Weekend Wrap 3/01/2026

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

It's funny. Thrash metal is one of the more vicious, knuckle-dragging sounding of metal's many subgenres. It sounds positively Neanderthal when compared to some of the more polished and accessible styles.

And yet, it is one of the most socially and politically conscious of all the metal styles out there.

Warbringer is no exception to this, and their 2025 release, Wrath and Ruin, continues their vicious commentary on war, the horrors committed worldwide in the name of "justice", and the state of the world we currently live in. I slept on this gem when it dropped last year (vocalist John Kevill is an acquired taste), but after really being on a bit of a vicious thrash kick this week (a lot of Exodus and Hatriot kicked that all off at the start of the week), Wrath and Ruin really clicked for me.

I don't need my music to preach to me, but I want it to have substance. Warbringer, well, brings just that.

Games

After bouncing off Path of Exile last week, I just didn't fire up any games. But that doesn't mean I didn't play anything.

For the better part of a year, a group of five of us have been working through the adventures in the Dungeons and Dragons module, Keys From the Golden Vault. It has been so much fun. It has only been in the last 4 years or so that I started playing tabletop RPGs, and we are loving it.

It is fun to get together and just see what happens. Often, there is a lot of improvisation going on, which keeps all of us on our toes. But even more than that, getting together every other week (or so) has been a huge benefit to all of us. Stay tuned, there will be more to come regarding that.

Books

I did it.

I finally started reading Dungeon Crawler Carl. Yes, it makes me feel like a basic bro. But also, yes, it is as enjoyable as hell. I haven't made it too far into the book, maybe only a quarter of the way, but already I find myself looking for excuses to read and listen more.

I still am looking forward to finishing off "The Three-Body Problem", but I really did need a break, and something a little less serious.

This is fitting that bill perfectly.

Refinement

February came to a close, and with it, a little bit of a failure. My nightly routine, while better than at the start of the month, is far from where I had hoped it would be.

At the same time, that is okay. This wasn't ever about fixing everything in just 30 days. This was about looking at ways to make things a little better, and I suppose I can say that I am a little better off than I was at the start of the month.

Maybe failure was too harsh.

Quote of the week

We are surrounded by "noise." Maybe it is actual noise, but just as often it is some other form of distraction.

We have lost the art of silence and being bored.

I struggle with it myself. At the very least, I almost always have music, a podcast, an audiobook, or something like that playing. I worry we are losing our ability to be attentive by flooding our brains constantly.

This is particularly important and damaging when it comes to our interactions with other people. Over the last year, I've had the unfortunate opportunity at work to have many conversations that I never should have had to have had. What makes it so unfortunate is this: Every one of those unpleasant conversations could have been avoided if there had just been some silence.

If we never stop talking, we never listen. If we never listen, we never understand. And if we don't understand, well, what the hell are we even doing?

The world is falling apart around us because people won't listen. They don't understand, but we can't even lament that fact without, first, realizing it is that first step—listening—where we are so spectacularly failing.

So, maybe, just maybe, we can embrace a moment of silence when someone else is speaking. We can have a moment of quiet to actually allow our brains to spin and whir. If we can start there, then there is at least a chance we can understand.

Without some silence, that is all impossible.

Area of improvement

To that end, I want to start embracing moments of silence and boredom. I am going to start looking for moments where I don't need music or something else. Moments when my mind can just be.

I feel resistance to doing this, even as I type it out. That means I really, really need to.

Wrapping up

Be kind.

For the love of God (or god, I'll leave that to you), let's be kind to each other. It is all we can do.