Sycamore Press May 2024: Headed in the Right Direction!

The last time I wrote you, I was kind of losing my mind a little bit. Thankfully, that stirred-up mess of thoughts, feelings, and desires has settled down a bit — reduced, crystallized. Now I’ve started to scoop up what’s left and use it to fill a jar labeled “Concrete Life Changes, 2024.” …Wait, what are we even talking about here? Well, whatever — let’s get into it!

“EEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!”

— Periodical cicadas in the Midwest and Southeastern USA this year (paraphrased)

General Life Updates

First, thanks to those of you who provided fragrance recommendations! I don’t have any new purchases or anything to report in that department just yet, but I did get a new shaving razor (a restored 1953 Y2 Gillette Super Speed) and an awesome new brush. Those of you on Instagram can expect to see those in a live shave context very soon! This has also freed up my old Rockwell for the delicate task of leg shaving. While this is perhaps not very cool and feminist of me, I love having smooth arms and legs. Especially since it makes it much easier to apply sunscreen vs when I have long hair on my limbs!

Oh, speaking of hair, I am so excited to grow my hair back out! Soon, I am hoping it will be long enough to cut into a little freak mullet sort of thing. It’s gonna be so cute and also badass and maybe even make my parents mad!

The semester is winding down, and lab work has been going well. Summer is always an interesting time for me — especially this year! It will be a big one for cicada collecting with the overlapping 17-year and 13-year Magicicada broods coming up. The relative lack of structure and the brutal weather can be hard for me though. I’m finding ways to stay sane though, between romantic camping and birding getaways in the cool mountains and valleys among the pines and making strides towards finally seeing a therapist consistently! I’m a little nervous about the latter thing though. Any words of wisdom or comfort are of course appreciated. :)

Food & Drink

At the beginning of April, I got a big tea shipment in! Some friends and colleagues chipped in, and it’s been fun to taste the different teas together. It’s really top-notch stuff (all raw pu’erh in the 15-20 year-old range). I’m hoping to share some in-depth reviews and reflections on these sometime. Maybe I’ll even taste some tea live on IG if people are interested!

Arts & Entertainment

I am so happy to report that my reading momentum has mostly kept up! I am about 2/3 of the way through The Brothers Karamazov by my estimation, and I have been absolutely loving it. Something about Dostoyevsky’s characters really captures both the breadth and the depth of the human experience (very original take I’m sure no one has had before). I guess I could always read more Dostoyevsky or maybe more Pynchon after this, but book recs are very much appreciated!

Music-wise, I really enjoyed a lot of the tracks from the new RiTchie and Still House Plants records (although neither has been spinning in a non-stop, no-skips way for me). I’ve also been on my usual Steely Dan bullshit (Haitian Divorce has been this week’s earworm). Also been digging a little Zappa, The Flaming Lips’ The Soft Bulletin, and especially Cheer-Accident’s 2003 record Introducing Lemon. God, I love that record.

This month, along with any of your recommendations, I’ve got to dig into the new Cindy Lee record and the new Howie Lee record (two of my favorite Lees releasing music so close together!). I’ve also been thinking about getting into Portishead for no reason in particular.

And you know what the best damn instrument is, by the way? That’s right, it’s the vibraphone! It’s in so many of my favorite songs — it’s crazy. I can’t get enough of that sound. So I was so happy when I found this random guy who uploads daily improvisations on YouTube, mostly on either vibraphone or marimba. Finally some good effing content.

Creative Corner

Best I can do this month is some doodles. Hoping to share some musical fragments soon, but I know I’m starting to sound like a broken record with that line, ha!

Reflections

Things have been good! I think that keeping busy has helped. And reading a lot. But a lot of these are quick fixes. The real work will take longer. I think it’s coming together, but I am still a little scared. There are so, so many things that make me happy. But it’s tough sometimes to find the time, and there’s always been a little something missing since moving here. I get lonely. When you folks reach out in any way at all, I hope you know that it means the world! Honestly, I could even keep this one-way conversation going on for pages and pages if you’d let me, but I know your time is valuable. Thank you for taking the time to check in on me in this way! Talk to you again v soon!

Love,

—N