Every day you experience new things. These sights, smells and events will collide and combine to form not only your memory but your identity. This newsletter is a metaphor for this process, as I collect ideas every week and continue to refine my perspective on what it means to be alive here. Plodding through the universe, one letter and piece of music at a time.
One early morning this week I was in a fitness class when a bunch of fire trucks showed up on the street outside the class. There is nothing exciting to this part of the story except that it was dark out so the lights from the fire trucks were making their way into the room. You could see the distraction take hold of the attendees, wondering what was going on outside and if it concerned them.
Then at one point, I was back on a treadmill by the window, and a fire truck flipped on a flood light. Now this is really distracting, but I noticed that the flood light was on the side of the truck to help the firefighters see their equipment better.
We are so used to working in well-lit situations that we take it for granted what it’s like to operate in the absence of it. Just go camping and see how quickly things become challenging without headlamps and lanterns.
And inside of this, I see a metaphor for everyday life. When we don’t have any clarity about what we want and where we want to go, we fumble around in the dark taking whatever scraps people give us.
Turning on lights might be uncomfortable for people around us (like me on the treadmill that morning), but you have to make a path for yourself however you can. Do you know what you want from your limited time on this planet?
Three Ideas from My Notebooks
When you find a piece of kleenex in your coat pocket, do a little inspection on it and figure out if it’s been used. If you are 100% sure this has not been tampered with then keep it in your pocket. But if you have any shadow of a doubt that there are some remnants on there, discard at once.
From Teddy I have learned that bribery works better at the beginning. I will give him a cookie up front to get him to surrender himself for a walk, instead of the old way which was letting him run around the house and then I give him the cookie after I had to chase him around a few times. In the first option I feel like the situation is under control even though I had to give up a cookie right away. In the second situation, I will still give up a cookie but my ego is battered. Always find clever ways to protect your ego.
This week think of ways you can set up your workspace and your tools to promote focus. This can be the smaller items like checking if your eReader is the right text size so that you move through the pages easily. Also pay attention to the space around your monitor and screen and if your eyes keep going off of it then make some adjustments to the clutter around you.
New Music by Elliott: Searchlights
This is a 14 minute piece, and its long run time lines up with my idea of ambient music in that it doesn’t subscribe to any script or structure. Short pieces of music were convenient for radio play but long pieces create an environment for you to exist in.
Listen for the subtle, repeating melody that weaves its way in and out throughout the duration. The swelling guitar sound is a form of Frippertronics which is named after the long delays that Robert Fripp from King Crimson invented.
Find it on Spotify, Apple Music or search most streaming services to save it to your library.
Paid subscribers of the Sunday Bagel are sent a digest of my music with mp3 downloads (called “extra bagels). Redeem the Fall Special below.
Thanks for reading and if anything here was interesting to you then feel free to write me back or leave a comment.
See you next week,
Elliott