October 12, 2023: Life without a bike, email app and browser bookmarks

October 12, 2023. I woke up around 7 AM today because someone slammed the front door. Then I got up, had my breakfast, quickly combed my hair, washed my armpits, and went to the library. I was the first one on the fourth floor by 8 AM.

Then someone came down the aisle. It was Carmen. She came down the wide aisle toward my table and smiled at me. "Hello," she said to me. I smiled back and also said "Hello." She sat down at the table in front of me, with her back to me. And that, even though all the tables around were empty.

Then the law student came and sat behind me. Then she changed seats. Probably the power outlets haven't been working recently, and I've always been lucky that the power outlets at my regular seat always worked. Then the redhead student came, and shortly after, her brunette friend. Both smiled at me as they passed and sat at the table behind me. They also switched seats. It really must be about the power outlets.

I stepped outside briefly because last night in bed I thought about giving away my bike, which I never use anyway. So, I unlocked it and left the key in the lock. With a pen I borrowed from HanoMacke, I wrote "Bike to give away" on a piece of paper and attached it to the back of the bike.

Only when all Horcruxes (memorabilia of Jule) have been destroyed can you finally let go of the past. That also explains why I still kept thinking about Jule (maybe because I hadn't destroyed all the Horcruxes of our relationship yet). Today, I destroyed the last Horcrux. There was no physical reminder left of my relationship with Jule.

Around 10 AM, I went out again to have a coffee at HanoMacke. It was drizzling, but I had my rain jacket on and stood outside, enjoying my warm filter coffee - with a view of the library entrance and imagining Carmen would now come out to find me and say, "Yes, I want to meet you for coffee!". Unfortunately, it didn't happen.

After that, I went to Steintor and took a short walk to the train station. I stopped briefly at the Hugendubel bookstore because I noticed a tall woman all in black. She briefly went into the bookstore. I waited outside and considered going in and talking to her. But then I thought, no, I won't do that, I'll go to the train now. And as soon as I started walking, she suddenly came out again and hurried toward the train station.

50 meters behind her, I followed her, then she turned left into the Ernst-August-Galerie. I ran after her because she was so fast and caught up with her at the traffic light where she was waiting.

"Hey," I said, slightly out of breath, "I just saw you come out of the bookstore, and you immediately caught my eye because you're wearing such a chic black outfit. Do you want to go on a date?"

"I have a boyfriend, but thank you for the compliment."

"Alright, take care," I replied, and she crossed the street, and I went to platform 13 as if nothing had happened.

Today at 11:40 AM on the train, I sent Anna a reminder message after 20 days without a reply: "This is an automatic notification for Anna, so she doesn't forget Alexander."

When I was in Borsum, I watched YouTube, ate bread with almond butter, and watched YT videos about people who don't have a stove or a flip phone. So much for distraction. But okay, today is the radical step to turn my MacBook into a productivity machine.

1. First, I took care of the email app. I deleted it so I can't open it so easily anymore. Now I have to log in to the website to check my emails.
2. I removed all bookmarks from the browser.
3. I deleted accounts that I registered recently.
4. Under "Content and Privacy" → "App Restrictions", I only allowed Camera, Safari, and AirDrop.
5. I disabled the autofill function in the browser to make it harder for me to log in unnecessarily.
6. Then under "Content Restrictions", I only allowed certain websites.

I considered not watching any more YT videos, but only reading books instead. I hope this will lead to more concentration and focus during the day. Books instead of videos. Consuming fewer random contents. Not consuming YT videos while eating. And I noticed that whenever I watch a documentary or a talk show like Lanz when he has Richard David Precht, Harald Welzer, Harald Lesch, or other interesting guests, I feel the need to stuff myself with food while watching the talk show.

Then I thought, what if I don't google anymore, so I don't use a conventional search engine anymore? ChatGPT and Wikipedia would be enough for me, actually.

Today, I didn't have my phone in my hand all day because, as it turned out in the evening when my mother came home, I had left it in her car on the back seat. All this time I thought I had lost my expensive phone. Fortunately, that wasn't the case.

1. Minimalized bike away.
2. I no longer use an email program but access my emails directly on the website.
3. I disabled the automatic form filling in the browser and no longer use bookmarks.