The Thursday Dispatch - July 31, 2025

I’ve been doing these Thursday posts for two months now. I’m impressed with myself for that. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I’ve been in a good space simply by writing more. I’ve come up with personal projects for myself, which are things that get into my other interests, so I’m killing two birds with one stone to be all medieval about it.

One trend I’ve had for the times I’ve lived alone is that I don’t typically have company. Further, I don’t necessarily want company. Not all the time anyway. My space is catered to me, so to have other people in that space, it starts to feel a bit claustrophobic for me. That said, I still need social interaction from time to time, so that’s when I’ll start sending out feeders to see if people want to do anything.

But, I’m in my own space a lot. That can lead to loneliness. Or at least that’s what I take it as. But, what if it’s just boredom? I work in a people-centric field, so, I see plenty of people every day. I’m usually more than happy to go home and be around nobody while loafing around on the couch with my cat curled up with me. I do want to be around my people, but my people also have their own lives, either by being married or with their kids, things I don’t deal with being single with no kids ¹. I keep my expectations low there. I’m also very much about maintaining my peace.

What I have found is writing gives me something to do. It gives me a chance to be in thought. It allows me to research something from time to time. I get to share thoughts out loud while allowing those close to me to take it in on their time. I get to get into things I really enjoy, like music or being outside, and share that part of myself with others. But, I think the best part is how in touch with myself I’m becoming. That part is a certain kind of peace within itself.

I suppose my message with this is to find that thing you love and dive into it. But, also, be willing to be introspective with yourself. I’m able to do it through writing, either by journaling or posting here. But, maybe that’s coffee with a friend for you. I had a concept for a post months ago that never took off called “peace takes practice”. On the fly I’m realizing this has become that post. Practice it. Refine it. Define what it means for you.

Weekly Photo

We’ve had a long stretch of extremely hot and humid weather here in the Omaha area as of late. Yesterday was the first day in over a week where it wasn’t at least one of those things. It was still humid, but not as hot, as we only got to about 80ºF (26.7 °C). This means I finally found myself a trail, something I’d been wanting to do all week and will do again before it’s over. I still sweated my ass off, but I got some nice photos, like the one above. I talked more about this in a post yesterday.

Weekly Links

A taste of fossil freedom - Motherfucking wind farms!

First Thoughts : Mood.Camera - There’s a lot of film emulation camera apps out there. This appears to be a good one.

Friendship Material - Halsted & Keenan discuss friendship while working to become friends. This podcast is a light & refreshing listen every couple of weeks.

Songs in the Chaos

1. I just have a screaming orange cat. ↩︎