The Tarantula Lounge

There's been a lot of hubbub recently about Rolling Stone updating their top 500 albums canon. I haven't scrolled through the whole list, but two of my podcast friends* recently suggested that instead of worrying about these kinds of group-created list, it might be more interesting and useful for people to sit down and think about their own lists. Makes sense to me - we can learn more about music and one another that way. So, without further ado, here is my list of all-time favourite albums! Get your wishlists ready.Axis: Bold as Love by The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1967) - JHE's first album, Are You Experienced?, has more hits. But as an album I love Bold as Love the best.  It's quieter, less-straight-forward bluesy rock, heavier on sounding like some kind of psychdelic fantasy-genre dream. "Little Wing", "Castles Made of Sand", and "Bold as Love" are these beautiful, virtuoso performances with big ideas. Hendrix talked about the Electric…

You have to make sacrifices to win.Protect your queen and she'll protect you.Your tribe works best when each member is put in position to do what they do best.Collaboration is more powerful than unilateral action.Weaker individuals can work together to bring down more powerful ones.All the ability in the world doesn't matter if you're in the wrong place.Power is situational and dynamic.Not every person is right for every task.Your tribe works best when you actualize.A situation cannot be fully grasped with only one perspective.Consider the future implications of an action to make better decisions.Understanding rules and boundaries provides creativity and freedom with the system.There is joy in learning.There is joy in playing.Winning and losing can both be fun or frustrating.Appreciate the abilities and limitations of others.Expecting something other than what a person can contribute hurts everyone involved.There are myriad ways of doing things, including winning and losin…

pop music song
booming from the windows down
night to remember

For posterity's sake, here are my favorites I discovered in 2019!


BOOKS
I'm naturally an avid reader. That's great for personal fulfillment and creativity and awful for my fun money budget, haha.  Since reading is a default hobby for me, my reading goals aren't about reading x number of books or pages. Instead, they center around intentions. In late 2018, in the wake of all of the #metoo revelations, I decided to me more intentional about reading female authors, and also international authors. Roughly half of the books I read were by women and/or international authors. I think my favorites of the year hold that ration, although that's been the case even when I'm not intentional about which authors I'm reading.
Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino - Amazing collection of essays about identity in 2019. Tolentino is humane, funny, insightful, powerful. It's been fun to see her humble response to this book's reception. I have a feeling she'll be one of my fav…

It's my understanding that yoga can be defined as "union" or "integration" or "oneness". I love practicing yoga and I love practicing my religion, and I find them to be related. Yoga has taught me to be a more patient Christian, I believe. Here is how:

In life, I often feel pressure to get things done perfectly, to be perfect. Work products must be perfect, interactions with others must be perfect, my daily routines and thoughts must be perfect, etc. Or, at least, excellent.

In my yoga practice, though, when I fail, I fail spectacularly. And often! By that I mean I fall out of poses and slowly topple to the ground, look ridiculous, or can't even come close to the poses that my teachers or others are in. When I fail epically,  instead of being frustrated, I laugh. I laugh out loud. This isn't some decision I made to grin and bear it - it's just what happens. It's maybe the most naturally joyful I am - failing spectacularly at yoga. I th…

So chill.