I have a confession.
I’ve yet to actually finish Dune—the book, anyway. I really enjoyed each of the movies.
I have, of course, started the book, but here’s my issue: every 2-3 pages, I have to do research. I find myself flipping to the glossary in the back and looking up key terms, except it’s not enough.
Suddenly, I’m buried in tabs from Internet searches, Reddit threads, and Dune wikis. I’m looking up fremkits, thumpers, ornithopters, and stillsuits. I’m thinking about how spice hallucinations allow interstellar travel to occur. I’m reflecting on how advances in technology could irrevocably alter the ethos of religions in the real world just like they did in the books.
Hours later, I’ve read [at max] five pages.
It’s going to take me a while.
Good morning and happy Monday, friends.
- New M3 Episode: Nicholas Pearson and Crystal Divination
If all goes as planned, I’ll probably be about 40,000 feet in the air when Monday officially hits—perhaps even when this post gets sent to you. As such, I’m writing this section of my update while sitting near Terminal C, Gate 36 of Boston’s lovely Logan International Airport.
Gate 36 isn’t where our flight will be departing, however—it’s just where there happened to be space to sit and charge devices. Actually, we don’t really know for sure where we’ll be leaving from. For every hour that we sit here, our flight seems to be getting delayed by 90 minutes. At this rate, will we ever make it home? Are we stuck at the airport forever?
Cue narrative voice over: “But you’re probably wondering how I got here…”
As a few of you are already aware, a significant portion of this past week was spent taking a kid to college.
This involved flying to Boston (with a slight detour in New York), renting a car, and driving to Rhode Island. On the plus side, we did get to eat every meal in a different state.
And I have been graced by the type of wisdom that can only be contained within crispy, fried batter.
We spent a few days at an AirBnB—which I have been unaffectionately referring to as “home sweet hell”—and holy smokes, my friends…. this place was not like the listing pictures at all. Unequivocally, it has been the worst AirBnB experience we have ever had. Like… the floors were somehow permanently sticky, the pillows and blankets were few and far between, and there were so many cracks in the window AC unit that mosquitoes were just letting themselves in.
I have composed a haiku to commemorate the occassion:
Why is it sticky
Not nearly enough cover
Skeeters unceasing
There was plenty else wrong with it, too, but those were the complaints that fit neatest into haiku form. Were it not for the fact that we needed a physical address in Rhode Island to ship an unbelievable amount of college-related boxes to, we would have gotten the hell out of there.
That was the bad. Please enjoy some photographic highlights of things that were not so bad.
For instance, I found a sunflower. And yes, if you have a very pretty sunflower growing in front of your house, I will probably stop and take a picture of it.
We found a cool Mexican place in Providence.
Hey, how about combining flan and chocolate cake?
At some point, I got another pizza…
I am really happy to report that I finally found a legit source of coffee milk. I’ve been wanting to try it since our first visit.
It reminded me of cereal milk with a slight coffee aftertaste.
For a brief moment, we just wandered around Boston to kill time. I met up with some locals, but they were pretty busy bathing in a puddle.
The return trip was basically the entire process in reverse, except this time we at least have a direct flight back to West Palm, which… right, like I mentioned, we’re still waiting on that one to happen.
Earlier in the week, I passed my FCLE. Now I can stop thinking about US Government, the Constitution, and landmark Supreme Court cases, right?
I posted Nicholas Pearson’s interview on YouTube. I think it make a very excellent episode. You should definitely go watch it.
My fall semester has officially started. I have no idea what to expect from my classes—they’re all super technical. I’m signed up for them because they’re required for my degree, but there wasn’t a huge amount of info available on what they’ll all be covering.
That’s all for now, friends. I can promise you one thing: I’m exhausted. Stay tuned for more soon!
Aerik Arkadian 
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