i'm back

occasionally I get the urge to write, and in those cases I think it's my job to listen. 

tonight is one of those times, when my body is clearly exhausted, but my mind is generating lots of words, and I'm thinking about a big project I've been looking forward to doing at the end of this year, but now the end of this year is upon me, and i've completely neglected this space to write, and I'm at risk of putting off this big project.

speaking of projects: projects are the unit I use to construct life in my imagination. I've learned that I understand everything best as a project to craft a clever, story-driven solution to a problem. there's a big flaw with this model, though, which is that al of life is unfortunately not made up of solvable problems, especially not love. 

last month, my dad and I were sharing a hotel in downtown san francisco, and I was telling him about a boy. this is when the project thing came up: he told me this boy had problems, but that it was my job to explicitly avoid letting any of these problems (or the boy himself) to become a project in my mind, because this is simply how I approach most of my life. I was stunned; he was right. 

let's see, let's see

other things on my mind recently 

• scott mccloud and the wonderful resource on sequencing and pacing and visualizing and symbolism that is understanding comics 
• image and symbol, and whether the eucharist is literally Christ's body or just symbolic of it (I'm partial to the latter) 
• pho 
• the width of a good print column 
• the mystery of the midwest
• the 1970s in general
• policy and how strange a thing it is 

in my ears: dreamin' wild, donnie & joe emerson (1979, remastered 2012)

I'm sort of debating how much to put here — not because anyone comes here, but because I write here, and once I've written about something once, the flavor goes away and the texture gets tough and rubbery, just like half-an-hour-old gum. i've resolved to spend the end of the year (guess I'm spoiling my project) writing a physical newsletter to my closest family and friends, updating them on some things I've been thinking about, but also about what I do: I care about it, and I want to find a way to show them in a way that's as kooky and fun for them to read as it is exciting and satisfying for me to put together. 

I'm drawing a lot of inspiration from Random Things I Encounter in the World Around Me, most of which are printed things. the edward tufte books that I had my office buy, the Economist (sort of a negative example), comics, writing with style (third edition), letters from my friends, records, vintage books, old magazines. there's so much to learn from the way other people lay out words. 

one cool thing I did today: I deodorized an old wool sweater using vinegar and Soak's wool wash 

one more song: coast to coast, female species