I am really bad at this.

I’m trying to align with the week numbers in my planner, so when we get up to week 26, I will just be able to look on the page instead of trying to count. This year’s planner pages end the week on Saturday, which is fine (ideal, actually) but throws me off last year’s visualization pattern.

So today, Saturday the 25th of January, is the end of week four. Not four full weeks, but that’s about to not matter. I promised Better Man, Wolf Moon, and Fika, so let’s see if I can stay on track.

I trekked all the way up to Alamo Lakeline in order to see Better Man, which was fine. I love Robbie Williams, I get Robbie Williams–he is my Elvis–I am not like those other Americans…but I am so tired of Robbie Williams hating Robbie Williams. I read his memoir on my London semester in 2002, and it was the same damn story that got rehashed in the Netflix documentary last year and Better Man this year…except with monkeys. I wanted to make some sort of connection between driving south to Slaugher to see A Complete Unknown and driving north to Lakeline to see Better Man, but I just don’t care enough.

My favorite scene was the Nicole Appleton gold-glitter fantasy on a yacht with fireworks, and I did get to learn more about their relationship, but the “evil record producer dragging her away and forcing her to get an abortion” imagery felt disenfranchising, to say the least. I did cry when he brought a TV to Nan’s grave, though. I’m not bothering with spoiler alerts because these are all just artistic spins on the factual events from his life, that have been covered ad nauseam.

There was a wolf moon, which more or less coincided with my wolf circle. I also made a trip to the ocean (outside the realm of this blog category)—preceded by a stop at the always excellent Cafe Java and a flying visit to my hometown—for the sake of fika. I did visit the Smithsonian traveling exhibit in Brenham; it opened in Rockport today. I submitted an article on deadline after writing all day; my accountabilibuddies would not let me procrastinate. That was the start of Aquarius Season.

The freeze arrived on Tuesday the 21st, bringing something like snow. I went for a frozen walk and appropriately found a copy of Icebreaker in a little free library; I sent a photo to my friends who also read the book and themed it to the pond in Anderson Village, which had frozen over. I’m still giggling at their response.

Wednesday the 22 was Hi How Are You Day, which pairs with a book I’m considering leaving in a little free library–there are a few around town I need to replenish, since I’ve taken a book from each. I went up to Brentwood Social House to work on a piece that felt too personal–I needed neutral ground. It’s 2350 words, ostensibly about White Lotus, and I’m scared to share it in the state it’s in. It’s too revealing, so it derailed every other project I tried to write this week. There’s a lesson there. But Brentwood was warm and welcoming as always, and I scaled the arroyo seco for funsies on my way there.

Friday, the 24th, I randomly attended a free conference on bipartisanship at the LBJ school. It was the only thing I could think to do to combat my malaise and helplessness. The main takeaways I got were that AI is a field ripe for bipartisanship and the guy in the White House wrote a book called The Art of the Deal, so let him make some deals.

I should probably track the books I have been reading, because I finished John Larison’s The Ancients last Monday and Cory Cotton’s Go Big (the Dude Perfect book) on the drive back from the coast. And just to be a completionist, I finished Richard Powers’ Playground on January 2–it was my thick holiday read.

I also just read a fantastic article in the Austin Chronicle tracking the Farm-to-Table movement in town, including several references to the bromakase trend that made me laugh very hard, brought to my attention the NYT article I missed last year, and provided some relief that I turned down that omakase assignment a few months ago.

I’m going to hit publish on this now, with the full knowledge that I’m going to come back in and edit/add imagery. I’m just tired and making myself write this to stay on track. Oh, and grad school started up again Tuesday. And work, with this week in the news, has been rough.

Next week: SXSW volunteer call, September 5, and rewards points. Oh! Here’s an update on the seed patch: the professionals stepped in!