good morning ~
today’s track is near the pinnacle of what I’d call “nice-sounding.” There are three things present: a descending bassline, an ascending sample of my own voice, and a sustained chord like water rippling. the track art is simply a rainbow I saw outside of a bar last weekend.
(by the way, you should click on the image/link above to listen!)
by the time you read this, I will be four days deep on a lake filled with loons near the border of Canada. writing in advance, it feels a little bit terrible to title this email something about hope and realism - it feels today like the world is going to change tremendously in the week I’ll be out of cell service. what will have happened by the time we connect to the internet again? I just hope you stay safe
today’s writing is a series of prompts - I tried to write something to remind myself how to talk to people as it feels like I’ve forgotten. there is more than small talk available to us. enjoy, see you soon
Have you felt elation recently? If yes, what caused the elation? Is it something that can be easily duplicated? And the experience of the elation itself, did it feel like an isolated incident? Or was it part of some long, unbroken chain of joy, connected to every other moment of joy you have previously experienced? Imagine that your joy is an active volcano, brimming with liquefied rock - this moment of elation is something like an eruption. If you haven’t felt elation recently, why do you think that is?
Consider the next hour or so of your time, what do you hope will happen? Is that hope realistic?
What is the most undeniably perfect bite of food you have eaten in the last year or so? Was it nourishing, perfectly balanced, or simply delicious? Was it a small bite or a huge bite? Did you savor it long enough?
On a related note, have you recently spent money in an absolutely ideal way recently? Did you buy something that you love and get a lot of satisfaction out of, or did you get a great deal on something? Did you invest in something that’s paying off, however you take that to mean? Is there something you very much want to buy?
Consider the next day or so of your time, what do you hope will happen? Is that hope realistic?
Before I ask you this next question, I would like to encourage you to think about it as little as possible. Answer honestly, with your first instinct, and do not analyze your response until after you have spoken it aloud. Are there ghosts that live in your home? If so, do they have a name? And do you know the reason for their haunting? If there are no ghosts that live in your home, imagine that you have walked out your front door - how long would it take you to encounter a ghost?
Consider the next week or so of your time, what do you hope will happen? Is that hope realistic?
Have you had a dream in recent memory that has indelibly stuck with you? Is there something “unresolved” about the images? Do you wish you could have that particular dream again? When you are about to fall asleep, do you experience a bodily sensation, like falling deeper into the bed, or levitation, or feeling the world spin away?
Do you prefer that someone establish a particular time to call you, or would you rather receive a call out of the blue? Would you rather receive an email or a postcard? How many emails from how many different friends would it take to equal the love and value of receiving one postcard from one friend? What is your favorite type of notification to receive on your computer or on your phone?
Consider the next month or so of your time, what do you hope will happen? Is that hope realistic?
What is the raddest thing you have seen or heard lately? What is the coolest thing? What, in your opinion, are the functional differences between something that is rad and something that is cool? Do you feel that you yourself could be described as either rad or cool? If so, in what context? If not, do you wish that were true? And are there any practical steps you could take, starting right now, to earn the description?
Consider the next season or so of your time, what do you hope will happen? Is that hope realistic?
What is your favorite object in your home? How plugged are you to what’s happening in your building, or on your block? What’s the latest development within earshot of where you live? Do you live somewhere that is distinctly a neighborhood? If so, why is it called that? What is “the deal” with the town or city you in which you live? Please describe it to me in three sentences. What is the most undeniably wonderful thing about your home zone?
Consider the next year or so of your time, what do you hope will happen? Is that hope realistic?
What is the best place you have travelled to in the last week, and why did you go there? Was that place new to you, and is it far from your home? Will you go there again soon? If you were given the ability to transport anywhere instantaneously for exactly 12 hours right this moment, where would you go? You have to choose one particular place and once you’re there, you’ll have to rely on conventional means of transportation. Now that you’ve answered the prompt, what exactly is preventing you from actually going to this place you were just fantasizing about?
Consider the next five years or so of your time, what do you hope will happen? Is that hope realistic?
In just a moment I’ll say a series of phrases. I’d like you to respond - earnestly and without thinking twice - with whatever pops into your mind after you hear each phrase.
Hell yeah, dude
This shit rocks
This shit rules
This shit slaps
I love it!
Fuckin’ A, dude
If these phrases aren’t evocative enough to elicit a response, what phrases would you use instead?
Consider the next ten years or so of your time, what do you hope will happen? Is that hope realistic?