Weeknote 55: Loud When There's Traffic

Okay, let’s try doing weeknotes again. This time I’m stealing a few ideas from Pooja’s notes and a few of them from Tracy’s notes.

What’s Been Happening

1.

I’ve had a number of major life changes since the last time I wrote. I’ve made new friends, had health scares both myself and in my family, moved to a new apartment, started a long-term contract with a new client, joined a writing group, and decided to spend my free time writing fiction. I’ve also had to let go of some close friendships, something that will weigh heavily on my heart for a long time to come.

I’m a different person today than I was last year at this time, though I’d be hard pressed to recount every little thing that has changed. Part of me wishes I’d continued to post these short updates regularly instead of trying to write longer, meatier posts (none of which I was able to finish writing). It would’ve been a useful account of everything that has happened in the last year or so.

2.

I never thought I’d reach a stage of life where I’d be thinking of buying real estate, but here we are.

I’m nowhere close to being able to afford a house yet, especially in the areas I care about living in, but that hasn’t stopped me from window shopping for apartments online. I’ve even been walking around my neighborhood drooling at all the new buildings that are being built.

Thing is, I’m sick and tired of having to move every few years. I’m sick of dealing with landlords and brokers. I’m sick of people who don’t want me living in their neighborhood because I’m an unmarried man, or because I eat meat.

Most of all, I’m sick of having zero control over my living space. The apartment I currently live in is close to a street, and it gets very loud when there’s traffic. If I owned the apartment, I could’ve replaced all the windows with triple glazed glass, but as a renter I’m not allowed to make any major changes to the house (and also, I don’t want to spend too much money on an apartment I’ll only occupy for a few short years). That means I have to learn to live with the noise.

I just want to live in peace, and the only way to do that seems to be to own the house I live in. A boy can dream, right?

3.

Noise issues aside, I love my new apartment!

My old apartment was impractically large (one of the reasons it was so cheap), but this new one is the perfect size. It’s easier to clean, easier to decorate, and I’m less tempted to fill it up with junk.

It’s closer to where most of my friends live, which means I can walk over to their place for evening chai or snacks whenever I want. More than once I’ve run into somebody I know while doing a grocery run, which makes me feel like I’m part of a community.

The neighborhood has quiet, tree-lined streets to walk on, a café that’s open late into the night, stores selling fresh fruit and produce, several small parks, and one of my favorite darshinis within walking distance. Now I can walk to most places I like to frequent, which means I don’t take my car out as often as I used to.

On the whole, I’m glad I moved.

4.

I wrote in February last year about how I feel compelled to only engage with art that has some kind of, well, “artistic merit”. I’m still thinking about this today, more than a year later.

Since I wrote that post, I’ve gotten better at enjoying media just for the heck of it, without it having to be some grand statement about the human condition or whatever. I’ve read and enjoyed a bunch of romance novels (Emily Henry, Carley Fortune) and straight-up pulp (Dungeon Crawler Carl); my driving playlist has more Miley Cyrus and Diljit Dosanjh than whoever Pitchfork approves of this week; I’ve played at least thirty hours of Vampire Survivors. It’s been silly and fun and I’ve never been happier with my choices.

And yet, what I remember clearly and think about most often is the media that’s less accessible, that pushes more boundaries, that is considered to have more — I can never type this without scare quotes — “artistic merit”. For example, I hated reading Paul Lynch’s Prophet Song, but I still can’t get it out of my head weeks after I finished reading it. The book gave me a new perspective on the dystopia we’re all currently living in, expanded my thinking to a degree that would take an infinite number of Dan Browns typing on an infinite number of typewriters.

I suppose the real question is: what do I value more? Being entertained and comforted, or expanding my thinking and being exposed to different viewpoints?

Or maybe: why not both, in equal measure?

5.

I recently read Dean Wesley Smith’s Writing Into the Dark, a guide for writing fiction by the seat of your pants. It’s less a book and more a series of loose blog posts, and most of the advice it contains only makes sense if you’re writing the sort of pulp that ChatGPT would scoff at.

But it contains a few nuggets of wisdom that explain why I struggle with some aspects of writing fiction. I’ve never considered writing a story without plotting it out first, but Smith’s book has given me a few good reasons to at least try. It couldn’t hurt, right? I’ve spent months outlining a story I really believe in, but I’ve managed to write a paltry thousand words. Maybe coming at it with less planning and preparation will be better for my creativity.

What’s Good

Win(s) of the week: filed my taxes on time (for the first time ever), spoke to a couple of friends after a long while

Looking forward to: co-working with a friend a few days next week, experimenting with writing fiction by the seat of my pants

I’m glad that: I’m starting to feel healthier after months of feeling almost-but-not-quite-sick

Media Diet