The Current App Stack and Reading/Watching list

This is nerd-central, just for those who are into this kind of thing...

The App-Stack

A lot of testing, rationalising, and experimentation (read "procrastination" for all three) has been going on here the past couple of weeks. As of today, this is what the current app-stack looks like:

Notes - Obsidian has once again one the title. There was a deviation into Bear, and another dip in the warm waters of Capacities, but ultimately it seems as if Obsidian is the notes app I am most comfortable with. I like that the data is stored locally and accessibly, I like that I can organise notes on boards and canvases, I like the graph map, and I'm across the shortcut keys etc, so I can use it with the minimum of friction.

I'm currently running Obsidian with a modified "Borders" theme and Nick Milo's ACE folder structure.

Journaling - Mostly this happens on paper (currently an MD Codex A5 journal and a Dingbats A6 for when I'm out and about), but I'm also trying to re-incorporate Day One into the system, because I love the "On This Day" feature and I want to keep feeding it.

Task/Project Management - Trello has had a facelift and now has a global inbox and connection to Google Calendar for timeboxing (this is good but not GREAT). I have a projects board on Trello that shows everything I'm thinking about/working on/waiting on and there is a pleasing progression across this board from the spark of an idea to a finished project. My Daily board, though is the one where everything goes and, rather than timeboxing inside Trello, I have this linked into Sunsama so I can plan my days with a full calendar and drop tasks in from Trello when want to focus on them. Sunsama is an incredibly Zen-like app with minimal automations, so it allows me to plan the day with some degree of thought and intention.

E-Mail - I've been with Hey email for a long time, and I really like it. Recent world events, however, have got me wondering whether I shouldn't move Proton Mail into pole position here. I'm going to run them both side-by-side for a few days and see which I prefer.

Screenwriting - This is a clusterfuck at the moment, because the latest version of Highland Pro is crashing every few minutes (the Discord server is lighting up like a Christmas tree), and the problems even seem to extend back to Highland 2. I know these guys will fix the apps, and they will be great again. For the moment, I'm moving stuff into (beat) and Arc Studio just to be safe. But I don't like either as much as Highland (when it's working).

Prose - This piece, along with all the other online things I write, and the novel I'm working on, all lead very happy and productive lives in Ulysses.

Going off-line

As an experiment in maintaining some level of sanity and clear-thinking, I am trying to leave my iPhone behind whenever possible. To that end, I am mostly travelling with a Punkt MP02 dumbphone, which I bought a few years ago and to which only my family have the number, and I am listening to music on an old(ish) Astell&Kern SR25 with a pair of Austrian Audio X15 wired headphones. These sound amazing and, because they don't do noise cancelling or Bluetooth or anything else, they never need to be charged or updated or fiddled with; you just pick them up and go.

So far, this experiment is working very well. I'm even toying with getting one of these.

Reading

Ghostwritten - David Mitchell

The Invisibles (Umpteenth re-read) - Grant Morrison

So Good They Can't Ignore You - Cal Newport

Doppelganger - Naomi Klein

Watching

Currently re-watching both "Elementary" and "House", both excellent shows about Sherlock Holmes.

Playing

Atomfall - PS5