We’re in late October. The trees are shedding, the weather is wet and the wind is picking up. A storm took down a walnut tree my late grandmother planted in my parents’ garden. I’m not quite sure if we’re at the end or the beginning of something.

It’s easy to settle into old moods and let the shorter days decide that your life too is shorter.

Like every few months, I’m looking back at what I’ve been paying attention to. Where is my attention going? What am I interested in? I don’t want to miss those little obsessions and curiosities that pepper my life with flavour.

1. I got a typewriter! It was itching me¹, so I bought a vintage Brother Deluxe 1350 Portable typewriter. It’s incredibly cute. I am fascinated. This used to be how people sent letters to each other, and wrote business documents. I’ve found it very inspiring, and I love using it with “unusual” paper, like notecards, or pages from my Pukka A5 notepad. Typing with it isn’t easy! A few times I tried typing as fast as I would with my mechanical keyboard, and I ended up missing letters… probably because I didn’t use the amount of force needed for a typewriter.

2. I think a lot about asynchronous correspondence: I’ve been pondering a lot on writing letters. I get more and more frustrated because I feel that with texting, we’ve started using the same tool for all remote written communication, even if it’s not the best medium. And so I think that high quality correspondence and idea sharing has regressed to something of a niche. I’ve sent a few letters recently (paper or email), and I found that it helped me slow down and really think, be more intentional. I think it’s also a million times more meaningful to receive a letter that someone put some time into, than play ping pong on Whatsapp. I read two books that really got me to reflect on how letters create a physical memory of who you are and what you do: Bill Gates’ memoir, Source Code: My Beginnings, and The Correspondent by Virginia Evans - the story of retired and divorced grandmother Sybil Van Antwerp who is an avid writer of letters (the whole story is told only through letters and emails).

3. I am getting into Japanese stationery: In my quest to use all the good paper-and-writing-related things, I slowly started falling into the rabbit hole of Japanese products. I got some Midori letter paper sets - they are themed (like with cute animals) and come with envelopes. It’s a nice alternative to a card, and you can write more! I also got a Hobonichi weekly planner for 2027. I’ve never owned a planner before, and I don’t know if I can sustain the discipline of using a planner, but teenager-Tom wouldn’t believe me if I told him I was into fountain pens and typewriters today, so I have hope! I am super curious (and a bit intimidated) and I can’t wait to get started. It’s going to be GREAT.

4. The mysterious donation table: In the hallway of my building, there is a table where people sometimes leave objects they don’t need anymore. It’s mostly books, but sometimes there are things like lamps or laptop stands. Last time, I got a stack of 80gsm printer paper! Unused! I like this table. Over the years I got a few books from my neighbours, like The Flatshare, Big Swiss, or Thinking, Fast and Slow. I really love this mindset of giving away things that might be useful to others. It’s not so much that it’s free, it’s more that it means less waste (I was going to buy that last book). And, to be honest, it got me to discover a few fiction books that I wouldn’t have bought otherwise!

   

5. Rhythms during the year: More and more, I see September as another January 1st. People change their attitude and make new plans, businesses seem to start a new cycle of their roadmap (like in the audio tech industry), and it’s all a bit stressful, for some reason. I’ve never quite been able to put my finger on it until this year. Now, I see it: I feel I have to change something in September (what though??), and look busier and more serious. I wrote a blog post about this: September.

6. Filming and making videos again: Twice this year I picked up my camera again: in May at Superbooth in Berlin, and this month in London with Les Sondiers. Both times I felt creative, and I keep wanting to get back into YouTube. I released my last video in June 2023. I think I miss it. But it’s been so long that I don’t quite know where to start, and what form it would take. In the past I’ve enjoyed making short documentaries, behind the scenes videos, and learning about other creatives. Maybe what’s stopping me is that I worry what people would say more than I should. I am trying to picture a project inside my head, but I think that getting started is what would help me figure it out. I think that with writing or drawing, there is a “sketching” element, and it helps me make progress bit by bit. With making videos, the investment is bigger, it feels that if you start filming, it’s for real and you need to know what you want to make. The secret is that maybe I don’t actually need to know.

7. Small musicals: I’m still into going to small productions by talented people! This time I saw Under The Influence, by the Gilbert Twins. They built a career making sketches on Instagram and TikTok, and the musical is about how hard it can be to make social media your job, and with your sister on top of that. It also gets us to see what it feels like to be a twin. It really is something special (and sometimes difficult) that most people can’t quite relate to. They posted a vulnerable video online asking their community for help, explaining how hard it was for them to sell tickets, even with their huge following. I thought it was important to show some support, and I’m glad I went!

8. Playing with tech (again): I feel I write every time about how I surprised myself finding creativity in writing code at home. In September I rewrote in Go some software I use to store data about my runs and my writing sessions. There is something so engaging about solving your problems yourself, with code, and without AI as much as possible, so that I really get to learn by doing and failing (and not by reading instructions). I feel like a weird person, in this day and age where so many people vibe code everything.

9. Do you still make music? Good question. In October, I went to an event with other content creators in the audio industry (YouTubers, writers in magazines, etc.). People who test gear, write reviews, work with brands, and give tips to their audience. As we were catching up, one of them asked me this question, as if to say “Do you still get the time? Are you still enjoying it?”. Somehow, this makes me sad but also I get it, and I relate to why he asked me this question. It’s very telling of how hard it is to enjoy doing the things you love when you are working so hard, and especially when your job involves touching the very gear you also spend hours on for your work.