What Makes The Cut?

Pruning Packing Lists & Personal Pursuits

Hitting “Publish” feels a lot scarier now that people have actually subscribed. What do you all care about? This whole thing would be much easier if you would just tell me what you want to read - in fact, if you could just write out exactly what you want to read and send it to me, then I can send it back to you. Problem solved!

From The Road

Michelle and I are the World Record Holders for “Most Bikes Stuffed Inside a Mazda 3 Hatchback Along With Months Worth of Luggage For Two People”.¹ This year, we decided to move up a division, so for the past month have been competing fiercely in “Everything You Own In The Back Of A Mini-Van” Division. Our recent timeline went a bit like this:

1. September 30th: Get Married.

2. Mid October: Sell the hatchback, ride our bikes to a used car dealership, buy a mini-van

3. Late October: Sell the contents of our home to, no exaggeration, over 100 different strangers²

4. October 27-29th: Pack the Mini-Van

5. October 30-November 1st: Drive from Denver to Santa Cruz.

In short, we got married and un-settled down. We’ll finish out the year here in Santa Cruz and then reload the mini-van for the comparatively short drive to Sedona, AZ. Then we head to Park City, Utah, and figure it out from there!

After years of honing our packing skills with the tiny hatchback, the mini-van is cavernous. Still, we utilized every cubic inch. After it was “full”, Michelle fit enough items into the nooks and crannies to fill the hatchback’s trunk. Some highlights from our packing list include:

• 5 bikes, 6 sets of wheels

• 3 pillows

• 8 cookbooks

• Way too many T-shirts (I was horrified to find that I had nine - NINE!)

• A complete set of pots, pans, kitchen knives and other implements

• A small rolling cart’s worth of art supplies

• A small rolling cart

• Set of weights (whoever you are, whenever you’re reading this, tell Anton Nielsen to drink his protein shake)

• 7 opened sunscreen bottles

• 6 gallon air compressor

• 25lbs of peanuts³

Before we even finished unloading, we were already identifying things to cut. Some are big (two of the bikes, one already sold), some are small (at least half of the T-shirts), and some are sentimental (Michelle just shipped an inherited sewing machine to her parents, who have been very understanding about all of the mail suddenly arriving on their doorstep). Some are being eaten.

This critical evaluation & cultivation isn’t limited to physical objects, though. Cutting out the productivity-over-all mindset is an ongoing process, but now we’re on to the next phase: adding in pursuits that are personally interesting and meaningful, but not monetizable. We’ve each been experimenting with new hobbies and revisiting old ones.

• Michelle has a podcast! She and our friend Skyler (who just won two gold medals at the ParaPan American games as the captain of a tandem!) discuss sports and answer listener questions. In the most recent episode, they discuss Skyler’s experience competing and winning at the ParaPan American games - give it a listen!

• I’m drawing again, including the illustrations for these posts, which really hasn’t happened since finishing my college art minor.

• Adding to the audio theme, Michelle is also making music! I won’t provide a link to go listen, because it doesn’t exist yet, but maybe someday! Who knows! All I can say is if you’re anything like me (can remember when you first started dating her and are now married to her), you’re going to love it and it’s going to make you cry.

• I’m reading much more. I keep my Goodreads updated with quotes and notes, and plan to feature highlights in this newsletter.

• Michelle is taking the local pick-up Basketball scene by storm. Playing 2 - 4 times a week, the hype is building - but more importantly so are the skills. To quote one bro talking to another bro, “she’s like fuckin’ SHAQ, bro!”

• I’ve started writing!⁴ It’s been at the top of my “Things I’ve Never Tried But Want To” list for years, and I’m proud that I’ve finally started. This newsletter is part of it, but I’m also trying some fiction.⁵

Admitting to spending time on potentially frivolous past-times feels difficult, but pushing against that resistance is the real purpose of this newsletter. I’m already surprised by how these activities inform and complement each other: a book made me start writing, and the drawings give these posts a more complete, polished look.

As with any experiments, these may not work and may not last. We’ll learn along the way.

From The Kitchen

This isn’t a recipe blog, so here’s not a recipe. It’s more like a reconfigurable scaffold for a dish that you can make with minimal stress in advance of a holiday potluck. Serves about 10 adults as written:

• 1-2 lbs dried farro or orzo, in any ratio (all one, all the other, half and half, etc)

• Big bag of arugula, or spinach, or other leafy thing

• A cup or so of red-ish sweet-ish tart-ish things, like pomegranate seeds or dried cranberries

• A whole bunch of a sorta-soft, can-be-crumbled cheese, like goat or feta. 

• A lemon

• Olive oil

• Crunchy thing, like chopped pistachios or sliced almonds

• Salt, pepper

Cook the grains. Juice (and maybe zest!) the lemon. Crumble the stuff that can be crumbled. Combine it all in a big bowl. It’s pretty healthy as far as holiday dishes go, so be sure to eat extra so that you can have extra cake later. 

From The Library

The book that inspired me to start writing was The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin. Here are quotes I find particularly relevant:

All the rewards for creating art are not present at its creation. That’s because the art isn’t truly art until it has connect you with another… you take your art and move it from here to there, and only after you land do you discover if your art was deemed good… the hubris involved in this decision is extraordinary.

and

Writer’s block isn’t hard to cure: just write. Write poorly. Continue to write poorly in public until you can write better.

That seems like a fitting place to end, don’t you think?

1. The record is 5.

2. And become friends with a couple of them!

3. Did you know that’s it cheaper and tastier to grind your peanut butter? And that if you decide to move with less than 3 months notice you might not have finished the 50 pound bag you ordered in June?

4. You probably already noticed.

5. It’s funny how hard that is too admit, but I’m trying to face my internal resistance head-on. Will I ever share any of it? Oof. No promises.