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<title>On Life Improvement | Kris Yotam</title>
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<h1>On Life Improvement</h1>
<pre class="stat"> File: <a href="../../blog.html">/n/kris/blog</a>/on-life-improvement
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<p class="preview">A year-by-year list of quality-of-life improvements, the things you look back on and wonder how you ever lived without.</p>
<div class="prose">
<p>This is a post idea taken from <a href="https://gwern.net/improvement">gwern</a>. The idea is to list
improvements to ordinary quality-of-life going beyond computers.</p>
<p>Improvements are those concious and unconcious things that you look back on and go
"wow im glad that changed", or "What the hell did I do before this?".
Improvements</p>
<hr>
<p>Divided by year, and in reverse chronological order.</p>
<h2>2025</h2>
<ul>
<li>Overcame the fear of annotating books. I now buy <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/content/series/o/oxford-worlds-classics-owc/?cc=us&lang=en&">Oxford World Classics</a>, or <a href="https://www.penguin.com/penguin-classics-overview/">Penguin Classics</a>, and annotate them with a <a href="https://www.muji.us/products/gel-ink-cap-type-ballpoint-pen-0-38mm-8a63">Muji 0.38mm</a>.</li>
<li>I use a <a href="https://md.midori-japan.co.jp/en/products/mdnote/">Midori MD Notebook A5</a> to track my ideas, and thoughts.</li>
<li>I use my phone camera to take pictures of the annotations, and upload them to <a href="https://chatgpt.com/">ChatGPT</a> which are analyzed via <a href="/prompts/transcript-book-notes-gpt4o.txt">this prompt</a>.</li>
<li>I deep research EVERYTHING I buy with GPT-o4mini-High, to avoid switching later.</li>
<li>Prompt can be <a href="/prompts/novice-deep-research-04mini-high.txt">found here</a></li>
<li>I learned how to read a book, <a href="/blog/2025/on-better-reading/">framework here</a>. <a href="/blog/2025/how-to-read-a-book">Book Notes Here</a>.</li>
</ul>
<h2>2024</h2>
<ul>
<li>Switched to plastic ware for plates, bowls, and utensils. I keep a couple of <a href="https://shun.kaiusa.com/">knives</a>, and a Hydroflask for drinking.</li>
<li>Stopped Paying for Crunchyroll, and Netflix. Opting for free alternatives such as <a href="https://github.com/pystardust/ani-cli">AniCli</a>, and <a href="https://ww25.soap2day.day/">Soap2Day</a>.</li>
</ul>
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