April 2024
Fitness
Joined a gym. Going 3x/week. Swimming a bit. Did “Dry Feb” and extended till after Easter. Felt great. Benefits: more energy, skin glowing:), boost in mental health — less “reactive”. Keeping booze consumption down since. Replaced habit with reddit though, needs must.
Art Projects
Lots of positives on this front, will might update sometime in late Spring/early Summer when they are more public. On a private note, daily drawing habit re-established. I only post #caturday on twitter/x, and the occasional story on Instagram. Social media continues to feel like more of an obligation / drag / negative influence which benefits the tech-bros and not moi. This may change.
I did something fun in January for #artsbirthday : “A live stream of drawings inspired by Hummingbirds with the sounds of Mechanical Velocities (also inspired by hummingbirds) by Absolute Value of Noise and Anna Friz. “
What was super enjoyable (besides the event itself) was I did not tell anyone on my socials or IRL about it happening. So the audience was only the built-in audience that AB already has. Quite liberating. Much more about the process and the other artists/participants. Also noticed some unique parallels between my stream and others that were eerie coincidences in terms of colour and tempo. That I will blog about someday. Maybe before the next AB.
July 2023
Heya. You’ve likely found this page through the Derek Sivers link.
Still have not updated this page or this site in eons.
[ Plus ça change plus c’est la même chose: Why not? Some super fun stuff, some really crappy stuff, some in-between stuff. I’m more or less staying off the socials and hoping to be as creative and productive as possible, while still treading water, and wanting to be bored and do nothing and claim my introversion as a strength not a weakness. ]
“I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations, neither are you here to live up to mine.” Peter Tosh
Fitness
This is the only update for now:) Back at the pool! yippee yahoo. Swimming 3 times a week, consuming YouTube videos like a fiend. Today ventured into the deep end (The pool is split into 2 25m sections) and this is occupied by mainly men. They are very fast and intimidating. The challenge is to keep focussed on what I am doing and not fall into the “comparison is the thief of joy” trap.
I love swimming because: no phone. (I don’t have an apple watch). no need to talk to anyone else. easy on the joints. no phone. the silence. or the rhythm of the noise of other swimmers slapping the water. pushing off and gliding. getting better at freestyle. using a kickboard even if i dislike it. i love the benefits. there are more reasons. Mainly it’s an hour away from the box and I feel strong.
All the content below has not been updated. Shrug.
Art Projects
Drawing
Drawing has continued to be a more or less daily habit, and now a deeply integrated part of my practice. I wrote a blog post about the pleasure of drawing and plan to write more. I post my #caturdayart drawings on twitter (@deanneachong) and generally post my other drawings as stories on IG (@piquette)
Watercolours
In 2021 I was super fortunate to get funding from the Canada Council and the BC Arts Council to research and create a series of works that use traditional media as a departure point. Watercolours.
Reading
Lots of mystery novels. My first love. This never changes.
Highlights — so far — of more ‘serious’ fiction / lit:
- None. I haven’t had the energy to read anything “serious” other than a few long form articles.
Other
Working with CInevolution Media Arts Society on a legacy style approach to their website. Thinking a lot about accessibility. Other exciting projects in the works.
Disappointed in social media, virtue-signalling and all those damn bots! Meh.
Last update: April 22, 2022 April 17th, 2019 June 22, 2021
NOW – Inspired by Derek Sivers
THEN – The miniature archivist in me needs a THEN.