The Astukari Newsletter #101
Weekly Update #007
(Taken from IndieHackers)
Hello all,
I am a pretty obsessive notetaker, to the point where my notes can get a little confusing. For example, I have three physical notebooks: a lined notebook for journaling, a dot notebook for planning, and a sketch notebook for... well, sketching. In addition to this, however, I also try to use digital notes when I can. I of course have my "knowledge docs", short cheat sheets on various topics, that are available on Notion. And those cheat sheets are, for the most part, my real notes on those topics. But then I also have OTHER notes, my "working notes" so to speak, in Obsidian. And these notes ALSO include planning and journaling pieces inside! In other words, I'm really undecisive here.
There are benefits to both physical and digital notes. With physical notes, there's a tangibility aspect that's really nice. For example, I've been keeping up a journal since around 2019, and it shows -- I have a big stack of journals with my notes inside them, and I intend on making the stack even bigger. On the other hand, it feels like digital notes can be a little more... "ephemeral". Physical books stay with you pretty much forever, whereas digital books get deleted when space is required. That sort of thing.
On the other hand, you can make the argument that digital notes are much more practical. There's a wide range of features that are both purely beneficial in comparison to physical notes (backlinking) and other stuff that is just pretty darn neat (graph view!). I would also argue that it is easier to take your digital notes with you than physical ones -- you are always going to have a laptop, tablet, or phone around with you, but having a carrying around a notebook solely for having notes feels a little overboard. Plus, it's pretty easy for me to just pull out my phone and type something in when inspiration strikes -- I would argue not so much the same with physical stuff.
As of this point, my stance is as follows: I would like to be digital exclusive, though it is hard to ween off my physical notes. I don't want to quit cold turkey -- I'd rather just keep the physical notes going until I run out of books (not buying new ones, of course) and then once that happens, I can switch to an Obsidian/Notion set up and perhaps scan in the journal entries so that I can still keep everything organized.
I... I suppose this post isn't an update at all, isn't it? Well, I hope you got something out of it at least. My next weekly update should be full of info on the Boys & Girls release, but things aren't quite ready yet. Look forward to it!
New Releases
Blog posts: Cyberpunk in 2022 & What Decides Good Art?
Monday Morning Coffee: #10 & #11
Astukario: Bigger, Better, Boulder & guys i dont think im getting the deposit back
Podcast: Free to Play Models for SaaS Services
Other links: Pinterest, Quora, JBR Subreddit, JBR Tumblr
Updates
Creative Focus: After the big editing push, we went from 29/44 chapters edited for Boys & Girls to 41/44. Aiming for that December 21st release date!
JBR Focus: The next focus for JBR will be in setting up the course subscription. Right now course purchases are disabled because I figure the subscription model makes a lot more sense. Perhaps there will even be some integration with Astukari Premium.
Astukari Focus: I recorded about half a years worth of blog post readings for the “podcast”. I think the old Youtube VODs go into March of 2023, and then from there it’s a new format where I actually just read the posts and provide some context.
Other Stuff
Currently Reading: After finding Snow Crash was mindnumbingly dull, I was worried I just didn’t like the scifi genre. That fear was unfounded — I recently started reading Hyperion and it is excellent in comparison. I get a lot of classic CRPG vibes from it.
Currently Watching: Last time I said I was watching Lex Fridman’s Kanye interview. Well, Lex has been on quite a streak. Both the Ben Shapiro and Destiny interviews (particularly the Destiny one) have been excellent. Haven’t replayed them as much but still very worthwhile!
Currently Listening: The last two Brockhampton albums dropped today and yesterday, so I’ll be catching up on these!
Currently Playing: Almost five years after starting my save file, I have finally beat Dishonored. Planning on doing the same for Super Meat Boy — currently on the last two levels.