Balancing my joy of being enveloped in the autumn atmosphere and aesthetics with my apprehension at the unmistakable chill setting in.

What I've been up to

• The prints I mentioned in the previous newsletter arrived—30ish 4x6s and three 12x18s (one of which is even in a frame now) on a bamboo rag paper. It’s really pleasant interacting with my work this way, and I’ve enjoyed sharing it and reflecting on some photographs I’ve made over the past ten or fifteen years.
• I just scheduled the rest of my days off for the year, and I’m putting loose plans together to figure out what I want to do with them. In preparation of that, I’ve been trying to normalize spending more money on my hobbies. This is an ongoing challenge for me because I’m a natural saver, but I just bought more matcha and canvas and stretcher bars to better enjoy my time ahead, and just started another Franz Kline-inspired painting.
• I made a really silly play in Destiny 2 with some friends and I’m kind of proud of it.

What I've been into

• Future Teens has a new record, and I think it’s easily the best music they’ve released (Apple Music, Spotify)
• The latest Death Cab For Cutie record is great (Apple Music, Spotify)
• I haven’t kept up with The Wonder Years since college, but I really enjoyed stumbling across the single Low Tide from the summer. I tried the full record, The Hum Goes On Forever, and was very impressed (Apple Music, Spotify)
• A friend lent me a collection of Haruki Murakami short stories, and I’ve been keeping it at my nightstand to enjoy before bed. The first time I heard of Murakami, it was from someone referencing his quote, “Between a high, solid wall and an egg that breaks against it, I will always stand on the side of the egg.” If you want to listen to one of his short stories, LeVar Burton reads The Second Bakery Attack on his podcast (Apple Podcasts, Overcast).
• After seeing it mentioned on Todd Vaziri’s Twitter, I sought out the mystery film Confess, Fletch (2022) starring John Hamm, and I really enjoyed it. I read a handful of the Fletch books in college and had a blast with them. This film takes place in the present day and is a nice update from the 70s source material (there are even a couple of references to the pandemic, which is interesting since most media has just pretended it isn’t happening). I was also delighted to see that Robert Picardo, the Emergency Medical Hologram in Star Trek Voyager, has a small role.

Musings

This is the third year I’ve been uncomfortable with the idea of traveling during my time off. Last year and the year before I gave myself four-day workweeks, and this year I’m largely doing the same, but also taking a full week off to give myself a larger stretch of time to recover, because the last time I took a week off was 2019 and I just need a break.

What about you?

Up to anything interesting? Have any thoughts or feelings after reading this? If you want to reach out for any reason, just reply to this email and I’ll write you back ✉️✨