Re-energy
As is custom, the waning of the brutal heat gives me a new lease on life and I suddenly find the willpower to say 'yes' to things, get cracking on the things I've been procrastinating on, and feel like I can look head on into the future without being painfully blinded by the bright light (of the literal SUN! I admit I may be part vampire).
The next few months seem busy. I agreed to join some work friends for a social dinner hangout—on a Monday! I volunteered to help out at a non-work yet hosted-at-work industry event, also on a Monday. (I actually don't mind Mondays because they feel like a fresh start, it's Tuesdays and Wednesdays that get me down.) I made my annual physical appointment that's a year overdue, at a new doctor/facility because I just wasn't vibing with the old one anymore. I made a hair appointment. We're going to a concert next week (my still-favorite band The Legendary Pink Dots). Big trip planned for next month. Less happy but we have multiple appointments set up in the next few months for our senior cat to deal with a health issue. Any one of these things would feel like a huge chore during the hot summer. Have I mentioned I'm so excited for fall? 😄
All this despite not being very successful in my mission to decompress from the toxic internet and culture things I'd previously mentioned wanting to distance from. Mostly that's due to the recent news and political events. I feel a need to keep up with the conversation and see firsthand the confident march toward an appalling new baseline of misinformation and division. It's also not terrible for feeding my creative spirit. When the world is just plugging along at a tolerable level of ugliness, it kind of lulls you into a lazy mental state, or you have to go mining a bit deep for more subtle feelings and ideas. When people act in more unbelievable ways, try to claim that different words were spoken than actually were, refuse to talk to each other, choose to plant themselves in the extremities... well, there's just a lot more to juice from and feed into art. Not that I'd choose this situation over a boring happy one. But we have to seize the opportunity to make a fancy artisanal lemonade when we get it, right?
I'm still working on bringing that creativity forth but am trying both at work and through personal channels. This blog is one channel so I hope to stick with it. I'm doing some vibe coding experiments both professionally and personally. And playing with a webpage/digital garden (although it's in super early stages and I'm getting too hung up on the styling, I think my real creative challenge will be in the content). There are some home decor projects I've been turning over in my mind lately. I hope the momentum keeps up as fall really starts to settle in.