The Hawk Spotting
And other things I noticed and thought about this week
This week I spotted a hawk in the backyard. They sit in the tree and when they fly away it looks like Batman dawning his cape. I saw some small birds follow it which I thought was strange, until a day later I saw the same type of birds attacking a squirrel. They were baby hawks which is a terrifying thought. I try to not think about it too much lately.
Three things that are top of mind for me this week
1. One afternoon this week I was incredibly bored. I didn’t want to do anything. Then I sat outside and I listened to all the people and traffic going by and I realized that there’s no reason to be bored. The world is constantly evolving and shifting, it can be exciting if you let it be. All I really needed that afternoon was a little bit of a break from some tasks that I wasn’t enjoying.
2. Try to make things or do activities without an agenda. Writing music can either be seen as the act of sitting down and trying to earn money, or without an agenda it can be seen as just trying to arrange notes and rhythms together and to see what happens. Similarly, exercise when trying to lose weight is very difficult, but getting moving and being curious about what might happen from pushing outside your comfort zone is easier to handle.
3. What does it mean to have your own back? There are many ways you can slice that one up, but one simple area that people can have their own back with is giving themselves an hour to do things that they enjoy without feeling guilty about it. And that is helped by putting the phone away for that hour, even if it’s spent doing nothing at all.
Notes about the notes: My ideas are logged in a few places, on pen and paper and then in a few writing apps on the iPad. But I keep a Notion file called Idea Log at the End of the Day which tries to take the best ideas that are not based on ranting to myself but have productive use that I want to remember later on.
The reason they go into Notion is because if I’m on my PC when the ideas come up I can’t use any of my Apple-based note tools. If you are looking for another good Mac/iOS app for notes I recommend looking at Bear.
Music Recommendation: Woo
I enjoy the music of these brothers who go by Woo. And they’ve been doing it a long time too. The music can be experimental on some songs but overall they are just simple which is what I enjoy about it. They feel like people working on music in their bedroom which is one of the perfect qualities of recording to me.
Oddly dubby, mesmeric, insular, playful, undefinable, instantly recognisable, warm, romantic, optimistic, ethereal, timeless, pop music for another universe, time-locked into the spirit of ’67, witty yet quintessentially British, futuristic elevator muzak.
- From Woo’s bio on Bandcamp
Listen to the first and second songs on Bandcamp.
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Enjoy the rest of your weekend and may you grab plenty of bagels.
Elliott
p.s. The replay of my workshop Confident (Enough) on Camara from this week is available for purchase.
me too! :)
Ooh - I like this Woo!