LET ME DISTRACT YOU FOR A MINUTE

I just got back from a work trip. The bad news? I was sick with the flu almost the entire time and definitely got people sick (sorry!). The good news? I had a chance to see some great folks and my hotel room during those four nights was bigger than the whole first floor of my house. So while I was uncomfortable, I wasn't slumming it by any means. One of the things I did with my fever was continue a meditation of sorts that I started the first week of the year. That's right, another 52 week project! In 2020 I recorded a song every week (did that again in 2023, too). Last year I tried painting every week with Allison. I didn't make it. Turns out I hate painting. So it was time for something new. 👇

That is the starter file. The idea is by no means new, and it's wonderfully simple. I know that a mentally (or logistically) taxing weekly project can be daunting, so I wanted to start something that I would genuinely look forward to doing each week. And turns out, I enjoy it so much I've done it twice a week. It's simple quilting (with no pressure to pattern). Here are the first eight from this month.

I wanted this to be a semi-daily (realistically, weekly) meditation. A fun, relaxing, easy way to make something that is a accomplishes a few things: a snapshot of creating at a specific time (journal), an exercise on color (emotion/taste), experimentation with form (constraints, acceptance), and maybe most importantly...a challenge for sustained “interestingness” over 52 weeks. The size is based on 11”x17” dimensions, should one of these ever be printed.

After experimenting with using imagery, I realized that I had to come up with some firm ground rules:

Copy the default (“blank”) starter file.
Change only the rotation of each component
Change of component shape is allowed (semi-circle or triangle). Note: do this before color.
Adjust the fill (images allowed) of the components and page background...or don’t
Start with the default each time (no copying a previous creation)
No looking at other finished versions on the day you make a new one
This should take no longer than 10 minutes, unless chopping up an image (see sidebar page, still testing these out)

👆 More experimentation

Fun. Maybe I'll print some of my favorites, but for now it's a thing that's less complex than producing a song every seven days, but more engaging than writing "dear diary."

BLOG

A Year You Can Listen To 🤔

Yeah I know I've used that pic before, I don't care, I love it. This blog post is a yearly recap of sorts, but only in that it's all the music I felt like collecting/saving from last year. Check it out.

PHOTOS

Tropical Pics 🖼️

10 years ago I went to Puerto Rico with my best friend (yeah, we got married, had kids, yada yada yada). It was magical and I look at these photos when I need to feel warm from head to toe.

I'M DOING THIS MONTHLY NOW

That's right, 12 newsletters this year. Maybe it'll keep one of us sane. While we live through interesting times, I've finally abandoned Instagram. But that just means I'm chattier than ever on Bluesky. It's great, like 2009 Twitter, but with perspective.

Why "CTRL+S"? Because it's simultaneously a nervous habit of mine, and slightly futile. Not in that saving your work is bad, but is anything ever really saved? It's all temporary, especially this.

Talk soon, stay safe, and send me movie/book recommendations 🤞

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