Internet Todo List for Enthusiastic Thinkers, S2E01

Friends,

For several weeks, I've been asking myself what this thing should be. It could be a 'zine, the beginnings of a publication, a paid members-only extra thing, the mouth of the funnel for a content micro-empire. All of these things are interesting, in isolation, but I'm not sure they're the right thing. For me, or for all of you out there in reading-this-land.

Luckily, I think I've figured it out. This thing should feel like chatting with the shopkeeper at one of your favorite local establishments. Except that shopkeeper always talks about the "commentary track" on the things you enjoy most about that shop. And the shopkeeper is me.

Let me unpack that.

A thing I increasingly enjoy is interacting with those who work at the establishments I frequent around Austin. Sometimes I get a personalized recommendation on what I might buy next. Sometimes we talk about nothing. I always end up feeling like I know that business better, like I know a person better, and that I'm a little more bonded with that establishment. In all aspects, it's a nice feeling.

For a longer time, I've really enjoyed interviews and documentaries about how things are made. Feats of engineering and works of self-expression alike. In fact, I might enjoy learning about the work as much as I enjoy the actual work. That seems about right for my personality, actually.

The goal, here, is to experiment with putting three things I enjoy together. I keep sharing idiomatic ideas and discoveries with you out there in internet-land. I take the opportunity to play shopkeeper, albeit as a one-way conversation about what's going here in The Real Adam Land. Plus, I give a little insight into how the things I'm writing, thinking, and making came to be.

Getting down to brass tacks, I'm going to switch around how I publish things. Mostly I'm going to publish things on my weblog first, and then I'll throw in links and commentary here. A few things will probably end up developing here, pieces that I'm not quite certain about how I feel and I need to put in front of a smaller, less internet-wide audience. And a few things that just don't seem to play well as weblog material will end up here exclusively.

As before, this is just a way to throw a few hundred words at some of my closest friends, at those who seem to enjoy most what I write and/or blabber about. No ads, no sponsors, no VC, no per-day article budget. Just me, my brand of eccentricity, and you.

It's gonna be fun.