I do this manually at the end of each week: collating lightly edited recent comments I’ve made on social media, which I think of as my public scratch pad. I find knowing I’ll revisit my posts to be a positive and mellowing influence on my social media activity. I mostly hang out on Mastodon (at post.lurk.org/@disquiet), and I’m also trying out a few others. And I generally take weekends off social media.
And this is the final Scratch Pad entry of the year, since as of of yesterday afternoon, I’m off social media until the first week of January 2025.
▰ I often take time off social media between (our American) Thanksgiving and the end of the (Gregorian calendar) year. Not sure I did last year, but I think I will this year. Maybe hit pause the end of this week. I can feel the year winding down.
▰ When there’s a new Scottish TV show you want to see, and you turn it on — and the subtitles aren’t available yet, so you cannae watch it
▰ The clothes dryer plays a little jig at the end, like an old-school performance of a Shakespeare play at the Globe
▰ Each Thursday in the Disquiet Junto music community, a new compositional challenge is set before the group’s members, who then have five days to record and upload a track in response to the project instructions.
▰ Caught the King Crimson quasi-reunion tour last night, aka the Beat tour, with Adrian Belew and Tony Levin from the classic ‘80s trio of albums, and Steve Vai in Robert Fripp’s seat (except he stood) and Danny Carey in Bill Brufford’s. It was a lot of fun, especially the second set.
▰ I get literally 100s of music releases each week. I download what strikes my interest, or I listen online, or both. The things that stick with me, I write about. It’s just about that simple. And I can’t reply to all the inbound requests for coverage. That time simply doesn’t exist.
For some reviewers, it may feel important to be on top of releases other people are talking about. I think they might be convincible that something is topical, and for that reason worthy of review consideration. That thinking plays about 1% of a role in my decision-making, but that’s just me.
It’s a bit of a mystery to me, how my ears work. I just pay attention to what they tell me.
▰ New microwave. New drones. New beeps.
▰ If you’re on the Disquiet Junto project email announcement list and didn’t receive the one that went out on Thursday, November 21, could you let me know? Thanks.
▰ Me: I’m taking my annual social media break starting November 22 and through the end of the year.
Friend: Do you find that difficult?
Me: What I find difficult is locating all the different ways required to turn off notifications I hadn’t even realized were on.
▰ I think about how hitting the record button when making a field recording focuses my hearing. As I near the juncture when I take a long holiday break from social media, I get a similar sensation — of the world both closing in and opening up. I don’t foresee giving up social media, but these long breaks do remind me of a different way of being present.
