selfaware soup

Esther Weidauer

Week of Monsters

Of monsters and tiny computers

2025-05-15

Damn, it’s been a while since I wrote one of these journal posts. The last one is from about a year ago, but there was a time when I did these every week, back in 2022.

I’d like to get back to that because it was really good to have a writing outlet what was a bit less frantic than things like Bluesky but also less involved than the articles I write on specific topics. I just want a place to collect some thoughts and recommend interesting links.

Monsters

three different cans of monster energy

The last time I had energy drinks occasionally was back around 2005 when I was studying chemistry. At the time all of them tasted terrible and they were expensive. A can of Red Bull was 2.50€. I’m not sure, if Monster Energy was even available in Germany then.

Recently I found myself getting a bottle of Fritz Kola (German cola brand) from our university’s cafeteria on most days, which is nice but also gets expensive quickly. So to save some money I gave this Monster stuff a try after I learned that energy drinks now also come in sugar-free varieties. I’m still testing my way through all the flavors but so far I really like Ultra Rose and Ultra Peachy Keen. Trials will continue, but I’m enjoying this.

Tiny laptop upgrade

I’ve been using an MNT Pocket Reform laptop for almost a year now. I have it with me almost every day I’m at university. I order mine during the original crowdfunding campaign for the project so it came with the original i.MX8M+ CPU which was the only option available at the time.

I’ll be honest, it has been a challenge to work with such an underpowered CPU. It was possible, but not an enjoyable computing experience. In my day-to-day student work I need to work with a lot of scientific papers and books, usually as PDFs, as well as do some statistics in RStudio. Both are tasks that this CPU was just able to do and if several things were going on at once, it very noticeably struggled.

Towards the end of 2024 the RK3588 CPU module became available from MNT. And since these devices are designed to be upgraded and serviced, I was able to swap it in. After the usual delays and issues in small-scale manufacturing I received mine this week.

The upgrade went without serious issues. The only one I ran into was a missing firmware package that was necessary for the new WiFi chip to work.

It’s only been a few days but I can already say: this is what the device was supposed to be like. It’s such a huge improvement and I’m glad that nowadays the RK3588 is the default CPU for new Pocket Reforms that are sold so more people can experience this device in it’s good form.

Now that it’s been a year with this machine and I have the upgrade, I think I’ll write a longer review soon. I just want to spend some more time putting the new CPU threw some real-world testing.

University

This semester has been very busy so far. I signed up for most of my big block seminars early in the semester so I have a little less work on my plate when exam season comes around again. That phase is largely over now though so things are returning to normal.

To my surprise I’m most engaged with the psychodynamic school of psychology now that we’ve moved past all the foundational courses and go into applications like clinical psychology. There’s a lot of misconceptions about psychoanalysis that I’m currently letting go of.

Workouts

Keeping up my workout schedule has been a challenge in recent weeks due to my university schedule, public holidays and a metal health crisis that knocked me out for almost a week. I’ve also had to deal with some rather persistent shoulder pain but that’s finally improving.

I’m proud though that I managed to still do a lot despite everything, I’m making progress, and this week I’m returning to my regular schedule.

Andor

Star Wars: Andor season 2 finished this week. Without spoiling anything specific, I’m really disappointed in the second season. It fell flat on so many levels and included some really shitty tropes for no good reason. It’s astonishing how the same writers that made the excellent first season also produced this meandering unfocused mess.

My recommendation is to just watch season one and then go straight to Roque One. You’re better off filling in the timeline gap in between with your own imagination.

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