Periodically, I will find my mind brimming with ideas I want to explore. The ideas range in scope and more often than not they are hobby-oriented and related to creating something. Sometimes I find this abundance of things swirling around in my head pretty overwhelming.

I've noticed that in response to this barrage of ideas and inspiration, I often end up writing everything that's interesting to me down as a list. I go from a jumbled web of disparate points to a list of things, like a train passing by. Each train car might be related or different in appearance, but at least I can look at them in sequence and clarify my thoughts. I find that just writing things down like this is healthy and helpful for me. At first, I found it a little odd and a little bit discouraging; I would end up with a list with all these things that I wanted to do, and I knew that realistically, I wouldn't do most of them.

To continue in the vein of metaphor: the act of writing these things down is like planting some seeds. Some of these seeds will get water, and others won't. Some of the seeds will sprout, and others won't. Sometimes one idea will even grow.

Lately, I've also come to believe that sometimes it's enough to just say to yourself: oh, I'd really like to do _____ even though you know you won't! Just acknowledging sometimes gives you the ability to let go.

So, let's put this train on its tracks and wave to the cars as they pass:

Vector Art

I want to try creating vector art with Affinity Designer on the iPad. My partner recently framed a beautiful risograph print of what I expect was made in a vector art program. It’s so inspiring. I'd love to make something with vector art that is a bit more clean cut than the sketching I do, and maybe even get it printed.

Game Development

​Even though I just gave up on a game project that I started for the Play Date, I find myself thinking about Godot and how fantastic of an open-source project it is.  I would really like to try building something with it again. I haven't got any ideas for what that might look like. It would need to be small and approachable! Most games I start trying to make never get finished!

Fitness

​I want to continue running beyond the half marathon I have slated for October. I'm finding that a lot of these ideas and motivation come from running, and so I hope that can keep going.

Food and Culinary Skills 

My cooking journey still continues, but I'm not very actively engaging with it. Every now and then, I try a new recipe or a new technique, but I'm not digging into the science of what and why in cooking. I think I might want to read Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, or a similar book to work to understand and not just rote repeat recipes.

Bike Podcast

One of the ideas that came to me while running was starting a podcast for My Other Bike is a Bike (my biking YouTube channel). I would love to interview and chat with people about their love of bikes, cycling infrastructure, touring, racing, alt-cycling, etc.

Ink & Brush

​I have a lot of bottles of ink sitting around, going unused (a by-product of my obsession with drawing during the early days of the pandemic). The other day, I thought — if I start practicing with the brush pen - and just do a little every now and then, eventually I'll work through that ink, and by the end of those two or three bottles, I'll have quite a pile of practice works to look back on. What's more satisfying than seeing your progress and using stuff up? It'll probably take years and years to get through all that ink, but why not start now?

Language Learning 

 My interest in learning languages was recently reinvigorated (see: Saying Farewell to Learning French) when I learned about the new FSRS algorithm for Anki.  It sounds so fascinating—people have been dedicating tons of time to improving algorithms for memorization. And hey, since we're all addicted to our phones, I might as well be using a flashcard app instead of scrolling, right?

I don't think much of this will get pursued in the next little while, although I have resumed my flashcards (ah, how I missed them). At best, in the next few weeks, I might find a few scraps of time to sketch a bit to unwind. I may not be interested in any of these ideas in half a year, but I think getting them out on paper is worthwhile.

I'm grateful for my curiousity when it appears abundantly like this. It leads me all kinds of places. When I'm able to let go of the expectations to specialize and be good at one thing, I find I'm actually quite happy bouncing around from one interest to the next, usually learning something new along the way. Sometimes, when the ideas are in abundance, it's nice to line them up, look at them, and send them on their way.