Journal Sept 7 2020

Well. I almost started doing some other stuff on the computer.

Nothing so big.

I had a process running to copy the photo archive from my FreeNAS server over to Amazon S3. It stopped sometime last night become the credentials expired. I almost went through the process of resetting them. It's just a couple of steps and only would have taken a minute, and I allllmost did it. But, I was able to stop myself and switch over to writing this.

The way I'm thinking about it, I basically want the literal first thing I do on the computer in the morning to be to setup and write. Something that's cool about that is that's what I did this morning and it gave me a clear... not idea, but a clear process of what to do to get started. Now that that's in my head, it'll be easier to do. Basically, I just defined the ritual.

(Okay, this is one of those things where this is kinda a hybrid writing thing becuase I'm about to go into why I used the word ritual. I'm not sure if I would have done that if I wasn't recording this to post.)

Anyway, I really like using the term "morning ritual" instead of "morning routine". The word "routine" sounds, well... routine. Like, boring.

Defined:

- routine - a sequence of actions regularly followed; a fixed program - ritual - a religious or solemn ceremony consisting of a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order

Writing isn't solemn. Neither is it exactly religious, but it's close. It's the act of creation. Just remembering, I think my senior yearbook quote was something like "it's godlike to create". There was another part to the quote that come before it... Actually, let me go grab the yearbook and look it up (and yes, I still have my highschool yearbook)

... time passes ...

huh, this ain't bad:

it is wise to learn; it is God-like to create -- John Saxe

Never read anything by him and I'd never heard of him until I got that quote from one of my dad's quote books (being a writer, he had a few). A big part of the reason I picked the quote was because of his name. I used to play the sax, so it was a pretty perfect quote for me.

(Okay, here's a thing that folks in the video will see that folks reading this won't, I'm about to go onto twitter real quick and tweet this:

in case you were wondering how long i've been one of those damn creative types, this was my senior yearbook quote:

it is wise to learn; it is God-like to create -- John Saxe

Yeah, I like that.

Ummmm, forgot where I was since that took a few minutes two write.

Oh, yeah. routine v ritual.

I got that language from a book who's title I can't remember. I remember that I could only make it through part of it. I was listening to the audio book and I'm not sure if it was the person reading it or the content, but it was... not annoying, exactly, and not a slog exactly, but just... ahhhh, tedious as all hell.

actually, let me see if I can find it....

... time passes ...

Nope, can't find it. Maybe I'll look it up and some point, but fuck it for now.

Anyway, they used the term ritual in there instead of routine and it felt like a switch going off. I'm a huge fan of language and how it frames stuff in our heads and that was a great change...

Though, I'm realizing now that I never really applied it. I mean, I had more of a routine of just get up, get a shower, etc... I though of the idea as a ritual, but there wasn't anything... religious about it.

Now, with this writing, there is. This feels like ritual. Religious.

You know what, I'm going to drop the word feels.

This is now my morning ritual.... hmmmm. nah, don't want to add religious to it, but it's a ritual. It's sacred. Yeah. I like that a lot.

And, now that I just got the process setup, I can apply it. Or, I guess it's better said that I've defined the ritual.

And, just to put it down in it's current state:

- Wake up - Start music on phone - Grab a drink - Take pills - Login - Switch music to computer speakers - Open window to hide other apps - Open Sublime Text writing window - Resize writing window for recording - Switch music to headphones - Start recording - Write - Stop recording - Switch music to phone - Walk

There's a few other things in there like get dressed, but that's variable. Sometimes, I put on all my clothes before writing. Sometimes, just my underwear.

But yeah. I really like that. Soon, I'll change that up a little and add some new things like casting and publishing, but that's a good run for now to get me started.

And, speaking of getting started... Time to start walking.

Cheers,

-a