Weekly Update, August 16, 2021

Hey y’all, it’s been a few weeks since I did an update so I figured I would do one.

Black Lives Matters

Like every week (it seems) that I don’t have much to say other than to bring up the fact that Black Lives Matters and for the palm colored people who are reading this, do yourself a favor and find some content creators that are Black and follow them. Just because however many Black people you have on your life that you are listening to on a regular basis, it is not enough.

Professional

So I’ve got this thing going this week that means I cannot talk about work stuff, but I’ll explain what happened (if I can) next week.

Politics

There is much that could be said about politics, particularly about the ending of the war in Afghanistan but instead I’m just going to skip it this week and let other people have the hot takes. I will just say I am glad there is one less war the United States is involved in, and I wish there were fewer still (ideally none). I also remember protesting the war before it started as a high school student because it seemed like the writing was on the wall and all the arguments that were made back then for why the war wasn’t a good idea turned out to be true. However, I’ve already written more than I wanted so let’s just move on real quick.

Personal

There are three things that I want to share about here. First thing I want to write about is skateboarding. I realized that I wasn’t nearly as strong skating switch (or goofy, which is skating with my right foot forward and pushing with my left foot). I’ve seen the advice of TikTok user Switchflip Jones and every skate session for the last week has been goofy. I will tell you next week how big a difference it made, but I can say for sure that I feel almost as confident pushing switch as I do pushing regular, and that will really help me in the long run.

Second is that I recently finished the book “Mutt: How to skateboard and not kill yourself” by my favorite skater of all time, Rodney Mullen. I thought it was really interested to read about how much he loved (well perhaps loves is the better word) skateboarding and would spend so much of his childhood thinking about the physics of skating and how to create tricks no one had ever seen before. If you don’t know much about skateboarding, you might not know that Rodeny Mullen invented many of the modern skateboard tricks, including how people currently do ollies and kickflips to maybe dozens or more tricks. Someone (perhaps it was my therapist) asked me if he ever explained how to skateboard without killing yourself and I don’t think he actually did. Part of the issue of skateboarding is that falling is part of the game. Even if you do everything right, you can still hit a rock too big for your wheel to handle and you can go right over the board. Like in life, you can do everything right and still lose. I think it’s a very valuable lesson to learn. Skateboarding is much more Zen than I ever could have imagined, but that’s a discussion for another third.

Third and final thing I want to share is that I’ve been making really slow progress on this secret project I’ve been working on for the last few months. I can’t tell you for certain why I am even keeping it a secret except that I’ve been trying to cultivate an aura of mystique and not showing my face or revealing my identity is, in a way, forcing me to rely just on talent and not like word of mouth. Put another way, I’m trying to build something that isn’t just my friends supporting me, but instead might build a different and unique opportunity. Let me put this a third way – I am trying to achieve one of my lifelong dreams and it’s easier to work on something in silence so if you fail, only a few people close to you know. I’ve been putting lots of time and effort into this project and I believe in myself and look forward to being able to say it is a success.

All of that is a really long way of saying that some day I’m going to reveal this cool project that I’ve been working on, but for now I will say that I am happy and excited to be working on something new. Someone said that starting out is the best time to do something because you are growing the fastest. Once you’ve been doing something for a few years, it takes way longer to get the breakthroughs that you can get after a few weeks and then a few months of something new.

Anyway, my dog is upset that I’m still in my office so I’m going to end for this week. I hope you have a good one and check back next week for more life updates!

People to follow (on Twitter)

Bernice King - The daughter of Dr. King

Martin Luther King III - The son of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

@cetolyne - great friend, awesome programmer, super helpful!

@blenster - cool maker, very positive, well worth a follow!

Marley - first place champ! Marley is one of the best on Twitter!

Null Coder - another awesome person to keep an eye on!

@EvilMog - creator of the DC MUD and an interesting person to follow.

TrakoZG – an internet friend who tweets excellent things

Sofia Rune – brilliant scholar who shares things that are both insightful and valuable

MildThrone – up and comer with a small following for now, but I think this account is on the rise!

Johnny B. Ill – Brilliant musician with wisdom to share for those smart enough to listen

Tiffany Collins - This is my wife, who is making cool art and is well worth a follow!

My music project - This is my music project, Dude and the missing rugs (I know that I link to it below, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to list it twice).

One last thing – for the music and art lovers

If you want to find what I am doing on other platforms, this is my TikTok here is my YouTube channel and here is the music project Twitter. Finally, if you want to listen to the full songs that I’ve recorded, you can check out my Spotify or search most music platforms for, “Dude and the missing rugs.”

My wife is making incredible art, and this is her website where you can buy her prints/stickers, here is her TikTok she is also on Instagram and Twitter. Finally, if you like her art you can support her on Patreon as well!

That’s it for this week, internet friend! Thanks for reading this far! I hope you have a very nice day and a most excellent week.

Cheers!

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