It’s getting to be about that time, I guess.
- Take care of myself.
Mental and physical health can’t really be separated. There is no system or organ in the body that works in isolation. There is no aspect of life or habits which doesn’t have a two-way, full duplex relationship with health and happiness. This lesson was really driven home for me in 2025.
One thing I should be specific about: I need to be vigilant about maintaining my blood sugar. I think since getting a good A1C number I might have let this slip a little. My blood sugar has been generally lower and I’ve often taken less than my previous dose of fast insulin at many meal times, depending on what I’m about to eat, and experience more noticeable (but not too extreme) lows. But I’ve also thrown caution to the wind and had a lot of carbs/sugar at a time, a few times, as well. Consistency and stability would be better. - Cultivate wonder.
I think wonder is one of the best forms of joy, because it’s so close to both curiosity and gratitude. If apprehension is the dark side of mystery and uncertainty, wonder might be its light side. I can indulge in wonder by seeking out what I read, watch, listen to, where we go for vacations/fun, and with the music that I create. (I’m not saying my dark ambient tendencies are suddenly going to turn to saccharine fluffiness. There’s wonder in the shadows and the night and the deeps too!) - “No New Gear Year.”
This happens to be the name of a Discord community. It’s not strictly a “buy nothing” pledge, but more about deeper familiarity with the tools we already have. And this particular resolution of mine isn’t necessarily to join that group (though it might be good and I’ll probably do it).
I don’t have a problem with so-called GAS — not a distraction problem, nor a budget problem. But I do have a lot of amazing oscillators, more than adequate sequencing and modulation sources, excellent controllers, a fine set of filters and effects, a set of really nice reverb pedals and a dizzying array of software synths and effects. I’m spoiled for choice, and it might be best to not expand that collection further for a while and just dig in with it.
I do have my Walk 4 preorder, and I am going to follow through on my intent to pick up K-Accumulator and explore the heck out of it. I’ll allow myself to consider Katowice negotiable for free space, plus the 8HP that’s already free… but I can also just leave this alone. After all, I might want to put the Legio back in especially if there’s new firmware for it.
I simply don’t need more of any other sort of hardware or software. I will allow myself to maybe pick up other software plugins but I want to be super discriminating about them. Instead of thinking “this is really cool, look what it does!” I would rather think “yeah but look what all of these other things do.”
And that’s it. It’s enough, and honestly #1 encompasses quite a lot on its own.