After two years of non-stop work and Olympic level self-neglect, all that's left is the final public defense of my thesis. Then I await the PhD scholarship verdict.

(this is a rare moment of a self-pat on the back)

I need help. I have rediscovered chess since I’m such an outrageous snob. However, I didn’t predict it would get this bad. Waking up in the middle of the night to play chess kind of bad, youtube competition livestream bad, chess theory bad, first thing in the morning bad

I'm not one who usually creates playlists, as music as an art form feels too vulnerable to be shared. Maybe it's because melancholy and nostalgia are so often dismissed as "negative" emotions. But they bring me companionship, and perhaps that’s worth exploring too. open.spotify.com/playlist/7MW...