like their music.

This year, it was no different. I fired up my Spooky Season playlist. It's mostly just The Vision Bleak. Weird Tales is their most recent release. Every album is excellent, but Weird Tales is something special.

The entire album is one song, split up into twelve chapters. It flows from chapter to chapter beautifully. Taking inspiration directly from the classic pulp magazine of the same name, The Vision Bleak creates a decidedly spooky atmosphere. This is perfect music for the time of the year, and I've enjoyed revisiting their catalog.

Books

Over on The Middle of Culture, Eden and I had to revisit the Transformers UK comics. We had an episode that was lost to the electric ether, so we decided to revisit these books. Having read the Transformers comics as a child, reading the UK-published stories is weird.

Not in a bad way, but the art is different, and the personalities of the characters are different. It has such an odd vibe to it that it was fun to dive back in and read another story arc. Oh, and yeah, UK Optimus Prime?

Kind of a dick.

Games

I pre-ordered Baldur's Gate 3. I fired it up the day it was released.

And was immediately overwhelmed by the size and scope of the game.

I haven't yet dared to dive in. In fact, I've been avoiding most video games lately. I don't feel like I have the energy to commit to something deep and intense. Short experiences have been my jam.

But I am feeling the pull. I think it may soon be time. Time to take the plunge.

Quote of the week

This is a lot less "inspirational" than what I usually go for here. But I started reading Work Won't Love You Back, and this idea has been weighing heavily on my mind. The data is pretty shocking. Here are a few nuggets.

In the US, we work, on average, 400 more hours a year than our other developed nation counterparts. They get, at the bare minimum, double the paid vacation and paid holidays each year that we do. And those are often government-mandated.

Here? We cross our fingers and pray that our bosses will give us some scant little crumbs to keep us going.

You'd think that would at least be reflected in our productivity/GDP/anything at all.

It isn't.

We aren't more productive. We work more to appear busy to appease managers and bosses who don't know how to manage effectively. This is a deep, systemic issue.

And being expected to be constantly available? Bullshit that is forced on us.

It's time we stop allowing this. And healthcare is one of the worst offenders. This is part of the reason I haven't written as much lately. I'm working on some ideas and a project that will (hopefully) emerge from all of this. Stay tuned.

What didn't work

My workouts. Again.

I felt crappy this week. Not crappy enough to actually do anything about it. Just enough that lifting weights or really pushing myself wasn't in the cards. I tried to make sure to go rucking. But I was far from where I really want, and need, to be.

I need to try to get back on track this week to some degree. But travel next week will throw another monkey wrench in things. I need to make a plan. I can tell I moved less this past week.

I feel it.

Wrapping up

I've had a lot of complicated thoughts about work and many of my workflows these past few weeks. I won't lie, it has me pretty down. Trying to figure out how to make it all work in the midst of this hellscape we now call reality has been taking it out of me.

All we can do, some days, is persevere. As I read one day, "The horrors persist, but so do I."

Let's keep persisting.