by Owen | Mar 1, 2020 | 2019-2020, Weekend Reflections
What I’m Listening To – What The Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell
Despite my undying adoration for Gladwell’s work, I always struggled to get through this one. I couldn’t say why. After exhausting his books and podcasts, however, I was left with nowhere to turn. I’m glad I gave it another shot. While it doesn’t have the same weight as his other works, this collection of articles showcases the best of Gladwell’s curiosities.
What I’m Excited For: Taking A Break
I’m off this week on a cruise, which unfortunately for this blog means no posts next week. I could have written ahead and scheduled posts, but I felt it better to leave it alone for a week and see what kind of energy I can give back on my return. I’m excited to get this time away, I’ve been deep in the midst of projects and shows. I could definitely use a week to practice stillness and cultivate some energy in a new environment.
What I’m Working On: Relying on Others
I’ve been struggling a lot recently with my ability to trust others with important work. Or more accurately, try and reign myself in form overstepping. I spent a lot of my early education and training more or less doing things on my own or working for someone else. But, with my biggest sound design project around the corner, I’m having to rely a lot more on my team. While I know they are capable, I’m finding it hard not to constantly check-in or offer up solutions (especially dangerous in the world of education).
A Quote I’m Thinking About:
“I shall never be ashamed of citing a bad author if the line is good.”
Seneca
We have something to learn form everyone. Don’t discount the words of someone else because you dislike them. Seneca often quoted Epicurus, the founder of “the enemy” philosophy, Epicureanism, that opposed his own Stoicism. Seneca knew that sometimes even the opposition has something worth considering.
Published This Week:
by Owen | Feb 23, 2020 | 2019-2020, Weekend Reflections
One of the best self-help books I’ve read thus far. Forleo has managed to add some new perspective to a very crowded genre. The book manages to balance personal testimony (author and reader), style, and actionable practice, and mantra, all without overwhelming the reader. Its the self-help book I wish I had from the beginning, and I will definitely be recommending this to others looking for a place to start or refresh their practice.
What I Missed: Publishing an Article
After all that talk of my writing routine last week, I totally missed publishing an article this week! I beat myself up about it a little, but getting the routine down is going to take time — like anything else. I’m determined to get it out this Friday and get the routine down.
What I’m Getting Back to: Photography
As I get this whole writing thing down, I’m finding I need to round my hobbies out with something visual. Unfortunately, my photography hobby went away as I devoted more and more time to the blog. As with everything, I can waste time thinking about it, or I can do it. So this week I’m hoping to pick up the camera again and get back to the streets.
This Weeks Posts:
by Owen | Feb 16, 2020 | 2019-2020, Weekend Reflections
What I Accomplished: 6 Months of Weekend Reflection
In honor of 6 months of these posts, I’ve decided to change the name to the Weekend Reflection. It feels more fitting for what these posts, and this blog, has become.
What started as a way to reflect and vent has now become a regular practice and routine. More than that it lead me to the creation of this blog and a whole new creative outlet I never knew I had. I wouldn’t have imagined 6 months later it would become such a vital part of my life. Here’s to sixth more months of reflections ahead.
The sound designer in me absolutely loves this audiobook, although it’s more like a performance. Break Shot, from the mouth of Taylor himself, takes you through his childhood and artistic beginnings through to his initial success. Early recordings, demo’s and performances are scattered throughout, tying the narrative together beautifully. I’m relatively new to the world of memoir and biography, but even this short 90-minute piece has given me more than I could have asked for. I will absolutely be digging more into the genre. The audiobook is free for audible members until April, and I highly recommend you take the time. Fan or not, it’s a brilliant look into one of the most prolific songwriters of our time.
This book couldn’t have come along at a better time for me. Kleon, following up on his first book Steal Like an Artist (another recommendation), reveals the necessity and tools of sharing your work. This for me has been one of the most difficult things to do. I’ve always felt a bit strange sharing this blog. This book has given me a lot to think about, and more importantly a lot to work on and experiment with. One of the great things about Kleon is his practical advice (like reading obituaries!). His books give you a palette of things to try. I will absolutely be referring back to this book and his others for advice as I continue to create.
What I’m Working On: Writing Routine
Working more regularly on the blog I’ve settled into a kind of routine. In order to keep myself accountable, I’ve decided that I’m going to do my best to stick to a publishing schedule. Mondays and Wednesdays are Impromptu post days. These posts, as the name implies, are written the day off with minimal editing. They serve mostly as reflections of what I’ve been pondering and/or drafts of what may become larger pieces. These impromptu pieces help to keep me on my toes and force me to get something out, even if it’s not perfect. In order to balance this, I will be publishing longer Articles on Fridays. These will feature more in-depth topics or reflections and will be written ahead of time with more editing. Hopefully, the balance of these two styles will keep things interesting and lead to even more development.
by Owen | Feb 10, 2020 | 2019-2020, Weekend Reflections
What I’m Reading: The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler
Similar to my favorite What Makes Sammy Run, (I seem oddly drawn to novels form the 40s and 50s), or Netflix’s The Politician, this book follows the life of Duddy Kravitz, who, in his misguided ambition, will do anything he can to “be somebody.” Inspired by his grandfather’s warning: “A man without land is a nobody,” Kravitz swindles, lies and cheats his way through his family and friends on his quest to buy up lakefront property to develop into a resort. I’m sure you can guess as to how it goes, but the beauty of this book is its personability. Unlike a lot of stories of this nature, Richler lets you see the journey as a whole, taking you into Kravitz’s mind with every rash decision. In the end, it becomes incredibly clear how someone (and many do) could come to believe in this kind of life. If other books from this era have seemed un-approachable, I would recommend you to take a look here, the story and its message punch through no matter the context.
What I’m Struggling With: Work/Play Balance
I’m terrible at balancing work and play. While in practice, I can jump back and forth; rarely, my mind is ever able to switch so quickly. Chances are if I’m in work mode, it’s all I can think about when I’m at play and vice versa. The result is that I’m rarely ever able to focus on what’s at hand. While some schedule changes have helped (such as the “chunking” I discussed last week), it really does come down to a sense of presence and ease, something I am working towards every day.
What I’m Cultivating: An Annual Reading List
One of the things I’ve come to love about my reading practice is stumbling on the one book that somehow wraps up and captures the ideals or lessons of a hundred. As my library grows (faster than I can read it), I want to be able to hold onto those books as they come along. So with this in mind, I’m going to start drafting an annual reading list, ten or so books for me to read every year that encapsulate the most important lessons I’ve learned along the way. I’m sure this list will change as time goes on, but at the very least, its an interesting exercise in keeping lessons at the forefront of your practice. When I finally get the bookshelf up on the running, I’ll be sure to include these top-reads on the list as well.
by Owen | Feb 3, 2020 | 2019-2020, Weekend Reflections
What I’m Reading: The Moviegoer by Walker Percy
It took multiple approaches for me to finally get through this one. The novel focuses on the life of Binx Bolling, a near 30-year-old stockbroker living in New Orleans. As with most classic novels of the time, our character is confronting his drab world and conducting a “search,” presumably we think for deep philosophical answers. Unlike most books of this genre, however, there are no quests, dramatic episodes. Just the chronicles of Binx’s normal life, meaningless days at the office, and almost too-normal relationships with family and flings. At first, it was this extreme normality that pushed me away from the book. But, it turned out to be its charm. Of all of the novels I have read, it is perhaps the most reasonable in its philosophy, and therefore, the one we might be able to learn from most.
What I‘m Experimenting With: Chunking
As opposed to “sprinkling,” “chunking” is a method of dividing up your time into large chunks typically multiple hours or a whole day, wholly focused on one activity or project. Between, classes, career, creative projects and personal time, I was struggling to focus on anything at one and jumped from thing to thing throughout the day. The consequence was that I really wasn’t making a lot of headway and I always had too much going on at once. Given, that I am only now in classes two days a week. I decided to double down on those days, doing any and all work related to college in my free time. It was an amazing change. By finishing any and all mandatory class work on those days, I have given myself the freedom to focus on my creative projects or personal time on the other five. The risk, of course, is that two days is not enough. But, even giving myself that edge and freedom of mind have been extremely useful.
A Quote I’m Thinking About:
“The search is what anyone would undertake if he were not sunk in the everydayness of his own life. To become aware of the search is to be onto something. Not to be onto something is to be in despair.”
– Walker Percy, The Moviegoer
by Owen | Jan 27, 2020 | 2019-2020, Weekend Reflections
What I’m Reading: The Complete Essays of Michel de Montaigne
Montaigne’s collection has sat on my to-be-read list for some time now. Consisting of over 100 personal essays, across three books, it’s not your typical daily read. Thirteen hundred pages of 16th-century french philosophical musings are intimidating in idea alone. Of course, my fear washed away the moment I read the introduction, and Montaigne’s detrimental humor hit me square across the jaw. “I myself am the subject of my book: it is not reasonable that you should employ your leisure on a topic so frivolous and vain. Therefore, Farewell.” Against his recommendation, I read ahead, and I now look forward to every entry. The pages of his essays contain brilliant thoughts and confrontations only possible in the deepest moments of self-reflection. At the very least, we can look to Montaigne as a model for this practice, if not as a great source of reflections of our own.
What I Wasn’t Expecting: To Enjoy ALL Of My Classes
There’s always one dud every year. The one class you slog through and hope the tests are simple enough that you can pick up what you need from Quizlet the night before. Maybe I’m jumping the gun, but it seems like for the first time in 17 years of school, that class doesn’t exist. Last week I committed to being more involved in formal education. Perhaps this is a payoff, though I doubt it. Maybe, against all sense, the idea that these classes will be my last has put me in a unique position to enjoy them for once. Whatever the reason, I’m happy to ride it out, enjoying what I can until its time to move on or the rug gets pulled out from under me.
A Quote I’m Thinking About:
If each man, on hearing a wise maxim, immediately looked to see how it properly applied to him, he would find that it was not so much a pithy saying as a whiplash applied to the habitual stupidity of his faculty and judegment.
-Montaigne
Action and practice are they key.
