Between all the News and divorce stuff, I am finding it difficult to avoid depression. Days are a slog and progress on TSG pages are agonizingly slow. I did however manage to pump these out:
Was planning on writing my newsletter today, but could not find the time, energy, or peace of mind to do so.
After having had a second bike stolen in Houston—from inside my building of residence no less—I have decided to acquire a foldable commuter bike for my transportation needs, something I can carry up the stairs with relative ease and tuck away in one of the corners of my abode.
It's an adequately minimalist thing; single speed and breaks by pedaling backwards. No wires, no fuss. Considerably lightweight at 26 lbs (11.8 kg) and surprisingly comfy to ride. This is the Judd folding bike from Retrospec. I'm thinking of maybe replacing the straight handlebar with Dutch-style one for added riding comfort, knowing that it would no longer fold as well with the handlebar attached. But I think I may be able to live with that.
Still raining profusely. This throws a dent in my morning walk routine which doubles as my daily grocery run, and thus I am without food this morning.
Will have to resort to having stuff delivered, something I've been successful at avoiding for a time now. It's okay to make exceptions every now and again though.
Rain is my kryptonite. In fact, all weather conditions aside from temperate blue skies are my kryptonite. What can I say; I'm a spoiled child of the Mediterranean.
It's been raining nonstop since sunrise.
Sunrise in this case being a misnomer because there has been no sight of sun at all, which depresses me to no end and catapults me to the deep ends of low-energy fatigue.
Will have to cook something nice and curl up with a book later.
Wrapped up thumbs on THE SOLAR GRID, Ch. 8 (#9) and started on pencils. Feels good. The 198th newsletter was sent out a few days ago, considering taking a different direction with the thing come #200. Perhaps something more column-like.
Bicycle thieves are the scum of the Earth.
Choppiest sleep I've had in a long time, after weeks of less-than-ideal sleep. My smartwatch has given me a score of 53 with the notice “needs attention.”
Historically, I've always been a pretty sound sleeper, so I'm quite positive that this lack of sleep is coming from my biological alert system, the internal chemicals that tell you to stay on your feet and maintain caution. Our bodies are after all hardwired to be ready for danger. Experience passed down from one generation to the next over hundreds of thousands of years. That kind of experience does not lie.
A book I attempted to read in my early 20's but never quite got into has been on my mind lately: HOW TO BE GOOD by Nick Hornby. I turned to it on the strength of Hornby's other immensely popular novel, HIGH FIDELITY, but despite the enjoyable writing style, I found the subject matter of divorce to be way far removed from where I was at the time. Now that I'm going through a divorce of my own twenty years later—one that is getting evermore sour by the minute—I am considering taking another look at Hornby's book, because I remember its take as being fun and humorous, which is a miraculous feat if the developments of my own divorce are anything to go by.
Attempting to codify how my week goes as well as pinpoint areas that could use improvement. The thing I'm proudest of the most is managing to maintain a regular exercise routine; everyday at noon. I've also managed to incorporate a morning walk 3 days a week (which doubles as my grocery run), in addition to the bike ride to and from my former place of residence to care for my son 4 times a week (that ride will now be 5 times a week though as he's just started soccer practice). It should be noted that a typical day clearly does not end at 7:00 pm. More like midnightish, but the 7:00 to 7:00 is the part I feel requires the most structure.
The things I'm not entirely proud of: 1. Only two days a week for writing/drawing, amounting to no more than 8 hours in total. Presently, this is the time I dedicate to working on THE SOLAR GRID which explains why it is moving at such a slow pace. Not entirely sure how to carve out more time for it when I also absolutely need to block out time to handle things like: other art stuff, fulfilling online orders, email, and accounting on top of newslettering and social media posts.
Would really like to make blogging a daily habit too, just one post a day if I can muster it.
Need to work in some time for website updates, which I haven't done in a very long time. Best if worked into the weekly routine to avoid updates becoming this big time-consuming ordeal.
Reading; Right now I read whenever I can steal a moment. It works alright, but I'd prefer a more codified timeslot.
Meal prep: I'm terrible at figuring out a good meal-prep routine. I cook every night of the week, and it does take it its toll. Need to figure out two days a week where dinner prep is intended for 3-4 days' worth of meals, but also need to come up with the sort of meals best suited for that kind of lifestyle. I enjoy devising scrumptious dinners—sometimes elaborate—a little too much.
I try to reserve the majority of Saturday as a “Day of Rest” if I can manage it; Soak in a bath, shave my chest, clip my fingernails, that sort of thing, but it rarely works out that way if I'm being honest. This Saturday I'm attending an art talk and also a birthday for example. The first half of Sunday is mostly about spending quality time with my son. Following that, there's only really enough room to cook dinner, tidy around the house, do some laundry, and get ready for the week ahead!
Sim Kern's THE FREE PEOPLE'S VILLAGE release at Brazos Bookstore the other day went superbly well. It was a full house, and their conversation with Ehigbor Okosun was engaging, funny, and informative. The best part for me was for sure getting to see Sim in person (and also editor Irene Vasquez!) who despite living in the same city and getting to design their book cover, I actually don't really see much of at all.
So, the above photo bringing Sim, Irene, and myself all together in the same physical space is in actually a very rare occurrence indeed.