Millennials of a certain age who also grew up in Albuquerque, will likely think fondly of Hinkle Family Fun Center. Located at Indian School and Tramway it once was a beacon of family fun entertainment; movie theater, mini golf courses, arcades, go carts, laser tag, sticky floors and a stale smell emanating from the wildly designed carpets.

The arcade was a nickel arcade and just saying that makes me think we must protect the nickel at all costs. Can you imagine, if we lost that coin too?

We used to be a proper country.

You could play a lot of machines or games that spit out tickets that could be redeemed for junk you didn’t need but somehow always wanted. A sticky hand. Candy. Something that glowed in the dark. A new stuffed animal, or maybe a wearable.

I’m so cool I won this plastic necklace from Hinkle!

Skeet ball, hoopin’ and trying to land your coin on the shifting ledges of coins left behind by the previous players— your task to make your nickel roll down the chute to knock coins off into the trough below. Do you know the one I’m talking about?

For those of the OTC variety, the Pelican VFW has one! I haven’t played it but man oh man. Every time I see it pushing the ledges in and out rhythmically, I want to try my luck with some quarters. I think you win money on that one right? How novel.

ANYWAYS. Whack a mole also existed at Hinkle’s. There was something so satisfying about taking up that mallet, connected by a chain to the machine to smack the gophers popping up through the holes above.

As soon as I wrote the title out for this missive, I thought (for the first time?) wow, how violent a name for an arcade game!

And why was I so into it? Was little KCF so full of pent up rage and aggression that she just couldn’t help but let loose on these poor moles who never did anything to make her/me want to cause them harm?!

Alas, we may never know.

According to wikipedia - “whac-a-mole” the game comes from Japan! I should have thought as much with so much of video gaming emerging from that side of the world, but the violence of it all (and my US-centric conditioning) made me assume good ole American shoot first, ask questions later ethos.

Of course, I am not really talking about the arcade game as it comes to my creative practice, more so just using this as a lead in to cover what I would really like to chat about today. Surprise! It’s this nugget from the wikipedia entry:

“The term "whac-a-mole" (or "whack-a-mole") is often used colloquially to refer to a situation characterized by a series of futile, Sisyphean tasks, where the successful completion of one just yields another popping up elsewhere.”

I wish the moles would stop popping up to be whacked. Might we have a break for just a bit?

Submit that grant app, pop! Here comes another due date! Whack!

Finish an exhibition application, bam! Another one! Whack!

Whooops, that one popped up and I definitely missed it!

No worries, I’ll wait until next year to try again.

Log those receipts for the business travel last month. Whoosh! Swiped that card again?! Better whack it into the spreadsheet!

Incoming notification: “July is over, don’t forget to log all your drives for Mile IQ!” Whack!

Check your email!

Call back your friend!

Eat dinner!

Get eight hours of sleep in!

Move your body!

Drink water!

Tend to the orchid actually jumping out of its pot, crying for help!

Sign up for yoga, drive to yoga, do the yoga, drive home from yoga.

Get an oil change! WHACK! I actually did that for one of the vehicles in the fleet this week and forgot I was going to do that in town for Old Girl today. Dang, that mole will live another day.

Squeeze in studio time! Whack!

Thump!

Thud!

Those last two sounds? Me hitting the ground from exhaustion.

The other day I was talking with Hermanita and she told me that maybe I can only plan to do four things per day with my energy levels and my recovering from burnout self.

Maybe, maybe?

Could I handle four whacks at the proverbial moles popping up all over the place? My intuition is thinking maybe it’s more like two moles per day. But if I miss one, do I have to try again until I whack at least two moles? And what counts as a regular have to do mole vs. a mole that is going to need my energy and attention enough for it to count?

Ayyyyyyyyy.

This week, for the first time in my memory at least, the platform through which I send out this newsletter emailed me to tell me that I had not sent an email out for a long time. WOW. I was definitely not able to whack this mole for the entirety of JULY!

Though, to be fair, in my last correspondence I did mention that my newsletter was the ball I had to let drop! I won’t bore you with my schedule, but I will apologize for my absence.

In my absence I’ve been integrating and trying to build new structures for myself so I don’t feel like I’m in a Sisyphean loop of mole whacking.

I have not figured it out yet. Though, it has been 49 days since my last panic attack! So, we’ll let that be the good news of the day.

This is exactly why I haven’t been emailing. Who wants to read about someone else’s whack-a-mole? Especially when I KNOW everyone has their own version that they’re doing. Sure, the tasks may look slightly different, but I know that we are all on the hamster wheel, and the wheel is going way too fast for comfort!

TWHACK.

Oh dear, I’ve mixed my metaphors.

I’ll shoot for something more cheery for next week, but no promises. My moles are spry and many.

Until then, may your mallet be sturdy, and your spirit be kind. And, whatever arcade game you’re playing, or carnival ride you’re on, may it bring you joy along with the challenge. I’ll keep seeking the same.

One thing true for me right now - I’d much rather be petting horses in Kentucky than whackin’ metaphorical moles anywhere.