Slade Watkins

A week of much-needed rest…

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** The Bulletin ** – November 4, 2023

Hey y’all!

It’s me. I haven’t worked on anything at all this week—I decided to take the time to rest and recover from my trip, but mostly the last plane ride. I didn’t realize how much I needed not only the time with my friends, but all the R&R I got while I was on it and after, too—both physically and mentally. We talked about it briefly in the Bulletin last week, but I learned a lot about myself, and there’s a lot I need to do in order to keep getting better. Part of that includes focusing on my future, what I want to do, and where I want to be. So that’s what I really put my time into this week, and I will continue to do so over the coming months and 2024 as well.

Well, everyone, this week’s Bulletin is rather… boring. But, like, not a bad boring. It’s a nice boring, as all it means is that I don’t need to think too hard trying to put this together! Makes life easier.

The Bulletin is now on Substack

You’ve probably noticed already, but The Bulletin has moved to my Substack account instead. If you’re getting this in your email inbox, you’re all set and don’t need to do anything — you’ve been added to the free tier and will continue to receive The Bulletin as you always have. However, you’ve also unlocked a new additional benefit: access to a handful of new stories, writing pieces, and more each month—on top of this weekly email. How cool is that?

Paid subscriptions will come eventually, but I’m not rushing it. I’m happy where I’m at with this right now, so long as it gives me a space away from social media to just be. I’m not really into the whole idea of locking everything I make behind a paywall unless it has some sort of benefit (like my longer writing pieces I’ve never shared but am particularly proud of, for example!), so we’ll see what happens…

  • For the Soapbox this week, I got up and talked about how I misunderstood Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. It’s funny, my friend Kolin actually convinced me to give it another shot while I visiting in DC… so I did. Now I’m hooked on Pokémon again. Gotta caTCH ‘EM ALLLLLL…!!!

This week’s soundtrack

I’m kind of a Spotify addict, so I happen to listen to a lot of music. Here’s what I’m currently listening to—usually on repeat. Here’s what I’ve got for you, for the week of November 4, 2023…

If you have any suggestions for Christmas music I can add to my playlist, please let me know! My mom and I (ESPECIALLY my mom) love this time of year—so we’d love to have a good variety of stuff to listen to. You can email me at [email protected] or send me a Tweet or something! 🙂

Thanks to Songlink for making all these streaming platform-agnostic!

Things I found across the net

“THIS JUST IN: An unhinged maniac from the middle of nowhere found a bunch of things on the Internet and is now going to subject you to all of them. Our apologies.”

  • People have wondered, what exactly can you connect to the iPhone with USB-C? Well, 9to5Mac’s Benjamin Lovejoy wrote up this lovely article that explores just that!

  • Via 9to5Google, Gboard is going to be getting a Live Text-like feature very soon. Here’s all the info on it!

  • Here’s everything Apple announced during its Halloween-themed ‘Scary Fast’ event, thanks to Juli Clover at MacRumors. (Most notable is a refreshed 24” iMac and the introduction of the M3 family of chips!)

    • Apple has officially discontinued the Touch Bar, leaving the 2022 13” MacBook Pro as the last computer to be released by Apple with one. Leave me alone—I’m sad and I really love my Touch Bar.

  • There’s a new 3D Sonic game coming out on Apple Arcade that I desperately want to play. The trailer for it looks awesome and is very well done. (I’ll admit that I’m a little sad it’s going to be Apple exclusive, though.)

  • In boo, you stink! news: HBO is taking away 4K from grandfathered subscriptions, which seems like it should be illegal? I’m not a lawyer, I don’t know. What I do know, however, is that it’s a really scummy move… Boo, HBO!

  • I am very thrilled to see that Toontown Rewritten is still chugging along after all these years. They didn’t sponsor this, but they’re easily the best fan recreation of the old Toontown Online game that Disney shut down all those years ago. If you fancy a bit of nostalgia, it’s more than worth your time! And it’s free! (I’m totally going to get back into it at some point…)

  • In I need to start playing Pikmin Bloom again news, the game has turned two years old, and there’s a celebration event going on RIGHT NOW until November 26th, 2023 (so, Thanksgiving, basically). Here are the details from Nintendo!

  • In a move sure to cause confusion, Russell T. Davies is rebranding the Fifteenth Doctor Ncuti Gatwa’s first season as “Season 1” … why? Let’s not, Russell, this show is already confusing enough.

  • And finally, in really cool news, here’s the sign for the Nintendo Museum that is slated to open in Japan next year!

Strike Funds

SAG-AFTRA is still on strike—UAW recently went on strike—which means a lot of people are out- of work. Instead of scabbing or crossing a picket line, please give to people in need if you are able! I’ve compiled a list below of funds I’ve independently verified are legitimate. Thank you!

[Also, if you know of a fund that I should add to this list, please send me an email!]

One day longer, one day stronger.

In conclusion, it was a slow week—just the way I like it. I didn’t want crazy, and I didn’t get crazy. What a blessing!

See you next week, everyone.

Your local tortoise,
Slade