Fall 2019: Kinesiology

• Adjusted very poorly to college. Moving away from my family was very hard on me. Even though I lived with my brother, I lost my mother, father, sister, her kids, and my closest friends.

• This transition made me feel a deep melancholy. The sadness made me low and because I was low I didn’t do anything healthy for myself. I missed nearly all of my classes or was late. I slept all day and stayed up all night binging television shows. I never left my apartment. I never worked out. I was so miserable.
• I did have a job this semester that gave me a bit of meaning, but just like school I neglected that too. I set my own hours and I’d go for like two to four hours every other day. I could have down much better with this too.
• One thing that was great about this job though was that I was able to listen to things all the while I worked. I found the lectures of Jordan B. Peterson. this semester. These opened up my mind and heart more than anything had in my life. I found true words here, said very well, and they helped me begin finding the meaning I longed for.
• I already was enamored by “Great Books” lists at this point. That has actually been an obsession of mine since I was 13, but I remember referring to Jordan Peterson’s a lot and feeling inspired by it. I remember feeling that I could make his list better.
• Heard the word “autodidact” for the first time on episode 470 of the The Rich Roll Podcast with Ryan Holiday. I remember that word really sparking something within me. I didn’t know what it meant though. I looked it up and was stunned by it’s meaning. I remember feeling that I wished deeply to be described with that word someday.
• This semester read the first hundred pages or so of Walter Isaacson’s biography of Leonardo Da Vinci. The chapters I read were all on his art. I didn’t get far enough to learn of his scientific interests.
• The story I remember inspiring me most wasn’t even about Da Vinci himself. It was just a story of how architects in the old days would travel to ancient ruins, measure them, and sketch them. The romance of that beings one’s work is what inspired me to change my major to architecture.
• I chose Landscape Architecture for a few reasons:
1. My brother got his degree in it and loved the education.
2. LSU was ranked #1 in the nation, even above Harvard, for Landscape Architecture.
3. I really love nature, hiking, the outdoors, and felt that there would be no greater art form than designing nature and working with it.
4. I really liked how it was multidisciplinary. I would get to learn not only about Art and Architecture but also about Science through ecology, horticulture, etc. I also was very interested in studying the science of how the design of a green space could improve human’s lives and make them more healthy and fulfilled.

Winter 2019-2020

• Travelled to Europe this winter break with my father, mother, and brother. My father was going for business and took us along.
• This trip was very fun. I took my camera and was trying to develop my creativity because I was slightly nervous (though mostly excited) about beginning Landscape Architecture.
• My switch to Landscape Architecture shocked and surprised almost everyone close to me except my brother. No one saw me as creative or artistic and at this point I was insecure about this. No one had any reason to see me as creative though because I never took a very obvious interest in it.
• With my aesthetic and creative sensibilities emerging, I was extremely happy to be in Europe were beauty surrounds and overwhelms you.
• When in Europe I got to see Da Vinci’s “Last Supper.” I had just read about this in Walter Isaacson’s biography of him. This was very thrilling for me.
• This birthed my idea to have a comprehensive self-educative curriculum that enabled one to travel. After this, I wanted all of my reading and learning to be supplemented and brought to life through travel. I wanted to make pilgrimages to all the art I learned about. I wanted to learn languages in the countries they were spoken. I wanted to read books on the same soil in which they were written.

Spring 2020: Landscape Architecture

• My grandfather died in February.
• This was an extremely difficult season.
• School was shut-down in March.
• I was very excited to get to go back home for the rest of the semester. I was still not adjusting well to life in Baton Rouge, and after Paw Paw died it was even worse.
• Landscape Architecture had begun to make me less lonely because I was making friends with the people in my class, but still I was very lonely and couldn’t wait to be home with my family.
• My sleep and health got worse this semester, although it was already very bad. The remote schooling allowed me to indulge nocturnal nature.
• Became enamored by creativity and production. Started learning a lot about art, particularly Jean-Michel Basquiat.
• At this point, I liked art that was not fundamentally beautiful. I felt I could easily make this art and that inspired and motivated me. That was the feeling I needed art to convey to me in this season: that I was capable of making it.
• Read Mastery by Robert Greene
• This book had a huge impact on me. The two stories that impacted me the most were the one of John Keats and the one of this architect ho had both a degree in engineering and in architecture.
• Both were stories of intense education. Keats’ story was one of self-education and the architect’s was about comprehensive education, about knowing both the art and science of one’s craft.
• This book also had me doing tons of introspection about what my Life’s-Task, or Calling could be.
• The most formative experience I had this semester was a strong feeling of calling. I felt deeply that I wanted to master many disciplines. I felt that I wanted all of that learning to be directed towards making me more human. For example, every human thinks, speaks, hears, sees, smells, tastes, that is the human experience but I wanted to take all of these most basic actions to art forms. I wanted to hear as the musician heard or the polyglot. I wanted to speak as the poet only could. I wanted to see as an artist could see. I wanted to feel and move as a dancer and a fighter. I wanted to think as the philosopher thought. This was my Life’s-Task. This I felt more deeply than anything— To specialize in Humanity.

Summer 2020

• Worked at as a Summer Camp Counselor.
• I really enjoyed this job. It was my first job outside of working for my parents.
• This summer my obsession was guitar. Was really inspired by the progress my friend Miles was having.
• Used Justin Guitar’s website and free courses to teach myself. I loved his website. I loved how he had such a complex skill broken down into actionable steps that anyone could take.
• His work really inspired me and had an impact on me. I wanted to find a way to do something similar.
• This summer is when I began really obsessing over making the ultimate great books list. At this point I never made a formal list for myself, but just was constantly researching what the great books were and why I should read them.
• Found Mortimer J. Adler’s How to Read a Book. Became obsessed with his work. I was always researching the Great Book’s list he made in this book and then his work for the University of Chicago.

Fall 2020: Landscape Architecture

• Discovered the work of Harold Bloom through interviews of him on YouTube.
• After this I dove deep into his work and found his book The Western Canon, like the works and list of Mortimer J. Adler this book’s list thrilled me. It seemed more comprehensive and literary than Adler’s. I wanted to combine them.
• This was my best semester in Landscape Architecture. I really liked my teacher’s and enjoyed the creative projects I was able to do. I am particularly proud of the clay models I made this semester and the papers I wrote.
• This semester, through my interest in Frederick Law Olmsted I discovered the Library of America publishing house. Their website and products were beautiful to me. I loved seeing culture curated in such a beautiful and comprehensive way.
• During one of my readings this semester there was a quote from Emerson. He began to really inspire and interest me, but still I wasn’t quite ready to delve into his works. Whenever I did attempt to read them, I found them difficult and I couldn’t sustain the effort to finish.

Winter 2020-2021

• Began buying and collecting “Great Books” during this season. I bought plenty, but still never read.
• Became serious about learning how to write well. Once, again never wrote but was always finding materials on how to write better. This is when I began crafting self-educative curriculums outside of just “Great Books.”
• Read Jordan Peterson’s helpful essay writing guide.
• Was very spiritually conflicted. Had a deep desire to delve into all of these great works of literature and art, but every time I tried it felt like I was abandoning my faith. I would feel guilty if I read anything except the Bible.
• I had two voices within me that were equally important. One of curiosity and calling and the other of my Spirit and God. I concluded that God gave me my curiosity and calling and that is was holy and sacred too. This made me think that the other voices maybe just came from the culture of my religious upbringing.
• This conclusion allowed me to keep my faith in tact and still follow my calling. These circumstances were not this clear cut and I had/still have to replay this battle in my heart many times since. But in essence this is what happened and the conclusions I came to.
• My heart did harden to God for a long time afterward, but I never could fully reject my true love.

Spring 2021: Landscape Architecture

• This was the semester I fell in love with LSU’s library.
• I was so curious about all there was to know. Whenever, I would find a subject that interested me I would check out plenty of book on the subject and then look for any similarities or common patterns. The things that were in the most number of books I would value as more important. The things that were only in a few I saw as less important.
• This was really the beginning of me crafting a self-education that valued only the essential and most important things. I had no time or attention for chaff.
• Found the films of Wes Anderson. Basically watched one every night. Desire to make films was growing stronger.

Summer 2021

• Worked for my parents renovating their rental property. While working I listened to so many audio books. The ones that I remember having the biggest impact on me are.
• Ultralearning by Scott H. Young
• Vagabonding by Rolf Potts
• Mastery by Robert Greene (again)
• How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler (again)
• Began my first attempt at making my ultimate “Great Books” basically making an edited, composite list of the ones found in The Western Canon and How to Read a Book.
• You can see this list here: Summer 2021: First Reading List Attempt
• Took a trip to Grand Teton with my mother, father, Mikah, Evie, Izzy, and Uncle Mike.
• On this trip, I learned about atelier schools that teach classical art. This was eye-opening for me because I was growing tired of the modernist art I was being exposed to in school. My heart yearned for classical art and architecture, but I didn’t know where I could learn it.
• Took a trip in my van with my friend Sawyer. This trip was amazing and transformative. Summer 2021: U.S.A. Van Trip with Sawyer
• On this trip, many things happened, but the intellectual developments were that I learned of Bitcoin and went visit a classical art atelier in Provo, Utah.

Fall 2021: Civil Engineering

• On my drive up to Baton Rouge to begin school, I listened to Stephen Blackwood on the Jordan B. Peterson Podcast where he discussed the new school he was founding Ralston.
• I was enamored by this podcast. Everything he said resonated with me.
• When I heard the podcast I was still in Landscape Architecture and my educational plan was to finish at LSU, then head to Notre Dame to get a Master’s in Classical Architecture, then head to University of Texas at Austin to get a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering.
• With this educational path as my goal, I did not see how I would get to go to Ralston, but I planned figuring it out because the education outlined by Blackwood in the podcast excited me more than any my current plan.
• When the semester began, my classes were extremely political. This was in exact opposition to the values I longed for in my education. I concluded that an Arts degree from a university that did not share my values would not be useful.
• Therefore, I thought it would be best to get my already planned Civil Engineering degree now, since it would be hard to politicize a STEM degree.
• The educational plan at this point was to graduate from LSU with a Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering, then go to Ralston for my Master’s in the Humanities, and finish with a Master’s in Architecture from Notre Dame.
• Another funny detail is that this change of major too was influenced by Walter Isaacson’s biography of Leonardo Da Vinci. I started listening to it again when Hurricane Ida hit.
• School had just began and then I get a week off. I used it for introspection and trying to find my next move.
• I feel the desire to listen to the Da Vinci biography again and I didn’t know why.
• I picked up where I had left off in the Fall of 2019 and it almost immediately began with all iof the STEM aspects of Da Vinci, wheres before it was all his art.
• I found the parts about his engineering thrilling and I took it as a sign for my need to change.
• During this semester, I saw Damon Dominique’s video “Around the World in 80 Dates.”
• I thought it was the best thing I had ever seen on YouTube.
• At the time I didn’t know he had it made by Ioana Petresco.

Winter 2021-2022

• Began reading The Iliad translated by Robert Fagles. It was the first step in my journey through the Summer 2021: First Reading List Attempt I made.
• Decided I wanted to begin learning Latin and enrolled in the Ancient Language Institute.
• I was curious to learn about there method for teaching Latin, which supposedly taught you latin through latin.

Spring 2022: Civil Engineering

• Finished The Iliad. I really enjoyed it. I felt overwhelmed by the number of books on my list though and I felt there was too much stress trying to find the best translation of every work. Finally, even with great translations I felt I was missing out on a lot of the joy, pleasure, and genius of a work by not hearing it in its original language.
• Therefore, this semester I made another very important decision for myself. I decided that I would not read any more works in translation. I would only read a work if I knew the language.
• This decision gave me focus and limited the books I could be reading by a lot. It made me focus on either American or English literature primarily. If I wanted to read through my books in more chronological order I would have chosen English literature first. But I opted to begin with American Literature for these reasons:
1. It was the most proximal literary culture to me, since I am an American through and through.
2. I was the most interested in American Literature. Every since I was young I was drawn to Emerson, Whitman, Thoreau, Melville. I didn’t know them or read them, but they always interested me and I longed to know of their works more than any else.
3. It was a smaller literary canon than English Literature, which once again removed overwhelm and increased focus.
• Also, the plan now was to begin foreign language study. I would be both reading a great work and studying a language I didn’t know each day. ( I still have not lived up to this ideal. I still have only read and studied in intense bouts.) The hope was that this would give me about 3-7 years to read through American and English Literature, so that by the time I finished with those I would be literate in another language which I could begin reading the great works of.
• Here was a rough outline of the course I planned to take:

Literature	Language
American	Latin, Ancient Greek
English	Latin, Ancient Greek
Latin, Ancient Greek	French
French	German
German	Spanish
Spanish	Italian
Italian	Russian
Russian	Biblical Hebrew

• Genuinely, I made this my goal and soon after I found the works of Pr. Alexander Arguelles on YouTube. I felt this was a sign (although it was probably just the algorithm, haha).
• After a few weeks, I did drop out of the Ancient Language Institute because I felt I had learned all that I wanted to from them and I wanted a pro rate refund.
• All I wanted to learn when I began was the methods and materials they used.
• I learned soon after that they used the Comprehensible Input method and Lingua Latina by Hans Orberg.
• Between Alexander Arguelles, The Ancient Language Institute, the works of Luke Amadeus Ranieri (which I also found through both YouTube and ALI), and the fact that my end goal was reading literature in each language I was sold on the Comprehensible Input method for language learning.
• The study of foreign languages and reading great literary works was all I focused on this semester.
• The literary works that really impacted me this semester were:
• The Best Poems of the English Language by Harold Bloom
• Specifically its amazing introduction The Art of Reading Poetry
• Leaves of Grass— 1855 edition by Walt Whitman
• Specifically its “Preface” and “Song of Myself”
• The impact that reading “Song of Myself” had on me didn’t reveal itself to me until much later. I read it and enjoyed it, but as my life unfolded I found myself more and more repeating lines from it in my head, lines that I didn’t even know had stuck with me.
• The specific lines that really impacted me were:
• “You shall listen to all sides and filter them from yourself.”
• “Urge and urge and urge, Always the procreant urge of the world.”
• “Do I contradict myself? Very well then . . . . I contradict myself; I am large . . . . I contain multitudes.”
• These lines impacted me because at the time I was feeling that I had consumed so much, I had learned so much, I had contained so much. Through all of that consumption I had found I was developing a unique perspective. By filtering things from myself, I was beginning to see just how I felt and thought about things. Finally, all of this made me feel the deep urge to make and create something uniquely mine.

Summer 2022

• This summer, I worked at Fresh Life Church as a Leadership and Creative Intern. It was the longest I was ever away from home (90 days).
• This was the most intense and transformative experience I had ever had at this point of my life.
• The most important intellectual developments were:
• Was put through a public speaking seminar. My final speech was “Why You Should Read Great Books” and people seemed to really resonate with it.
• I did a lot of manual labor. While working I listened to many Harold Bloom books and lectures by Alexander Arguelles
• I didn’t have much time for reading or anything else. I skimmed though Emerson, Whitman and Thoreau but really never had the attention to truly delve deep.
• The majority of the lessons learned this summer where social. I learned this summer that I had some deep insecurities and character flaws. I learned by making many embarrassing mistakes.
• Other than my Summer 2024: Europe Trip, this had been the most transformative single experience of my life.

Fall 2022: Civil Engineering

• This was the semester I began using Notion. It seemed like the perfect software to execute my vision of a perfect reading list.
• I spent so many hours making list after list. I knew the books I wanted on the list, but I still didn’t know enough about Notion to make it the way I wanted.
• This was also the semester where my old love of the Commonplace Notebook was rekindled.
• I really wanted to build what in my opinion would be the perfect Commonplace Notebook. I worked on this a lot too.
• This was another project that I saw Notion being great for. This took tons of experimentation too.
• During this semester, I began applying to Civil Engineering jobs and internships.
• As the job hunt became more serious and I had to really imagine what working as a Civil Engineer would look like, I became really overwhelmed and stressed.
• I knew that I didn’t want that future, but I was really worried about switching my major again. In addition, I had no idea what I wanted to switch to.
• Well, I knew that I wanted either an English degree or a degree in the Classics, but I knew that I didn’t want either of those degrees from LSU. I felt that a humanities degree from LSU would not be worth the time or money for me because the books and values I longed to know of wouldn’t be taught.
• Therefore, I applied to Hillsdale College for a Degree in English.
• That application process went very well, but during my interview my interviewer put it in my mind that I had so much time and credit hours invested at LSU that I really should consider graduating from there before I attend Hillsdale.
• After this interview, I actually went through my degree audit for every single degree that LSU offered and tried to see if there was any degree I could get before Fall of 2023, which is when I hoped to enter Hillsdale.
• The quickest degree I could get was Liberal Arts— Classical Civilization. I could graduate after one semester if I was able to test out of three Latin classes.
• This seemed perfect to me. It aligned with my goal to learn Latin and I was still practicing here and there since my time at the Ancient Language Institute. Thus began my attempt to teach myself Latin and test out of three classes.
• I didn’t actually begin practicing consistently until April of 2023. I kept procrastinating. I felt overwhelmed by the goal and at this point did not have the character to really take on this project. But over the years I have begun to develop a character capable of challenges like this and it is in large part to my failed attempts at intense self-education.
• This semester I saw Nathaniel Drew’s video “My complicated relationship with women.” This video struck a chord in me. I loved it
• This video and Damon Dominique’s “Around the World in 80 Dates” both made me feel the same way. They both sparked the same chord inside of me.
• I still didn’t know it but both of these videos were actually made by the same person Ioana Petresco.
• Towards the end of this semester I learn of Ioana Petresco. I learn that she made both of the videos that I had been claiming I loved so much, the videos I had been showing everyone.
• Finally, I learned that she has a film school Visual Metaphor Academy and immediately applied, even though there wouldn’t be a way for me to begin any time soon.
• I had a desire to begin making YouTube videos since I was very young. I think since I was 13 I had an idea I would do it someday, but I always felt overwhelmed and insecure about the goal.
• I really was excited to learn the skill from a person I respected and the fact that I didn’t have to figure it all out for myself really relieved me.
• This whole semester I was the most depressed I have ever been. I was really destructive, unmotivated and discouraged. My health and sleep were horrible. It was all so bad I was really considering taking psychedelics and I was going to doctor’s looking for any answer.
• Thankfully, I didn’t take any drastic measure and waited out the semester with endurance.

Winter 2022-2023

• Once winter break came, I started taking consistent actions to try and fix my health and cure my melancholia by natural methods before I took any substance, whether it be psychedelic or a prescribed medicine. Both of those options didn’t sit right with my Soul.
• My sleep was terrible, my testosterone was low, I had no motivation, or joy.
• I decided to fix this amalgam of problems my best bet would be to wake up for the sunrise everyday. While getting sunlight into my eyes I would ice-bath and immediately after my ice bath I would begin working out.
• Also, I started reading Whitman again because he illed me with joy, power, and strength.
• After about two weeks of this I was better than ever. Ever since this season I have worked out consistently and it isn’t even an act of will. Truly exercise became one of my greatest pleasures after seeing how effective it was at improving my mood and motivation.
• I decided that once I got back to school I needed to begin making more friends and spending more time with others. At this point, I hardly had any friends at LSU and felt very isolated and lonely everyday.
• Over this break I got a job painting an apartment. I listened to many things while painting that had a huge effect on me:
• Ultralearning by Scott H. Young (again)
• Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer
• The Natural Order of Money with Roy Sebag on the Jordan B. Peterson Podcast
• How to 5x Your Reading Speed and Retention with Emerson Spartz on the What is Money? Podcast
• How to Educate Your Children with Jeff Sandefer on the Jordan B. Peterson Podcast

Spring 2023: Liberal Arts— Classical Civilization

• This was the semester that my life really started coming together. I neglected my school, but at that was the cost for beginning to begin taking living seriously.
• My classes this semester were also either very boring or riddled with ideologies that made me uninterested.
• This semester I started spending plenty of time with Trevor. We had known and liked each other since freshman year, but never became great friends. We became workout partners and the rest was history.
• Through him I began meeting al of the other people that became very special to me.
• Because of the What is Money? Podcast episode How to 5x Your Reading Speed and Retention with Emerson Spartz, I discovered Library Genesis and Anna’s Archive. These websites opened up a totally new speed at which I was able to find and consume good books.
• Anna’s Archive has (other than ChatGPT) become the most valuable research tool I use.
• Read How to Take Smart Notes by Sönke Ahrens. This is when my Commonplace Notebook or now Zettlekasten project really began to consume the majority of my bandwidth.
• The book influenced me to quit using Notion though and begin using Obsidian as my second-brain’s software.
• I loved Obsidian’s feature that allowed you to see your web of notes and I loved it’s decentralized ethos. But, ultimately I found it a much worse software for me and my needs and preferences.
• I spent probably 4-5 months with Obsidian and do not consider it wasted time.
• I also was studying for my Latin Placement Exam in spurts throughout the semester. I probably would have done much better on the exam if I had started earlier. But like I said I still did not have the character able for a project like this, so I waited until the last minute to begin.

Summer 2023

• This was the summer that I attempted to teach myself Latin.
• The summer’s plan and my tracking of it can be found here: Summer 2023: Latin Self-Study Intensive.
• This is one of the seasons of my life that I am most proud of. I made my own curriculum and consulted with Alexander Arguelles before beginning to see what he thought.
• He was impressed by the plan and the way I put it all into Notion. He thought if I stuck to it that I should be successful on my placement test.
• The only strategical error I made was that I put no time or attention into memorizing verb forms or grammar rules. I wanted to do the Comprehensible Input method using Familia Romana and this left me unprepared for the placement test, which was only about gramatical and verb forms.
• The course of study I had planned through Familia Romana for the summer was intense and an ideal. I did fall short of it, but in retrospect I did still call forth a better effort from myself than I had ever given before in my life. I am proud of myself.
• I distracted myself away from latin each night by reading Middlemarch. I really enjoyed this time and many nights it actually did distract from my work because I was so eager to start reading.
• Sadly, I never finished. I only got a little further than Book VI: The Widow and the Wife. I hope to finish the whole book someday soon. I spent so many hours with it it’d be a shame to forget it all before I get back to it and have to start over.
• I worked for my father full-time in the month of July and took nearly the whole month off from latin study. I only got to work on it here and there and on weekends because I would be so tired after work each day. I was able to make very good money though which was nice and had good experiences. I was proud to be doing manual labor.
• While working I listened to a lecture series by Harold Bloom called Shakespeare: The Seven Major Tragedies.
• Also, I watched the Kenneth Branagh movie of Hamlet afterwards.
• I was really affected by both the lecture and the movie, but the lecture had a much greater impact on me. For the rest of summer I was thinking about identity.
• In August, I flew to visit my brother in Florida. I knew it would give me the solitude and space I needed each day to study and it would give me companionship in the evenings once him and his partner got off of work.
• My work routine here was really fun. I would spend my time working at this really cool cafe called Common Grounds in Lake Worth. Then, when I was exhausted and needed some time outside I would go for a walk and swim at the beach for an hour or two. When that was over, I’d head to the other Common Grounds location near my brother’s work so that I could work until I needed to pick him up.
• I flew back home only a few days before the semester began and continued preparing for my test.
• Another important thing to note is that early this summer on one of my walks as a break from latin, I was asking myself if I could have any profession on earth what would it be? The answer that came to me has been a guiding light since. I said I wanted to be:
• An artist without a patron: I wanted to be able to make any idea that I had in any medium of art without the need to report to any specific sponsor and do his or her will. If I could find a way to garner an internet following I felt this could be very feasible.
• A self-educator: If I were going to be an artist that I admired, then there was going to be a huge gap between my ideas and my ability to make those ideas reality. If I could find a way to get paid to pursue my own self-education, then I thought I would be the luckiest man alive.
• A decentralized professor: After spending the majority of my time pursuing my self-educative and creative projects, I thought it would be great to find a way to share all that I had learned with others and help them along their way. Once again I wanted to use the opportunity of the internet and be able of accomplishing this mission apart from any institution. I wanted pure freedom in all of these roles.
• In summary, I wanted make great art, learn the skills necessary to make that art, and share all I learned along the way. I wanted to do all of this with the upmost freedom and self-direction.

Fall 2023: Liberal Arts— Classical Civilization

• At the beginning of the semester I took my placement test. I only tested out of one latin class. If I could have tested out of three I could have graduated this semester. But now I needed to take two more semesters after this in order to graduate.
• This semester I bought Thomas Frank’s Notion template “Ultimate Brain.”
• His work was really helpful and it taught me so much about Notion.
• This semester I did not really tamper with his design at all, but studied, experimented with, and understood his.
• This semester, I became obsessed with the idea knowing all that could be known and organizing all of it based on its relevance to the human experience.
• This endeavor led me to an obsession with library cataloging systems, particularly the Library of Congress’ system.
• I felt that library cataloging systems would be a great place to start for coming to understand every field of knowledge that existed.
• I attempted to input every field of knowledge into my “Ultimate Brain” Notion template, but it was too complicated a system. I needed to find a simpler and more relevant and interesting way to organize knowledge.
• Another reason I ventured to know all that could be known was to greater identify my calling.
• I was still having Whitman’s lines, “You shall listen to all sides and filter them from yourself,” running through my head and inspiring me.
• I thought that if I could at least hear each subject that could be known, upon hearing it I could notice whether or not that subject sparked something in me. I could notice whether or not it interested and inspired me, or whether it “fell on dead ears.” Then I could determine to what degree it was interesting or uninteresting to me.
• By doing this introspection for every field of knowledge that existed, by filtering every subject of study through myself, I could see in what general direction my Calling, my Work lied.
• Besides this, the only other intellectual development of interest for this semester was that I enrolled in Alexander Arguelles’ spoken latin class through his online academy.
• This class was extremely useful and helped my latin development greatly. I made good friends in my class too.

Winter 2023-2024

• Over this winter-break, my obsession with Notion and creating the perfect commonplace notebook, zettlekasten, or second brain continued.
• At this point I recognized that Thomas Frank’ product would not suit my needs because it was unable to accomplish the ends that I hoped for.
• Became determined to build and sell my own Notion template eventually.
• I studied and improved at Latin a lot this break.
• My involvement at the Alexander Arguelles Academy was increasing. I wanted to take two classes there, but could not afford it.
• I asked if there was a way I could work for him for free. He said he needed help with his YouTube channel.
• This was the perfect offer because I was starting at the Visual Metaphor Academy in just a few days.
• I wanted to keep taking spoken Latin and also enroll in his newly offered Koine Greek course.
• On January 1, 2024 I began at Ioana Petresco’s Visual Metaphor Academy
• Over the break read most of Benjamin Franklin’s The Autobiography.

Spring 2024: Liberal Arts— Classical Civilization

• Only took one class this semester through LSU. The majority of my time was spent on my own personal projects and VMA.
• VMA should have taken only four months, but I still did not quite have the necessary work ethic to take on such a task. Thankfully Ioana worked with me through my faults and we changed the pace of the course to suit my needs.
• This didn’t necessarily make the course easy though. The course still challenged and grew me more than any other educative experience has, even at the slower pace.
• You can see the entire documentation of my time at VMA here: Visual Metaphor Academy
• Made all of Alexander Arguelles’ YouTube videos this semester.
• Made one video a week to be released every Friday and designed all of there thumbnails.
• You can see all of this work documented here: Created YouTube videos for Pr. Alexander Arguelles
• The majority of my hours this semester were spent designing my Notion Template, trying to create the perfect outline of the world of knowledge based off its relevance to the human experience, and creating my website.
• This semester I learned that you could turn your Notion into a website and this became my biggest pursuit. This was the perfect opportunity to showcase all that I had been working on and (hopefully) provide value to others.
• Decided to take trip to Europe this summer on a whim when I found cheap flights. Planned to spend the entire summer there. Got Trevor and Mikah to join me.
• Read Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson this semester. Read the first few essays aloud with Trevor outside in the sun. This is one of my favorite memories.
• My friend Cameron found an office space in an unused building on campus. He, Trevor, and I from there on out spent plenty of time in there doing school and hanging out.
• This was the coolest story and adventure from my college years.
• Got my first kiss this semester. I made a video about it for VMA. You can watch that video here: Innocence, Experience, and Sensitivity.

Summer 2024

• Took my backpacking trip throughout Europe and finished in Boston with my friend Mason.
• I won’t go into too much detail about this trip since you can find the whole thing documented here: Summer 2024: Europe Trip.
• In summary, I went on the trip desperate to find an internal source of validation. I was so unhappy for many years and I was tired of being that way. I knew this was largely because I was looking for things outside of myself or God to bring me peace and contentment. I was also desperate to develop work ethic. I had been neglecting my work since I came to consciousness that there was work for me to be doing at the age of 12. Finally, I was desperate to find and experience love for the first time.
• With these things set as the intention, I went on my pilgrimage.
• Every second of this trip felt pre-ordained. Every encounter was perfect and continued the progression of my internal narrative-arch.
• This all culminated in me falling in love and getting my heart broken.
• The suffering of heartbreak left me devastated and the only way forward was to build my life upon newfound, sturdy, and virtuous principles.
• In time, I hope to tell this entire story and all that I learned. It was the most experience of my life to date. It is easily the foundation that I will build my adult life upon. I came into my manhood this summer. I came into my own.
• I made the biggest mistakes of my life, I faced all of my worst fears, and I was truly changed.
• After the heartbreak, I finished the trip with 17 days in Boston with my philosopher friend Mason.
• While there I read Essays: First Series and Essays: Second Series. These words spoke to my heart and situation perfectly. This felt divinely appointed too.
• Reading Emerson in this season solidified and confirmed every lesson I had been learning. This was one of he most beautiful experiences of my life.
• By the end of the trip I had been on a Hero’s Journey and I was happy to head back home, to head back to the familiar, as a changed man.

Fall 2024: Liberal Arts— Classical Civilization

• Began the new semester still heartbroken and devastated, but was determined to do nothing but actions that made me proud of myself this semester.
• It was great to get back into a routine of working out with Trevor and spending time with friends everyday. This really helped me get out of my head and into this beauty of life.
• My sole ambitions for the semester were to make passing grades all the while building my website, my Youtube channel, and my Skool community.
• I also wanted to continue reading through American Literature.
• In September I read The Conduct of Life by Ralph Waldo Emerson.
• In October I read Representative Men and after decided I wanted a break from both Emerson and prose, so I began Leaves of Grass— 1891-1892
• Finished VMA in October: Visual Metaphor Academy.
• Began taking my relationship to God, Truth, Goodness, and Beauty serious again. Began praying and journaling plenty.
• Still am really coming into my own, still learning everyday, still am trying to implement all that I learned this summer.
• Feel more wisdom and confidence than I have ever felt and am hopeful for the future.
• Have finally learned to value substance more than appearance; character and form above all else.
• Right now it is October 28th. I will update this at the end of the semester. I built this sheet to help me have an outline for my Ralston essay.