My sleep schedule is off. My weight is over. My creativity is stifled even though I have major ideas I want to tinker with. All because of this move prep. Cannot wait to eventually get settled so I can correct these annoyances.
Journal
Goodbye, Things
“When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.” – Lau Tzu
This will be the last newsletter for a few weeks until I have completed another cross-country move. Once I am done with relocating to Florida and have unpacked and then organize, I can start thinking about cranking out a newsletter and podcast.
During the past few weeks of sorting, organizing, and packing, I’ve had a chance to reflect on a few thoughts that help inspire me to live and maintain a minimalistic lifestyle.
- We all would like to live in a nice, spacious home. But when you really think about it, we just want to allow “Our Things” to live in a comfortable environment.
- Our things are living rent-free in our homes
- Our homes are not museums. It doesn’t need a collection to curate.
- Our collections are not priceless, and they take up too much space.
- Dust tells you how much you value your things.
- Less things = less chores.
- One thing in = one thing out.
- What if you had to start all over?
- Discarding memorabilia is not discarding memories.
- Things tend to bring in more things.
- Somewhere in the back of our minds, we’re thinking that we haven’t gotten our money’s worth yet. But the reality of the matter is that we most likely never will.
- Discarding things can be wasteful. But the guilt that keeps you from minimizing is the true waste.
“It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything.” -Tyler Durden, Fight Club.
Until next time,
- Chris
- Tulsa, Oklahoma
Goodbye, Things
“When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.” – Lau Tzu
This will be the last newsletter for a few weeks until I have completed another cross-country move. Once I am done with relocating to Florida and have unpacked and then organize, I can start thinking about cranking out a newsletter and podcast.
During the past few weeks of sorting, organizing, and packing, I’ve had a chance to reflect on a few thoughts that help inspire me to live and maintain a minimalistic lifestyle.
- We all would like to live in a nice, spacious home. But when you really think about it, we just want to allow “Our Things” to live in a comfortable environment.
- Our things are living rent-free in our homes
- Our homes are not museums. It doesn’t need a collection to curate.
- Our collections are not priceless, and they take up too much space.
- Dust tells you how much you value your things.
- Less things = less chores.
- One thing in = one thing out.
- What if you had to start all over?
- Discarding memorabilia is not discarding memories.
- Things tend to bring in more things.
- Somewhere in the back of our minds, we’re thinking that we haven’t gotten our money’s worth yet. But the reality of the matter is that we most likely never will.
- Discarding things can be wasteful. But the guilt that keeps you from minimizing is the true waste.
“It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything.” -Tyler Durden, Fight Club.
Until next time,
- Chris
- Tulsa, Oklahoma
Totality
After a three hour drive to Paris, Arkansas, I parked the car behind a roadside bar and awaited the moon to orbit in between the Sun and the Earth. I’ve experienced multiple solar and lunar eclipses but this was by far the best In a total coverage of the Sun.
I used the iPhone 15 Pro Max to capture the moment, shot in RAW and full magnification behind an old DSLR lens filter. Well, the neutral density filter was not strong enough so I just used the special-filter glasses for better results.
While the others grabbed beer being served at 1PM on a Monday in small town Arkansas, I was setting up the tripod and watching the moon make its journey in between myself and the Sun. I lit my pipe and relaxed as the shadow slowly moved from the south. The sky turned cobalt blue, then purple and finally it was dark. Off to the west the sky glowed as if the sun were setting as it should but that won’t happen for another 7 hours.
My eyes were darting back and forth from the astrological event above me and to the tripod to push the camera button as the slow shutter perfectly adjusted to the low light in the sky around the moon perfectly and even captured some solar prominences.
The sky remained dark for a few minutes, the wind stopped and the temperature dropped. Everything was surreal and quiet except for the chatter of my companions. Can we not enjoy the moment in reverence?
Seven frustrating hours later I arrived back home to relax and wonder at what we had witnessed. Then it was my turn for a beer at the pub and thought it was appropriate to sing ”Eclipse” and “Brain Damage” by Pink Floyd. What a great misadventure today was.
Totality
After a three hour drive to Paris, Arkansas, I parked the car behind a roadside bar and awaited the moon to orbit in between the Sun and the Earth. I’ve experienced multiple solar and lunar eclipses but this was by far the best In a total coverage of the Sun.
I used the iPhone 15 Pro Max to capture the moment, shot in RAW and full magnification behind an old DSLR lens filter. Well, the neutral density filter was not strong enough so I just used the special-filter glasses for better results.
While the others grabbed beer being served at 1PM on a Monday in small town Arkansas, I was setting up the tripod and watching the moon make its journey in between myself and the Sun. I lit my pipe and relaxed as the shadow slowly moved from the south. The sky turned cobalt blue, then purple and finally it was dark. Off to the west the sky glowed as if the sun were setting as it should but that won’t happen for another 7 hours.
My eyes were darting back and forth from the astrological event above me and to the tripod to push the camera button as the slow shutter perfectly adjusted to the low light in the sky around the moon perfectly and even captured some solar prominences.
The sky remained dark for a few minutes, the wind stopped and the temperature dropped. Everything was surreal and quiet except for the chatter of my companions. Can we not enjoy the moment in reverence?
Seven frustrating hours later I arrived back home to relax and wonder at what we had witnessed. Then it was my turn for a beer at the pub and thought it was appropriate to sing ”Eclipse” and “Brain Damage” by Pink Floyd. What a great misadventure today was.
Create > Document
Recently, I discussed how my photography is now more of a documentary style rather than a portrait or landscape genre. But now that I have some time, I want to dive in and play with the existing images to create something entirely different.
Long ago, I purchased Pixelmator Pro, the alternative to the expensive Adobe Photoshop, but rarely had a chance to use it. So now I’m going to dust it off, take it out of the toy box and start to play.
The first step was to add two different images, one black and white and the other full-on color blast as a stark contrast. After manipulating both images individually as I needed, I then merged those separate layers into one and added some fine-tuning. It isn’t perfect. It doesn’t have to be since it is a first attempt, and I am playing. Learning as I go.
Follow
“The Road goes ever on and on down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, and I must follow, if I can.”
– Bilbo Baggins, The Hobbit
The Book Finds You
“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.” — Haruki Murakami
Picture yourself walking through the halls and shelves of a vast library. Among the endless rows of books, one catches your eye. You reach out, and as your fingers graze its spine, there’s a moment of connection, a spark of recognition. It’s as though fate has guided your hand to this particular book, at this precise moment.
Once you start reading, it feels like you’re embarking on a journey with this book. Its words lead you down paths of discovery, challenging your perspectives and opening new horizons. You find yourself nodding in agreement, pausing to think, and sometimes even disagreeing with it.
As you read, you realize that this book isn’t just something you’re consuming; it’s becoming a part of you. Its characters, its ideas, it’s prose.
Sometimes books seem to find us by chance. You might stumble upon a forgotten book on a dusty shelf, find a book left behind on public transportation, or receive one as a gift unexpectedly. In the novel, Rabbits, one of the recurring themes of playing the game is…the game chooses you to play, not the other way around.
The older I get, the more cynical I become. Nationwide chain bookstores are all the same by design, so if you can make it past the coffeeshop, past the rows of tiny trinkets designed for you to grab while waiting to purchase, past the Bestsellers(!) that everyone else is pushing, past the toy section that is there for no explicable reason besides another money grab and past the music/collectible culture sections, then and only then you may come to the bookshelves and hope to discover a unique book, one that resonates with you.
I prefer the used bookstore. Each store is unique and forces you to hunt on every shelf. Because every shelf has treasure on it waiting to be discovered. The books there seem almost tangentially organized, like they were arranged according to conversation rather than by category. There’s a loose structure, a rough outline, the topics, and genres move seamlessly from one to another, and sometimes off shoot to unintended places, places where one has lost their train of thought, when one must pause to reflect and wonder how they even got there. This isn’t the kind of book store you go to looking for something specific. If you do, you’ll, more than likely, leave disappointed and unimpressed. If you’re searching for specificity, you probably won’t find it here. This is not the kind of book store you go to seek out “a book”. This is the kind of book store in which the books start to seek you.
“Somewhere, there is a book written just for you. It will fit your mind like a glove fits your hand.” — Neil Gaiman
One of my favorite books is titled A Gentle Madness by Nicolas Basbanes, wherein the author describes perfectly how a bibliophile gets caught up in their passion for books, libraries, and knowledge. I used to be a bibliophile, but thankfully not drawn completely into madness. Having said all that, to say:
The right book chooses you as much as you choose it. It’s a meeting of minds and souls, a serendipitous encounter that can enrich your life and leave you grateful for the magic of literature.
Self Care
After months of traveling on the road for work, poor nutrition habits and then stop working, my body has had enough. I’ve crammed the 15 pounds lost last year back inside. My blood pressure has suffered. The clothes are tighter. I feel like crap.
I resubscribed to Apple Fitness+ because gym membership is not viable right now. Meal plans are being made.
It’s time to eat lean, train mean and get lean.
Self Care
After months of traveling on the road for work, poor nutrition habits and then stop working, my body has had enough. I’ve crammed the 15 pounds lost last year back inside. My blood pressure has suffered. The clothes are tighter. I feel like crap.
I resubscribed to Apple Fitness+ because gym membership is not viable right now. Meal plans are being made.
It’s time to eat lean, train mean and get lean.