vol. 2, no. 11 | Time Sync

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        July 29, 2025
    
    
vol. 2, no. 11 | Time Sync


        Lately, Livvy and I have been designing and programming a custom timer app for events at The Company. It’s a timer that can sync across devices, so that the presenters, the hosts, and our superstar notification-player, Alexander Floyd Prinsen, can all see the same time, without all having to be in view of a single device.
It’s a personal project that’s very aligned with our hopes for this place. Custom, personal-use software falls in line with our love of ‘micromedia.’ And investing a lot of time into building something like a custom timer falls in line with our dreams to put a lot of care into small things. It’s a creative project for a small audience. A thing created around community.
And I’ve been thinking that the making of a timer is a kind of metaphor. Here at The Company, we sink a lot of time into building systems and schedules and structures to support running into each other frequently. Here, it could be said, we sink time into syncing time.
And I continue to be so grateful for what that’s led to. That this past week, different clusters of us spent time together on purpose—here at The Company, but also at playgrounds, in apartments, in line for ice cream, under string lights, in auditoriums, and near really long tables.
I’m grateful for the frequency, but this week I’m also really grateful that we ever get to share any time together in the first place. If we’ve met—here or elsewhere—thanks for that. And if you’ve been a part of helping this thing exist, through your helping or your presenting or your money or your company, thanks for that too. It’s been really nice to sync up.
—Ivan
Happenings
This week:
Mary Ann’s Book Club: Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order, Monday, July 28
(This already happened—I really thought I’d get around to sending this out before it happened—but I’m leaving this in here for the record.)
This is a book that Lexi has been talking about for a very long time, and once you start reading it you’ll see why. You’ve still got time to squeeze it in if you start now, especially if you only read the bold parts.
Read the Change You Wish Not to See in the World →
Weekly Wednesday Worknight, Wednesday, July 30
The Company is about combining creative work with good friendships. Make an appointment with your side project this (or any) Wednesday at a Worknight, where we oscillate between enforced, focused, quiet time and optional chatty social time.
$5, or free for Company and Moonlight members
Work together →
PowerPoint Party No. 29, Saturday, August 2
Twelve people giving 7-minute presentations about whatever they’re currently into. At past parties, people have presented about student feedback, dyes, Botox, and rating systems. It’s a wide mix.
It’s a nerdy and sincere crowd that cares a lot, and we’ve met some of our favorite people at these.
Want to present? We’ve got a waiting list. Want to just show up and meet interesting people and learn about what’s fascinating them lately? That’s great too. Bring a friend, or come alone and make a friend.
(Featuring a BRAND NEW TIMER)
$10, or free for members and presenters.
Make a point of coming →
Future Weeks:
Glint: Right, Tuesday, August 12
True, personal stories, told live, without notes. Pretty much exactly like The Moth, except without the competition, on Tuesdays instead of Fridays, and everyone knows each other (or is about to). Our next theme is “Right“, and we’ve got storyteller spots left.
Do you have a story of a time you were right—or when you thought you were? Do you have a story of moral goodness or justification? Of something being true or correct? A story of taking a right turn? A story of correcting something? Or of something owed to you or to someone else? Whatever your interpretation, we want to hear it.
$10, or free for tellers and members.
Note: Cuppa will be open during this event!
Do the right thing →
—
Also coming up: Offsite: Make & Tell (August 21), Offsite: Orbis Garden Party (August 23).
Nostalgia
Do you remember the Medium Salsa class? How we wrote a list of all the moves we’ve learned? The coining of “Patrick’s Deception,” because we forgot the name of the move he taught us? All that twirling?
Mike’s fly-by coffee and recess visit?
The Doordash fries fraud debacle?
How I said that my love languages are words and touch, and Mark immediately put his hand on my shoulder and said “You’re so wonderful”?
Do you remember the question about what compliment your shadow would give you? That Will suggested “You’re so three-dimensional”?
How distressed Norton was about the rain, and how you all waited it out under the playground tower?
Allyson’s art night? Everyone’s thrill of discovering Alex’s old lava lamp? The look of amazement on Halie’s face? How she said “It’s blue and blobby!!!! It’s like the inside of my head!!!”?
The quiet workday? The recess with a Dan sighting? The Worknight with taste-testing?
The lunch with Jim and his sister and her partner?
Or do you remember how fourteen of us showed up at Make & Tell? How the crowd was mostly pockets of us? How our last time there, the ratio of people known and unknown was so different? How this time we met a new Drew, and other new people? How afterward we stood around, mostly talking amongst ourselves, and then we stood around again outside?
Creative Mornings at RMCAD? Mark’s very first? How we remembered that the last time we were there was Drew’s first?
How while we were there we heard about Jessica’s good news?
How we returned to The Company and met Corporate Ashley?
That Alex and Jessica P. returned from their long voyage? That we had the biggest lunch crew in a long time? And that while we lunched, Jessica S. was so nervous while she waited to tell her current job she was quitting?
How afterward, when she got off her call and exited the Kissing Room, we cheered “Quitter! Quitter!” How we still celebrated, and still hugged, and still shook hands?
The recess walk? The talk of dogs and cultural observations?
Do you remember Longer Tables? Running across each other, reluctant to split up? The hands-in “Separate on 3!”?
Bureaucratic Minutiae
We have (finally!) assembled a set of small lockers for use by folks during the workday.
At Worknight: Norton and Ivan finished assembling lockers, Ivan got a car, Mary Ann B. edited a strategy video, and Livvy worked on a presentation for Make & Tell.
The Company would like to thank Will, Jessica P., and Jessica S. for their mysterious and important data processing work in service of a soon-to-be revealed Company project.
Finally, a reminder that The Company is a member-supported gathering place, and if you know any of us, you’re welcome to pop in any time for free (outside of events). If you know that one of us is here and you’d like to come by, reach out and we can let you in.
Photos
Trying to remember all the moves we’ve learned across mild and medium salsas.
And practicing new ones.
This one is called the sombrero.
Obscured by the tall grass on the right is our landlord John! He lives right next to The Company. He’s responsible for all the good plants around here.
Recess on Tuesday. Occasionally there are attempts at fitness. Photo by Lizzie.
Recess on Tuesday. Occasionally there are attempts at fitness. Photo by Lizzie.
At some point during this recess it began to rain and everyone had to huddle in the playground tower. Photo by Lizzie, obviously.
Every once in a while Allyson hosts an Art Night at her place. It’s like a Worknight, but a lot less focused, and a lot more popular. Livvy and I worked on a timer.
And at Worknight, we kept working on a timer.
After Worknight. A soon-to-be obsolete timer visible in the back right.
I believe Livvy was buckled over in that previous photo, and has her eyes closed in this photo, because she’s gotten really into trying to guess the color of a Sweetart based on its flavor. She’s currently doing better than random.
Jim’s sister and her partner came to visit Jim, and he brought them by The Company! Where Jim quickly got to work inspecting an old typewriter intended for an art project.
A Moonlight Report, which we rescheduled to slightly earlier in the evening to accommodate Make & Tell.
Make & Tell was so great. I snapped this photo because the last time Justin came to this was two-ish years ago, when Norton and I met him for the very first time. You’ve probably heard the story (which has since been turned into a television episode) of that meeting, so I’ll spare you the long version (though please feel free to ask about it). But once, Justin was a stranger, and then some time later he convinced us to start The Company.
We didn’t properly meet at Make & Tell, but Mike (left) learned about us because of Make & Tell, and he’s now the sandwich-eater-in-residence at The Company.
Michelle is one of the few people that we met at last year’s only Make & Tell, and here she is in a blurry, poorly-composed image looking happy about that.
Both the time we met Justin and the time we met Michelle, it was just Norton and I who were able to make it. And it was so sweet that this year there were so many of us who already knew each other. Afterward, as the crowd thinned, it was mostly us left.
And a spider.
There are so may ways to make friends and build community, but we continue to be so grateful that this experiment of The Company has led to all the connection that it has. And so grateful to Make & Tell for being a part of that.
Make & Tell is a significant part of our story, and so is Creative Mornings, which this week was at RMCAD. A year ago, at this same time of year, Creative Mornings was in this same space, and we pitched The Company at it, and because of that we met Madison (in the green), who came to a Glint, and then kept coming back.
While a few of us were at Creative Mornings, Jessica was at The Company, accepting a new job. Norton was one of the first to congratulate her. Photo by Beth.
After Creative Mornings a lot of us came back to The Company, and a little after we all got here Alex and Jessica P. showed up! They returned from their travels this week, and almost immediately after returning showed up at The Company.
’Twas a good lunch.
Jessica S. took the second half of lunch to tell her current job she was quitting. We wanted to celebrate this.
So we all wrote her a whiteboard instead of a card because we didn’t have a card and because a whiteboard seemed more our style.
When Jessica came out of the Kissing Room (where she had been taking her meeting) we all chanted “Quitter! Quitter! Quitter! Quitter!”, totally missing that this might also be an emotionally heavy moment. Big hugs.
And then a round of handshakes.
Congratulations again, Jessica!
After the Mile Long Table! While we ran across each other a few times before it got started, we all did the responsible thing and split up to sit with strangers. But then, of course, we met up afterward.
—
This issue of Paperwork was written by Ivan, and shot by Ivan, Lizzie, Beth, and Michelle. Photo selection and editing by Ivan and Michelle. Editorial support was provided by Livvy, Norton, and Michelle. This issue, and The Company itself, was made possible by the support of our members, Halie, Drew, Justin, Mason, Lexi, José, Mary Ann B., Trevr, Allyson, Lizzie, Madison, Melissa, Elijah, Michelle, Jim, Jacob, Mark, Sabrina, Beth, Dani, Chris, Will, Rebeca, Sarah, Mary Ann T., Alex, Jessica P., Jessica S., Mike, Ben T., and Sam.
Do you know anyone in the Denver area who might be looking for creative community? Feel free to forward this email along to them. Everyone loves Paperwork.
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