Look At This! My Distractions of Late | 5.16.24

The Matchbook

Another week, another battle between my brain and all that distracts it. This past week had plenty, hell, the past few have, and it doesn’t look like it’s gonna be slowing down anytime soon.

Once again, this Friday post is graciously provided to all you wonderful light chasers thanks to the generosity of the paid subscriber community. I’ve created the little graphic below as a way to remind us all that we can embrace supporting the artists we love, and the art they create. If you’re able, I’d love to have you join our paid community and help keep this fire lit. Just click it and it’ll take you to the page.

Onto what’s been filling up my mind buckets with all their random volumes, colors, and sometimes, weird textures:

1. Big Boys on Hulu - I don’t know if I can remember a show that hit me harder than this show. Sarah and I’s penchant for UK/Irish/Scottish television has been long established, so when I stumbled on this it was an instant yes. The story follows a young gay man, still in the closet, as he begins University in a small town outside of London. Through a series of odd events, and I am purposely being vague here to not spoil anything, he ends up being roommates slightly off campus with a very dude-bro-on-the-surface straight guy in his mid-20s. The story begins there, and where it goes, and how it gets there, will absolutely warm and break your heart. I just adored it, and wanted to start it over the moment I finished it. Seriously, beautiful stuff here.

2. Being More Honest About Our Business - As you know, in addition to being a writer/poet/author, I am also a professional photographer and have been for over 20 years. What I’m NOT, and what I am not good at, is being a business person. I am rubbish at business, so is Sarah, as we just like what we do, and want to do it for people, and never know what to charge, how to charge what we’re worth, and it’s probably cost us thousands and thousands of dollars. Just how much? We recently discovered that we charge for our photography services different than almost all our competition here in Montana, and as such we’ve lost out on A LOT of money. Here’s the thing though: We’ll never be the “bait and switch” type business people that lure you in with lower prices only to hit you harder later with hidden fees, package requirements, and the likes. Finally, we created a little graphic, this one just to use for those who want to book us for senior photoshoots or headshots or whatever, to show how we are different, and why that matters. We might lose a lot of money in potential income doing it our way, but dammit, at least we feel good about our karmic balance. Here’s to growing up and starting to learn how to do the things you suck at.

   

3. Dogs + Autistics = Twinsies - Ok this is a weird headline and probably not the connection they were going for when scientists did this research, but I made the connection so deal with it. Turns out, dogs (nature’s top 5 invention) can accurately tell good people from bad people. Well, the research showed they can detect liars, but still, subsequent science shows that they are also instant detectors of nefariousness, and that makes me think that dogs and Autistic people are basically weird psychics that just know, if someone is to be trusted or not. Science is rad. Dogs are rad.

4. Liverpool Are Premier League Champions! - My beloved Liverpool Football Club officially won the Premier League over in England, and did so with FOUR games left to play. They wrapped it up in a beautiful fashion, winning 5-1 in the deciding game, and I honestly cannot think of a team that deserves it more. I got to watch it with my Dad, who shares the LFC adoration, and Sarah, and we all cried watching them celebrate at the end. For context, the last time Liverpool won the League, they did so completely behind closed doors due to Covid, with NO fans there to celebrate, and it was a huge blow to the city. The last time before that? 1990. Yeah. To the city, to its players, and to the fans, it means everything.

   

5. Typewriter Series ORIGINALS Sales - I decided, after hearing from quite a few of you, to open the doors to selling more of my treasured (and safely placed in way too many binders!) Typewriter Series ORIGINALS. Yes, the ONLY ones in existence, yes, I’ll never type them again. I decided, instead of trying to pick a few I think people will like, I decided to just open the gates and let people email or message or leave comments below on which they want. If they are available, I’ll let you know what Sarah has them priced at (she painstakingly went through and priced ALL 3000+ poems based on popularity as prints, specialness (her metric), and overall beauty I guess) and we can go from there. I will say, if you are a member of this Signal Fire, I’ll auto-discount the price by 10% just cause you’re rad. SO, if you have any absolute favorites from the Typewriter Series, now is your chance to own a bit of history. Some have already sold, some she won’t part with, but for all the rest, doors are open. Let’s do this.

6. “Boy” by Book Of Love - Sometimes, you just need a badass song from 1980s to listen to, to bop around your house hearing, and to throw you back to a distant better time. This is that. Play it loud, enjoy it for precisely what it is, and let that be enough. It is, I promise.

Hope these little nuggets of my distraction provided some for you, too. It’s been a busy few weeks with impending high school graduation stuff for Henry, end-of-season stuff for Henry and Addie’s track and field stuff, and just general trying-to-afford-groceries bullcrap. You know how it goes.

I love you a lot, all of you, and if you wanna help keep this place alive, I’d love it bigtime.

See you soon. Be good.