Thanks for the links @WRC
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May 2022 WINDOWS
# WINS
I continued to tick off more of my yearly project goals. I had time to systematically go through the remaining ones to make detailed 2-20 minute starts for each.
Plotkin Update: I spent some time at the end of April alone in the wilderness talking to each part of my ego corresponding to the different cardinal directions. I was working on thanking these different aspects but also asking for support as I transition away from FTE to work on art and my "FREEDOM TO MOTHERFUCKERS!" project. I ended in the West direction and then started running down the trail. I almost stepped on a Northern Rubber Boa (Charina bottae). I stopped and moved it off the trail. These are widely distributed snakes on the West Coast, but are not often out during the day. I encountered another one as it snuck into the studio apartment I was renting next to a natural area when I was living in the city. I thought it was a fake snake curled up on the floor, but it moved! After positioning on some white paper to do a dramatic photo shoot, I let it go in the garden. An interesting coincidence between the two events is the last time the Rubber Boa came for a visit I had just finished a long journal entry about life direction and made a mental commitment to the direction I was headed 5 years ago. A fun story to add to my personal mythology. Some might say the Rubber Boa is my spirit animal and that I should consider getting a tattoo (a friend told me this after telling this story). The thing is... the Rubber Boa is a light brown completely smooth snake that basically looks like a turd. No tattoos for me.
We sourced and seeded 1/4 of our backyard with Pacific Northwest wildflowers as we transition the lawn into habitat and food production.
# IMPROVEMENTS
All this Plotkin internal work has made me really calm about doubling down on my FREEDOM TO! vision. I get to pick and choose the confirmatory details of my own life story.
I have been sick for the past few weeks with a low level cough from post nasal drip. The cough starts after I lay down for bed, but I feel fine otherwise. I took 7 days off cardio exercise because I did not want this to turn into an upper respiratory infection. May was suppose to be the peak month for training for my race so this sickness was a bit of a bummer in that dimension (although I had a lot more time sitting around and thinking based projects). I think before we left on our trip I was nearing the threshold of overtraining and this additional stress pushed me over the edge allowing me to be more susceptible to whatever viral thing I had. No more travel during peak training as these can both be coordinated well in advance.
I had more time than usual this month to lay in my bed and think. I thought a lot about my personal risk ecosystem involving my habits, people around me, general environment, managed environment, activities, etc. This more rational view of my situation basically leads me to the same conclusions as the less rational Plotkin style explorations. Not having cognitive dissonance with either of these modes of thinking (talking with nature and spirit animal snakes aside), contributes to the confidence in my general bearing and contentment with a life of exploring with no specific destination in mind. Water flowing through rocks.
# NEW DIRECTIONS
The eco-MMG challenged me to think/research ways that art and science could be combined or synergistic to one another. I found that there is an entire discipline of "Nature Science Illustration" that is more rigorous with data, measurements of specimens, etc. They have a guild with regular meetings and some more standardized techniques. I would have thought that this is a dying art form, but with many scientific journals switching to visual abstracts (especially in the biological sciences), there is a resurgence and a decent demand for these skills. Furthermore, there is a growing set of science/art grants for comics and other visual narrative science communication. The plan is to spend some more time on some of the illustrations I am already doing of local nature to meet this higher standard and develop a portfolio around it.
Relationship breakthrough. We both are fairly tidy people, but we were neglecting some of the deeper cleaning to properly take care of our house. We agreed to 25 minutes of actual cleaning (not just tidying) in shared spaces per day.
Lettering technique takes a long time to master. I decided to be a little more strict on these reviews to practice this for comics.
# DRAWING
I was able to sketch/paint scenes at cafes, bars, and restaurants in New York. I heard 8 languages being spoken in a single day as I observed the world flowing by. Sketching in public provides a conversation starter with strangers that were usually also tourists. haha. Next time I am in a major city I want to be much better at sketching humans and poses. I tended to focus on objects not in motion, but for such a fast moving city this is only half of the story. The other drawing stats are on the sketchnote.
# OUTDOOR ADVENTURE
Despite being sick, I still moved a lot. See VO2max thread for hillclimb details and foraging log for morels. The local library always has a rack of old books and magazines they are giving away. I took home some old National Geographic and Outside magazines to sketch from and deconstruct the articles/illustrations as inspiration for the Freedom To! blog posts. My hamstrings are tight AF so I am working on Elephant Walks for now thanks to @sleven. I like these because they do not need a bench for me to put my leg up on. I can do them while my pour over is dripping.
# WORK
Continuing with the blog, I am getting a raise, transitioning to saving a larger cash buffer for FREEDOM TO! lifestyle without withdrawing from other accounts, finished some figure drafts for a paper, and am in contact with 2 of the 5 large consulting firms about consulting projects based on my current work. One is much more likely to lead to something than the other, but I want to have options for negotiation purposes. A nice outcome would be a year's worth of expenses for a few weeks worth of work spread out over a few months to keep the cash buffer high.
# SOCIAL
A lot of general humanity this month. We attended my partner's roommate's wedding in NYC (she used to live there). It was fun to see everyone and see my partner's old haunts, but we blew 3 months of eating out budget in 5 days. Another downside was to save money on flights we flew at strange times throwing off sleep schedules and likely contributing to my cold (not covid).
We attended a celebration of life potluck for a running friend's parent that passed away. The relief felt by her family was palpable.
We hosted/cooked for a bunch of out of town friends for a local bike race. I did not race, but took care of our friend's 8 month old so they could race. The baby and I came to a quick agreement. I let him out of his pen to crawl around and mop the floors with his belly in exchange for a diaper change, a bottle, and a quiet place to nap. This worked out well without too many tears (from me).
Our retired friend that lives in the next town that is making all the rogue MTB trails (see up-thread) is a renaissance man in his own way. He was an executive chef at one point and is a huge food nerd. He makes his own whiskey and we went over for a tasting and dinner. I have been trending towards the sober train for a while now, but this was a fun opportunity to smell and sip whiskeys at various stages. He chars his own oak chips and uses those instead of barrels to increase the surface area contact of the distilled spirits in his small pantry operation.