This Was May 2026
Someone I met the other day asked me if I did any writing and it was jarring. It's so embedded in my identity, processing, and understanding of self that sometimes it doesn't occur to me that it's not written all over my face. Also, it's been so long since I've put myself out there and had a conversation with a stranger that I forgot people don't know this about me already.
First Camping Trip 2026
May started with camping, which is in my opinion the perfect way to start May. I love winter but even I detect a slight "stale" feeling after 4 months spent mostly indoors. (In the pandemic, I learned that 4.5 months is getting to my limit for no social hangout time. I take that to heart now, since I could easily spend all of January-April alone and not even notice.)
The usual camping crew (Mom & Aunt, sometimes my dad but not this time) went to Tomlinson Run State Park in West Virginia.
Tomlinson Run State Park - Lone Earth
Tomlinson Run State Park in West Virginia, May 2026
It was very peaceful and because it was cold/rainy we spent a lot of it huddled up with a Buddy Heater chatting. I know a lot of people find the idea of this horrible but something about camping is completely different from "being outside" as a general concept (and we talk about this while we're there). We are fine to drive 5 hours to sit in or just outside a tent with socks on our hands, hand-warmers in our hats, and blankets all around while rain falls steadily around us, or the morning sunshine builds slowly and a fire crackles heating up the water we're about to use to make coffee. This is not something we'd do in our backyards.
First camping trip spring 2026! | seasons
I went camping this weekend. I didn't bring my allergy kit and probably should have but now that I'm home the sinuses have cleared so whatever. I'm not su...
Camping to me is not "just camping;" it's also a nice, long drive with my favorite songs and road trip snacks. It's stopping at interesting places and taking the scenic route. It's spending hours in the car alone being at peace. It's not just "sitting in nature," it's taking a morning walk around the campsite to see the details, squatting to get a closer look at a bug or enjoy the view from a different angle. It's taking deep breaths at night and breathing in the stars before bedtime. It's the sound of zippers opening and closing, the hushed voices of your family in another "room" (a different tent), and alone or not, a chance to be grounded in this place we all live.
We were going to camp for Memorial Day but it was rained out, so I'm waiting for my next camping trip mid-July!
Slow Living Winter Pilot
This year I decided to make a major change in my life and just fucking live it how I want to, treading the waters of uncertainty how others might take it knowing that what I want with my life is not socially traditional.
It started as a "winter" thing, a little experiment during months where most people stay in most of the time anyway. This was an opportunity for me to engage in the things I wanted to do with my time without wondering if I'm accidentally hurting someone by coming off as an uninterested party. It's not that I dislike the people in my life or 'want' to see them less, it's that I like to spend a lot of time alone. Much more time than even I expected.
But as I embraced it more as the winter season continued, I felt this really neat thing: I was finally thriving.
I was writing near constantly. If it wasn't a draft, it was an outline, page of notes, or scratchings of an idea. I didn't do something with all of them, but many became something I wrote, made, drew, shared with someone, or explored in some other way.
I was often engaged in the activities that interest me and learning about how stuff works. Not just watching a documentary, but taking notes to ask the internet later. Not just reading a book, but exploring its connections with a similar book I read last year. Nerdy shit, but shit I enjoy doing.
I was drawing and making creative things almost every week. A lot of it was black ink in a spiral-bound journal but I used my sketchbook so much I had to buy a new one. I started the last one in 2020, filled it about halfway, then picked it back up in winter and completed it.
This is because I had the space and slow paced energy to input a lot of stuff, process it, and then output.
I have an awesome community of people that I keep in touch with many ways: memes, TikToks, messages/texts, newsletters, mail, video voicemails, virtual calls, and the occasional hangout. I am incredibly socially fulfilled and lucky to have such a diverse array of cool people in my life.
Winter helped me understand that about myself, too. I think I'm perceiving a "lack" in myself that isn't there. There's no "problem" with my preferred slower social frequency. In fact, I've had many conversations with several friends about how we're the same and it doesn't matter how often we see each other! Those should count too and it's silly how much emphasis my anxious thoughts put on what I'm doing "wrong."
So I took it into spring. Why restrict feeling this way about myself/my life to one season a year? If that's my preferred flow, why wouldn't I embrace it?
It's a little different because winter is different from spring. Generally there is a lot more to do and sometimes I want to do it too. I've been listening to what I want and need and just trying to live my life and it turns out it's fine. I'm seeing people every so often, resting, and spending 80% of my time alone like I prefer. I'm getting better with expressing myself and where I'm at if someone wants more than I can currently give.
Anyway, it's really scary to break down the assumptions and anxieties you've been living with your whole life but I recommend it.
As spring comes to an end, I'm excited to bring this energy into summer, then fall, then the rest of my life. It feels really good to embrace the things I love about life and not worry so much about how it comes off to people who might want different things (even if they are people I like).
Green Spring Gardens Drawing
I don't know that I'm trying to make one of these videos per month, but I just happened to make a doodle video in April and also in May.
Green Spring Gardens Doodle - MakerTube
Media Reviews & Thoughts
Project Hail Mary (2026): This movie lives up to the hype. My opinion on it is that they finally found the role that Ryan Gosling was made for.
Fright Night (1985): An incredible classic that I’m surprised I'd never seen before. I can't wait to watch this again.
The Drama (2026): This movie was the definition of "not knowing what would come next at any moment."
TV: I finished my watch throughs of both Golden Girls and Supernatural, and started watching Golden Palace (Golden Girls spinoff). I felt that "husk of myself" feeling after Supernatural that you get after book series, where I was intensely lonely and void without the characters I had just spent so much time with. I also felt that with Golden Girls, though to a lesser extent, probably because it was many less seasons.
Also watched Spider Noir in B&W. It was very good, probably even if you're not a Spider-Man fan and especially if you're a Nick Cage fan.
Books: In early May, I finished Track Changes: A Literary History of Word Processing by Matthew G. Kirschenbaum (2016) and got really interested in the comparison of hype/reaction between word processing technology vs AI and there are massive similarities between them. It's a very interesting book (not just for that reason), I recommend if you can read academic writing. The book explored how the transition from typewriters to word processors changed the creative habits and literary styles of authors and poets. It's rich with examples and funny jokes.
I started reading Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian (2025) and got about halfway through it last month. I was craving something that would teach me something about nature and I have learned so many things about the queerness. I’ve also learned a lot about the influence of colonialism on the traditional scientific frameworks we use to classify and define the natural world. There are threads of autobiography as the author explores the relationship between her body and queer bodies in nature. Overall, very eye-opening and interesting for me, as someone who has not done a lot to explore the queerness of their body OR nature.
Posts & Links
Posts about naturey things & worldly observations
101 Things in 1,001 Days | seasons
The 101 Things in 1,001 Days project began in 2003 and I think I first heard about it a year or two later. My best friend and I used to do this together. We ...
the point is in the details | seasons
Today's walk was all about the details. It rained most of yesterday and over the past few days. After rain the greens become greener and you can smell everyt...
Responding to the idea of ‘dumbing down’ your own writing so you won’t be mistaken for AI which I’ve been seeing around a lot
elevating the flaws of humanity to beat the machine | Chatscape
People are openly admitting to "dumbing down" their writing so as not to be mistaken for using AI. I couldn't find a word for this. When I tried to look it u...
Get the latest updates from my Tomodachi Life island!
Duck Island Newsletter: May 2026 | GAMEZILLA
Resident count: 19 Island right now 2026053115435500_s Max & Friends Before Moai and Max (me) started to get very serious, I took him on vacation w...
I said a lot of things about zines in Adrienne’s newsletter!
Zines? Zines! - Adrienne Price Art
An interview with a creator of zines
Links:
Japan unleashes 'Monster Wolf' robots to repel record bear attacks (sorry about all the pop-ups)
Mental Models Box is a collection of models with fairly broad applicability; the site focuses on brief descriptions with simple, real life examples of the models in use.
AI things:
U.S.'s CSIA, in collaboration with the Australian Signals Directorate's Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASD's ACSC) and other international and U.S. partners, released guidance for organizations on adopting agentic AI systems.
Be My Eyes connects blind or low vision users who want assistance, with volunteers and companies across the world, through live video and AI.
Thanks for reading! And 🏳️🌈 HAPPY PRIDE! 🏳️🌈
Be safe out there, whatever you’re up to this month, and stay cool! I hope June brings better details than May because sometimes the point really is in the details.
xo Max
