2024-06-18

This past weekend, I took a class on making flat felt using wet felting techniques.

I wrote about it a bit here: June 2024 - Basic flat felting

2024-06-10

This is an absolutely fascinating presentation from this year's Beyond Tellerand:

No, Seriously, Fuck Engagement

A few of my initial thoughts, in no particular order:

• I'm not sure I buy the mirrors => war chain, but that's not essential to the heart of the argument

• The focus on engagement at all costs is a big part of why I got off Twitter and Facebook and all the rest (I'm still on Mastodon, because it doesn't try so hard). I realized it was bad for my brain.

• I think one of the reasons I'm so happy with my current job is that it does, really, align so well with my values. We're building genuinely useful tools, at a company full of people who honestly care for each other and for the success and happiness of our customers. It's imperfect, of course, and I worry about the next group of shareholders trying to wring more profit out of the company at the expense of its soul, but for now it feels precious and rare.

• I love the idea of people being born whole and complete and themselves, not raw clay to be molded and fired into a desired shape. How many coming-of-age stories have I read about someone breaking free of their parents' hopes and expectations and demands? Tropes are tropes for a reason.

2024-06-09

I loaded myself and the pup into my old little motorhome this weekend and headed down to the beach for some R&R. I came back feeling very chill!

Quintana Beach

2024-05-04

This morning I demonstrated spinning cotton on spindles and wheels for a group of middle- and high-school kids at the Eternal Gandhi museum in Sugar Land.

I say that not to brag, but to share my delight in how fascinated the kids were by the whole process. By the cotton and its seeds, by the tools themselves, by the magic of using something so simple to pull thread out of raw fiber. By the enormous range of possible uses for thread and yarn you spin with your own hands.

This kind of event just absolutely makes my day.

Now I need a nap.

2024-05-03

Can I just tell you how much I love this damned dog? Mud up to her eyeballs and just having a blast.

Taking my dog to daycare sounds like a very pretentious thing to do, but no lie, it's one of the best non-essential things I've ever spent money on. The dog clearly loves it; she gets exercise and entertainment and comes home happy to just snuggle and nap. And it means that I don't have to wear her out on a daily basis, so our play time can be just about enjoying ourselves.