This video shows the most succinct summation of how I feel about facebook birthday greetings.
logged in from josh schaub on Vimeo.
Can someone who speaks German tell me what the smoking guys are saying? I can get almost everything else.
I’ve been thinking about life and being alone a lot since Ali started going in to contract for a local company. We’ve been together all day, every day of the week, for much of 2010 and while we seek out personal space in different sections of our living areas, it’s been wonderful to share so much time together. I certainly don’t take it for granted and know that many of our friends (especially those with difficult jobs and/or children) have to be extra careful to schedule in quality spouse time every week.
The first day he went to work and I was alone here in Portland, I took a walk around our neighborhood shops. Aside from some small interactions with shopkeepers and people on the street, I felt a little aimless. I don’t have money to spend nor do I want any more stuff, so I was browsing to appreciate the beauty of portland curation and to learn about my neighbors. But as I was walking down the street, a wave of loneliness hit me for the first time. There was a moment where the fact that I was alone became tangible, like a wave of reality.
I don’t have a judgment for this feeling, and I don’t share it here to get sympathy from friends in other places. Yoga teaches me a valuable skill: observe, while withholding judgment. As someone who tends to be opinionated this is probably the best bullet point I have absorbed on this year of sabbatical. Whether its my inability to get my body into “Bird of Paradise” or my feeling of sudden isolation, I am trying not to ascribe a right or wrong, or good or bad and rather try to learn from these observations what I need to do next for balance and healthfulness.
Here’s a poem that teaches you how to be alone.
One of the things that Ali likes to do is claim that he doesn’t use any chemicals on his body. We’re not totally natural with hand soap and dishwashing detergent yet (I like my suds!) but he uses and recommends the following three products for personal hygiene.
This pure castile soap claims 18-in-1 uses. We prefer the peppermint flavor but it also comes in many other scents including citrus, rose, eucalyptus, almond and lavender. People use Magic Soap as a body wash plus shampoo; you can also do your household cleaning, laundry and dishes with it which makes the product popular amongst travelers and hikers. You can even brush your teeth with Dr. B’s, but the thought of it grosses me out just a little bit (I know, I know… it’s only psychological). I love that you can refill your own bottle (buy it by the ounce or bulk) at any Whole Foods and most natural foods stores. Here is the FAQ they have written to address many common questions about the product.
2. Burt’s Bees Natural Peppermint Toothpaste
I was excited to find this natural toothpaste at Target. I’m Ali’s buyer and my criteria for our hygiene products is that the item must be affordable compared to similar toxic versions, and it must be available regularly in stores we frequent. Admittedly there’s a little bit of “selling out” finger pointing when an organic product sells at Target or CVS, but I am glad that Annie’s mac and cheese or Burt’s Bees products will be within reach wherever we travel and will be held to price-fixing by other major brands. (Am I a hypocrite?)
This is the first time we have used this toothpaste. Ali seems to really like it, although my teeth don’t always feel clean and shiny after use. Because Burt’s Bees toothpaste lacks chemicals and abrasives, you really have to go at your teeth if they’re in need of a good brushing. I alternate with three toothpastes depending on my mood (hey! I’m finishing a couple of tubes!!) and currently prefer the baking soda + light chemicals Arm & Hammer toothpaste myself.
3. Tom’s of Maine natural deodorant.
He currently uses the lemongrass scent, but in the past he used unscented. For the ladies, there is also apricot, cucumber-grapefruit, and lavender. Ali is someone who sweats intensely with little provocation and he has been very happy with this product. (Interestingly, Tom’s doesn’t work for me! I find that on days I use it, I actually smell more than au naturelle by the end of a day.) Tom’s is available at any natural foods store, but also now at Target and drug stores nationwide.
Summer weekends here in Portland have been activity-filled and full of independent arts showcases.
On Saturday, we tried to attend the New Belgium Tour de Fat bike/beer/music festival and ended up accidentally at the Portland Saturday market. One of the traditions I’ve picked up from street fairs here is snacking on the kettle corn sold by different vendors. The kettle corn guy at the Saturday market had six or seven different flavors, from crazy fruit flavored and rainbow-colored concoctions to more traditional style popcorn.
Other vendors at the Portland Saturday Market: We were entertained by the work of Mike Kelly, “the Spoon Man“, who does these cool wind chimes and jewelry pieces from old spoons and forks. Apparently, he’s a favorite at the market every week. I fell in love a little bit with the glass work of Berton and Christy Atherton Schrack of Howling Wolf Art Glass. So heart-punchingly gorgeous, I would have gladly paid more than their asking price for their multi-colored glass vases. (I’m not usually into glass work at all so that came as a surprise.) Finally, I really dig the work of Julienne Alexander and Christopher Catanese’s Wardrobe Ink block-print t-shirts. They were all simple designs, kind of trendy, and look like they employ an old-school technique. The t-shirt colors were perfect, kind of a faded watercolor-y jewel tone assortment, and the printing was a simple white block design. Their company is called Wardrobe Ink, and amongst the hundreds of t-shirt lines at indie markets throughout the country, theirs is a standout. [below: their picture not mine]
We spent Saturday afternoon with our new friends Todd and Suzanne Hesse (a facebook connection via my high school band network!!), chillin with their kids, checking out their new chickens and home garden bounty, and catching up on life since high school. Suzanne even graciously let me slide after I made a wry comment about overqualified arts majors getting stuck in community college teaching jobs (oops). Todd and his wife seem to be a perfect match for Portland: intelligent beyond educational institutions, creative and industrial, and interested in alternative ways to make life a better place to be.
After gazpacho with the Hesses, we hit up the free day at OMSI science museum. It was my second visit in two days, as I spent some time there on Friday afternoon when my husband was in California for an interview. This time we spent most of our time in the Turbine Hall, which Ali loved for its hands-on learning centers (I enjoyed the Einstein room on my personal visit Friday). Like the Tech in San Jose, OMSI is a museum designed for kids, but also sneakily teaching the adults. We had lots of fun and I finally put a name to Ali’s tendency to bounce around from spot to spot in random patterns while not really paying full attention to anything. He does this when he’s overly excited about a place, while occasionally checking in at home base (me). Now I call him my little roomba, and let me tell you: my roomba was in hyper speed mode at the science museum! He also roombas at Frye’s Electronics and sometimes on the way into music shows.
Sunday was probably our most active since arrival in Portland. It started with church at a pub and ended with a Robot beauty contest at a club.
The Oregon Community is a small, super organic community of believers we know about only through an acquaintance. We have attended two weeks now and really enjoy the time of learning about Jesus and getting to know people over a pint. It meets in one of the McMenamin’s locations, a converted elementary school turned brewhouse and wedding venue. “Detention” room is now a cigar bar! There are chalkboards in all the rooms! The pool has been converted into a mineral soaking pool where you can bring drinks! Crazy.
After church we headed out into the stifling heat and just about melted at the Hawthorne Street Fair. Different from other street fairs we’ve seen here in Portland, they don’t close down the street at all, but rather most of the stores bring out a sidewalk sale kind of display, and some artists set up shop in small tents. Live music, of course. I was really happy that the woman who tends Recycled Clothing was handing out free popsicles. That made my day!
We really liked the reversible, trendy, hand-built hats from Flipside Hats. They also sell at the local Whole Foods Market. At $40, it’s not an accessory you would just buy without thinking, but the woman at the booth took her time helping us find hats that would fit Ali’s gigantic head (let’s just say “one size fits all” works for neither Ali nor me when it comes to headgear) and every design is unique, as they use recycled materials from curtains, jackets, and clothing to build each piece.
The vendor at the Hawthorne Street Fair that I loved the most is Fiona Bruce and Miles Stegall’s IDIOT OR GENIUS brand. Gah!! I want to marry their work. It’s irreverent and fun, but extremely intelligent. Here’s their etsy shop. I hope they make a t-shirt with their logo soon because I am going to be the first in line. HINT HINT.
Sunday continued to fill up with stuff. I have made a point to add everything free and interesting into my ical to help us explore Portland and expose us to the maker community.
Next up was Bargain Hunting 101, which I find to be a brilliant idea. It is a huge clearance sale for all of the local boutique owners to have a chance to sell off the season’s odds and ends before bringing in fall inventory. I like the collaboration and the smart use of resources. Unfortunately, the Crystal Ballroom was too dark and creaky. I think they would have done better in a naturally lit venue with more room to move around. It was kinda cool to be able to buy a pint of beer while your lady friend does her shopping though.
Here I saw the delightful watercolors of Adrienne Vita of Arcane Arts (who was actually at the Renegade Craft Fair I attended in Austin) and we also met Jared Mees with Tender Loving Empire, a record label and so much more.
Ali’s event of the day was an MIT alumni BBQ networking gathering in Beaverton. I’m just going to say it was awkward, and leave it at that.
Next we headed to southeast Portland to attend church again at the invitation of our Boston friends Tricia and Judah. And what we experienced was like no other church we have ever seen. Door of Hope is this amazing community that draws in throngs of people, mostly young and cool, with a leader who writes his own music and speaks straight from the heart. I was wowed.
After church 2.0 and dinner at Ken’s Artisan Pizza with our new friends Laura the marketing woman from Nike and Dustin the filmmaker from Canada, Ali and I headed out to the Fez for the Robot Beauty Pageant. This event, hosted by Robot Tattoo in Portland, was easily one of the most endearing, laughter-filled, memorable and WTF combination events I have ever attended. I was afraid it would be a bit too fetish-ized when I heard that nudity was permitted in the contest (and saw the gals prancing around in skintight metallic bodysuits plus cleavage), but the winners of the “beauty contest” were exactly what you would expect from a traditional robot costume. Here’s a cameraphone picture of the two finalists doing a dance-off.
I can’t believe we did all that in one weekend! I’m exhausted.
This weekend we were busy! Portland was full of events and street festivals. I’ll comment on what we liked about two festivals.
First up was the Iranian Festival sponsored by the Andisheh Center and the Middle East Studies Center at Portland State University. I was so happy to find out that our first weekend here we would get to connect with some Persians. (Funny enough, everyone here seems to call themselves Iranian rather than Persian. I don’t quite get the distinction, probably because it’s political.) Anyway, we had our lunch at the Iranian Festival with a delicious kabob plate and a little bit of sabzeh on the side. We were also able to browse some Persian books from the Looking Glass Bookstore, get info about the local middle eastern restaurants and groceries, and in general check out the scene. I was really interested in the work of local artist Vanessa Neves Giacometti, a Brazilian-born artist who paints beautiful Persian ladies.
If anyone reading this is looking for Persian food in Portland, you can shop for groceries at Pars International Market (12923 NW Cornell Road, 503-350-2300, www.pars-market.com) or Mediterranean Market (11830 Kerr Parkway, Lake Oswego OR 97035, 503-246-0403). For pastries, try Mehri’s Bakery & Deli (6923 SE 52nd Ave., 503-788-9600). I’m not sure if these others participated in the Portland Iranian Festival or not, but I know from prior research that there are several Persian restaurants in Portland, so I may as well list them here for the googlers in the crowd:
Shiraz Restaurant (10115 SW Nimbus Ave., Portland, 503-670-1000)
Persian House Restaurant (1026 SW Morrison St., 503-243-1430)
Down to Earth Cafe (7828 SW 35th Ave., 503-452-0196 and 636 SW Jackson Street, 503-274-4294)
The Green Onion (636 SW Jackson Street, 503-274-4294)
Kabob House (11667 SW Beaverton Hillsdale Hwy.,
Beaverton,503-672-9229)
Kolbeh restaurant (11830 SW Kerr Pkwy, Lake Oswego, 503-245-1662)
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On Saturday we went to an under-attended event that featured live music, food, and eco-friendly company showcases. Ecopalooza was a fun stop on a busy weekend — we sat in a teepee and watched an informational made-for-community-television program about household toxins via Sustainable Today, enjoyed talking with a beekeeper and sampling his products, and marveled at the “green” photo booth idea by Scott James photography ($5 for 5 frames, high res files emailed to you immediately). Scott, if I dressed better yesterday, I would have done your booth.
The vendor I personally liked the most was Luke Mathers with Truce Designs (info). Luke uses sailcloth and drysuit to make these cool messenger bags and clutches that really are fashionable. I’ve seen a lot of this type of product at the Maker Faire, Renegade Craft Fair, and the like, but Luke’s products are very interesting and well-done.
One of the standout features of ecopalooza were these giant biodomes put out by the company called DOME IT. The premise was basically a pop-up greenhouse to allow you to grow vegetables and plants year-round. The structures are beautiful! Kinda space-age meets beehive. They’re solar-powered and would make a fun temporary home (except… they’re translucent). Their website is terrible and I can’t find a picture of one of the product!! Wardell Gibson, if you’re reading this please hire someone to make a real website and post some great photos of the dome it!! It’s a great product.
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This past Sunday we found a rad church in Portland! It’s a small startup that has been together since Easter. It meets in an old school house that has been converted into a brewpub, hotel, and theatre but maintains the school elements (blackboards on the walls, signage, etc.). The Oregon Community, we love you already! And not entirely because you had a string bass player up front or due to the fact that your small groups meet at a brewery to take advantage of happy hour every week.
I didn’t know that our quest to spend some time living in a tiny house would cause such a stir amongst friends and family! Is it because you’re shocked? Or impressed? Or can’t quite figure out our motives?
My sabbatical this year has gifted me with a lot of time to read and think. A topic that captured my attention early in 2010 was the minimalist living trend. A bunch of intelligent, thought-provoking writers have given up their cars, given away most of their stuff, and moved into smaller homes. They write of being freed from many things – location dependence, a house full of stuff they don’t use or want, being tied into the consumptive lifestyle. They are able to move with families to exciting places, they value travel and experience over nice cars and the latest gadgetry. They’re digitizing their files and throwing shredding parties to celebrate freedom from file cabinets. Some people go as far as paring down their stuff to a mere 50 or 100 things (cheating with a wink on the count of underwear, books, and shared toiletries).
When we left Massachusetts in December 2009, we wanted to be ready for an international flight to wherever Ali could get a job offer. Our dreams of Europe have since been postponed, but it was a wonderful exercise in paring down what we view as necessary to life. When we drove over to California we had only a VW Golf’s worth of items with us. It was very easy to keep most life debris packed up for most of this year, as we were living with Ali’s family and didn’t have to think about kitchen utensils, laundry, linens, or fending off the elements. (Full disclosure: We still have a 5×10′ storage unit with a couch, a bed, clothing, books, and my office back in MA.)
Getting down to “essentials” has been enlightening. I really missed a few things left behind (the Vitamix, tennis shoes, and… perfume?!) but for the most part we don’t think about what we don’t have available. To me, the most surprising reality is that we have more than enough, even with our small carload of what we thought were essentials. I’m hoping that I will be able to give away most of our things from the storage unit and digitize my office when we settle in the next semi-permanent location.
I know this paring down is not appealing to most people. I mean, it sounds good on paper but no way are most going to give up their dvd collection and digital toys to live with only three pairs of shoes and two towels. And I KNOW that while most people with kids would love to have a less-cluttered house, the inflow of grandparent gifts and shiny plastic things is not going to seem like an easy tiger to tame. Ali and I are young, childless, and location unsettled which makes it exciting and adventurous to choose this lifestyle for the time being.
In July, Ali was interviewing with a promising company here in Portland and the job seemed to be a great fit. In my brain, he had the job and we had already moved out of the in-laws’ house and were growing our own heirloom tomatoes in Portland. I was no doubt projecting and he didn’t end up getting a job offer, but a quick craigslist search had turned up a charming short-term living option that happened to be ready for us on August 1. I googled one word (“garden”) in the temporary housing section and found the garden cottages. Sometimes you see something and you know it was just meant to be. My heart and brain were both in sync and I woke up my dozing husband to tell him to pack his bags because we were going to move to Oregon.
Here’s our cottage! [link] It’s only 364 square feet and somehow it doesn’t feel cramped or small. It’s about six times more beautiful than any of the pictures show and it is surrounded by gardens. Every inch was designed artfully and purposefully, using salvaged materials (the shtick) and with an eye to leaving a small ecological footprint.
Since moving in last week we’ve had overnight guests, started tending the back garden, harvesting strawberries and roses, fixed up an old bike, and bought tamales off a toothless lady selling door to door. We’ve filled the efficiency fridge with vegetables from the farmers market and cooked delicious food on our two burners.
We’re located across the street from a punk house, and around the corner from a charming shopping district and one of the best music venues in the city. We’ve observed a new mural being painted start to finish on the side of a local business. We love the neighborhood!
Since we have been talking about our own adventures in tiny living, our friends and acquaintances have been sharing links to other exercises in tiny living. It’s fun to learn about other small house projects.
Syann sent this NPR link to a story on small houses in Japan. Neat! (link: Living Large in Really Tiny Houses)
Peicha shared this link to space-savvy furniture. I think it’s mostly custom-made space saving furniture made in Italy (link: Resource Furniture)
Tammy reminded me about this story on this crazy Hong Kong apartment (link: Tiny Apartment Transforms into 24 Rooms)
PBS story (link: Living large: A look inside the tiny house movement)
If you’re still looking for more glimpses into the cleverness of living in a small space, go on youtube and search “tiny houses.”
So, we’re here in Portland, a “refreshingly unneurotic city that marches to its own cosmopolitan beat.”
The day after we arrived, we had our first houseguests! Navid and Tara spent a couple days of their Seattle-Portland adventure with us in the little garden cottage (welcome to being part of a Persian family!). Surprisingly enough, even sleeping four people the 364-foot house felt spacious. We have a loft that could easily sleep 3 or 4 extra people, as well as a sitting area in the front room that can accommodate someone else. With them, we spent time in famous Powell’s bookstore (it’s an entire city block both ways), the Portland Museum of Art, the downtown farmers’ market, and took a four-minute ride on the sky tram. Of course we tasted some good local brews and menus.
Since dropping our guests at PDX yesterday, we have been exploring our city. We went to a cool art event last night featuring paintings by Jeremy Okai Davis, photographs by Liz Devine, and drawings by Michelle Erickson, with singer-songwriter Katrina Skalland sharing some songs and four poets reading their work (Zach Schomburg, Paul Maziar, Jamalieh Haley, and ____). Like many cities, Portland does a “first thursdays” when galleries and studios stay open late and give special shows. Surrounding areas have a “first wednesday” and “first fridays” program and another has a “second fridays” program. You get the idea. Always a reason to celebrate!
We live on a street lined with sap-dripping trees, and little Giorgio has been asking for a bath since the roadtrip. Today we found an eco-friendly carwash that reuses water for the pre-rinse and initial scrubbing, and it also uses environmentally friendly soap and products. Portland is an extremely environment-conscious city, so that kind of responsible business can thrive.
One thing I noticed is that people are more likely to carpool here. Today when we got stuck in the start of rush hour, we thought we could make progress by using the special HOV lane, but alas this was as busy as the other lanes. This is a stark contrast to the highways around Silicon Valley – you simply zoom by everyone else when you use the carpool lane, because people do not share in San Jose.
When you look around Portland, you will notice the bikers. This is an extremely bike-friendly city and I have to be aware of bikers at all times – monitoring the bike lane before I turn from any street. (Surprisingly, I haven’t seen that many scooters.) [NYT piece on biking around portland]
Beer is a big deal here! Local breweries abound, apparently this is the microbrew capital of America. Most cities I know have a few brewhouses that everyone loves… yelp reviews are typically “yeah, this place has the best beer selection in the city of Chicago but the food is terrible.” Here, there is a different brewhouse on every street serving up 10+ local beers on tap. I am slowly starting to branch into beer appreciation and plan to get the samplers [small servings of every flavor on tap] from each brewery we visit. I might get a beer belly if we stay here in Portland!
Similar to my feelings in Austin, Texas I’m charmed by Portland’s local DIY restaurant and boutique atmosphere. Anyone who knows me for more than five minutes knows that I am not a fan of chain stores and restaurants, and would almost always choose to eat someplace unique and unknown instead of a chain where I can eat the same exact dish as someone in Lansing, Michigan.
(Full disclosure: notable exceptions to this chain distaste certainly exist, as I am fiercely loyal to brands like Target, Jimmy Johns, and Trader Joe’s)
Back to the point: numerous local venues give shows, serve local beers and farm fresh dishes, and promote local artists. Our music scene attracts big name performers whose style slides more independent than pop (recently, Catherine Feeny played two blocks away, and last night Joanna Newsom’s show was of course sold out). Unique mom-and-pop restaurants thrive. People go out with friends, and can take advantage of the great happy hours to get great food without dropping bank [NYT article about Portland happy hours here].
There are two things that I don’t like about Portland. One is the weather, the other is the homogeneity.
In 2008 the New York Times did a piece about gentrification and class tension [here] which then led to being featured on the website “Stuff White People Like” [here]. Our own newspaper did a story in 2009 titled “In a changing world, Portland remains overwhelmingly white” [here]. It’s just not very culturally diverse here. Aside from ethnicity which is probably the easiest to finger-point, it seems like most of the people you see on the streets tend to be very similar in their “we ride bikes and grow our own vegetables and drink beer from the brewery down the street” — ALL THINGS ALI AND I LOVE. It disturbs me a little that we would fall into the joke cliché of moving somewhere thinking it’s so indie rock and interesting, but only because there are a bunch of people like us here. Can you tell we watched “Cult of Sincerity” the other day?
Word on the street about the weather in Portland is that July-August-September is the best time of year to be in the Pacific Northwest. The summers are lovely and temperate, and while the good people in other places have to water the front lawn to prevent it from turning brown, our gardens are blooming and lush forests cooling us down on our summer hikes. The stereotype is that it is always gray and rainy here. Luckily for me and my SAD (seasonal affective disorder) the afternoons have generally featured a few hours of sun. If we are able to stay long term, I’m concerned about the cold and gray and LONG winter. I seem drawn to these rainy places — Scotland, Hawaii, Portland. (Ok, Hawaii is rainy and sunny but the UK can count twice in the gray and wet camp). I think it’s the deep green and rolling hills that make me so happy about these places that are traditionally kind of depressing. There’s just something about a lush landscape and not having to water your garden constantly… and the velvety saturated colors of the world after a good rain.
Thinking about a visit? Here’s some info about Portland, Oregon.
NYT tag: Portland
NYT: Frugal Portland
Portland Monthly Magazine: The People’s Guide to Portland
independent: restaurants and coffee shops
So what’s stopping you? Come on over for a visit! We’re here for at least a month and welcome houseguests.
It’s been awhile since I have posted photos!
Here are a few images from our roadtrip from San Jose, California to Portland, Oregon. Disclaimer: these are from a point-and-shoot camera.
Here’s the upstairs bedroom we occupied for the first part of 2010 in San Jose. Ali’s parents’ master bedroom was directly below ours, and his aunt’s room was right across the hallway. It wasn’t exactly a private situation but we’re thankful for their gracious hospitality while we figured out what we wanted to do with ourselves.
Getting ready for the trip. Ali packed our little VW Golf Giorgio like a 3d Tetris puzzle. This time we had a few inches of vision across the top and out the back window (when we drove from Massachusetts we were a little more crowded). I was hoping to minimize the stuff we brought along on this trip since there’s a decent chance we might only be in Portland for a month or so, but when it came time to load up I had a hard time leaving photography equipment or office supplies behind even though I am mostly still on sabbatical.
Goodbyes with the family. Persian tradition is to accompany guests out to their cars, and as they drive or walk away, someone will throw a bowl of flower-water in their trail. Supposedly this is to make the path sweet so the guests return quickly. You’re usually expected to walk under the Koran three times as you leave the house, but luckily they didn’t ask us to do that this time.
We stopped for the night at a hip and eco-friendly hotel in Anderson, California. I knew about Gaia Shasta thanks to our friends Danielle and Matt who regularly trek up to Oregon with their two young sons. It was a unique place to stay and I absolutely loved swimming in the salt water pool and jacuzzi.
Day two of our trip felt more scenic. Day one, from San Jose to the top of California, was hot and dry. There was a lot of the dried-up fields of grass to look at. It wasn’t boring, but it was a lot of the same. Here’s what we got to look at for most of the time on the journey from Northern California to Oregon, day two:
We stopped for Thai in Yreka, California with a friend from Whiskerino who goes by the pen name CHUCK DAMAGE. He’s kind of a badass. We like him a lot. We also drove by the YREKA BAKERY which is a palindrome but it was closed and there was no good sign for a photo.
I’m the kind of person who loves to note interesting city names. I made sure to make a pit stop in Weed, California because I liked the name. We also passed Balls Street, and Edgewood Gazelle (might have been two different cities but I like them together), and Umpqua, OR.
We stopped in Eugene, OR to have dinner with my buddy Jay Eads, who is an incredible photographer. He’s currently getting client inquiries from as far away as New Zealand! He brought me horchata so now he is my friend for life.
Finally, after two days of driving, 1.7 tanks of gas, we arrived at our new tiny house in Portland. Everyone wants to see the photos, but photos do NOT do this place justice. It’s gorgeous. I can’t wait to share with you.
Here are a couple of quotes from a book I read recently called The Friendship Crisis. They struck a chord with me.
On soft summer nights, instead of loitering on our lawns and grousing to neighbors about the mosquitoes, we’re sealed in our air-conditioned houses staring at the computer monitor or a giant TV screen, its icy-blue glow illuminating the window like a postmodern Edward Hopper painting. As we spend less time with our neighbors, we’re cheated of effortless socializing, the kind that doesn’t require jumping in the car or pulling out a day planner.
-Marla Paul, The Friendship Crisis
After a move, you’re drained by the constant effort of introducing yourself, reciting your story, and convincing people that you’re worth getting to know.
-Marla Paul, The Friendship Crisis
I really enjoyed reading Scott Belsky’s Making Ideas Happen. I love the conversational, modern tone, and the way the book loosely organized ideas into chapters by category. The book inspired me on several levels.
Making Ideas Happen helps you think through systems and some practical steps to getting things done as a creative. Often creative people get stuck on one thing or another.
Scott Belsky divides people into three different categories:
dreamers
doers
incrementalists
Here’s a bit of an explanation about that:
“When I was putting together the book I’d put everyone I’d meet into 3 categories: the Doer who doesn’t really think of anything new but argues to stay on track with what’s current and get it done. Then you have the Dreamer who’s always on that idea-to-idea-to-idea syndrome we talked about earlier, they’re the visionaries. Then you have these others known as the Incrementalists who go from Doer to Dreamer and back again. You’d think that’s the ideal – to be able to think of something and then do it and think of something else and do it again. But that’s the problem. They have too much going on. They do such a wide variety of things they end up looking back and wishing they’d focused on just one thing or worked with a Doer who’d kept me grounded I’d have 300 stores instead of just one. So the point of that is that there is not one best thing to be. You need to work with others.” -Scott Belsky in an interview [source]
Here’s a blog post that quotes more about the three types directly from the book [source]
Another point from Making Ideas Happen that hit home is that of INSECURITY WORK.
“I have come to define “Insecurity Work” as stuff that we do that (1) has no intended outcome, (2) does not move the ball forward in any way, and (3) is quick enough that you can do it multiple times a day without realizing – but, nonetheless, puts us at ease.” -Scott Belsky
He talks about insecurity work as checking website stats, constantly monitoring our email inboxes, updating facebook, and the like. For me, insecurity work manifests as I attempt to keep tabs on everything my twitter contacts have to say. I have a great list of twitter people who share great information and lead extraordinary lives, but all this monitoring and following is ultimately unnecessary, and actually wastes quite a bit of time and energy. Daily, through my twitter stream, I follow more rabbit trails than are necessary for my life. It keeps things exciting, but it also keeps me glued to my computer. I’m supposed to be on sabbatical!
You can read a bit more about insecurity work in the first bit of the interview source quoted above, but here’s a post on Scott’s company site that talks a bit more in depth about what is this thing he calls Insecurity Work.
Reduce Your Level of Insecurity Work
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