Journal

Sunday To Do

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  1. Ignore To Do lists
  2. Study creative people (Thanks K. Smith and Kleon)
  3. Read and read some more
  4. Sketch
  5. Add some photos to the physical photo journal
  6. Add to my private, physical journal
  7. Tidy up the lawn and garden from leaves and random street trash

Grounded

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Yesterday on our hike, we came across a thin trail offset from the original trail that wasn’t too obvious. What was obvious was the fact that I was going to take it and we weren’t disappointed.

The trail led us to a rocky overhang looking out towards a creek. There in the warm sun and cool breeze I decided to take my trail shoes and socks off to experience what some wellness practitioners call “grounding or earthing.”

I dug my toes into the cold soil and planted my heels down on the rocky trail and just stood there soaking up the sun and the quiet. MissAdventure decided instead to sit crosslegged and soak in the sun and the quiet.

It was only for a few short minutes but it was plenty to meditate and also appreciate this moment. Looking up into the sun I noticed seagulls flying in circles over the valley. Why seagulls here in a landlocked state? Oh well, why not. Then, why can’t I join them, wouldn’t that be amazing?

I couldn’t of course. I was grounded and grounding.

I silently put myself back together mentally and physically while applying my socks then shoes on. This was a beautiful experience to be rediscovered soon.

Have A Drink

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I’ve always said that I am too young to drink coffee because growing up, only old people drank coffee. Now even children are doing it. My own child loves that Starbucks crap. I still don’t drink coffee and I’ll probably will never understand how it “fuels” people to be more productive.

I prefer the taste of whiskey, bourbon and scotch.

I can nurse at least an hour on two fingers worth of drink just by sitting, sipping, thinking and scheming. The process can even be considered as meditative.

This past week I’ve introduced a tobacco pipe into the process. This is backed up by Sherlock Holmes novels: “It is quite a three pipe problem, and I beg that you won’t speak to me for fifty minutes.” Meaning he’d sit, smoke and work out solutions in that time.

This is my preferred method for working out issues or to even warm up and relax on these grey, cold days of winter. Just have a drink.

Now Is The Envy Of The Dead

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“Do not lose time on daily trivialities. Do not dwell on petty detail. For all of these things melt away, and drift apart within the obscure traffic of time. Live well, and live broadly. You are alive and living now. Now is the envy of all of the dead.”

Feel The Burn

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Thoreau asked his diary on November 13, 1851, “Is not this a glorious time of year for your deep inward fires?”

November is a great month to stoke those internal fires.

Retreat

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In a little over a week I’ll be enjoying nine days off. So looking forward to this time of travel, food, fun and reflection.

November is the perfect time to reflect, think and scheme for me and I intend to take full advantage of this.

Night & Day

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Sunday, November 10th found us hiking the trails. In shorts!

Monday, November 11th found me bundled up and marshaling the Veteran’s Day parade.

I woke up and the temperature was 61. By 8am it was 37. By 9am it was raining, then ice, then flurries. By noon the precipitation stopped and now the temperature is 17.

As one of the local high school bands chanted while waiting their turn to parade: “I don’t know but I’ve been told! Oklahoma is mighty cold!”

Plus & Minus

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I wanted to lose 25 pounds this year. I only have 35 more to go.

Film Is Not Dead

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Analog film photography: it’s not perfect and maybe that is what I love about it.

In these days of instant gratification and little effort, everyone can make photos. Everything is digital, clean, sharp and then over-processed.

We make/buy/use filters and presets to emulate film photography because of its athstetic.

Film is not instant gratification and it doesn’t try to be perfect. Film is authentic and tangible.

And perhaps that is why I’m leaning more towards film these days.

11/11 GHR Check-In

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This is the final month of the Groundhog Day Resolution system for 2019. This was the 11th annual attempt at creating life-long habits for myself. I’ve discovered that because of the after the end-of-year holidays I am not mentally or physically capable of sticking with resolutions for the upcoming new year. I need a break so I take the whole month of January off to reflect
and plan. The idea here was to check in every month from 2/2, 3/3, etc to 11/11- today!

So how’d I do this year?

Physical

  • The immediate goal is to drop 25 pounds quick. Besides the typical
    motto of  “Eat clean, train mean, get lean”, I’m throwing in some activities that should help. This was a fail. In fact, I have gained unhealthy weight.
  • Kickboxing/sparring with Tracy. Not one much thrown.
  • Dance lessons. Something fun like Swing? Sexy, like Bachata? We’ll figure it out. Not one lesson. We dance around the house and at the pub but that’s it.
  • Disc Golf. Time to get back into it. Less expensive than golf and I don’t have to wear baggy, plaid pants. We tossed the disk around a bit but nothing consistent. I made a brilliant 1/1000 shot though so yeah.
  • Yoga/Meditation. I had some moderate usage last year but not enough to form a habit. I did appreciate the quiet time to breathe, relax and focus on nothing. Again, not habit forming but I enjoy the process. Why can’t I make time for simple things?

Technical

  • Learn Python. Only one tech goal this year because I get scattered and end up not learning anything. No more. Time to learn and apply data science and machine learning applications. I wrote a few lines of code and then realized I don’t need to. I wasn’t interested. What was I going to do with it? Next year I may write Swift instead but only for the hell of it.

Artistical

  • Sketch/Draw/Doodle. I bought an iPad and pencil last year and I want to be more creative. Nope.
  • Learn Spanish with Tracy. Nope.
  • Learn Chinese. For myself. Nope.
  • Learn to play the ukulele. I grabbed one late last year but with the holidays in the way it took a back seat. Nope.
  • DAM- Digital Asset Management, or, where the hell are my photos from that shoot last month? They are all (almost) on to a new 10TB hard drive waiting on me. Progress.
  • Write short stories. I have a ton of ideas for these. Progress, but only this month of NANOWRIMO.
  • Write micro fiction. One hundred word stories. Nope. Change this for NANOWRIMO?
  • Work on that novel. Its been ten plus years and I still can’t get all of this out of my head. Progress, but only this month of NANOWRIMO.
  • 52 week photo challenge . 52 weeks in a year = 52 photos I think this died around week 9.

Financial

  • Order a credit report and start settling some debts for less. 2017 was not a good year and it hurt me financially so I am slowly recovering. This year will be dedicated to resolving this and restoring my good name. Progress! My credit scores dropped a bit at first but are slowly going up. Not fast enough for me though.
  • Build credit with a secured credit card. Doing this now.
  • Automate savings and track investments. Yes, there is an app for that and it is called Acorns. Nope.
  • Cryptocurrency. This year I will dip a toe into these unknown waters. Bitcoin? Ethereum? Research is crucial here. Nope. Not interested anymore.

Overall, I’d rate this year’s GHD Resolutions as failure. In fact, I am thinking of scrapping the whole concept in favor of focusing on one thing a month and practice. That should be habit forming, no? But knowing me, I tend to bounce from thing to thing randomly or as I get bored.

The portrait photography was big this year but as I’ve stated previously I am slowly pulling away from these types of shoots and want to try photographing something else with different methods. Still working these out. But the takeaway is that portrait photography was the culprit that a majority of these resolutions failed.

NANOBLOGMO

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As promised, I’ve been writing almost daily during National Novel Writing Month (NANOWRIMO). But to be honest, most of it seems to be for the website.