fri/20220812
54ºF and clear: schoolyear schedule starting to come into focus, shifting various ablutions around a bit for that maddening nine months of the year when I'm glad to have time to myself but worried, from 0700-1500, M-F, that my wife will get shot (or get one of whichever iteration of an immuno-evasing plague is winding its way through their non-air-conditioned and poorly ventilated building in which they've been advised to not use microwaves) in her efforts to educate the middle school progeny of the teeming micropolitan masses... in that phase of the new Work when my scope is too broad and the frustation rife until I manage to bring it down to the single, smallest element, a phrase, a word, a rhythm (What is the smallest detail that represents the largest whole?) – the rest of the process being (I suppose, this is the first time I've tried three at once) a balance between the broad and the specific, different pieces at different stages, all without sacrificing the spontaneity that gives the work its life ... having fallen in love with my Kindle Paperwhite, I’m intrigued by this e-ink monitor but not $1800 intrigued... still seeking an iOS shortcut to access my note in Obsidian from my homescreen but alas... the day awaits.
wisdom | via
thu/20220811
62ºF, clear skies: the same breakfast I've had every morning for the last six years always tastes best after I've had to fast for a medical blood sacrifice to be told in two weeks everything I'm doing wrong (elevated calcium levels strike me as the "check engine’ light of the body: it’s either too much cheese or cancer and/or everything in between): not something I enjoy, but I do appreciate the transformation of something that's become so rote - two egg omelette, greek yogurt - into something so wonderful... managed to extricate myself from pernicious habit of checking comms in the morning before breakfast and now I need to stop it before bed (One Sec is definitely helping)... "It may be funny to you, motherfucker, but it's not funny to me" = GO BETO... the day awaits.
shiny new (digital) implements
Update/202208101502: The makers of DoMarks replied to this post on Twitter, @DoMarksApp, and asked about the Reeder bug I so inelegantly shared here: said they will play with it and get a fix in the next update. VERY cool.
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A few apps / tools I've started using that have - so far - made my day a little less manic than it was before:
Structured, a visual hybrid of a calendar and a reminder that I've started using to track my routine stuff - write, read, pills, exercise, etc; had used Streaks for awhile, but got tired of the "MUST SHOULD HAVE TO" inculcation of the app. Structure is a far less powder-keg option – though I'd love a way to turn off the "surely you can come up with something else to fill this 2 hours with" at the end of an already 14-hour day (Yes, I can, and it's called POWERWASH SIMULATOR; that subway tunnel isn’t going to clean itself).
One Sec, an automation tool that makes you take a breath - yay for muscle memory interruption! – and decide if you really, truly want to open that bullshit loop - eg Twitter / email - and state, with intention, why you want to open it (one of my stated intentions is "assuage raging insecurity," for example. Takes a bit of setup via Shortcuts and Automations, but it's been a helpful way - far more so than Screen Time - to block out certain apps and shift from using them as mindless boredom relievers to actual tools.
DoMarks, my new preferred read-it-later service that lets me categorize bookmarks and sites by actions, turns the act of saving internet pennies and filling up the RIL jar into actual, actionable tasks. I've customized several – either adding my own or via tags – TO PR is for things I'd like to post here, while READ has a Kindle tag for the things – longform especially – that I want to take with me on the Kindle (which I still love) to read. A few bugs with Reeder interplay, but nothing fatal. Also: would love the ability to send to DoMarks at the top of the Share button (sorry, can’t think of its proper name right now), as opposed to the action further down (which changes based on the app being shared from).
And, finally: Upstract, where I can skim pretty much anything from major news sources that would have been otherwise filling up my RSS reader (Reeder). A quick way to get a sense of the world, of the different ways things are covered (along with allsides.com). Worth the small monthly pittance so far.
In other implements news, I've become obsessed with figuring out how to make shortcut for my iPad to jump directly to the day's daily note in Obsidian. Though I know I'm talking to myself here, any recomended ponds to fish in would be most welcome.
wed/20220810
67ºF, cloudy: no storms last night, no "tree-related contact" outage / transformer explosion so that was nice... two more PRESS (A)'s assembled - getting more comfortable with the process, +/- an hour for each copy + one envelope rewritten for legibility; three now bound for the mercy of the postal service later this afternoon ... reminded of the Virginia Woolf quote about rhythm especially as I'm in the embryonic stages of the new MainFiction Thing / PRESS (A) 02 – clogged with the ideas and no way to get them out – other than to write them down and hope that the music, their music, will come to me: this is the theory, at least... started the last of Ellroy's first LA Quartet, WHITE JAZZ and, like all Ellroy, it'll take me at least to page 50 to find his rhythm for that particular work (though it's always welcoming to read salacious gossip at the start, on the QT and very hush hush)... would be thrilled if this printer became more than a concept… CHORUS remains excellent though I want to fly like in CRIMSON SKIES and the controls just don't want to cooperate / such is life... the day awaits.
THE CANDY HOUSE (Egan, 2022)
(read: 20220803->09): a brief recording of initial thoughts / combining of shards upon finishing Egan's latest this morning (and the first attempt at an honest effort of keeping a record of my readings here beyond the list: huge fan of Egan's work, but CANDY HOUSE left me - on first impression, and even though I adore (and always will) her voice and rhythm and her characters/story populace - a little cold: I can't silence the overarching sensation of having missed something; what that something is I haven't a clue – but it's definitely something. Will update this as/if I think about it more. Adding GOON SQUAD to the re-read pile. (FTW, her recent conversation with Jaron Lanier on CITY ARTS LECTURES is definitely worth a listen.)