Not So Reflective

It’s the new year. Not all that shocking to you, I’m sure, unless you’ve been busy for the last few weeks. But here we are. Many are posting their retrospectives of how their year went. Or they’re posting their theme word for the year or their resolutions or their goals.

I’ve tried resolutions and themes. A year is a long time to stick to such a thing and—inevitably—things happen.

For this year, I decided not to do any of that. I’m going to take it as it comes, crossing the bridges when I get there.

Photography, for example, has been something that I’ve enjoyed recreationally for years but always felt my photos lacking. In the last couple years, I’ve been increasingly pleased with how my compositions and post-production work has evolved.

Since I hadn’t been blogging much about web development, I decided to expand the topics I post. If you follow my Twitter feed or subscribe to my RSS, you’ve likely seen the sudden introduction of photos to the blog. I’m still not sold on the design, especially on the home page, but instead of waiting for perfection, I decided to just ship something.

I don’t think I’ll ever have a career doing it. It is fun, though, and I plan to print some photos off to put on my walls.

I’ve also found myself delighted at making lattes. Last year, I decided that I wanted to introduce a ritual to my life. This was inspired by a story I had read years earlier about Mister Rogers. Yes, that Mister Rogers.

“...he wanted to do things right, and whatever he did right, he wanted to repeat. And so, once upon a time, Fred Rogers took off his jacket and put on a sweater his mother had made him, a cardigan with a zipper. Then he took off his shoes and put on a pair of navy-blue canvas boating sneakers. He did the same thing the next day, and then the next... until he had done the same things, those things, 865 times, at the beginning of 865 television programs, over a span of thirty-one years.”

To enable this new ritual, I bought an espresso machine. But not just any machine. I decided to invest in one of the best machines out there: the La Marzocco GS3. With the right equipment taken care of properly, the expectation is that this machine will last me a lifetime.

And it has opened up a world of discovery as I learn about beans and brew times and temperatures and all the science and art that goes into creating a really good cup of coffee.

I’ve enjoyed learning again. I’ve enjoyed the ritual of practice. I’ve enjoyed seeing progress in my abilities. A smile grows wide on my face as I take a sip of a drink that is as good as, if not better than, what I’ve had at most coffee shops in town.

I don’t know if 2018 will bring new rituals. But it’ll bring new projects and new ideas. It’ll be filled with family and friends and travel.

Maybe even a bridge or two.