New Style.

january 1st, 2023

i'm fond of my neighbors C + K, a middle-aged married couple who frequent the local coffeeshop. When i first saw them, they were goofing around and listening to each other so intently that i was certain they had just met and were newly in love. Then they introduced me to their college-aged son and i had to re'evaluate all my intutions.

A couple days ago they were haranging the barista E for saying that Boyz II Men is R&B. “You need to listen to old school,” they told her. “That's what's good!”

There are so many things i do that i swore i'd never do, like exclaim to an aging child, “you've gotten so big!” But perhaps i can avoid [at least some of] the chauvinism of age, the loud assertions that a cultural artifact is materially better just because i remember it from my youth. Perhaps i can avoid sounding like an old fool to a young person with uninvited declarations about “what's good.”

So much old stuff sucks! So much old stuff sucked in its time!

And with that, how'd i do on my 2022 goals ??

goals for 2022

1. do some mycoremediation
   No, did not do this. Further research indicated that i'd need to pressure cook any plastic litter that i found, i'd need to create a special apparatus, and that the entire fungal environment would need to be kept pristine and uncontaminated. So i got overwhelmed and put a pin on my plastic-eating basement mushroom dreams
2. learn more about Chicago recycling
   Mmmmmmmmmmmm not really! i learned more about municipal recycling at large, and specifically that only #1 and #2 plastic can even POSSIBLY be recycled: https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=HNWn885qWtU&feature=youtu.be
   … which has influenced what plastic we put in our curbside bins (bottles only).
   
   Our other plastic waste we send to TerraCycle. TerraCycle is opaque about how exactly they deal with the plastic they receive (shred it and make insulation?) (that's just a guess, i don't know what they do) and if i find out they sell it to be burned or put it in landfill i will be very sad. And mad.
   
   That said! Between recycling and composting we've made excellent household progress in reducing our waste sent directly to landfill. We continued our monthly average of a single garbage bag from our 10 liter kitchen trash and small bathroom trashes. Still working toward the ultimate goal of recycling as hard as the Canadian family from Nick News:

   I remember the episode about a family who was so into recycling/composting that they were emptying their trash can for the first time in eight or so years.
   
   src: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1652328/

3. go to the beach a lot
   Probably went five times? But! we had such a fun family time at the beach in Los Angeles in December and Vlad saw for himself how much our roommate adores the sand that he's on board with a full household trip Hawai'i this year (!!!!)
4. create some TikTok channels
   Naw, didn't do that.
5. prioritize eight hours or more of sleep per night BUT EVEN MORESO than last year 
   YES
6. celebrate ten years of sobriety 
   Yes! i did!
7. develop more charisma
   No, my charisma took a real hit in 2022. i did make a few new friends, though!
8. avoid despair
   Related, despair took a real bite out of my charisma!
9. write more 
   Yes! For most of the year i worked on scripts for THE WEAK ONES and ECCENTRIC!

2/9

goals for 2023

1. rebuild charisma
   Attending live shows this year will help with charisma, i think. Both as audience and performer. Shows bring out good things in me.
2. perform at least five times
   … and re-start The Skewer!
3. travel
   Romania, Seattle, and Hawai'i!! Hawai'i Hawai'i Hawai'i!! For reasons mentioned above!! THE BEACH BABY

That's enough goals.