Sycamore Press December 2024: I Accidentally Left This Part Blank Until Right Before Hitting Send Which I’m Gonna Do Right Nowwwww—

Wow, uh. To say it feels like a long time since the last newsletter is maybe understating it a little. It’s been a crazy month in good and (at times, very) bad ways. I’m happy to have had a restful weekend and to once again have the privilege of writing a little something to you.

It also occurs to me that I’ve been doing this for a full year at this point — pretty much to the day. I can’t tell you how helpful it has been in keeping me sane this year. There are plans for a more fleshed-out year–in–review type piece very soon, but just know that this year has seen me investing more in myself and in my own creative expression than I have since college. For being a part of that, I can only say thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

With that out of the way, let’s get into it!

Saddled on a dime

Hope it’s gonna happen later, later

Than I think

— What I could have sworn Rob Crow sings in “Tripoli” by Pinback, even though “Sad I’m gonna die” admittedly makes a lot more sense.

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Shamelessly Materialistic Life Updates

For now, I won’t dwell on the things that suck about the world or even about my little slice of it. If nothing else, I can at least say it hasn’t been too hot this month! Anyway, let me tell you about some things that have made me happy and excited lately.

To preface, I’m a little embarrassed at how often I gave into the urge to buy material things, especially since I feel so much anxiety from being crowded by junk and furniture and possessions in general. I’ll let you decide how justified I was in my splurging, ha!

In line with my ~journey of self-expression and self-exploration~, I bought some new clothes. I scored several pairs of high-waisted pants (with pleats! my favorite!) in different colors from eBay for a good price. They fit perfectly! I also picked up a few shorter and more fitted tees to complete the silhouette. I think it all comes together in a pretty flattering way, which was such a relief!

With my Bose Soundlink headphones looking well beyond well-worn, I also picked up some IEMs (in-ear monitors). Their portability is great, and the sound quality was even better than I was expecting. It was a little bit of a gamble for me because I’d never had good luck with earbuds and the like. Needless to say, these have been a far better experience than I’d ever had with those — though I will probably buy some third-party eartips to better accommodate my teeny tiny ear canals.

Because they’re basically earplugs, they’re great for focused listening sessions and #TuningOutTheBullshit. For the same reason, they’re not so great for use while eating chips, crossing busy intersections, or sneakily trying to eavesdrop on someone’s conversation.

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OK, a couple bits of non-shopping news now:
Three of Sonora’s collage pieces got accepted into an exhibit at a local art gallery! (This is different from her recent exhibit on campus, and this one will be up for way longer!)
Also, we and a few friends (you know who you are) have spawned a new weekly TV watch-along tradition. Like this newsletter, it’s a great way to feel the love from afar and has given me something else nice to look forward to. <3

Food & Drink

Last Thursday, we had a friend over and cooked a feast far too big for our collective bellies. Lots of leftovers. Most of the fun was in working alongside one another in the kitchen. Broccolini was an inspired addition on my part if I do say so myself — even if it ended up turning out a bit overcooked. Still, the acidity with which I imbued it proved a nice contrast to the richer items on the menu. It was also a much-needed dose of fiber, I think.

I’m also glad I decided to make homemade cranberry sauce. Even though I’ve been a fan of the jellied, can-shaped stuff since I was a kid, I’ve gotta admit that the texture of the homemade kind combined with some of my improvised additions like cinnamon, anise, nutmeg, and cloves made it pair very nicely with turkey and stuffing (neither of which I would have touched as a kid, now that I think about it — nor would I have tolerated any mixing of foods).

Blog & Webcomic Updates

A hidden benefit of writing this newsletter is that it lights a fire under my ass in terms of getting content published to the website. Well, actually, I have several unfinished blog posts right now and have for a while…but I was at least able to update the webcomic!

Speaking of the webcomic, I was gonna make you all actually go to the site to see it this time, but I spent so long drawing the damn letters out with my mouse that I decided I should proudly display this installment in the body of the email. I’m gonna have to make some changes to my workflow though, because, like I said, the words took forever.

Arts & Entertainment

Among those rare and treasured quiet moments in the day, I finally found the time to forge through the end of The Apple In The Dark by Clarice Lispector. It was well worth taking the time to chew on, and I can’t wait to read more of her work in 2025! In the meantime, though, I needed to get my hands on some more books ASAP lest I fall into a funk (as sometimes happens to me between reads).

I allowed myself three items at the bookstore — Antarctica by Claire Keegan, Butter by Asako Yuzuki, and Ulysses by James Joyce — and figured I would read them in that order. Claire Keegan’s short stories in Antarctica went down easy while still being stimulating (and even inspiring, though usually in a kind of morbid way). Plus, many were set in Ireland, where Keegan grew up, which helped to scratch that Joyce itch a little.

Butter is a book I picked up solely because the binding and cover design really appealed to me, but it also hasn’t disappointed so far (roughly 15% of the way in). Despite its respectable thickness, I think I’ll get through it in decent enough time. Both as an object and as a story, I already find it very easy to reach for.

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This has been a really exciting month for me in terms of music. It’s great to listen to something and actually, like, get into it rather than just saying “oh, this is cool,” and moving onto the next thing. I have had so many different songs on repeat lately. It’s great.

To start with, I listened to a lot of Pinback, somewhat inspired by their excellent live show at that fest in Vegas (for the uninitiated: here’s “Tripoli”). This led me down a rabbit hole of other Rob Crow projects like Heavy Vegetable, Thingy, and The Ladies (check out “Cotton Swab” by Heavy Veg).

I also fell in love with the album Alloy by Salle Gaveau, a Japanese group that fuses the sounds and instrumentation of Tango Nuevo with Avant-Prog experimentation. Despite that description, most of the tracks (besides maybe the second one, “Parade”) are fairly accessible. Some of them even sound like Mario Kart music to me, ha! (Check out the opener and title track, “Alloy”!)

Finally, my work music has been a lot of Music Has The Right To Children by Boards of Canada and Replica by Oneohtrix Point Never. My chill music has been Nala Sinephro’s new album, Endlessness and Harold Budd’s Pavillion of Dreams (prod. Brian Eno). Pavillion is a good album to listen to if you’re reading this email right as it comes out and need a way to relax yourself to sleep!

All of this music has really gotten the creative juices flowing. I’ve been singing little ditties and grooving on little bass lines here and there. We’ll see whether anything comes of it, but it feels exciting either way!

An Embarrassing Epiphany About Mindfulness

Since we like to finish things out on kind of a reflective note around here, I thought I’d share something that happened in therapy. I was trying to describe how exactly I like to re-center and relax, but everything I could come up with seemed so nebulous. Focusing on the feeling of writing something by hand, sitting in a particular way, or just existing near my favorite objects…it all felt more like a way of doing things (or not doing things) than any sort of real activity or strategy.

When my therapist pointed out that these things could be described as mindfulness practices, I was weirdly taken aback. For me, that word mindfulness has become so synonymous with corporate pop-psych baloney. To suddenly see its connections (which seem obvious in retrospect) to my ritual way of living that I thought was so quirky and unique to me…I dunno. It humbled me. It made me laugh out loud. Maybe understanding this about myself and how I cope will be helpful down the line as I weather new challenges or try to explain my needs to others. But mostly I just thought it was kind of funny.

In conclusion…

Have I told you all I miss you lately? The holidays magnify that a lot — especially because I often end up traveling back home but not really having time for friends. A rare exception was Christmas 2021, when, the day after the solstice, two friends and I “professionally” recorded a three-ish hour Boyhood “watch-along” podcast. I was listening to it recently, and it really holds up for the most part. Maybe it will see the light of day sometime.

Wait…what was I talking about? Oh, yeah, uh, thanks again for an amazing first year of monthly emails! Here’s to many more! As I mentioned, I will do some kind of retrospective thing for the changing over of the year. But there will also be lots of exciting news to get to as well! Blog posts! My new mood tracker (which I don’t hate, despite my generally negative feelings about smartphone apps)! More books! An exciting friend visit! Holiday travel! A surprisingly cool student organization! And so much more!!!

So remember: watch your mailbox always for the latest Sycamore Press! Don’t even pay your rent until you’ve read it!! Unless the newsletter is late, like it was this month. And also most other months. Uh, anyway, I love you! You mean more to me than you’ll ever know!! Buh-byeeeee!!!

Yr Friend,

N