opening mail
my desk today
i really like saving up a bunch of mail for a bit to open all at once — not like, bills or other time-sensitive things, but fun mail. stuff like the postcards & stickers in that photo, from cheyenne barton’s patreon, or letters from friends.
i spent most of my morning in bed after waking up at 6:45 to watch the 3.4 genshin impact livestream, and only got up a few minutes ago. i was supposed to go to the dmv today but the thought of going outside is sort of filling me with dread, so i rescheduled my appointment for a couple weeks later & now i have the whole day to myself. i have a bunch of little chores i want to take care of — first thing on the list was opening mail.
pretty dregs
i had a whole backlog of things from patreon to open, plus a few holiday cards from friends that i was saving to open on a calmer day. i also got a big census envelope in the mail this week, but i’m ignoring that today in favor of the fun stuff. i’ll get to it later.
my wall of fun stuff
today i got to add four postcards, a handwritten note that made me smile, and a painting done by a friend to the wall above my desk. i think i’m starting to run out of space, but i’ll manage.
hello i’m back at work
my desk this morning
it’s a thursday, but it feels like a monday. i’ve got a full slack inbox & and an empty new hobonichi, ready to scribble in with my also-new pens.
i’ve missed sitting at my desk! i’ve missed typing on my little keyboard! i’ve had a nice break from everything, visiting family & playing video games & giving myself permission to not think about projects and stuff. but it is good to be back in my regular routines, even if it feels a bit like picking up breath of the wild for the first time in months and forgetting how to take out my wind glider.
my therapist told me my routines are very important to me (she’s right, and i knew that). breaks are nice, but i have a hard time feeling like a person again after going a week without getting up at my usual time & making a cup of tea first thing in the morning. i’m sure most people feel the same — i don’t mean the pretty, idealized, lifestyle-bloggy morning routines; i just mean the things you do every day that you don’t really notice or think about until they’re missing. i snooze my alarm once every morning on principle, whether i need to or not.
<3
i got some pens
mmm matcha
happy sunday. i got some new toys :)
i never understood the fountain pen hype because i’ve never actually used a good one. but i was browsing jetpens last week looking for a notebook that would change my brain chemistry (didn’t end up getting one — the several unfilled notebooks i have are fine) and wandered into a post about different kinds of pens & which one is right for you etc etc etc. (i got two of their recommended “best gel pen,” the uni-ball signo um-151.)
somehow from there i ended up reading “The Best Beginner Fountain Pens” & adding the platinum preppy fine nib + the pilot kakuno medium nib to my cart. so now i’ve got two fountain pens.
my jetpens order
i was worried i wouldn’t like them, or that i wouldn’t be able to write well with them, or whatever. but they’re actually really, really nice — they’re so smooth & easy to write with. i get why people like these now. (there’s also just something fun about having a pen that requires more care & maintenance than your average rollerball; it’s like a pet.)
pilot kakuno writing sample
the pens i steal from hotels get the job done just as well as anything else, and i can scribble notes on whatever piece of paper i have in front of me — that’s all i need. but it’s nice to have a little treat sometimes.
good morning
hi i guess. it’s been a while since i did any kind of blogging—i don’t really know how to begin.
i started reading the iliad last night & got very worked up at nearly 3 a.m. about the fact that i was reading a story that people were enjoying ~2700 years ago. so many things feel ephemeral—how many people are downloading their twitter archive right now for fear of their tweets being lost? (and will they ever even look at it?)—but somehow i can read a story on my ipad that’s so old we barely know anything about the origin of it. what? ok.
i don’t think i ever want to make something that lasts that long. i don’t think that i could, anyway. i’m content to tinker away at my little ideas & projects without the threat of longevity.
when i was a kid using the family computer in the basement, i used to have bookmark folders of blogs & websites i liked, and i’d check them every so often to see what was new. it’s hilarious to me to think of a time where i didn’t rely on feeds. anyway: if you want, you can keep up with my posts here via rss. if you’re more of a newsletter person, there are a bunch of rss-to-email services out there—feedrabbit is one with a decent free tier.
🫡