Author Notes
A few days ago, I changed the scale of my personal journey from “The Ship” to “The Shop”. The Ship is awesome, but was unintentially so epic in scale that everything I did seemed insignificant compared to it. By starting with a small shop, my day-to-day activities feel much more significant, which I think will improve motivation!
My current challenge is starting to write about the journey, using the cozy scale as a constraint. I’m tempted to write a metaphorical versiopn of my daily activities, substituting “A Cat named Sri” for myself in the narrative set in a hybrid magical place. So I’ll give that a try and see how it goes! I’ll try different voices and approaches over the next few entries.
“It’s a fine day to start a new life!” exclaimed Sri as she opened the window of her makeshift cottage. The woods outside were bright and teeming with birds noisily going about their business, which put her in a good mood. “All I have to do is start to launch my spaceship!”
Looking outside the window, Sri noted the lack of a spaceship, or anything really of note. Inside the cottage were a stack of old designs for notebooks she used to sell, an old computer with half-finished software, and a huge pile of personal notes on the various “interests of the moment” that tended to pull her attention into surprise rabbitholes. Sri felt her enthusiasm start to flag.
“Well, maybe instead of a spaceship I should start with something I can make from this stuff I already have lying around,” Sri mumbled to herself. “And I should make some coffee.”
At the Coffee Station, Sri ground fresh beans with the Barratza and then loaded the grounds into the AeroPress. As she waited for the coffee to steep, she turned to look at the enormous diagram of The Ship she’d hung on the wall nearby:
Reaching out with claw extended, Sri carefully traced through the Ship Interaction Engine at the bottom of the diagram. This was the true innovation of The Ship as it symbolized what she craved–no, absolutely needed–to have a fulfilling life. It had been a huge oversight for years!
The text was exceedingly small, and Sri had to squint to decode the words:
Under Priority Interactions, where Sri hopes to make one-on-one connections:
- Web Revival Group
- Indie Makers Group
- Farmers Market Groups
- Artists Groups
Under Resources, which are Sri projects that she hoped would attract others:
- Web
- Meetups
- Collabs
Under General Public Zones, which are places where Sri-kin might be found:
- Museums
- Public Media
- Humanities
- Friend Events
“These are what are most important right now,” Sri mused. While the scale of The Ship and its operational doctrine were magnificent, it was difficult to jump directly into the enormity of that universe. As a solo cat, Sri had to make do with what she had until she built up the resources that would allow her to find like-minded people! That was the entire point of the Ship Interaction Engine, the primary propulsion system that she’d never had before!
Despite this new clarity, it felt to Sri like there was still a gap between those things and what she was actually doing every day. She’d been focused on just a few things:
- Adding a place on her website to keep track of her Ship journey
- Working on a new software platform for expressing her own ideas online
- Figuring out how to start the Web Revival Group and where to have it
After a moment of musing, Sri exclaimed, “I guess these are actually related to the Ship Interaction Engine after all! They’re all related to a kind of public outreach, but they fall short of actually talking to anyone! And if I don’t talk to anyone, I’m not interacting! Duh!”
“Perhaps I should just write about this. I’ll add a new Stories section to my website and tell the story as it happens. Instead of being all stiff and formal, I can just be me and talk about things that I like and what I’m doing! I don’t think anyone will get MAD at me?”
Sri looked outside her window, noting the glaring lack of people. She was by herself in her run-down cottage surrounded by the salvageable pieces of her old life. She was starting anew, and needed to build anew. But it was also a new opportunity, and such opportunties are teased open over many days and (of course) picnic lunches. Her stomach rumbled happily in anticipation of a good lunch of food for thought.