Now, Now (January 2021)
What now, now? More and more (or less and less) I’ve been feeling like putting stuff on the web just ain’t for me anymore, especially not on advertising platforms like Twitter or Instagram. And maybe, maybe not on this blog either. Yet I do still enjoy writing, even if I don’t do as much of it as I’d enjoy. So I thought I’d take a stab, no, a stroke, at writing one of these style posts, a “now” page. My favourite incantation of this sorta thing is probably Tom MacWright’s Recently posts.
Think of this sort of thing as a journal entry you get to read, a taste of what you might get if you phoned me up and let me blather for an hour or so.
Reading
January’s been a good reading month for me. I finished reading the third (fourth?) Lord of the Rings book, The Return of the King and overall loved the saga. Until last year I haven’t been one for too much of the fantasy genre, but this series was a tremendous introduction. When I was younger, I’d tried to read the books but found them tedious, boring, and too descriptive of blades of grass. I regret my disdain for Tolkien’s writing and am now quite jealous of it. The kind of writing that makes me want to write.
Then a quick diversion to Malaka Gharib’s graphic memoir, I Was Their American Dream, showed me a perspective of America I don’t read often enough.
Most recently, I finished reading John Green’s Paper Towns, a book I wish I could have read in high school, although it was yet to be published. This book deserves its own future blog post, so I’ll leave it here for now.
Now, I’m reading promiscuously, both Eley Williams’s The Liar’s Dictionary and Richard Powers’s The Overstory and I’m enraptured by both. The hard part about juggling books like this is wanting to hold them both at the same time. The other hard part about juggling these two particular books is the worlds they build have the depth you could disappear into. Being loosely about dictionaries and trees, respectively, each page is introducing me to new words and worlds, imploring my exploring. I’m taking notes and diving deep, excited to see where I’ll come out the other side.
(Maybe it’ll inspire some blog posts too?)
Baking
I’ve been gluten free since 2009, which is, among other things, a long time to go without good bread. Since 2020 was the year we all became peasants again, I decided it was time to try some baking. I bought a box of gluten free bread mix in May and then (for no reason) waited until the end of November to bake it, to mouthwatering success. I’m telling you, friends, I had an emotional reaction to the loaf.
This month, I’ve tried making a loaf from scratch and have had mixed results. OK, I’ve only made one loaf so far, and it wasn’t good. But I’m now (as in now now, as in as I write this) making my next attempt. The dough is currently raising as I’m writing this post.
Regardless, making this bread from scratch, by hand (by which I mean, by arm) has been a challenge, and I’ve also decided it’s time to buy an automatic mixer.
Covid
Fucking sucks, still.
Raspberry Pi
In a recent depressed moment, I decided it was time I bought myself a Raspberry Pi computer. I can’t believe how tiny this thing is! What will I do with it? Probably nothing, yet. I have had the dream of making my own operating system since I was a kid (who didn’t?) and I think it’d be fun to make some kind of alternative UI for it.
But, that’ll likely turn into a forever project for me, and I’m trying to avoid those. For now, the Pi remains a fun trinket.
Bye Bye
OK, that’s good for now. Maybe I’ll do one of these next month? Thoughts? You have to tell me. Bye.