Just finished the first draft of the first newsletter for Mercury’s Playbook, which goes out on Monday. I am so thrilled to finally get it going—but crunching away on a computer til 9:00pm on a Saturday is reminding me exactly why writing is considered such a labor of love (emphasis on labor). 😩
I think here of how difficult it can be to make a decision, the agony in wanting to make the right choice, knowing all the while that “right” is impossible. There’s an oft-unspoken effort to avoid regret in that agonizing. But that effort represents a kind of paradox: the anguish exists because regret is inevitable. To live is to regret. More than that, to live well is to care for your regrets, to accept their role as teacher and guide.
✍️ I wrote some brief thoughts about the concept of ‘F**k You’ money & why I’m not surprised our billionaires persist in their moral malaise. I realize this is semi-political & therefore subject to polarization, but I hope the more pertinent theme I am trying to circumambulate comes through.
Absolutely diabolical work from Google’s AI overview when I was trying to find out if a certain Lebanese-American artist still made music… 💀
🎵 Been listening to:
- In My Room by Julia Wolfe
- The Romantic Spirituals album by KAMAUU
- 3 Legs by Paul McCartney
- KIARI album by Offset
KIARI has earned a purchase from me. Incredible rapping with some mature tracks from Offset. Love seeing an artist grow.
Being on a NYC rooftop never gets old.
💬 From my current read, How Big Things Get Done:
Only 8.5% of projects hit the mark on both cost and time. And a minuscule .5% nail cost, time, and benefits. Or to put another way, 91.5% of projects go over budget, over schedule, or both. And 99.5% of projects go over budget, over schedule, under benefits, or some combination of these.
Really intrigued to see where this goes and how he fixes these problems.
✍️ I wrote an open letter to the anonymous person who stole my shoes last night. 🥾🏃♂️
✍️ New post on the blog: Conversations With Dead People—Who’s On Your Mt. Rushmore?
Thinking alot about those special voices we internalize and the dead people we converse with.
✏️ Found a “new word” list from 2022 in an old pocket notebook. There are some real gems I forgot about; definitely one of my favorite habits!
Goodmorning, Brooklyn. 🌅
In hip-hop, the Seven Minute Drill (made famous by J. Cole) is a songwriting exercise where an artist has 7 minutes to write a verse with no prep. I am short on time today, so decided to test myself. This is what came out. Will definitely use more often.
❓Question for the folks on micro.blog! Need a new computer and am really wanting to run Linux from the get-go:
- What laptop would be best for this? My main activities are creative: writing, photo editing, video, etc…
- What tips would you have for an absolute beginner starting Linux?
Just pre-ordered and feel comfortable pre-recommending! Been a fan of Cas ever since I saw her on Netflix’s ‘Abstract.’
✍️ I wrote a brief journal entry on my blog about imagination, monotony, and a thirst for life. Here is a snippet:
But what Chesterton forgets is that many adults do experience this “eternal appetite” — it just requires that they fall in love first. After all, romance has many side-effects, and surrounding your beloved with an atmosphere of irrepressible timelessness is one of them. Lovers are hermetically sealed from dullness and become ever new. Can it be that children are just in love with the world in a way that adults are not?
Big bro teaching me some archery in Oregon— lovely way to spend a holiday. ❤️
A peaceful showcase of a lovely man: Inside a Painter’s Mythical NYC Studio of 55 Years
I adore the pocket notebook he pulled out and the obviously beautiful pages inside.
💬 From Victor Papanek in Design For The Real World:
Man and his environment participate in molding each other. Man is now in the position of actually creating the total world in which he lives… In creating this world, he is actually determining what kind of an organism he will be.
As a 29 year old who has always felt his age, very rarely do I fall to prey anxieties about “time is passing” or “I’m getting old.”
But getting an advertisement for the 10th anniversary of Halsey’s “Badlands” album— which I listened to incessantly the year after I graduated— made me feel… strange.
✏️ New Word Learned:
Eleemosynary: relating to or dependent on charity; charitable.