October 19, 2023: Only wash dishes with water, no password manager and no more iCloud

October 19, 2023. Today it rained. I wore my rain jacket over my sweater.

While filling my thermos with water, I looked at the dish soap bottle. I realized I hadn't used dish soap in a long time because I hadn't fried anything greasy for a while. Recently, it’s been enough to clean my dishes with just water. So, I decided to stop using dish soap altogether. From today on, I’ll only wash my dishes with water.

Today, I was on the third floor of the library - with the law students. There were many more people, and the tables were twice as large. Apparently, law students are diligent. Here, I met Nina when I went to HanoMacke around 9:30 AM to get a coffee. She was the tall blonde law student who turned my head a while ago. She only glanced at me briefly and then quickly turned away. I sat inside HanoMacke because it was raining outside.

At the next table, two girls sat across from me. I had seen them in HanoMacke yesterday. Sitting with her back to me was an interesting girl with dark blonde hair, a nose piercing, and black-painted fingernails. She wore a dark green scarf and a black top. I just had to wait for her to direct her attention to me and give me a signal that she found me likable. Then I would approach her. Shortly after, she packed her things, stood up, and left without giving me a single glance.

Around 2 PM, I went back to HanoMacke to continue writing my book. Who knows, maybe today I’ll meet the love of my life there. I wouldn’t mind.

After a brief stay at home, I met Lina. She was giving an online presentation today, dressed like a businesswoman, and told me she is an Enneagram Type 9.

Today, I also set the same password for all my websites. This allowed me to delete all passwords on my PC and online. My password is only in my head and is always with me, so I don’t need the internet or a password manager anymore. I have reduced all the various, complicated passwords to a minimum. In my perfect society, no one hacks into other people's accounts. I assume this society already exists.

At 6:30 PM, I went to Borsum. In Borsum, I toyed with the idea of switching to a prepaid card and replacing my smartphone with a dumbphone, which only allows calls and SMS.

First, I ordered a prepaid card and plan to get used to it before changing my phone. I want to switch to a prepaid card not only to have better control over my phone bill (when the credit is used up, I can’t go over) but also to reduce the number of contracts I am financially tied to. With prepaid, I’m no longer obligated to make regular payments to a mobile operator. And since I’m not tied to a long-term contract, I can change my number cheaply by buying a new prepaid card.

I couldn’t resist the temptation to turn off downtime and stay on the laptop past 9 PM. Laura brought me chips and chocolate into the living room; I couldn’t resist and ate everything. While on the laptop, I didn’t watch any YouTube videos or anything like that. Instead, I spent the time changing various passwords to the same password.

Then I decided to store my files offline from now on: on the MacBook and on a USB stick. I deleted all files from iCloud. This way, I don’t need a constant internet connection to access my files, and I don’t have to keep uploading them when I make local changes. This is definitely more sustainable.

I sat in front of my laptop until shortly after midnight. Luckily, I was still able to sleep well afterward.

1. Wash dishes only with water when possible. (Less packaging waste, more money saved, avoidance of harmful dish soap residues on dishes).
2. Purchase of a prepaid card (the next step in reducing my dependence on a specific phone number).
3. No longer dependent on a password manager. Reduced the number of different passwords. One password in my head. Always with me.
4. Prefer offline document storage. Less dependence on cloud services.