Aug'21

I have zero will for writing this "monthly roundup". Damn, it sounds so corny. 

I didn't even watch anything this month. Bye.

Okay, I watched two mini-series. And YouTube content. And some cricket. That's it. It was just one of those months where I have a lot of resistance to acquaint myself with new characters and I just end up scrolling through random articles in my free time.

Thankfully I spent the time saved studying because the syllabus is really deep and I'm not going to feel good in the future about watching some 'heart-warming coming of age' show when I should have probably made notes or something. I'm glad the preparation seems fun until now; I hope not to reach that point where any new information makes me react like Michael does to Toby. But that not happening seems unlikely.

Anyway, cutting through the formalities of formatting:

Shows Watched

Modern Love

The previous season was ok barring few episodes, this one was bad barring few episodes. I didn't like the stories and the actors this time around and I have forgotten much of it anyway to comment further. First impressions are last impressions I guess.

The Chair: 

I watched it because I thought the plotline to be something my sister could go through in the future. Very unlikely but probable. It was a very forgettable show though, the type that if I hadn't written about it here I would've forgotten watching it.

Both of them had  6 short episodes each, so they got over in under a week even when I was watching sparingly. Besides, I watched some Cody Ko on YouTube and remember being enamoured by his Moment of Truth episodes. Presently, for some inexplicable reason, I have been watching Mr Beast of all people while having lunch. It'd be momentary, I'm sure. Maybe, right now, I just want to see someone genuinely having fun.

Reading

Been doing very out of character stuff lately as the only book I have had the will to complete in a long time is Can't Stop Me by David Goggins. Not gonna lie, it's pretty decent if you learn to normalize the inhuman feats he goes through in every other chapter. Contrary to the reviews that make him seem toxic and embodiment of all the vices of hustle culture, he seemed pretty sensible to me in his approach while advising others. Not taking what critics or the trolls say at face value should be a thumb rule for surfing the internet.

Music

This list only suggests the songs I heard the most often, otherwise, I listened to lots of music beyond k-pop too, I promise. Also, what's that random lil uzi vert song doing there, it's so funny. I hadn't even heard the artist's name until I saw the ad where I heard this and now he's sitting smugly in my top 10.

Podcasts

Just a bunch of Seen and the Unseen episodes which I don't feel like elaborating on. For the record, one of them was on China, one on 1991 reforms, one on Indian society and the direction we're going in and one on foreign policy. Took up running for a few days until it started raining every day and my will wore out, and this was the result. I hope my brain learns something from these by absorption because I made no active effort of retaining knowledge. Even if it doesn't it's ok. I listened for the sake of listening. Abolish utilitarianism. Adopt Kant. Something like that.

Academic Update

This is the major thing happening in my life and like a well-hyped award nomination, it gets announced at last. Frustrated with the lack of direction, I decided to get done with history and I am happy to announce that I have completed it plus the art and culture part but minus the world part. I've been reading world history on my kindle before sleep and making notes, hope it gets completed by the end of this month. Post-independence history is also left but I studied that as an elective in college and I hope it''ll only take me a couple of days to go through that later.

Revisiting Indian Polity now and consolidating notes for the optional. The plan is to complete it by end of this month. Luckily the optional Political Science and International Relations is a gift that keeps on giving as it is making sure that I don't have to read that sociology NCERT book in much detail. 

Had zero desire when I started writing this article, but eventually, I'm making the customary conclusion. Good job.

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Fun Fact: Whenever you don't feel like studying, just say UPSC long enough until it sounds like "u pussy*" which won't really make you study harder, but at least now you're cursing yourself / calling yourself cute, whatever you like. 

*pussy in its original feline connotation of the scaredy-cat, and not the semantic shift to its contemporary derogatory usage.