//Nano Banana pretending it can make some ink sketches
Theme of the Month - NY and Halloween
The questions/thoughts that led me to the posts for Oct 2025 were:
What are my most watched topics and how can I actually do something with the doom scroll consumption of media?
What side quests am I embarking?
How was the SF weekend of eat eat eat?
What are the main quests you’re pursuing?
Which tech took its time and maybe even didn’t see adoption? Will AI follow this path?
What do you cook on a regular basis?
I used to have this problem while growing up that I now realize was a bit of a “brainwashed motivator” for most Americans. I was purely driven by hope. It was a hope that achieving certain goals would lead me to a certain position where there’d be pure happiness and no problems. After I grow up, then I can relax. In reality, we sacrifice for that hope and American dream for a better future.
The problem, I realized, isn’t really the dream. The problem is that the mindset of the chase means there may never be “enough” to quit while you’re ahead. The problem is that the goals keep changing and the mindset we have will keep us in consumerism and capitalism. Our economics is just so fascinating because it preys on our biggest weaknesses.
The solution for me is the ultimate luxury. I can want less and be content with my personal status quo because it’s comfortable, but not excessive. Am I falling into the plight of the middle class because mediocrity creates fewer waves? I guess I’m just trying to say that I think I do have enough from a materialistic and capitalistic standpoint. Maybe this is the beginning of a real retirement because I don’t feel a need to compete towards that bigger house or nicer car.
It’s an interesting time to feel empowered and free again to choose how I want to best enjoy being human. I hope one day my daughter is able to see things in the same way.
In broader reflection, I do believe the Lists of 30 grand self-motivated project is my philosophy and grounding principles in action. I ultimately write about the little things that interest me as I just live through life. If my memory in the future just becomes the chronological list of 30s on this blog, I think one can retell the events and thoughts that led me to being me.
The blogposts I’ve published this month were:
Consumerism is easy. It’s the dopamine hit from solving little puzzles and doing “just the right amount of difficult” things. It’s the $150k-250k salary range that means you' can live comfortably and plateau in mediocrity (and there’s nothing wrong with that). I believe we need to be more active as a result of having such entertaining and deep connections.
Life is definitely about side quests. I’ve certainly had a fun time checking off my achievements and using this writing medium to keep track of them.
![[Travel Advice] San Francisco for Dads](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ajkR!,w_140,h_140,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff19e1304-7fb9-4330-abcf-cec033f401c3_4000x1848.jpeg)
San Fran-disco! What a wonderful time with delicious foods. I wish to redo this whole trip with my parents because the food I ate and things I saw were just right up their alley.
My main quests in life continue to stay challenging and I’m still motivated and interested to pursue them.
Tech has a tendency to get overblown or see a lot of natural resistance for adoption. I don’t think this will be the case for LLM’s usage in a digital work environment that it’s just all hype because we are certainly seeing some crazy fast advancements in media generation. I’m sure we’ll all join a social media service that filters out all AI generated content in the next year. I’m pretty sure most analysts trying to learn from a real life mentor will just stay mediocre.
![[Video] Creativity with Lists of 30](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6cq3!,w_140,h_140,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-video.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fvideo_upload%2Fpost%2F176800486%2Fbefdc486-6e5a-48fa-8594-dff8766e6b25%2Ftranscoded-00001.png)
AI overlords have summarized the goal of my Lists of 30 podcast. I’ve used NotebookLM to write, create slides, and present a deep dive. I’m into it. 30 Day challenge to come.
I was cooking recently and thought about how I decide on what to make. My back pocket recipes are decent, but I wonder if I need to find a few more staples to expand my reach from all the go-to cooks. A definite follow-up will be a set of more comfort food recipes I’d like to try and make my own.
Some ideas for Nov 2025?
30 Personal Bad Habits - What are my bad habits and how do I make things better?
30 House Rules - What do I need to do as an adult and considerate roommate? What conversations do we all need to have in order to get along?
30 Day Challenge with NotebookLM Video Overview - I tested a video this month for publishing through the substack platform to my YouTube and it was pretty good. It wasn’t too hard to make and I think I can build an automation for it.
30 Experimental Cooks - After writing that regular cook list of 30, I needed to consider what recipes and ideas would be good to fit into an expansion towards delicious dishes that I can alter to make it my own.
30 Future Decade Goals - We split the next 30 years into goals per decade as mapped out by Evie’s age. This was a great activity in long term planning for her ages 6-16, 16-26, and 26-36.
Lists of 30 App - I want to build something different to house my lists of 30. I have plenty to fill a book, so why not fill an app? Why not fill a Clembot that can live in this app and help others with this writing journey? It’s all vibes.
Thank you for reading and I hope everyone stays safe! See y’all in the new year!
Please suggest a list of 30 and I’ll write it! I’ve written 300+ lists of 30 and only publish ones that I think other people would enjoy. It’s my fun brainstorming routine.
—
