Writing, writing, writing

Books and stories on the boil 📚 A sci-fi romance novelette 📕 A mystery-romance novel 📕 A space opera novel 📕 A cosy mystery 📕 A non-fiction book 🚀

I’m getting ready to run a market stall at an upcoming book fair. Want details? Email me and I’ll tell ya.

Arting and farting 💨

I’ve been slow sketching in a pocket-sized Moleskine Cahier notebook. It’s a little tandem challenge with a friend, simply to fill a notebook with idle doodles. They’re doing a lot better than I am, especially in the last couple of weeks, as all my free time has gone to other things. But I’m really pleased to have this waiting in the wings. And by “in the wings” I mean within reach pretty much all the time ✍🏼

Getting used to Xero

Now that my filing and admin is done, I’m getting used to using Xero for work. It does a lot of stuff, but not all of it is obvious, especially for someone new to double-entry accounting. Let’s say I have enough grasp to make the numbers balance out, but the whys and contexts are still lost to me. It kinda makes sense, I think? Maybe the next step is to go read the fundamentals so I don’t feel like I’m winging it the whole time.

Staying active

Pole, pilates and walking are my jam right now. We’ve had a few “flying ant days” this week, which means warm weather is not far away. My motivation to exercise was pretty low over winter, coming only in bursts and topping out at normality. There’s a lot to be said for building an exercise habit, because then it’s just the thing you go and do, rather than fight yourself whenever you don’t really feel like it.

Maintenance and care

Another round of shoe repairs this week, smells worse and is definitely less fun than sewing up clothes and using a Knitpatch. The shoes are still going, but I’m sensing there’ll come a time fairly soon where we’ll have to part company. Considering I bought them in 2011 and used them heavily in the last year or so, I reckon they’ve done pretty well.

Recycling tip: A good way to recycle holey old socks is to dab essential oils on them and stick them on your clothes hangers as moth repellents. Good essential oils, according to possibly non-fact-checked articles online, are:

• cedar
• bergamot
• clove
• lavender
• lemon
• rosemary
• thyme

(This tip will remain here until I remember to create a proper note for it.)

Terra serenus

Our leptospermums are thriving, yay! 🙌 The scraggly (exotic) lemongrass is now the tallest ‘newcomer’ to the garden. We’re expecting the Albany Woollybush to go gangbusters as the weather warms up. Vietnamese Basil is happy. Midyims are happy. Muraya needs a big haircut. And we’re debating taking our birdbath down while H5 bird flu is a concern in WA.

Recent readings/watchings/playings

• Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
• On Wing by A.G. Charlton
• East of Eden by John Steinbeck
• Historical stuff about Oscar Wilde
• Hercules Returns (1993)
• Odyssey (2026)
• Terraria
• Iron Village

Misc learnings

Technofeudalism. Ancient Rome (again). Cinematic technique. Octopus anatomy. History of modern work. Crime on the high seas. Literary techniques. Cosmology & Big History. Maintenance mindset. Linguistics. Attachment theory.

Current obsessions

Sewing & crochet (again). Old movies. Essentialism. Handmaking gifts. Ships & shipping. Vampire lore. Slow productivity.

Pls no

Bombings. The genocide in Palestine. Technopoly. Culture of uncare. Hyperactive Hive Mind. Hyperconsumption. Bullshit jobs.

This "Now" update was inspired by Derek Sivers’ Now page movement and Kohan Ikin’s Now page.