Phasing Out My First Playlist

It's 6:44 AM on Tuesday morning during Week 29 of 2025 as I begin to write this entry. Last night I finished clearing my backlog of open Google tabs with my final post for Monday, and I haven't listened to anything on YouTube since Psalm 1 on Sunday evening. This won't seem like much to veteran hermits, I am sure, but for an aspiring novice like me, it's quite a bit of separation time from my online news and musical support system. During Operation Rising Lion, I was checking both my YouTube feed and the Times of Israel liveblog nearly every waking hour. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but not much.

I think my next step after formal morning prayer today is to continue working away at my YouTube playlists on the journey to "YouTube Zero." Alright, I've made some progress. It is now 8:36 AM and the image at the top of this entry shows the first of my three remaining playlists. It is titled "01 Simplify" and it contains four videos that I have yet to watch. There is a mesmerizing logic in the layout. It's a lot to tackle in one day, but my mental energy seems to be holding up, so I will give it a go.

It looks like this means it's time for a summer walk in the city with Craig Wescoe and the Creation Care Church on my earbuds (which I haven't worn in what feels like a 2025 record for me - maybe 36 hours?) I'll write a new entry about my virtual worship experience when I get back.