MonkeHacks #70

QoL, Reading List, Long-Term Goals

Author

Monke
July 04, 2025

MonkeHacks #70

It’s been a busy week of getting myself back into my routine. This week I’m discussing the quality-of-life upgrades that I’ve made, getting back into bug bounty again, and tracking long-term goals. I’ve also decided to add a section to this newsletter to show what books I’m reading - you can see that new section further down the page.

It’s been a pretty weird week, honestly. I got my hair cut, and as I was leaving, a helicopter flew pretty low overhead. So I looked it up on FlightRadar (it was really low), and it was owned by the UK’s royal family! So then I checked the news, and it seems that the King is in Edinburgh for some cultural celebrations, so odds are that the King flew over my head in a helicopter. Fantastic. I had some weird serendipitous moments later that same day too, so it was all just strange.

I’ve got no trips planned for this month, so I’m laying the groundwork to do some good hacking and coding to make some money. I know that the prices in Vegas will bring tears to my eyes, so I need to bolster my savings a bit while I have the time. I’m not such a genius that I can generate money on command, so I need to lock in this month.

I went for a walk along the north shore of Edinburgh. I’d like to move out of the city to somewhere like this someday, once I get my driver’s license.

Weekly Ideas / Notes 

  • This week’s primary goal was to upgrade my day-to-day quality of life. With these types of things, it’s hard to make the effort to launch yourself into starting these habits, but once you do, it’s easier, and it’s worth it. Like taking off on a plane. The initial energy gets you to cruising altitude. And that’s what this week was.

    • I replaced my cheap supermarket pillows with memory foam pillows. I also got a weighted blanket. I’m not sure if it’s improving my sleep yet, but it’s comfortable.

    • I invested in a good Vitamix blender. I’m more focused on gaining weight and exercising again, so I also got a pullup bar for my apartment. I have protein powder and creatine, so I’ve started making protein shakes for breakfast in the morning. rez0 also recommended taking magnesium in the CTBB server, but I haven’t made that jump yet (the kind that helps you sleep, not the kind that makes you poop).

    • I thoroughly cleaned my apartment, which had gotten very dusty during my absence. Long story short - I’m back in my routine now, exercising and cooking and everything again. Sometimes you need to travel to see what you need to change; I had to “wake up” to these changes, because I was operating on autopilot before my long trip.

    • I’ve been reading a lot more. I implore you to start reading as well, even if it’s for an hour or two each week, maybe before you sleep. Damn, do I want a recliner to read my books from, but my apartment is too small for one. I should probably track what I read on GoodReads or something.

  • On the hacking side, I got my plugin for personal use working pretty well. It had some strange bugs and I’m not sure what caused them (whether it’s a problem on my end, or in the Caido SDK, I don’t know), but it works well enough now. In the next few days, I’ll start working on porting SAMLRaider over to Caido as my community project. I also did a pentest this week, which covers the month’s rent anyway. I want to get back to bug bounty soon.

  • I started writing my goals down with my to-do list. I tend to forget the bigger picture sometimes; this way I’ll remember the greater purpose of everything each time I tick something off the list.

Reading List

  • Currently: I’m reading A Random Walk Down Wall Street. It’s a book about the stock market, and it explains everything in relatively simple terms; it’s pretty good. I’m about halfway through it now.

  • Next on the list:

    • Fiction: Solenoid by Mircea Cărtărescu

    • Non-Fiction: Day Zero to Zero Day by Eugene Lim (SpaceRaccoon)

Resources