To think that Lauren Jensen played for Iowa the previous year, transferred to Creighton, then hit the eventual game winning three pointer to beat her former team IN IOWA.
It’s their first ever trip to the Sweet 16, too. Wow.
COVER MODEL RUN
I was hungry, didn’t bring any water, and it was one of the warmest days of the year so far. Did my best to be present, appreciate the sounds and scenery, and head out 2.25 miles on the D&L Trail in South Bethlehem.
I ran into two young kids who were taking photos with their polaroid. When I came back I asked how the photo turned out, and it was blown out – you could only see my shorts! So they took another shot, and said I looked like I could be on the cover of Vouge. I did the whole Madonna “strike a pose” thing, which may have been lost on them given their age, but it was still a good time.
THE HOLY ERRAND
My friend is out west, and posted some amazing pics from the desert. The Grand Canyon. She desribed this adventyre as a holy errand, and that’s the first time I ever heard those two words together.
Holy errand.
I was out on my run tonight, on an old route. It’s always easy to to gauge the “success” of the run by the pace, the speed, the heart rate. Can I run to that tree without stopping? To the top of the hill?
Tonight was a holy errand. I heard crickets for the first time this year. Saw this amazing sky.
Pace? Distance? Eh. I was able to get to the top of some hills. Maybe not as fast as I would like, but I made it. And tomorrow I’ll do it again.
It’s a holy errand.
A LONG DRIVE
Sometimes something comes unblocked, and you just have to be intentionally grateful. This has happened to me over the years from being broke as fuck, to finally today earning a decent living.
Like, “not having a bank account,” broke. Grateful for a friend to PayPal me $20 so I can get food sort of broke. Tough times!
But then I financed a car in 2018 all on my own, without a co-signer. A 2015 Chevy Sonic. It’s paid off now, too. The first song I played in the car was ‘Outro’ by Vulfpek (above).
The weather is amazing now, and I went for a long drive to nowhere in particualr. Just needed to get out, working from home and all. Windows down, sun setting, listening to Kowloon Walled City.
Looking forward to some more adventures this year.
LOVING THE OLD MAN AND THE THREE
I’ve been watching NBA basketball since the early 90s, during prime Knicks, Bulls, Pacers. Jordan, Reggie Miller, Patrick Ewing, Bird, fuck…. and through all the years, like, damn, I still watching the game.
During most work days I have ESPN going in the back ground. Just background noise, but it’s a nice way to put in the work hours and hear some good stories.
Gotta say, thouhg – the Old Man and the Three podcast by JJ Redick is so good. The latest with Willie Green is great – the story about how he got into coaching.
Some of my other faves:
Seriously – like stories of eating shit, doing the worst gigs, playing overseas, bus rides… not that allll hard work leads to riches, but man, if you don’t put in the work, that’s usually a good indicator that you ain’t gotta win it all, too.
Love these.
ON NOT KEEPING UP
“Oh I know, I read your Xanga.” I remember a friend telling me that from like 20 years ago. I told him something, and he replied with the above quote.
And now we’re all on whatever version of Xanga we’re on, and it’s… too much.
Lately when I’m about to post something on socials, I stop and think that maybe it’d be better to send to a friend. Not ALL my friends, but the people who are special in my life.
Why am I sending this photo to 2,300 followers on Twitter when maybe 5% might see it? That’s just 115 people. Everyone else is excluded because of algorithms.
So I sent a text to a friend today, instead. And they sent me back a photo from Joshua Tree, and told me how they just visited the Grand Canyon on a whim.
They didn’t Tweet that… at least if they did I didn’t see it. But if I never messaged them, I’d still never know.
I don’t know… maybe not knowing what everybody is doing is okay.
TAKING LOTS OF SHOTS
I’m a big proponent of “don’t figure it out, find it out.” I probably got that from years of watching Seth Godin and Gary Vee videos, so if I didn’t properly give credit there, that’s why.
People have told me I was smart for “finding my niche” by helping busy independent music publicists with their admin, reporting, website update, and social media work, but really I just had a good friend who got laid off and started their own company and needed someone right away. A few years later I got another client doing the same thing. Three of those in total, doing various tasks and duties M-F.
I didn’t “figure out” that direction or market, and I’m not actively expanding that, as in; I’ve turned down clients in the past year for that work, because I found out there’s better pay and less hours involved in the email marketing world.
That’s something else I sort of “stepped into,” but it was also from a friendship forged in the late 90s, so I’m won’t feel guilty about that. And I’ve been doing various sorts of email marketing since 2011 or so, too… from email newsletter for Artists & Fleas and my own Skull Toaster project, where I sent over 1,000 emails (they were numbered).
Lots of tips and hacks online about “gain a skill, get a customer, earn six figures a month,” and I guess some people can manage that, but to me that sounds like a fantasy. I mean, the route I went isn’t the correct answer, either, but still.
All that to say – don’t figure it out, find it out.” Keep doing lots of things, all the time, and make sure you’re having fun doing them at least, or finding some fulfillment out of them. Email newsletters for me are fun because you get to see tangible results, like open rates and REVENUE, so your results may vary.
Still – take a lot of shots, and see what lands, I guess.
QUIT YOUR JOB SOMEDAY
In the past few months I’ve started following some “career development” accounts on Twitter, and signing up for some emails. Then immediately regretted my choices in life.
Everyone loves a success story, but dear lord, must everything be “how I quit my job at NASA and earned $500,000 a month selling e-Books?”
Like, not everyone is destined for e-book writing.
Or starting an online course.
“Get on Twitter, be helpful, then you can write an ebook and teach a class, and earn six figures in a month.”
Like, what?
I can’t find the “how to pay your cell phone bill with a helpful skill” sort of articles or videos, because all the algorithms are tilted towards the six figure hustle porn.
DON’T WAIT
I love this quote from ‘monday monday‘ by Marlee Grace:
“Don’t wait to feel better to write your newsletter, record your podcast, paint your painting. If we wait we will never know the outcome, the one we are waiting to be pleasantly surprised by.”
God dammit I’ve been waiting. Waiting for downtime that never comes. Waiting for the decompression that never arrives. Waiting for a bit of exhale, a sigh of relief, and it’s just never there.
Self employment means you get to work on everything all the time – finances, taxes, marketing, writing, planning, emailing, organizing, health care, and every other god damn thing under the sun. That also means my entire schedule is mine, so my afternoon walks and evening strolls just means my work gets pushed back and then I’m still working on stuff until 8pm.
And as much as I don’t want to wait, and I want to work on some new organizational system, or re-write an SOP for a VA, or try a new automation in Airtable, or spend 30 minutes stretching, or go on a run, a bike ride, a walk… sometimes playing Mario Kart 8 till 11pm is just the right thing to do.
SPRING IS 28 DAYS AWAY
That means there are only 28 days remaining of winter, which honestly have been pretty rough. I’ve fought many bouts of the grumps which I’ve only handled by eating lots of cookies and taking advantage of all the food places within walking distance – pizza, Mexican food, cheese steaks, thai rice bowls, and DONUTS.
I finally put together back to back weeks of 14 miles running. I mean, I was in the single digits. Barely 10. But I kept running here and there. And now on Sunday I ran my first five miler in… forever. Took a solid hour, but whatever.
I’m never one to put too much stock in numbers and all that, but fuck it… we’re heading into our second spring during a fucking pandemic, so why not? As of Sunday, spring is 28 days away. About a month of the last few gasps of winter, of cold and darkness and wind. Onward to making some good things happen over the next 28 days.