Author: Asmoth

My terrarium survived more than a year!

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This is one of the things I am grateful for this week: my terrarium survived 365 days!

Between its creation on 15/06/2021 – during a terrarium making workshop over Zoom – and now, I have had a few hiccups . Unfortunately, one day I had to amputate part of it, as some of the plants were dying. I am not sure what happened. Did I put too much water or too little? Did I expose it to direct sunlight? Not sure, but I had to remove the unlucky plants before they started decomposing. Otherwise it would have risked the entire ecosystem.

Honestly I am quite surprised. Every pot of herbs I buy ends up dead within a few weeks, and a terrarium seems orders of magnitude more complicated. But, on the other hand, I managed to get a baby lemon tree out of one seed, so what do you know?

I think it’s all tropical plants, so I didn’t think it was going to last long in London, but so far so good! To celebrate, I put it’s original birth date on the jar using my label maker.

This might not be very creative per se, but there is a certain beauty in arranging life in a jar and watching it do its thing. Somehow it always goes in a different direction from what I originally intended. Actually, it feels quite similar to what happens when I make music!

Anyway, it brings me joy that I found a spot for it in my living room. I guess styling the place is some form of creative act. I think it contributes to me being inspired sometimes.

Life is made of little things I guess 🙂

My glorious terrarium on a warm summer day in London, showing some mist on the glass
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Leaning into what inspires me

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As I’m getting back into making music – and creating stuff in general – I find myself struggling with finding ideas, telling a story, getting past the finish line.

There’s probably something I am doing wrong here. There is so much I want to accomplish, and a lot I don’t know exactly how to do. Without fully knowing where I’m going, it can feel a bit daunting when I’m still not back at 100% of my energy levels.

So I’m leaning into what I know inspires me. I’m rediscovering what I’ve loved doing in the past, what I still enjoy experiencing today.

So for the next few weeks, I am going to try having fun, and avoid caring about making the best stuff possible. And the one thing that gives me energy at the moment is synthwave 🙂 There’s something to it, a formula, a pattern, a familiarity that feels like the music is hugging me. I know it’s weird.

Let’s try and get that lush synth pad pumping.

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Trying to be less addicted to my phone

Reading Time: 2 minutes

I realised recently that the very first thing I was doing in the morning, right after opening my eyes, was checking my phone.

Messages, Twitter, Instagram, amongst other things. That’s the first thing I do when I wake up.

During a day, I check my phone tens, hundreds of time. I don’t even think about it, it’s just a reflex. Before I know it, I’ve opened Twitter and I’m doomscrolling. Or I’m checking Instagram stories from people I don’t know, photos of people I don’t follow.

This is stressing me out. I need to stop but somehow I’m not ready to uninstall the apps! What if something happens in the world and I don’t know about it??? (I know, it’s silly). I came across this video from Casey Neistat again a few days ago, and I relate a lot. I thought it was worth sharing.

I’ve moved social media apps to a different screen, and put them in a folder. I named that folder “Stress” because that’s how they make me feel anyway (whether I check them or not). The apps are still there, they’re just a little bit harder to find. So far it’s working. I unlock my phone without thinking about it, and when my thumb reaches for one of these apps, I have a few seconds of confusion, followed by “ah, yeah, right, phew, let’s just lock the phone now and not check social media”.

I’m going to keep doing that for a few days and see how I feel.

How silly is this? Imagine explaining this to our ancestors!

Screenshot of my phone with a page and only the Stress folder
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Letting go of music projects

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After struggling to hit upload for about a year, I decided it was about time.

I have been working on the same music track for months now. And even though I like it, even though it makes me feel uplifted and makes me want to create, there’s something that’s not working, and I can’t figure out what.

Well, I probably could, but it’s not fun anymore. And so I’d like to move on.

This is me, trying to convince myself to let go.

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