The Sunday Edition #1 - Hi, I'm back. Also, Some Housekeeping
Also: The Torch Skyscraper, Rally House, and more Protocol Art.
After walking ~485km over 22 days and taking an additional break, I’m settling back into regular life. I’ve been writing about my walking journey and hope to share my experience soon. It’s taking quite a while to write as it’s a 3 parter: detailing my personal journey, thoughts about the future of being/becoming, and some practical lessons from doing a section of the Camino Frances. Hopefully, I’ll share it soon!
Which brings to my goal for the newsletter going forward. After more than 2 years of writing weekly and some introspection on plains across Spain, I decided to split the newsletter.
Usually I tried to write some essay every week alongside sharing what I’m up to and had been consuming. The non-essay part of the newsletter is really just an attempt to avoid relying on algorithmic short-form social media (eg, X/Twitter or BlueSky). Having turned off social media during the walk, I realised again how much better it was for my mental health to avoid scrollable social media. I still don’t truly know how to thread my joy and desire to read social media versus not being absorbed by it. But, what I do know is, is that I enjoy building my own media home (even if Substack is a platform). To not post when the thoughts arrive, but rather, condensed as a weekly update.
But, forcing myself to write an essay a week became a lot. Quality might have been better if I took more time with certain essays and it took away from other things I should and could’ve been doing. eg, writing my novel or planning the rest of my life. For 2 years, I spent much of my Saturdays after a long run on my couch, writing. I want to write essays again because I want to and have it fit in around the rest of my life, not be a main focus. Even though I enjoyed the forcing function of writing weekly, I need to prioritise other parts of my life at the moment.
That being said, I do want to continue writing essays and I want to focus on not merging the intent between a weekly newsletter and an essay. It kind of felt awkward sometimes to share a serious essay and then, having bonus content at the end. I already have a few essay ideas lined up and will definitely continue writing. In this sense, I want to prioritise writing an essay on a monthly cadence. I’m not going to force it, but I still enjoy it like training a muscle. I want to keep my essay writing muscle strong.
So, essays will be written and published when they are done. And the weekly updates are now called the Sunday Edition.
I contemplated creating sections for this, but there’s not a lot of you here. Feels unnecessary. Hopefully you stick around.
So, what that said. Here’s what I’ve been up to besides the walk!
📺 Watching - Andor S2, The Rehearsal S2, The Studio
Andor S2 was stellar. While I wouldn’t say its heights matched S1 was for me, I’m so glad that Tony Gilroy and crew landed this ship so well. Entertaining, scary, and most all, powerful. The best Star Wars has been for me. I could literally stare at the sets and costume design alone for ages.
I didn’t think I could be more of a Nathan Fielder fan-boy, but The Rehearsal S2 knocked it out of the park again. With The Rehearsal, he usually manages to include amazing meta thoughts about the nature of people, society, and the systems we build. I particularly liked the kissme episode, using the veil of ‘being an actor’ to give people permission to become other people. It’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot recently. We rely on the people around us to give us permission to become people we want to be (egosyntonic). Or, they give us permission not be people we do not want to be (egodystonic). Really great, generational TV. The ending in particular is mind-blowing.
I loved The Studio. Having been in many creative industries, I found it to be great and entertaining satire. Every industry is riddled with people who take themselves too seriously, but at the end, all you wish for, is to sometimes make great work with other people that moves people.
🕹️ Gaming - Switch 2 + Mario Kart World
Managed to snag myself a Switch 2. Personally, it really is an incremental upgrade. But the Switch 1 was such a category defining device, it’s going to hard to match that. But, overall, feeling quite happy with the early impressions of it. Excited to put many hours into it. Mario Kart World is also great fun. 24 players in one match with all the chaos? The fun feels very pure. Enjoying it. :)
✍️ Writing - Novel #2 Feedback + Querying
Before my walk, I sent my second draft of the novel to a few people and have gotten immensely great feedback. For the most part, feedback has been good, and any substantial changes seem to be minimal, which I’m glad for. That being said, haven’t received feedback from all the people I’ve sent the book to, so hey, also entirely possible that it’s shit. 😅
Regardless, after having taken space from the book, I’m glad where it’s at. The core plot, characters, and themes are great and hopefully with the right editor, it can be polished from a good to great story. I’m planning to finish up edits in the coming weeks and then start to query agents. It’s something I’m totally unfamiliar but looking forward to it! If you’re in publishing and know someone that might be interested in repping, please let me know.
Also: I flash wrote a short story for the
newsletter and the story got shortlisted for a competition they held, which I’m happy about! I do plan on eventually polishing and rewriting it a bit. But hopefully planning to publish it at some point. :)🏃♂️- Walking/Running
I lost like 5kgs doing my walking trip. 😅 And doing 24km a day, my legs feel great. So, in getting back into running, that’s been the better part. But my cardio did take a bit of a hit. Slowly ramping back into it. I hope to run more trails soon in training for UTCT 35km later this year. I’ve also been checking out run clubs. It’s great to add a social run into the week! Should’ve done this much sooner.
💾 Links!
The Torch Resumes Construction
A new NYC skyscraper. Yeah, I’m a mad fan. Although, I do hope, that in time, that interesting architecture won’t just be the domain of skyscrapers.
Rally House
As I’m writing, I’m listening to some rally house, a house music genre matching the early PS1 era soundtrack and aesthetic. Big vibe. I find the trend of people remixing aesthetics from their childhood into new forms really interesting. Even if it is just renaming it. Like, I remember trying to found house music like this a while back and all I remember it coming from Ridge Racer. But, now, it has a name I’ll remember due to it matching the racing game soundtracks of the day.
I’m glad people are doing interesting NFT art. The Material Team has a new project out called Absence. Check it out!
After July 1, 2025—weeks after the gallery show has closed—visitors may follow the QR code to a digital interface: the Absence explorer. There, they will see a 32x32 grid of virtual flowers. Some flowers will be bright and visible, remembered by their keepers. Others will remain dimmed, their keepers absent. Over time, this shared visual matrix becomes a portrait of collective attention and forgetting.
Each participant must return daily to visit their digital flower. The flower's image begins fully obscured. With each visit, the flower is revealed. Forget a day, and some obscuring elements become permanent. The final state of the flower becomes a personalized map of attention and neglect.
🎶 Music
Yungblud - Lovesick Lullaby
Really enjoying this track. Feels both nostalgic to 90s brit-rock, but also fresh. Just good old British musical energy to it.
That’s it for this week folks.
Welcome back. Hope you enjoyed many beautiful sunsets!
Simon