This newsletter started as a publication to a small Google group in the early days of the pandemic. Primarily as a way to share words, build an audience, and promote my memoir. I have a lot of thoughts, too many ideas to execute, and I like to share. Some might even say, I’m a pretty classic oversharer.
The original newsletter had this description as the setup:
I started this newsletter to direct you to corners of the internet that I like, and that I think you might enjoy. Some will be corners I have created or am featured in, others will just be places that I found and liked. They will cover a gamut of topics, but four specifically:
Travel 🛫
Writting, Reading, & Memoirs 📖
Music (playing, listening, dancing, todos) 🎤
Remote Work/The Future of Work 💻
Those newsletters typically had a topical intro followed by a few sections that I enjoyed putting together, sections which you’ll find below. These “8-bit newsletters” will follow that same format, they will just be more aesthetically pleasing now that they’re made on substack. The old newsletter looked like Al Gore’s first ever email.
8-Bit Newsletter’s name and format are an homage to the ugly but utilitarian roots of the Not That You Asked Newsletter. (Not that you asked…)
Trav Shares
If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve likely seen that I’ve been sharing a bit about the Naomi Klein book I’m currently reading. It’s called “This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Environment”… and basically, it’s fucking me up. On one hand, it’s making me feel pretty certain that I’ll live through the reorganization of society on a large scale once our current systems finally fail us because capitalism and perpetual growth are in direct conflict with our hopes of surviving on this planet. On the other hand, it’s making me feel so silly about stressing over anything else. How can I get upset when my power goes out for a few days when the world is actually falling apart in front of us. I feel like it’s already been worth a few grand in therapy for that reason alone.
New favorite quote (also from the book) by Upton Sinclaire:
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”
I just put up a couple of videos from a recent Just Best Friends show. They’re both two-guitar covers filmed on a normal phone, but I think they turned out pretty darn good.
USHER FINALLY DID A TINY DESK! Watch this watch this…
Tiny Desks 2022 contest winner Alisa Amador blew me away. I know for a fact this video will make my father cry. She’s got unbelievable control of her voice, incredible diversity in her songs (not just because she changes languages), and she puts on an absolute masterclass when it comes to crowd banter. Every time she starts speaking between songs I get emotional. (I am my father’s son after all.) She’s a gift and so very deserving of this honor.
I wrote a piece about 8 words that you likely don’t know. They’re words that have meanings that only still exist in the place where they originated. Check out these 8 rare words beyond translation if you love language and etymology.
If you like adult animation or have a dog, check out Primal on HBO. If you tick both of those boxes, stop reading this now and go watch the first 20-minute episode. (The dino is basically his dog and it’s amazing.)
Bob King Memorial Advice Section
The theory of the three whys.
I can’t take credit for this advice, because I didn’t come up with it. The idea first came from Sakichi Toyoda in the early 1900s. He actually had five whys, but three why’s is the more modern adaptation and works for our purposes. The advice is essentially to ask why three times when something is eating at you.
The other day I used this advice when I was upset about my bike not working. I was curious why it was really bothering me because I could sense that I was overreacting. At the end of the sequence of questions, I had the answer to where the root of my stress began. It wasn’t the chore of taking my bike to the shop. It wasn’t that I couldn’t go for a ride that day. It was financial stress, sneaking into the back of my mind, causing an overreaction to one of life’s many little hurdles. Asking three times provided clarity, like a lighthouse cutting through the fog.
Honestly asking yourself ”why” three times will always help you to drill down to the root of the truth. It will provide a greater level of understanding about the emotion you’re feeling. About why it’s really there. It’s easy to think “I’m stressed because I have a lot going on.” I’m willing to bet there’s something more happening than a big to-do list. Think about any feeling you’ve been experiencing often lately, good or bad, and ask “why” 3 times.
See what comes up.