Sycamore Press March 2025: what is up you guys sycamore press here back with another newsl⎯

It’s basically a truism that February is the worst month. I don’t even dislike Valentine’s day or any of that, but paying a full month’s rent for 28 stinking days? What a racket.

You won’t be surprised to learn, then, that February 2025 was not the best month for me. But I’m coming out of it with renewed confidence and even getting the newsletter (confusingly referred to as the March newsletter) out more-or-less on time by following my time-honored February mantra: set really low expectations.

“You know what? I’m so sick of doing this whole thing with quotes. It’s such a pain.”

— me

Life Updates

• I think my hair is finally back at approximately January 2021 length, which bodes very well for my self-confidence. Excited to continue this journey and to eventually have a pro give it some Actual Shape.

• I’m making good progress at work after what felt like a lull. Producing some pretty microscopy images too (see above).

• The month started out chilly and overcast, and now it’s warm and sunny.

• Been talking to my parents on the phone more.

• I finally set up mu4e, an email client for GNU Emacs, on my system/with one of my e-mail accounts.

Stuff I've Been Rockin’ With

• Crime and Punishment (somehow I’m still not finished with this one — but almost!).
  Weirdly, since I've been reading this, I keep seeing memes pop up about it. I think Dostoyevsky’s work lends itself to that. Like, C&P’s protagonist is this broke dropout doomer twink and it’s explicitly noted very early on in the narration “yeah he’s also weirdly very hot btw” (he is problematic tho) (guilty of two murders).
  
  Also there's a scene where one of the book’s antagonists is rooming with this “young progressive” while in Petersburg and the latter spends basically a whole chapter talking about this commune he's starting and why the other guy should be poly.

• Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished by Avey Tare and Panda Bear (now usually retroactively listed as an Animal Collective album).
  Revisited this album for the first time in a while. Bizarre, noisy, psychedelic fairy pop music. Tracks like “La Rapet” and “Bat You’ll Fly” are easy favorites, and the opener, “Spirit They’ve Vanished”, is so entrancing that it inspired a digital doodle of mine (see Webcomic, Other Art, Site Updates).

• Talking Book by Stevie Wonder.
  Pure sunshine-y bliss. “You’ve Got It Bad Girl” is a favorite of mine (sonically though perhaps not lyrically) in this album full of hits. Also, I love when Stevie randomly says, “I’m a little boy!” in a pitched-up voice on “Maybe Your Baby”.

• This Is Happening & Sound of Silver by LCD Soundsystem.
  The former of these was set as the topic of discussion in Album Listening Club, which prompted me to get back into LCD Soundsystem in general. I’m really glad I did. I will shake my ass to any of these songs as soon as I hear them come on.

• Dance Tonight! Revolution Tomorrow! by Orchid.
  I had tried to get into this a few months ago and wasn’t quite ready yet. It really hits now though. A blistering 15 minutes. I’m pretty sure this band gave my friend hearing damage?

• Segundo by Juana Molina.
  I have been sleeping on Molina’s work in a big way. She’s been active for a long time (Segundo is from like 2003 but she just had an EP out as recently as last year I think), and her sound is really cool. Some of the tracks on Segundo would be a great soundtrack to a level of Katamari Damacy. Speaking of which…

• Katamari Damacy: Reroll for Nintendo Switch.
  I finally beat the main ten levels of this while watching a long Jerma985 stream.

• More Half-Life. (I lied about office space being my favorite level — I dunno if I could pick a favorite in Half-Life but Blast Pit is another great one.)

• “Zig Zag” by By Storm.
  A new single from the duo emerging out of Injury Reserve. Going to see their debut show in a small venue here in town in 1 week whoaaaaa!!!!

• A tiny bit more Wild Arms 2 until I died to a boss fight during Tim Rhymeless’ arc and got pissed off and quit again.

• Natural fibers!!
  I am loving my new wool and linen pieces in particular (though the former are seeing relatively little use since it’s basically spring/summer weather here now)

• Hot water.
  I still love coffee and tea, and it’s probably because of this that I’ve sometimes found it easier to drink when it’s been boiled in a kettle.

• Crossword puzzles.
  A stimulating activity with no screen required! (If you print ‘em out, that is.) Perfect for mild afternoons on the patio.

• We watched the movie Matt and Mara on Valentine’s day because it has Matt Johnson in it. He plays, well, a very Matt Johnson-like character. A quick and fun watch if you can find a way to watch it. Always good to watch a Canadian movie.

• Finally, I’m looking forward to Bandcamp Friday’s return in 6ish days (while my wallet is dreading it). Planning to pick up some releases by Juana Molina, MIKE (namely Burning Desire and his latest, Showbiz!, but maybe others too) Joanna Newsom (Milk-Eyed Mender), Xiu Xiu (Knife Play).
  
  Also contemplating buying some stuff by i.o, Men I Trust, Ichiko Aoba, and Pink Must. There is so much music in this world!

Webcomic, Other Art, Site Updates

So, I have not finished drawing this months webcomic. I’m annoyed about this because I’d like to update it more frequently than once a month. Anyway, here’s a sneak peek. If you send an email to asksycamore@mailbox.org with your guess as to what band tee shirt Sycamore (a.k.a. Amy a.k.a. Moe) will be wearing in this next strip, I’ll send you a special prize!

In the meantime, I made a few other “pieces,” if that’s the term you want to use, ha. Inspired by (the experience of listening to) Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished and (the album cover for) Dance Tonight! Revolution Tomorrow! respectively:

Still planning to do some rearranging of the blog so that it will be updated more often in between webcomics. More on that soon. Also, let me know if there’s anything you’d be interested in seeing on there!

Mantras, Mindsets, & Missions

• The real world is not the Internet. For the most part, I do not have to justify myself or my values and opinions to anyone.

• I WILL get one or more piercings in the next month. (Don’t tell my mom.)

• Reaching out to friends and other loved ones for help or even simple conversation is so worth it.

• I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating: I cannot do all things at 100% all the time. The degree to which I succeed in doing one thing to a big extent is more or less proportional to the degree to which I allow myself to “fail” or slow down in other areas.

Closing Thoughts

One thing about writing a newsletter about yourself every month is that you learn months are not very meaningful divisions of time in and of themselves. Every day is a little different, and any given stretch of 30 or so days will see a variation on more or less the same mixed bag and recapitulate a lot of the same take-away messages I got from the last one.

Still, I don’t want to have to wait until anything really noteworthy happens to message you all. It’s nice to just say hi and yap a little, even if it’s always kind of the same. So I hope you’ll forgive me for being a broken record when I say things like this: life has been pretty hard sometimes, but I’m feeling good about next month!

Thank you so much for reading. I love you very very much and would love to have you over for tea. Don’t be a stranger!

xoxo

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