What I’m Doing Right Now

Location

Ruisui, Taiwan. From Nha Trang through Da Lat and Saigon, then over here. Kaohsiung, Tainan, art shows, museums, little streets full of things I want to look at. Taiwan has been getting to me in a very good way.

We also spent time in nature. Getting the steps in, biking around. Rice fields, mountain hikes, endless fruit plantations.

Papaya party.

Creating

The camera finally left the backpack. After months of carrying it around Asia, I started photographing again in Taiwan. A slightly ridiculous amount of resistance for something I enjoy this much. I love how differently I look at things when it’s in my hands. The photos? Mostly clutter, as it turns out.

The newspaper got a new outfit. My little Sunday paper, Diurnal, got rebuilt. Still finding things outside my usual reading orbit, still receiving considerably more design attention than a newspaper with an audience of 1 reasonably needs.

And in Da Lat we did a pine-needle craft workshop, making a topping for pottery. I really like making things with my hands. Apparently the bowls in Chiang Mai weren’t a one-off.

A few snapshots from the past weeks.

Movement

Muay Thai made me properly fit again. By the end of Vietnam, training 3x a week had become a routine. I felt strong. I like my body. After all the back-and-hip episodes the past year, this feels pretty fkn good.

In Da Lat I also cancelled a session because I was too exhausted, did yoga instead, and felt much better. Later we did a session in the forest at an ashram. Good addition to the getting-punched part of my life.

Reading / Learning / Watching

Inside a Painter’s NYC Loft Since 1972. Ben Schonzeit, surrounded by a lifetime of making things, says: “I think to be an artist, you spend your life doing what’s interesting.”

That sentence stayed. Especially while moving between building software, photographing somebody’s messy workshop, and making something out of pine needles.

Also Jack Conte on creativity and AI. He talks about new tools spending their early years imitating whatever came before them, until somebody finds a form that belongs to the tool itself. I keep thinking about what that could look like with the things I’m building.

Slow Horses and Silo. We binge-watched all available seasons of both. Loved most of it.

Listening to

Interestingly, music has become less important over the past few weeks. Nothing special on repeat right now.

Work

nodacop has real delivery weeks now. Noela and I have been making landing pages, quizzes, ads, and the systems underneath them. Referrals turned into projects. A client came back for more. It’s good to see the thing we built being wanted.

Some of those weeks were also a lot. The machinery I’d built to help us had become too complicated, so I’ve been reworking it while we deliver. Currently trying to get the writing system to use everything it knows about good writing without cramming all of it into every paragraph. Quite a project, that.

Charcuteria / Wurst Circle is getting attention again. New ads, recipe and shop rework, and the little sausage business is having some good months. A few things still to finish, then I’ll let it run on its own again for the main season.

Another consulting engagement is winding down. This time I’m leaving the space open. I have enough going on, and I’d like some room to build something just because I’m curious about it.

What’s Next?

The rest of Taiwan, then Japan in October. China in November, with my sister joining, and back to Germany toward the end of November.

December in 1 place sounds increasingly appealing.

I did a small Q4 review this week. Travelled, built things, made money, got fit, wrote, spent a lot of very good time with Noela. When I actually look at it, this year has been amazing.

I’d like to slow down a little and enjoy that. Leave some room for whatever comes next. ❤️