Week 35, 2020

On life

This week has been quite a stretch. Taking zinc is off the cards; I've left my placebos behind in London. I spent the week suffering from dulling migraines which made work something of a pipe dream. Which cumulated in being violently sick throughout the night after travelling to a remote farm in Kent. Idyllic.

Thankfully, I'm fully recovered, so can focus once again on recharging and enjoying some time away from the pressures of everyday life.

What's hit me pretty hard this week is the death of Chadwick Boseman. It's an unfamiliar way for me to feel for someone I barely know, let alone a celebrity. But seeing the ripple effect his loss has had among the Black community is telling. In 2020 of all years. His life must be celebrated, and celebrated with action.

If you're white, it's time you did the work the world requires of you and start understanding how we got into the current world state. Start by giving Black folks everywhere the respect they deserve. Be anti-racist. At very least, follow Tatiana Mac’s White Guyde To the Galaxy and do the work.

I'm starting with Ibram X Kendi's How To Be Antiracist—let's read it together.

On writing

As mentioned, I'm on vacation this week, so have made the pledge to reduce my screen time as much as possible.

It's been quite romantic to find myself writing on paper again. And knowing my focus is on going deeper, per week 33, I find myself making far more connections without pressure. All handwritten text is quick and shit because the editing process is so much harder. On a computer, it's so much easier to go back and change things without really understanding what you've already written.

The new environment itself has been quite stimulating—I find myself finding it hard to concentrate, as I still adjust to the new environment.

If you do write by hand, and your handwriting is terrible like mine, I've found a regular old Bic Biro is the best choice of pen for legibility. I had been using Muji’s Gel Ink pens, but it's far far too easy to create something illegible with them. It's almost useless.

On Timo

While I take a break from Timo for the first time in 9 months, we hit a milestone. We sent our first invitations to users of the original Timo this week. The first invitation sent? Bounced. But what we have found now: we have beta user's all across the world, from Houston to Cairo. That's a pretty amazing feeling.

Let's see how the situation develops as we send out more invites.