About

When people ask me why I like the food, I say it's the texture. I appreciate how elements and perspectives intertwine with each other to make something distinctive. It reminds me of weird feelings from frisson in music, liminal spaces, and talking to strangers.

This is where I process my feelings and what I'm confused about. I want to slowly document my everyday life and see how I've changed. I often show this blog when people ask me what I'm thinking about and when a topic I've written about comes up in conversation. I hope to write things that help people who are going through problems I'm working through and make them feel seen.

Some recurring themes are how my thoughts and identity have changed, and trying to do good work, in the context of the young adult experience and effective altruism.

I used to emphasize how this blog is an ongoing process since I was worried that I would misrepresent myself in my writing, but after reading about defensive writing, I want to publish more freely.

Essays that guide my writing include:

• "How To Be an Extremely Productive Creative" by Niklas Göke
• "To Stay Creative, Remember to Breathe"
• "The Age of the Essay" by Paul Graham
• "You Must Live an Interesting Life" by Ryan Holiday
• "Requiem for a Dream" by Larissa MacFarquhar
• "The Importance of an Unhappy Adolescence" by The School of Life

My personality is extremely ENTP. Psychology Junkie, Melissa Talks, and CS Joseph explain this well.

I care about being with people, solving problems, and appreciating little things.

On an average day, I eat, sleep, go to a cafe or library to do some work, talk to friends, take walks, read, write, listen to music, and meditate.

Hosting friends for dinner and sleepovers is my favorite thing ever.

My influences include Niklas Göke, Aaron Swartz, Visakan Veerasamy, Johnny Harris, Scott Alexander, Arthur C. Brooks, CJ Quines, R.C. Waldun, Paul Graham, Ryan Holiday, Ali Abdaal, Alexey Guzey, David Perell, Anthony Magnabosco, Matt Dillahunty, John Green, Edward Snowden, Alexander Hamilton, Andrew Huberman, Derek Muller, Michael Stevens, Brian D. Earp, Mark Manson, Casey Neistat, Freddie Wong, Stephen J. Dubner, and Sal Khan.

The way I talk to people is influenced by:

• Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss
• Models by Mark Manson
• Derek Sivers' summary of How to Talk to Anyone by Leil Lowndes
• "The Complete Street Epistemology Guide How to Talk About Beliefs" by members of the Street Epistemology Facebook group.

I would love to chat with you on Twitter @LowellDennings.

I listened to "I See Fire" by Ed Sheeran on repeat while writing this page. This took five hours to write on 12/10/2021.

I updated this page at a cafe on 12/6/2022.

I updated this page on 7/5/2023 while listening to EVIL - Melanie Martinez.