On Correspondence

I talk too much. So I’m not the best at hearing others. It’s not because I don’t care. It’s because I always seem to go first, and time always seems to run out before it’s their go. And because I’m wary of asking personal questions…and don’t fully understand what “personal” means to other people.

In spite of talking so much, or, perhaps because of it, I prefer written communication. Writing takes more time and effort than talking, so I think a little more about what I say. Less bullshit to fill empty space. But it’s also because the other person can say their piece without my getting excited and interrupting. And because I can take time to consider their words. And, so, respond more thoughtfully.

I used to love writing letters. I think it’s time I got back into it.

PRF Thundersnow 2015

This past weekend, my husband and I went to a music festival in Gladstone, MI (lovely weather for it, eh?) called PRF Thundersnow. Our friend was performing in it so we went with him and his wife and their baby (which made for an interesting but not altogether unpleasant time on the road) as moral support.

It turned out to be kinda neat. The entire music festival takes place in an old Inn, Terrace Bay Inn & Suites. Concert goers stay in the rooms and the musicians perform in the ball room. Everyone has the hotel breakfast and the festival includes dinner and a midnight snack. (That being said, the food was pretty awful.) It made for a sort of camp-like feel, especially with most everyone else there already knowing each other and being really friendly.

While the festival was Friday to Sunday, we didn’t get there until Saturday afternoon. Caught a bit of Low.

My friend’s band, Exa Teks, was playing Sunday afternoon. We made sure to check them (and a few other shows out). They were a lot of fun.

Overall, the festival was a nice change of pace. I’m really glad we decided (on a whim) to check it out. The idea is really cool and reduces some of the way-too-many-people effect that other festivals I’ve been to suffer from.

Valentine’s Day 2015

I’m not a huge fan of Valentine’s Day. I have nothing against love or PDA or that sort of thing. I just find it really grating how confining the holiday is. Unlike Halloween or Christmas or even Thanksgiving (and I’ll admit this one’s a bit of a stretch but my family celebrates this our own way every year), how one celebrates Valentine’s Day feels very prescribed: everything is red and pink; everything is heart shaped. Teddy bears! Diamonds! Roses! And it’s everywhere. I tend to react with irrational and undirected rage whenever I see that imagery.

So yeah…not a huge fan. This has changed somewhat in the years since I met my husband. With him, there are no chocolates, no flowers, no saccharine pre-packaged love simulacra. We’re competitive gift givers, so we jump at any occasion to give the other the more heartfelt and thoughtful present. I’m satisfied to say that I won this one (my guitar for him totally tops his bedside table lamps for me (but I love them! Thank you, honey!).

Our tradition is food. One fancy dinner out and one fancy dinner in. This started because every Valentine’s Day prior to this one has fallen on a week night. So we’d go out (because it’s fun to get all dolled up) on the closest Saturday night and cook up something elaborate on Valentine’s Day proper. This year, we flipped it: going out on Valentine’s Day and cooking a whole heckuvalot the next day.

We made a goat cheese, sun-dried tomato, and roasted garlic soufflé…

We made Mark Bittman’s glazed and braised Brussels sprouts…

And we made a chocolate mousse…

It was all spectacular. If I had been able to read properly (“no more than 60% cacao” is not the same thing as “at least 60%”), the mousse wouldn’t be a dessert that we dread finishing. Yet another successful Valentine’s Day(s), I’d say.

A Fall Day Out

Lately, the weather has been pretty awful. To say that it looks bleak and treacherous out the window is an understatement.

I’m getting a little stir crazy. We went out for a bit of a walk while it was snowing this past weekend, thinking that it would be a lot of fun. The number of times I almost twisted my ankle kind of put a damper on things.

So I find myself thinking back to one of the last times I was out in the world…for fun. My husband and I went to an independent comic convention on a gorgeous fall day.

The school across the street

I didn’t end up getting too many pictures of the event itself as it was wrapping up by the time we got there. But I picked up a couple really cool things and would definitely go back.

Something Habits Something Something

I cannot get the hang of mornings. So I get filthier and filthier and flabbier and flabbier. It’s a sorry sight. I read and take notes on all these workout routines, healthy eating habits, etc, etc. And nothing changes. GAH. I am clearly not adapting to my current reality (of working all day and having plans most nights and weekends).

I would typically approach this by making some kind of schedule, but it feels like that’s not quite enough to cut it. I started out doing what I always do:

But then it occurred to me, what I need is something to prompt me to do these things every day. It’s all well and good to think really hard about it once or twice and then never follow through. These are daily tasks and habits, so I need daily reminders and nudges.

It turns out…there’s an app for that (yup…I’m bringing it back, folks). It’s called habitRPG, and it’s a ton of fun.

First, you set up your little guy…

Then, my favorite part, you set up your tasks (or design your life, as I’d like to think). There are three categories of tasks: Habits (things you do regularly), Dailies (things you do once a day), and To-Dos (one-time completions).

You also create rewards for yourself that you can earn by checking off tasks. For extra motivation, you can have competitions with others.

You can learn more from this quick little walk through. The presenter isn’t the most charismatic, but the features were enough to sell me.

I’m really excited to see how my daily habits change from using this app. Right off the bat, I wish they had a sort of backlog function. That way, I could put tasks there and then add them to the active lists as appropriate. For example, I want to go for regular walks with my husband, but not until the weather gets nicer. (Though…thinking about it, this also introduces the idea of Weeklies.) It’d be nice to be keeping track of that as something I want to do but am not taking on yet. It would also be nice to be able to drag between categories. I added a task to Habits that really should have been a Daily. I had to delete it and recreate it. Lastly, the mobile app’s not great, but it does the job for checking things off.

I highly recommend using this. And if you’re having trouble getting started, they have a really useful wiki page to help you out. Let me know how it works out.

Project Cookbook

I’m REALLY into theoretical cooking. Love watching cooking shows. Drool over spacious and well-organized kitchens. Covet pretty much every single shiny kitchen pot, pan, gadget and device. Flag page after page in cookbook. Eagerly read food blogs. And yet I don’t really cook.

Which is something I have been wanting to address for years now. And, so, in an effort to cook more, I’m starting Project Cookbook. The idea is that I go through all the cookbooks that make me look impressive and culinary and actually cook some of the recipes contained therein.

I’m starting off with Sophie Dahl’s Voluptuous Delights. I’ll keep you posted on my progress!

Working Out Is Hard to Do

As I mentioned here, I want exercise to be a more regular part of my routine. After six weeks off from working out, it was a little slow going. I finally completed this routine and, so, realized just how out of shape I am. So I decided that drastic action was required. I started 30 Days of Yoga with Yoga with Adriene. After all, what better way to make sure I exercise every day than to follow along with someone else?

It’s been a little over a week…and I’ve managed to stick with the 30 Day Yoga Challenge so far (with a few missed days here and there, let’s be honest), so I might take on Fitness Blender’s 5 Day Workout Challenge for Busy People in the next couple weeks. If only I were more of a morning person…

So I’m reading this book…

I’ve always been lazy. Not a morning person. Not really motivated by money or stuff. I LOVE sleeping. If I don’t feel like doing something, I just won’t.

And, for better or worse, I’m reading a book that makes me feel really justified to be that way. It’s my right, damn it!. I’m a dreamer, a thinker. That takes time! Lots and lots of unstructured, uncommitted time. Which is, unfortunately, rather at odds with the modern world (as I know it, anyway). I’ve never really fit into the career-driven landscape I’m surrounded by. It’s always been really important to me that my work and life are separate. That I leave the office at a reasonable hour and I leave my work at the office.

As my life looks less and less how I’d like it, How to Be Idle: A Loafer’s Manifesto is both exactly what I need and the kind of encouragement that makes everything harder. It’s a very fun read, written by Tom Hodgkinson, the founding editor of The Idler (notice a theme?), that extols the virtues of the hangover, the three-martini lunch, and the sick day, among other things. And if you’re not afraid of getting in a bad mood about all the work you really should be doing and feeling entitled to spending the entire day in bed, I definitely recommend it. Come to think of it, if you are, maybe you should read it, too. It’s very persuasive, and the world would be a better place, I think, if we were all a little lazier.

The Year Ahead

I’m declaring 2015 the year of reclamation. 2014 was great; don’t get me wrong. A lot of amazing things happened. Which also meant that it was completely crazy. This year should be calmer, so I’m taking the opportunity to (re)build(?) a lifestyle foundation. So this is less a list of resolutions to keep and more a dump of what the person I want to be does. Parse that three times fast. I dare you.

Post to this blog at least twice a week
More music: listen to more music generally, try out at least one new artist every month
Knit more, at least 20 minutes a week
Bake more, at least twice a month
Do more signature things, for parties and holidays and birthdays and so forth; more thoughtful gestures
Go exploring more, at least twice a month
Exercise every day, at least a little
Take better care of my skin: take off makeup regularly; mask at least once a week
Take better care of my body: drink more water and eat more produce
Keep in better contact with people, regular emails and phone calls sort of thing
Read more, at least two books a month
Keep home tidy every day
More reflection/journalling
Look for and keep track of sources of inspiration, big and small
Get and stay organized
Set schedules/routines and stick to them

Phew! So, basically, I’m going to be amazing by the end of this year. I got this.

2014 in Review

It was a big year for me. I’d be a fool not to recognize it as one of the best I’ve had.

I got married.
I saw First Aid Kit.
I did my quadrennial chop.
I went to Costa Rica.
I went to Pitchfork.
I saw Neutral Milk Hotel. Twice.
I saw Arcade Fire.
I saw The New Pornographers
I went to four operas, and a ballet.
I went to FoBAB for the first time.
I went to India, Thailand, and Cambodia.

Pretty sure it was the best 30th year on Earth I could ask for.

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