last week in the wild: #01
missiles, mastiffs and multiplanetary setbacks
June 15th — June 21st
Happy Sunday and welcome to v1 of a new Sunday ritual I’m calling LAST WEEK IN THE WILD.
This will probably evolve as i figure out what it wants to be, but for now, it’s a weekly digest of the headlines that caught my eye, a meme (or three) that made me laugh, a personal moment, some “notes” worth reading, and links to everything I published on Substack. If you missed anything or want a single place to catch up, this is it.
I’m also working on something new for paid readers. It’s called THE DAILY 5—a self-pursuit tool designed to help you track your own patterns, spot feedback loops, and actually change. Not in a gimmicky self-help way, but in a real, reflective way that helps you see how you actually move through the world. You’ll see a preview of it at the bottom of today’s newsletter.
I’m ridiculously excited about sharing this framework with you—it’s helped me tremendously in my own life. (This is actually the tool I used to help me quit weed earlier this year, but more on that soon.) Hoping to launch by the end of next week. Stay tuned!
In the meantime, here’s what happened last week.
Last week was kind of a rollercoaster for me tbh. The week before last, my 2-year-old dog injured what I thought was her knee. I was fully expecting she’d need the equivalent of ACL surgery. So on Monday morning, I took her to the vet bracing for the worst—I ended up there most of the day while they sedated her for X-rays, exams, the whole nine yards.
After they brought her back into the room and I was waiting to talk to the vet, I noticed this weird lump on what I guess would be her big toe. When the vet came in, I pointed it out—she said she’d noticed it too and thought it might be a spider bite. Then radiology called back about the knee: no damage at all. They thought the limping was from the swelling on her toe. So yeah… she ended up having a $1,000 hangnail / spider bite (we still don’t know what it was for sure). SIGH.
Anyway! It was a long week to say the least. I was so relieved she didn’t need surgery, but the toe still needed attention—not to mention, it took her two full days to bounce back from the sedation. I started her on antibiotics and pain meds, and now I have to wash the toe a couple times a day with this gross orange stuff. Every time I take her out to go potty, I have to put one of my socks on her left foot to keep it clean and protected. Luckily, she’s the chillest dog ever—160 pounds and she just sits there and lets me do all of it.
I love my dogs so much, so whenever something’s even slightly off, it kind of takes over my brain. Plus, I was watching her like a hawk all week because I didn’t want to have to put her in the cone of shame. But she’s finally on the mend! Six more days of antibiotics and we should be in the clear. And honestly, with how hot it’s been in Vegas (triple digits every day), I don’t feel too bad about the missed walks and having to keep her cooped up inside.
Another SpaceX setback —
Starship 36 exploded during a static fire test. It’s a reminder that space innovation isn’t linear and making us multiplanetary isn’t for the faint of heart. Yes, failure is part of the process. Still sucks to watch it blow up.
The really big headline —
The U.S. (under Trump) launched massive strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites (uranium enrichment sites)—at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan—”obliterating” them with B‑2 stealth bombers dropping bunker-buster bombs, plus Tomahawk missiles from submarines (subs that were stationed 400 miles away, which is… insane!)
In the presser on Saturday night, Trump said:
“There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days. Remember, there are many targets left. Tonight’s was the most difficult of them all by far, and perhaps the most lethal. But if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill.”
I was suffering from political fatigue this week so I really only focused on the wholesome memes—my favorite was definitely fast cat. Clearly I wasn’t alone since half a million people liked the post on the left LOL
all free essays published last week —
June 15: there’s always that one person who feels like unfinished business
June 16: the audience of none: no one is watching you
June 17: thoughts on ego involvement and the weight of being
June 18: the sweetness of doing nothing
June 19: the quiet shedding of former selves
June 20: it’s my party and i’ll use AI if i want to
June 21: whatever happened to lazy summers?
what paid readers read last week —
June 18: your ideas need room to breathe
coming soon for paid readers —
If you read my machine yearning essay, you’ll remember I scratched the surface of this idea—how I’ve been using AI as a journaling companion, pattern detector, and self-awareness tool. THE DAILY 5 is the framework that grew out of that practice.
Starting next week, I’ll be sharing it with paid subscribers.
It’s a lightweight, deceptively powerful system for daily reflection. Not productivity porn. Not performative wellness. Just five minutes a day of talking to the machine—honestly—about your inner world. What emerges from that is often far more revealing than we expect.
This is the exact tool I used to quit weed earlier this year (6 months ago, woooot!), track my cortisol chaos, and start paying deeper attention to the shape of my own mind. I’m so excited to finally give it form.
Paid subscribers will also get access to editable Canva templates—simple, flexible worksheets designed to track your progress. At the end of each week, you’ll be able to download your entries as a PDF and feed them back into the AI for a meta-analysis of your patterns. Same thing monthly. Every week becomes a mirror. Every month, a map.
Here’s a preview of what it looks like:
That’s THE DAILY 5—my go-to tool for noticing how I’m actually doing, not just how I think i’m doing. More soon.
In the meantime, here are a few notes from other writers that stuck with me this week.
Riley’s note makes me want to rewatch the “Enlightened Dave” episode of Dave (highly recommend it if you haven’t already watched this series—high, high art)
I wasn’t sure what this weekly recap would feel like in practice, but now that it’s here, it just feels right. A quiet little place to inventory the chaos, the patterns, the moments that mattered—even if only to me. Although, if you made it this far, you’re basically family. Thanks for letting me share my corner of this wild world with you. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, see you soon.
XO, STEPF
Enjoying the these weekly safari's...
The list of essays you published in a single week is unbelievable. Prolific.