Monday Mixtape, Volume 5
Tracklist
1. Goodbye England (Covered in Snow) – Laura Marling
2. Your Rocky Spine – Great Lake Swimmers
3. Middle of the Bed – Lucy Rose
4. Swimming Song – Vetiver
5. Out on the Shield – Said the Whale
6. Designs on You – Old 97’s
7. Post-War Blues – Dan Mangan
8. Barnacles – Laura Stevenson and the Cans
9. Soul of the Earth – Ruby Velle & The Soulphonics
10. My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up) – Fall Out Boy
Source: 8tracks.com
Two things inspired this impromptu ramble. One, an email from Go Mighty. The second, a post I stumbled upon via Twitter about distraction.
I get a lot of email. Most of them are boring. Some are downright depressing. Recently, one held rejection from a prospect I’d allowed myself to develop a single-minded and intense longing for. The rejection was depressing, especially in the midst of feeling physically awful all week due to tiny chickens.
Anyway, the first thing was the email. Go Mighty is a website built around sharing your life goals, and the stories that unfold upon enacting them. Though I have endless lists of goals, I’ve not put anything up in my profile yet. At the present moment, I can’t decide if that’s out of fear or lack of motivation. Probably both. In any case, the email I received from Go Mighty issued a challenge: twenty minutes of doing something, anything you want, with intention every day for the month of February. That doesn’t sound too hard.
Except that my head is filled with lists of things I ought to be doing. I find myself riddled with guilt when I take even the smallest of breaks to do something “unproductive” with my time. However, I’m also guilty of frittering away a lot of that time in the endless loop of social media. Both of these things are unhelpful and - more importantly - unhealthy. It’s a hole that I find myself falling into over and over again, losing focus.
The post I found today is about how little wins are sometimes all it takes to defeat that cycle of distraction. It reminded me of the email sitting in my inbox. Twenty minutes of intention. A small chunk of time to create something, anything that I want. A challenge for the month of February. A kick in the pants.
Twenty minutes ago I sat down to write this. It’s a small win. A tiny thing to feel good about for today.
See you tomorrow.
Project 365 - January
This is my 3rd time trying to do a Project 365, and I’m doing relatively well this year. I take pictures on my phone constantly, so using that + Instagram as my method of uploading daily has decreased my chances of missing a day. As for content, I stray heavily towards taking pictures of objects around me. I’m trying to change that gradually and challenge myself a bit more as the project moves on.
See the whole project as it happens on Instagram, or as I compile it on Flickr.
I felt it was important to graphically sum up my day today.
Short list this week. I’m a little behind on songs and a little bit ill. It’s not a fun combination.
Justin Timberlake – Suit & Tie
The Mountain Goats – Pale Green Things
A little delayed today, due to lots of happenings.
Bruce Springsteen – We Take Care of Our Own
Cat Stevens – On The Road to Find Out
Bombay Jayashri, Mychael Danna – Pi’s Lullaby
Little Hurricane – Haunted Heart
Boy & Bear – Part Time Believer
Coheed and Cambria – The Dark Side of Me
Man, I’m so excited. Just another reminder that I need to submit pieces I write more often.
I find myself caught between several emotions.
Yes, I think that about covers it.
I am that person who loves checking boxes, crossing through items on to do lists, and gaining gold stars. I am also that person who enjoys silly trophy systems on video game consoles. Because I know these things about myself, I alter my lists of goals accordingly. The year, I’ve decided to share and start to track some of these things through my blog. I hope you enjoy them.
The numbers are equal to points/trophy levels you receive through the PlayStation Network. More points = more important.
That’s It, I Quit (180) - Stop biting nails.
Innocent Bones (180) - Adopt a dog.
Back In (The) Black (180) - Pay off the credit card.
The World You Love (180) - Make 6+ pieces of portfolio worthy art.
Little House (90) - Complete 6+ home improvement projects.
Write It Out (90) - Complete a first full draft of Entropy.
Run Like Hell (90) - Lose 15 pounds.
Words of Wisdom (90) - Read 40+ books.
Traveling Company (90) - Travel 2+ new places out of state.
Southern Charm (90) - Visit 10+ new places in Atlanta.
Music Box (90) - Listen to 1,000 new songs.
Heal Over (90) - Get my health issues in hand.
In My Cup (30) - Drink water every day.
A Movie-Script Ending (30) - Watch 20 new (to me) movies
Forget Me Not (30) - Remember birthdays.
And On A Rainy Night (30) - Complete 6+ crafty projects.
Rhythm Emotion (30) - Complete a Project 365.
Tailor Made (30) - Build a better wardrobe.
Prologue (30) - Complete 10+ stories/posts/articles over 500 words.
Progress (30) - Buy a new laptop.
Calendar Girl (30) - Keep a photo album for the year.
Don’t Carry It All (30) - Help a friend complete a goal.
You Were Made for Me (30) - Make 2 new DragonCon costumes.
Daydreams (30) - Do 2 things I’ve never done before.
Just What I Needed (15) - Be introduced to 2+ new things from friends.
Birds of a Feather (15) - Introduce friends to 2+ new things.
Mourn No More (15) - Write a final farewell to a lost friend.
Bach Sonata No. 1 (15) - Fix my bridge and spend quality time with my violin.
Raincoat Song (15) - Spend a day in a blanket fort.
Hit Or Miss (15) - Try 10 new foods (or drinks).
Loose Ends (15) - Get more flexible.
Momentum (15) - Figure out an exercise/activity routine and stick to it.
Do You Remember (15) - Make another friend-a-versary book.
My Will is Good (15) - Eat no meat for at least 1 week.
Something To Believe In (15) - Give to 4+ charities.
An Interlude (15) - Go on a spontaneous adventure.
World of Two (15) - Celebrate our 1 year anniversary.
Silence and Motion (15) - Fill a journal/sketchbook.
Secluded Spaces (15) - Go on 12+ different walks or hikes in Georgia.
Connected (15) - Send Christmas cards.
P.S. I expect to be turning my blog slightly more towards the personal in the coming year. I still love tumblr as a platform, but I’ve become bored with reblogging rather than making my own things. Fair warning.
I have a goal this year (more about goals in geon all of them on Wednesday) to listen to 1,000 new songs over the course of this year. I’ll highlight some of my favorites every-ish Monday.
Ellie Goulding – Anything Could Happen
David Bowie – Where Are We Now?
Audra Mae & The Almighty Sound – Little Red Wagon
January is proving to be pretty easy because of the abundance of “Best of 2012” roundups all over the internet. As time goes on I will probably start relying more heavily on Pandora, Spotify’s “Related Artists” and the recommendations of friends.
Note: Anything “new to me” counts towards the list. If it’s 30 years old and I haven’t heard it, it’s new. To me. Pretty simple rules.
The planet’s end! Bid farewell to the cradle of civilization! Let us mourn her with a traditional ballad.
Nerds: we’re pretty awesome at charity.
Source: indiegogo.com
I was out and about most of the day, but I managed to come home in time to donate at the Yeti level before it disappeared. Considering I am almost more interested in Sarah’s tumblr than John’s most of the time, it seemed appropriate (art nerd ftw).
Don’t know what Project for Awesome is? Go here, find out, and get involved!
Mental health care should be easier to acquire and afford than guns.
Guns should be regulated more thoroughly than the car I drove to work in.
Children in school learning about “our great nation” should not have been killed in cold blood this morning.
It’s never too soon to talk about these things, to seek to change these things. Instead, it is almost always much, much too late. My thoughts and prayers are with all those involved.
DFTBA Print
Yesterday a post popped up about submitting art to help with the Project for Awesome, so I made these this morning and submitted them. Unfortunately, they’re only taking traditional art and not prints. Womp womp. Still, I like them enough to show them to people, so here you go.
The phonetic spelling was an idea from a shirt that I saw a long time ago (and now can’t find an image of, help?) where someone spelled out CMYK phonetically. I figured the Nerdfighter initialism deserved its own treatment.
Note: if people do happen to want this as a print, message me. I have a defunct Etsy that I wouldn’t mind resurrecting.
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look at dat acting
JESUS CHRIST I’M REBLOGGING THIS TWICE...
More tips:
- The closest I could find on Amazon to the watercolour set I use is the Sakura brand of Koi Assorted WaterColours Field...
