Today's experiment note:

DRY EYEBALLS.

Clearly when my body dry fasts the first thing it does is hoover moisture from my eyes--like I don't need them anymore?!

Again, I'm very impressed that so many humans do this every year. It is *so* much rougher on the body than water fasting.

I'm good, but what a profound reminder that we're all just one bad day from being tasked to be our best selves amid physical depletion from lack of food and water.

No wonder our world is so raw and full of pain. 🕯️

I'm taking two hours for fiction now.

If you need a creative nudge, this is your creative nudge! Write yer darned stories, poems, memoirs, vendetta letters, ransom notes, manifestos, or what-have-you.

No one else is going to write them for you.

No, not even Alfred.

Only you know what's in your noggin, screaming to be said.

#AmWriting
#WritersOfCoSo

I *thought* I was writing tomorrow's Monday Media Review, but my commentary on Dune quickly became a deep dive into mid-20th-century poli-sci myth-making around 17th-century (Holy Roman Empire) statescraft and 19th-century realpolitik.

So... that's going into the Rewind Wednesday pile. 🙃

But now I need to write a new Monday Media Review post.

Silly brain.
(Focus, will you?)

#AmWriting #AllTheThings

Today’s BookTube episode features indie-pub author Lisa Kuznak.

Here, I explore the strengths of her latest novel, while also reflecting on the pros and cons of trad- and self-publishing. This latest work of “muskets and magic” is a romp of a tale that might not fit trad-pub needs right now, but which will charm the pants off an audience looking for some playful, low-down-and-dirty hijinx in an historical fantasy setting with a wise plot arc and deeply tragic undertone.

https://youtu.be/GHm9ZUaaBBY

Does anyone here speak great-tailed grackle? I feel like there's a lot of hot goss going down this morning in the park.

(It's funny, for a while they all seemed to be looking at the dawn-breaking sky, but I know they were just making themselves look big and dominant while eyeing their neighbours mid-squawk-down.)

At least we're not the only critters who make a fuss just to show we're alive. 🙃

#Nature

The fellow currently sleeping rough beyond my window is having a bad night. He sleeps in the day and stays awake against threats for most of the night, but on this occasion I've been watching him smoke out and beat his clothes on a pole before placing his things in a box on a tarp, then use his lighter on the items he couldn't strip off completely. I suspect he was trying to rid himself of unwelcome critters, before moving on to another resting spot.

So many layers of hardship in our world.

Anyway, thanks for the space to vent.

We all know that there's only one king of the lighthouse, so no worries - I won't try to take his crown any time soon.

Night, CoSo.
Be kind, and do good crimes.

I have a great many problems to fix, but many were made by trying to dodge *other* problems. A life of evasive manoeuvres.

A part of me strongly longs to disappear, go where no one knows me, and work quietly far from my many failures.

But wherever I go, I am, so that's not gonna fix the issue (unless I become a lighthouse operator?!).

I have huge problems to resolve...

And most still reside in me.

I dunno. Maybe I need to buy more forks. 2/2

Wee vent:

Cut three people to low-contact and put my father back on no-contact this week (my fault: I made a bid to heal our relationship; he answered with his usual silence).

They're two halves of the same whole, though: people who have very specific expectations of me--to fill a void in their life, help them achieve a goal, or serve as a receptacle for their interests on their terms.

I never feel less "seen" than when I realize how much of my life has been spent navigating such people. 1/2

And I got to hold a baby! 😁

The eight-month-old and I had a good chat while mum was dealing with a toddler having trouble with emotional regulation on the metro. I almost ate the wee one's toes right up, but restrained myself.

Good gravy is it good to exist in the world--grief and setbacks and all.

I have to start over on many, many fronts in my life, and I don't know how to begin just yet, but... at least I'm still here to try. One small impossible thing at a time.

🤔 And I can't put my finger on it, but I think the artist here is expressing his love of something... #graffiti

#graffiti on the way back.

(The right, translated: "Men, yes they cry.")

A wee note, fresh out of theatre. This was exactly what I needed. I've lost a lot in the last while - trust in people, hope for the future, a lot of love for anything I used to care about or strive toward.

But that happens, and when it does, we just have to figure out how to fall in love with life again.

Still, it's easy to tire of starting over, which is where external input helps.

Today I was reminded that being here is a gift. Art has purpose even in an awful world.
https://youtube.com/shorts/bVRnr2wAFb0?si=JHjgOFWBK8mCHBhQ

(Solo theatre FTW.)

It has been a stressful week, but I just paid $2CAD for a matinee screening of Dune 2, which on account of my Ramadan experiment in dry fasting I will be watching hella thirsty, and I'm looking forward to letting good art do its thing for a tired heart.

Hope you're keeping right, CoSo. 🫂

Evening, loves.

Today’s piece is mainly for paid subscribers. In it, we chat about problems with how narrowly “the future” has been configured around techno-optimist dreams--and what that focus keeps us from imagining, re: other ways of living well.

There’s a wee segment for all subscribers, too (as always), in which I call writers’ attention to a contest for the future that will be opening soon to submissions, too.

Hope you've had a grand day, CoSo. See you soon. 🕊️
https://open.substack.com/pub/mlclark/p/what-are-we-looking-for-in-a-better