A Small Batch Of Updates
Urgent Message For The Vehicle Owner
It's still a little jarring each time the phone rings, in the normal way that it's jarring when the phone rings. But it's nice being drawn out of whatever nonsense I'm in, to respond to a bell with these refrains. Generally speaking it's OK to call, though a text first is maybe best practice. I talked to Tom the other day but I texted first like "want to get a coffee later aka talk on the telephone?". I had a hard time making telephone room until I remapped it this way. I love to get a coffee more than I don't like talking on the telephone.
Bathroom
OK this is another phone one-- I tried all year to set a rule that I can't bring my phone into the bathroom. Looking at the phone in the bathroom is something I do occasionally and something that I don't like that I do. But in my attempt to make a rule against it, I found that I still do it occasionally, either I just find myself doing it out of habit, or I have full awareness that I'm breaking a rule but "whatever". Both instances force a decision of "I'll just do it this time" which isn't helpful to the mental state. Sitting there looking at my phone thinking "why am I looking at my phone" is sort of a double whammy.The new way avoids the shame spiral-- I just try and remember to put my phone on the table outside the bathroom, then there's no decision to make, and no judgement if I forget. And only by avoiding judgement can I use my time in there effectively-- by staring at the tiles, watching the light move, thinking about nothing, doing a geometry problem in my head, or reading from the book of poetry that's right there (Wallace Stevens). The bathroom is a no-where place disconnected from the rest of the house by utility, material, and a particular set of furniture and appliances that exists nowhere else. It is a place to access running water and to be running water, a place to connect with the infinite, casually and for brief unchecked periods of time. It's the most profane place in the house, which in some ways makes it the most sacred. Personally I feel like it's not a place to scroll through news items while someone outside wonders if you're alright in there. I'm not alright in there. I'm not even there in there. I'm nowhere in there.
Shoe Lace
I started lacing my shoes so the laces go from the outside moving inward, not from the inside moving outward. This way the final bit, the part you tie, is on the inside of the flap, and as a result it stays tied better, and you can tuck the loops into the shoe if you really want security, or if it's gross out and you want to keep the laces dry.There's a lot of ways to lace your shoes but as I see it there's basically a bunch of crazy ways, and then 1 regular way with 2 variants. I used to do the other regular way and now I do this one-- from the outside, moving inward. Maybe if my lifestyle changes and I'm taking my shoes on and off all the time I'd go back to the other way, inside moving outward-- that way is easier to untie, easier to loosen up. Maybe one day I'll wake up and really go show dog on the laces, and make a spider web or a pentagram or something. For now though it's like this.
We're Gonna Go Through
OK, as of this week, it's been a whole year since I returned to this castle with regular writing. As some of you may remember, I registered and inhabited Fujichia.com in 1999 and more or less abandoned it ten years later, in 2009. Around 2015 I took all the old posts down, and in January 2019 I rebuilt it in its current form, with the intent of writing weekly posts, some of which would be good, all of which would at least have some cool parts.
thank you tony for reminding me of this one
Since January 2019 I've had just about a post a week, though I skipped two (or three?) non-consecutive weeks for no "real" reason beyond "not feeling it right now" (which is real). Mostly it's been fun writing again, and I'm delighted to be back in this legacy space. Occasionally I felt like "I wish I didn't have to do this right now", but most of these times I pushed through or got around. And most of the time when I pushed through I was happy I did.
Usually I love benchmarks like this-- I love New Year's, my birthday, other people's birthdays, other culture's New Years, etc.. But this year has been so twisted I feel like all non-mission-critical benchmarks are in lowercase. Anyway the update here is that instead of celebrating a year of maintaining a regular writing practice, I've decided to begin preparations for the thousand year anniversary of the castle, which will be in 2999.
To be clear, I'm still thinking it out what this decacentennial celebration is going to be-- I don't really have an idea yet, I just thought it would be nice to have something fun to look forward to. I mean I haven't booked any musical acts or anything, and as far as food, are we gonna do a sit-down thing? Or like a carnival thing with a bunch of food stands out on the lawn? I haven't decided. What month of 2999 is this going to take place? No idea. I'll issue a more formal proclamation later, as the date creeps closer. The important part here is that I have formalized the decision to have a thousand year anniversary of the castle, and that decision is yes.
Also I already made merch for it :)
If you want one of these embroidered patches (roughly 3"x4½") just go to the castle's temple area and donate $7 or more and I'll mail one out immediately. Be sure to include your address in the paypal form.
The obvious utility for a patch like this is to sew it to an item of clothing, but you could also just pin it to the wall as a small artwork, put it in a small drawer as a memento, or sew it on to a blanket, which is an object that is simultaneously a piece of clothing, a wall, and a small drawer.
Oh, and international shipping is included, although it looks like it's taking a long time (sorry Charlotte!).
The temple area is here: [link]
Thank you everyone for hanging out with me in the castle this past year! And thank you for the donations and the nice messages!
links / misc
- FANG Community Bail Fund: [link]
- A few weeks ago I shared a link about how the workers of White Electric coffee shop have been trying to buy the business out and run it as a worker's co-op. The update is that last week the owners agreed to the sale! They still need to raise some money, if you want to help them or just read more about it you can do so here: [link].
- Jeremy Harris of Lazy Magnet has a new online TV show! It's a talk / variety format, and it was called "Everything I Touch I Destroy" but on episode four the title drifted to "Everything I Touch I Enjoy". It streams live on a variety of platforms and each episode is archived on youtube here: [youtube]
- I am indebted to Ella Longpre for the phone on the table idea, although she puts her phone in a handsome basket on the wall, that's a great move. Ella is going to be in an experimental criticism symposium on February 25th, it's like a ZOom thing and there's more info here: [link]
- As I did in January 2020, I went through my (offline) journal and made a list of every movie I watched the previous year, including rewatches, with a brief description. I was going to make this a post but really this is strictly for the "long lists of movies" fans, so I put it with other misc writing, in the castle library. Of course I'm interested in messages of the sort "if you liked [this movie] you should check out [this other movie]". And also if anyone wants to rap with me about Tora-San I would love that. [link].
- I mailed out all the Strawberry Band patches weeks ago, but it's still possible that some of them didn't arrive, because the mail has been chaotic, but I think they should mostly be there by now. Please let me know if yours didn't show up! They're officially sold out but I saved a few to account for mailing mishaps. The Strawberry Band recording is still available of course, it's an mp3 that you can just download and listen to immediately. [link]
If you got here through a link, click here to go outside and come back in: [outside]
Archives of previous posts is here, in the coat room: [coatroom] To sign up to get these posts in your email for free, click here: [substack]
To write me a nice message, use the contacts page: [link]
To leave a little donation to help in the maintance of this castle, OR to simply hear the sound of a large bell, which is good luck, visit the temple area: [link]
As always, if you're bugging out or need a respite from endlessly scrolling the feed, you are welcome to hang out in the castle as long as you want. :)
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