This week will be a breeze due to the fact that I haven’t had any days off since our last Weeknotes post. This is due to the fact that I requested off this upcoming weekend to take my cousin’s senior pictures.
🎓 When I started my photography gig, I rejoined the major corporate silos because those are the platforms that the customers who shop my store spend their free time. Due to my dedicated position at work, I’ve earned myself a bit of a reputation not only at my store, but in the smalltown that I live in. I wanted to use that to my advantage so I could show these lovely people that I’m talented at more than just the Art of Cutting Beef. On Facebook and Instagram the senior photos of locals are starting to pop up on these social networks. It blows my mind the amount of people who took their senior photos with an iPhone 14. It’s a little discouraging but after a conversation with my Sister, she lifted me right out of that fog and put my ass back on the path.
🎶 How do you describe finding new music nowadays? I used to say things like “I stumbled upon a new artist” but the reality is the algorithms fed it to me, and this time it was a hit. The artist brought to attention is named Federico Albanese, specifically the EP entitled “Shadowland”. I expanded my listening to their newer album called “Before And Now Seems Infinite” The platforms classify his music as “neu Classical” but they found a good home in my Classical directory on my local external hard drive. They have an EP coming out on September 22nd entitled “Days of Passage” I will include one of his songs off the Shadownland album down low under the Media header.
🥶 Had inventory at work on Monday night. I went in and worked unofficially, that is to say, off the clock, for five hours on Sunday night after I worked my shift during the day and organized the hell out of the freezer, the most neglected area of my store and any grocery store. People struggle with dealing with the cold, and for whatever reason do not dress appropriately at work for situations that might call for them to be in the cold for a prolonged period of time. I’m often asked why I am not cold at work. People can see with their eyes that despite the fact that it’s often 85-90 degrees outside, I’m always wearing a Carhartt vest and a Carhartt Heavyweight Rain Defender hoodie. But that’s not it by a longshot. It only takes two days of work to have a full load of laundry to do and this is why:
Head
- Duluth Trading Company waxed canvas “cadet hat”
- Gaiter (neck)
Chest
- A-shirt/tank top
- Long sleeve Base layer (85% Polyester / 15% spandex)
- Carhartt Force T Shirt
- Carhartt Longsleeve T Shirt
Waist
- Suspenders (Yes, you read that right)
Legs
- Protective Knee Pads (Bodyprox from Amazon. I’ve bought probably a half a dozen pairs over the years, always this brand I wear them until they’re not actually protecting my knees anymore)
- Base layer shorts (85% Polyester / 15% spandex)
- Carhartt work pants
Feet
- Carhartt Wool Boot Socks
- Carhartt Work Boots
This outfit is the spring/summer/fall setup, and more layers are added once the snow starts to fall. Some of my youngest coworkers in other parts of the store will show up to work wearing Yeezy Adidas shoes ), sweatpants and a tshirt while simultaneously complaining about how “This job sucks you’re always freezing!” I would be freezing too if I wore pajamas to work.
📖 Picked up David Goggins’ book Can’t Hurt Me, and I am sure glad that I did. I haven’t flown thru a book as quickly as that one since I read Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman. His origin story was hard to swallow and it’s mind-bending to me how he could go from that to where he is today. He has every excuse and justifiable reason to be a big cause of trouble in this world, but instead this guy dug up underneath himself in ways people only dream of doing. I’m thinking about taking his advice and setting up an Accountability Mirror. His take no prisoners approach to all of life’s problems is very captivating and I hope to utilize some of that mindset on some of my own personal demons.
🍲 One of these demons, and possibly my biggest one is nutrition, or the complete lack there of. With the exception of the time I shattered my kneecaps, I don’t think I’ve actually been to see a doctor since I was a young child. But I would be willing to bet that I probably have some unintentional form of anorexia nervosa. While my BMI isn’t extremely low, it is a humble 16.6. I say “some form of” because I don’t necessarily have the symptoms as they are described. I don’t have anything against the act of eating, I just often don’t have time to prepare food, or am not hungry. I also drink a shit ton of coffee which I think helps make me not want to eat. I’m approaching seven years as a butcher and the lack of nutrition is starting to tax my body while I’m at work, no longer just immediately afterward.
🎒 My Wandrd 9L Sling has been a godsend for me so far for my camera gear. The only downside is I have amassed enough gear that it’s capacity is often being tested, or I’m taking a second bag with me. After inventory (Tuesday morning) I ordered a PRVKE bag. It showed up today! The advantages of being close to a Chicago warehouse I do suppose. They said 3-7 business days, and I got it in two. I had debated on getting this one first, but didn’t carry enough gear with me to justify all the space. Lens hoods, a speedlight, light diffusers, the space adds up quick. I got the Sedona Orange because it’s the same color the counter top was in the house I grew up in. I’ll be breaking it in this weekend when I take the senior photos for my cousin as mentioned earlier.
⌛ Decided to install ActivityWatch on my main computer again. Think of it as “Screen Time” like the iOS has, but for your computer. I wanted to pinpoint more exactly where all my time goes and ActivityWatch seems to be the best approach to getting that accomplished. Additionally I thought I may also confess to where some of that time goes in these Weeknotes posts.
🚴♂️ Lastly, I thought about ways of forcefully introducing pain and suffering into my life. One of the easiest ways would be to start biking to work. Around midnight last night, I took a ride to work on my bike to time it on my watch. I stopped at every major business parking lot and did a lap around it to account for traffic that would be present on the road if I was actually riding to work. I got there in approximately 13 minutes. Which is strange, because it takes about 10 in the car. That’s a real head-scratcher. It’s possible to catch three sets of lights in a car tho, so I wonder if that’s the culprit here. Admittidly I feel a little stupid not having had this thought myself, but we all have blind spots. Some larger than others. Sometimes I wonder if I can see at all. 🙈
Music Stats for Week 32
I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it. — Pablo Picasso
Rotated SomaFM channels this week
- Folk Forward
- Lush
- Groove Salad Classic
Top 7 Artists
- Akira the Don & David Goggins
- Xander.
- Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
- George Ezra
- Nirvana
- Akira the Don & Jordan Peterson
- Federico Albanese
Top 7 Albums
- Restful Holidays (Lofi Girl compilation)
- Chillout Essentials Summer 2023
- Akira the Don & David Goggins – Goggins
- Late Night Tales presents After Dark: Vespertine
- Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – The Boatmans’ Call
- Chillhop Essentials Summer 2016
- Chillhop Essentials Summer 2017
Top 7 Tracks
“Island Bossa” – Casiio x TwoFiveOne x No Spirit
“Come Home” – Dan Wainwright
“L’Été Éternel” – flaneur x marsquake x Phlocalyst
“Idle Hours” – Island Band
“Nijána” – Jana Koubkova
“Picnic In The Park” – Laffey x azayaka
“Waterfront” – Lilac x Softy x Jam addict
That is all for now. I gave up on spelling and grammar checks to prove my humanity. I may come back at a later time and add links.
It is currently Thursday, August 10, 2023 19:04, have a great day. 🌸
Media
Top Track – Week 31
“Island Bossa” – Casiio x TwoFiveOne x No Spirit
“Shadow Land Part II (Live from The Blue Hour)” – Federico Albanese
Weekshots – Week 32
A couple of photos taken with the phone in the last 7 days.
