Start

I looked at my last post and realized it’s been three months. I guess all the crazy in the world is getting to me more than I thought. I have plenty to say about all of it, and don’t want to say any of it here. Aside from one thing…Wear a Mask. Please. That’s all I will say on the subject. I’m not going to debate it. I’m not going to plead or give reasons. Just wear the mask.

Moving on.

A couple of things of note come to mind that I want to share.

The first one involved mail. Actual postage. You may, or more likely have not, seen the reports of the issues that the postal service in the US is having with staying in operation. I know many people argue against in because we have email. Which is all fine and good except my art supplies, t-shirts, and other physical goodies don’t come via email. The US has one of, if not the, least expensive costs of sending a letter. Right now a ‘Forever Stamp’ runs about $.55 and that will let you mail a multiple page letter in a #10 (letter size) envelope or a greeting card with a note inside. Post cards, I just figured out are about $.35 for a quick postcard with a picture on one side and a short (very short) note on the other.

I had heard about this and about the idea of others to help support the post office by sending more letters. Yes, we all get the junk mail but that is usually sent at bulk mail rates and those are lower than the cost for sending our letters so while it might help the post office some, it doesn’t help as much as if we would send more letters.

A little background on me and letters. When I was a kid I had penpals. For those who don’t know or remember, there used to be a service or two where you could send a letter saying that you wanted a penpal from a certain country and they would send you back a name, address, and maybe a little about the person. I don’t know how many people I wrote to at the height of my penpal days, I did have them from all over though. It was always such fun to check the mail and find I had a letter from one of my friends. It was a treat. I still get a kick out of it. It puts a smile on my face every time. It’s why when I went to Australia last year, I made a point of sending post cards to a few people and on them I wrote, ‘because getting mail is fun’. It is.

With that in mind, I texted a few people to get their addresses, because we don’t share those that much these days, so I could start sending them notes. There were some, like my sister and some other family, whose addresses I already had. I included them in this endeavor as well. I ordered some fun stamps (50th Anniversary of Sesame Street) and found whatever cards and such I still had and started sending notes. I’ve since picked up some additional blank greeting cards and some sets of postcards to send to switch things up. And because I haven’t quite got myself together and created my own.

I’ve been pretty good about sending things fairly regularly to some people. Family in particular. And I guess I had gotten regular enough about it that when I slacked off a little in the last couple of weeks, someone noticed. I had a text from my sister telling me that I had broken a streak. I did remedy that right away. And I will remember to not slack too much on that again.

The second thing that I’ll share is about a video I happened upon.

I don’t know about you but all of my best intentions with all this time at home have not quite resulted in what I might have hoped for. To be fair, I’m not sure I know what I had hoped for, which could be a big part of the issue. Anyway, I’ve got all these things I think I’m going to do, finish a dozen or so courses on Udemy, Linuxacademy and I’m not sure where else, study for a test, make a greeting card collection, work on a 3D project, play more guitar, the list as you see goes on and on. I have made small bits of progress on things, and yet…

So this video had to do with this creative guy that was whining (his description) to this artist friend about not getting anywhere. So the artist friend tells him to draw one thing for the next year. The point he makes, and I’ve seen it before, is to start. Motivation does not always cause action, and same with inspiration. Action does trigger motivation and inspiration. This was the point of the whole thing. He said he’d been using thinking as a form of procrastination. And he felt like he was productive. Except he wasn’t. I understand this. And I relate to this.

I’ve only just come across the video so I haven’t put this into full practice yet. I have started. I’ll fill you in later as things progress. Not because I am still thinking about it. Actually, writing this post is part of getting that into practice. This is my ‘act’ instead of wait for inspiration or motivation. Keep that in mind if future posts are shorter or seem off the usual topics.

It’s not all been for naught. I have managed to get a few things off my longer term to do lists in the last couple of months. Like learning more about my 3D printer, and getting my picture framed. I’ve included a few photos of those sorts of things and other bits.