Month: January 2019

Cut it Off

Getting back into more consistent running here at the start of 2019. I joined a gym to get some steady miles, both for the effort and the safety. It’s a grind on the treadmill, but I know every 10 or 15 minute chunk out of my comfort zone is just going to make the miles easier this summer and fall.

I wish I had nice photos to accompany a post like this, but there’s nothing worth noting from the treadmill. This work, though, will lead me to empty roads and vistas, mountains and creeks. From there I’ll capture photos worth sharing. For now, this time, this work, is cut off from everyone.

Behind the Scenes

Came across Hannah Donovan’s newsletter (“Let Go and Haul“) and I loved this part where she pulls back the curtain a little bit:

Recently I started timing myself to see how fast I could do these. If things come up during the week I jot them down in notes and then I outline it on the G Train between home and pole dance class on Saturday which is two stops (plus waiting on the platform)! On Sunday it takes about 30 mins to turn the outline into an email and then 15 mins to format it with gifs, links and proofread 🙂 I’m pretty proud of this, it used to take me a lot longer!

Hannah Donovan

There are so many things we consume each day on the internet, made by so many people, but most of the time without any real idea of how much effort goes into each piece. How long does a three minute video take to write? To edit? How many hours go into writing a catchy tune? Or years?

This sort of transparency is nice, too, because it gives a tiny glimpse into my own work. My own efforts.

Tomorrow Starts Tonight

Saw that quote from Olympic runner Alexi Pappas, and it’s so true.

Want to run tomorrow morning? Set your running gear out.

Want to record some music first thing in the morning (ahem, Seth)? Put your bass on your desk, so you actually have to pick it up, and if you pick it up, well, may as well write something.

It’s not about goals (“I want to write a whole song!”), it’s about systems (as James Clear writes in Atomic Habits).

So instead of banging away at one song, I just write something everyday: a riff, than another riff on top of that, oh wait, I hear something else let me write a second part.

Perfect? No way. But listen to some of your favorite musicians and you’ll hear how some of their songs on recent albums were taped together from ideas a decade earlier.

Song titles, lyrics, melodies, business ideas, work outs, whatever…

Day after day, for years, and then you end up somewhere.

MUSIC MONDAY: Structure of Love II feat. Chino Moreno by VOWWS

I fell hard for VOWWS‘ 2018 album ‘Under the World,’ all from an Apple Music algorithm that put their song ‘One or the Other’ into my ears, and it became my favorite album of the entire year.

Then they remake their song ‘Burn’ with Kristina Esfandiari, one of my favorite vocalists in recent years.

And now they have a remix of ‘Structure of Love’ with freaking Deftones vocalist Chino Moreno. Like, what?