Month: May 2022

BUY THAT BIKE

I said this last month:

But honestly – I turn 46 next month. Luck runs out someday, right? So in the meantime, fuck it. I’m going to spend the money on shit that makes me smile, shit I use, and shit I want, because someday the oceans will boil and shit. Today is it.

And well, I said fuck it again, and bought a mountain bike.

To be 46 and own three bikes again, well, whatever. Life is short. I’ve seen too much death in recent years. COVID has shown us all how fragile everything is. Modern society in here in America has shown us how “on our own” we truly are, so fuck it… if I want to ride on the road, or some easy rails-to-trails, I got my gravel bike.

And now, if I discover miles of single track, I have a bike that can handle it. Fuck it.

I don’t want to be on my death bed and think, “shit, I shoulda just got that bike,” or “I shoulda just went to that trail but never did.”

MUSTER WHAT YOU CAN

Had two great talks this past week with two folks doing creative, vibrant work.

This after Tweeting less, posting less, and sending out one of my HEAVY METAL EMAIL newsletters after a month or two hiatus.

So often I think my words just disappear into the void, that I’m a horrible writer, that I should “write better copy” to get more work, and all the other shit you read from people who achieved success and think their method is the right method.

This is a weird spot to be in – not publicly posting things, sharing the work, whatever. But in these trying times, it’s all I can muster.

STOPPED SHOUTING

One of the two “blogs” I regulary check out has gone on hiatus, or sabbatical as Jason Kottke puts it (the other is Daring Fireball, but he’s still going).

It’s weird – I had been writing online since 2001 with a music blog, and responsible for running a music site up until 2011. Then I did daily metal trivia on social media from 2011 through 2018, with nightly fucking email newsletters with the answers.

Not to mention regular Tweeting since 2006, with the occasional podcast (Workbench, Metal Minute, On The Rag Again, Later, etc.), and newsletter (The Soft Run, etc.). A Daily Loop. Just always doing… something.

I’ll tell you what gets me going, though: talking to other people about putting stuff out there. Making their websites go, or their newsletters, or starting a podcast. Not like I’m the guy to talk to about how to make it “go viral,” but I’ve done enough of this stuff to know how to build a foundation, and build from there.

That’s such a different medium, though, for me. For years I’ve followed the wisdom that I need to always talk about it, put it out there, share my knowledge with everyone. And weirdly enough once I stopped shouting about it from the roof tops (I’ve slowed down Twittering, stopped sending out my HEAVY METAL EMAIL newsletter), that’s when a few calls have been set up to actually talk about the stuff I do.