(Or: The Belated Monthly Roundup)
This feature went on hiatus due to a death in the family a few days before I was set to write the second installment. It just didn’t feel right to sit down with my MacBook in my local Starbucks, dark-roast coffee in hand, to muse about the stuff keeping my mind occupied when in truth, most of my mental bandwidth found itself concerned with the unfolding tragedy. But the tragedy has since passed and we are now nineteen days into the year 2026. What have I learned, observed, etc., thus far this year?
This was meant to be posted on January 19. I’m not late. I’m never late.
Food and Drink
Consider this “William Trend-Hops, Episode 1.”
I had a matcha latte on January 4, the very first one I’ve ever tried. My overall impression is that it was decent. Starbucks uses a good grade of matcha in its lattes, the drink isn’t overly sweet, and the foamed milk gives it a nice amount of body in the same way that it does with any tea latte. I wasn’t blown away and I probably won’t get another one.
On January 7, I tried a Lindt “Dubai-style” chocolate bar. I generally love Lindt chocolate, but this bar was a bit of a letdown. The kadayif pastry gives a nice, subtle crunch and thus confers some substance upon the pistachio paste, while the pistachio paste itself isn’t overly sweet. At $5.47 for one 40g bar at my local Food City location, it’s not something I would ever make a habit out of buying – and much like the matcha latte, I wasn’t blown away.
Lastly for this month of culinary trend-hopping, I finally bothered to try a bottle of Prime, the sports drink famously promoted by Logan Paul and KSI (and yes, I had to look up who those guys are). It’s definitely one of the sports drinks of all time. I tried the strawberry and banana flavor and it is unnaturally sweet and quite strongly flavored (and weirdly acidic). I would think that kids, the target audience of this drink, would find it overly strong – and I found myself belching up the exact same flavor as a B-vitamin supplement pill after the fact. I’ll stick to my usual Gatorade (in the classic flavor, “the one William grabbed out of the cooler”).
As for something that isn’t considered trend-hopping, consider my lunch at work for the first week of January 2026: a Middle East-inspired dish of quinoa, lentils, bell peppers, Habanero peppers, onions, shallots, capers, Kalamata olives, olive oil, and – most importantly, three tablespoons of za’atar. Za’atar is a Levantine spice blend that includes Lebanese oregano, sesame seeds, sumac, and salt, and it is popular in Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, and elsewhere throughout the Middle East, and it is absolutely delightful. I like the tartness of the sumac and would have added more sumac to my dish had it been available at the grocery store. I’m looking forward to trying my hand at making an approximation of manakish bi za’atar (Lebanese-style flatbread topped with olive oil and za’atar before baking).
Studying
I’m picking back up with my study of advanced calculus, starting jointly from R. Creighton Buck’s textbook as well as Understanding Analysis by Stephen Abbott. I am looking forward to studying the subject with a slower pace since I have the luxury of taking the first six months of 2026 to get through it.
I’ve chosen to abandon my reading of War and Peace for now due to some ongoing obligations beyond my control. I hope to pick back up with it – and, accordingly, with the Year of the Doorstop – in mid-February. I’m still making it a habit to read at least one poem a day and let it stew in my brain while I work. To scratch the novel-reading itch, I’ve picked up A Laodicean, one of Thomas Hardy’s more obscure novels. It’s about a woman who is torn between the ancient and modern world, as exemplified by her two suitors, an Army officer and an architect. I’m also looking forward to reading Claire Tomalin’s biography of Hardy as a part of my broader arc of studying Thomas Hardy and his works.
I’ve also been making decent progress in my reading of Plato’s Republic, using the Benjamin Jowett translation this time (because I’ve misplaced my copy of the Desmond Lee translation, grr).
Reading
I picked up a compilation of Emily Dickinson’s poetry and I’ve been reading a few poems out of it. Dickinson’s poetry is completely unlike that of anyone who came before her, and that is why she is still relevant 140 years after her passing.
I’m also spending time with Hardy, as cited above.
Observing
The younger set is rediscovering the joys of physical media and dedicated devices. Took ’em long enough. Some Australian guy made the market for iPods blow up and now it seems that the younger set is going to make it blow up again. I’ve noticed MP3 players showing up on Amazon again, strangely enough. You’ll pry my Apple Music subscription out of my cold, dead hands, but you’ll also pry my collection of books, CDs, game cartridges, and cassette tapes out of my cold, dead hands.
Listening
I think this might be the only AC/DC song that has ever moved me to tears.
I'm gonna ride on, ride on
Standing on the edge of the road
Thumb in the air
One of these days, I'm gonna change my evil ways
'Til then, I'll just keep riding on
Rest in peace, David. 1971 • 2025
Coda
As always, esteemed readers, remember to feed your mind and mind your feeds, and be sure to look both ways before trusting an opinion.
And, as always, call your mom, hydrate yourself and your plants, get plenty of rest, and never let the sun set on an argument.
I’ll be back on February 19 with this feature.