It’s funny to be back writing again after not writing anything for a long time.
I think about hopping on to write and don’t. I just keep on doing other things that seem more important at that time. It’s just how life goes I suppose. One thing after another, calling out for your time and attention, and like so many others can say, sometimes the thing that wins my isn’t the thing that would best help me move forward in life.
I say that looking at productivity and just staying busy for the sake of the movement and hustle. What if I’m missing something? Maybe I need to listen to Greg McKeown and be better at “Essentialism” and finding the right balance and control of my own life. Setting things up to include the right amount of work, play, family time and rest would be a great place to start.
I’d like to start doing three things each night before bed to improve the following day.
First – Prep the coffee machine. Until recently, we used a french press for our morning brew and it was simple. Add water, steep the grounds, pour cups of motivation, and rinse. Now we have a machine that could be programmed to have me a cup at 7:30 am each day if I would set it up. I have yet to do that so in the meantime, I’ve started adding water, a new filter, and grounds for the next morning. So when I’m ready to go when I push the brew button. Easy peasy but a life changer.
Second – Read more before bed. I had a great routine of reading before bed for nearly a year. It was a great way to end the day and begin resting. I would usually read a cookbook, a self-help-style book, or a history/adventure book. Something that was engaging yet easy to read. Anything complex would get my overactive mind moving back toward my phone and the mindless searching and scrolling. Reading at night helps me rest up better than staring at my phone as a fall asleep.
Currently, I have a list of four books I’m planning to read this month:
The Nordic guide to living 10 years longer – Dr Bertil Marklund
A Portrait of British Cheese: A Celebration of Artistry, Regionality, and Recipes – Angus D Birditt
Winning Without losing – Martin Bjergegaard
Open Design Now: Why Design Cannot Remain Exclusive – Bas Van Abel
I suppose here is my commitment to myself and to you. I’ll read 30 min a night before bed for all of March. I’ll follow up on April 1st.
Third and lastly, plan my day ahead. I hate task lists with all my being. They annoy my free-spirited nature but make or break the following day’s productivity. I need to use my task list on my phone better as a companion to my calendar to better plan my life out.
My partner is a master of this but me, a serial procrastinator, I do just that… Procrastinate my planning and have less productive days than I would like to. The value here is knowing what needs to be done and being able to do it one task at a time. Knowing myself I’ll do the easy tasks first then move to the more difficult ones as late in the day as possible. I ought to fix that.
So here goes nothing, three simple tasks that are going to help me have a better day tomorrow. Here’s to a month of coffee prep, planning, and reading before bed to make my next day better.
I keep giving a book I read in 2013 to the folks I draw each year for secret Santa.
I know that might seem like a way to get an often challenging task accomplished easily but that’s not the reason why I recommend and give this book away frequently. It’s because this book changed my way of thinking and looking at the world around me and especially, creativity.
Austin Kleon’s “Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative” is a beautiful book. It’s not a terribly challenging read but it’s one that makes you think first, then start to take action. & I think something like that is a beautiful thing.
You’re reminded you can start today doing the things even though you’re not finished figuring things out. How you can get places by being nice to people as you go and using your hand(s), feet, or whatever tools you have to do the thing you want to do.
It’s a simple book that has had a big influence on the way I look at the world around me and the projects I choose to take on. I shared this cause maybe you could find value in it too.
I have spent today working on my final few assignments for the semester trying to make sure I’m prepared for a final in data analytics and a presentation in a marketing research class called “Customer Service” which is a weird name for this class in my opinion. It’s been a mentally exhausting day and the rest of the week looks about the same.
Not complaining just sharing how it’s strange the lengths we will go to reach a goal. As I’ve mentioned before my goal is to graduate from University with a degree in Marketing and I’m just five classes away from that after this semester. I suppose that will be the final stretch of school for a while unless something screams go back… do more school… and at this point, if something calls me with that recommendation it’s being ignored. ha.
I should be sleeping but I’m not ready for sleep yet. My body isn’t ready to settle in for a quick five-hour nap before a workday because it hasn’t moved much today. It’s been patient with me while I clicked my mouse, typed a few lines, written six pages of notes, and I have taken three quizzes. My mind is calling for sleep but my body wants to move.
My legs long for a walk in nature with my dogs on the trail near my apartment. My feet long to feel the various rocks and debris beneath my feet as we explore. My lungs are asking for fresh mountain air above the smog of the valley.
And all I’m offering myself for the next few days?
Short walks to the backyard with the dogs and poor posture while sitting in my office chair.
I feel like I see a post like this from time to time. Is it a clickbait title? Possibly for many but for me, it’s just what I want you to know. I’m stepping offline from all the social networking to get a breather and a reset.
I am not sure how long this is going to be for. I could make it thirty days and jump back on armed with a better-balanced use plan for the apps on my phone and maybe have more self-control. I could decide to take a year or so. At this point I’m uncertain.
I am certain that I spend too much time on my phone looking at videos and images that mean nearly nothing to me. Occasionally, I’ll see a post from a family member or friend that matters but mostly I’m just… scrolling. I’m looking for something and I’m not sure what scrolling through the depths of apps with the same theme and repeat content is going to do for me. So I’m taking a break from social media for the foreseeable future.
I jumped online during the myspace days and haven’t really looked back. I’ve lost hours of my life looking at a small screen, trying to keep up with the trends. It’s exhausting. . . I have no idea how or why I have tried to manage that much input of things that do not really matter to me.
So, for now, I’m going to spend less time looking at my phone and more time pursuing things that I actually enjoy. I’m going to read more, write more often, spend time with my family and prepare for the changes that are coming in the next few months. I just want to be able to spend less time bowed over my phone scrolling and more time enjoying life. Who knows maybe I’ll try out this method of turning my phone back into a tool instead of a distraction.
I currently own five cameras, three film cameras, and two digital ones. I have been interested in photography for many years and have always envisioned capturing moments from my life to share the stories of the places I have been with others. Like many of you, I’ve been around cameras all of my life and have been caught candidly more times than I can count.
My KODAK EKTAR H35 Half Frame Film Camera looks a lot like this.
My paternal grandmother loved to take pictures. She would take countless snapshots of family dinners, trips, wildlife on canyon drives, sporting events, & beyond. My grandma loved taking pictures and putting the memories together in books. It’s pretty crazy to look back and see all the memories she compiled over the years as we grew. I’d say that my grandma having a camera behind the scenes and taking so many photos influenced my interest in capturing moments from behind a lens.
When I moved to the Philippines I took a Nikon point-and-shoot and used that till it died, then snagged a Samsung point-and-shoot, then a Panasonic point-and-shoot once that one died. I loved the ease of use these cameras had and how easy they were to toss in my bag and go. They always had the ability to capture moments I wanted to remember.
From my perspective, these types of cameras have been replaced by smartphones and the ease of use they offer. Most Smartphone users keep their phones with them 24/7 and the average American takes 20.2 pictures daily from their smartphone. I’m not certain I take that many pics daily, but I definitely count my iPhone camera as my daily use camera just because of ease of access and use.
A few moments I’ve captured on my phone from the past year of adventures. Kisses from my 4-year-old on a cold winter hike. My two-year-old enjoying an evening hike this spring. My wife and girls walking on the beach in Pacific Beach, WA. All captured on iPhone 11.
In 2014, my wife gave me a Polaroid 300 for Christmas and I have had it ever since. I have taken it on trips to Mexico, The Netherlands, and road trips through the pacific Northwest. It’s a fun little camera for in-the-moment fun. I never expect anything extraordinary from these pictures but they capture a moment in time and are unique.
I have two 35 MM easy-to-use cameras I purchased over the past year. The first is the KODAK EKTAR H35 Half Frame Film Camera. Yes, I copied the title right off the Amazon order page, and that’s writing for ya. Anyhow, I really like this camera because it’s a simple half-frame camera that allows you to get twice the pictures per roll of film. You can stage the pics to have stories from the same place or assemble a mix of images that tell a bigger story per capture. It’s not a perfect camera but a fun one to use.
My second 35 MM camera is the RETO Ultra Wide and Slim 35mm Reusable Daylight Film Camera(Same as before, I coped this from Amazon.). This one seems to be a camera that can capture moments with a wide field of view and it does a good job balancing incoming light for such a simple camera. It’s definitely a fun camera to have around the house and on the go.
Finally, we reached the last paragraph about what cameras I own and, coming in last is a Sony A5000. Yes, you read that right I own a very old mirrorless camera. What makes this even more interesting to some of my friends is that I am not the original owner on this one. I wanted to jump into photography but didn’t know where to start and wasn’t in a place I could spend a lot on a camera. So I went to Facebook and found a well-cared-for camera to start developing my camera skills a bit more before shelling out the high costs for a newer one.
Overall I’ve been happy with the A5000 as it’s easy to use and captures images with a bit better detail than my iPhone. I like the interchangeable lenses I have to pull far away things a bit more into focus than the iPhone 11’s tech can do. I’ll just have to keep watching more James Popsys on YouTube to improve those skills.
Are you a photographer or a camera collector? What are your favorites and what are the tips and tricks that you’ve found most useful in your photography journey?
It’s strange that it has been over two months since I last wrote here. Since then I have moved from an RV back into an apartment, started another semester at University(Just 2 more to go.), traveled a few times for work, and thought about writing here at least once a day. It’s strange how time can just get away from you like that.
Dutch designer Maarten Baas’ giant Real Time Schiphol timepiece replaces traditional clock hands with a 12-hour-long video performance.
My real question for myself is what was holding me back from writing? Was it fear that no one would be interested in what I had to say? Could it be I do not have the best work-School-life balance? Or is it that I just thought about what I could write then bowed back towards my phone and continued mindlessly tapping away at the touchscreen?
I’d like to say it was a combination of all of the above. A mix of everything that was calling out for my time and energy. Ultimately I do not have a reason other than I chose something else over a few minutes of tapping away at something to write and share here. Things feel heavy at the end of the day and the weight of it all leads me to looking mindlessly at my phone at the end of the day and trying to rest up.
This week I decided to take Friday off to spend a bit of time cleaning my house, playing with my dogs, and heading to spend time with my family and take some family pictures. I love driving home and seeing reminders of my time driving between the big city and my small hometown.
I count the landmarks down as we drive back home today just the same as I used to from the backseat of my parent’s car.
Mountain X, that looks like a face.
The old windmills that spin day and night.
A group of houses that are abandoned but I want to explore.
Reservoir Y where there are petroglyphs.
A dairy farm where I stepped in mud as a child with my new school shoes.
The bright lights leading us down main street.
And finally, the last bend at the high school and just a mile till we were home.
These are markers of time and distance I have used for nearly 30 years and I expect I’ll use them for another 30 years to come as I travel the road that leads me home.
Sorry, it’s been a minute folks, life has been happening. So I thought I’d drop in with a quick note about one of my favorite hobbies, podcasting.
I run a podcast with two friends called “Pause, Rewind, Play” and we’ve been doing this off and on since 2019. It’s been one of the longest projects I’ve worked on and one of the most challenging I’ve worked on for many reasons. However, doing a podcast with my friends about movies we enjoy is one of the MOST ENJOYABLE things I have done as an adult.
Our podcast is literally three friends talking about movies, what we enjoyed, the practical effects, excellent & awful CGI, actors, directors, soundtracks, and bigger meanings or stories behind film. Are we professionals? Nope. Do we have nearly 100 episodes under our belt as of today? Yes.
How did this start you ask? Randomly.
Has it been something I’ve enjoyed? Extensively.
Is this post a shameless plug for you to go listen to my podcast? Yes.
Listen anywhere podcasts can be found or head here.
I’d never declare myself to be a strong reader. I tend to slowly read things and often find myself rereading sentences and paragraphs to confirm I’ve correctly understood the material or story. Yet, despite my limits, I really enjoy reading as a form of attaining new information.
I try and have a physical book I’m working through nearby with a soft goal of reading a book a month about something I’m interested in or a story I’ve been told I’d enjoy reading from a friend or family member. Getting book ideas from friends and family can be the best thing or the worst thing for me. The people pleaser in me will read the book for the benefit of receiving further recommended titles but the procrastinator in me will very slowly read the book and derail my reading flow.
I never thought I’d be as much of a book person as I am. I try and read for at least 30 min a day. This gets me away from my computer and phone.
I usually switch from a physical copy of the book to an audiobook format and listen to the book while I bike or drive. This lets me follow through with the recommended reading so I can follow up with the recommender and learn something I might not have sought out myself. I thank the inventor of audiobooks all the time as they’ve helped me through some dull reading at 1.5 speed. (Insert laughing track here)
Some of my favorite books to read include cookbooks, Autobiographies, Informational Books, Coffee Table-esue books that highlight a journey, lifestyle, etc and from time to time I enjoy a well-written trilogy. It’s nice to have something I can step outside of my day to day and enjoy for an hour and just be in the moment. Slowly reading the words over and building the story one line at a time as I go. I’ve used reading as a way to decompress after school, work, and sometimes after family events.
As I mentioned last week I’m still studying at university and I do end up reading heaps of information for my classes. Somehow through all that time, I haven’t lost my love for spending a little time with a book for fun just to zone out. It’s a strange thing to spend hours researching, reviewing, and writing for school on subjects I’m neutral about but if given the opportunity to discuss some of the things I’ve learned from my own reading outside school I’m happy to go all in on these topics anytime, anyplace.
I think I’ve rambled plenty for now so I’ll leave you with this, a few good reads from 2022 thus far.
Work isn’t the worst but it takes up time in my day that I could be doing more enjoyable things.
I guess you could say that waking up in the morning to look at a screen, talk to people, troubleshoot, consult, run scenarios and coach people on how to ____ is an interesting way to spend my day.
Then after my shift is finished at work I close my work computer and open my personal computer and log onto the school site and begin nearly the same amount of time each night learning about what I do in my day job from a different perspective. It’s interesting to be this far in my career and still be a university student at night. It’s not a sad thing, just a draining one that has caused me to feel older than I am yet younger than I am because my time at university has extended far past the usual years one would traditionally spend as a student.
Am I grateful that I have been able to attend college and further my education for the workforce? Yes.
It’s a real balance of thought for me to have always seen the value in a degree. My father never completed school but has ran a business effectively for nearly 40 years, having learned meaning things on the go and as they come up on a need to learn and know basis. I’ve always been of fan of learning things that way so I understand the application of the information rather than just a theory.
In school I’ve often been told this could happen but is unlikely so we’ve decided you need NEED to know it and its going to not make any sense but, you need to learn it to move forward and enter the workforce. That has never made sense to me spending so much time of “What if..” and not effectively running through real world tasks that I can use right away in my day to day work. I once had a class in 2018 where a professor shared data from a pre internet marketing era expressing his belief that the internet would fail sooner or later and print ads still held their weight as the primary marketing we should be running. It was a wild time.
All the “What if…” of school makes me think of this moment from Hercules.
Yet, I’ve seen many people step into university with one plan for their life and walk out with a completely different passion after taking the lower level intro classes. So for some the value changes as they grow and develop. I too changed my major a few times when I started school and yet business and marketing keeps me anchored as my goal for a degree.
I suppose these are just a few of my unorganized thoughts on education and work, with the focus being on school and how I feel about it. I do see an end finally after nearly a decade as a part time student who had worked full time and beyond during that time. I’ll finally see my degree in the spring of 2023.
Casey Yardley 