(1) Cabbage. | (2) Cabbage soup. | (3) The Low Anthem. | (4) Simplicity. (No. Seriously. I swear.) | (5) St. Augustine. | (6) John Berger. | (7) Sweet potatoes. | (8) Edamame. | (9) Cilantro. | (10) Chili powder. | (11) Sesame oil. | (12) #7-11, together: “People either love it or hate it.” –Barista Dude at Urban Standard. Verdict: love it. Obviously. | (13) iMovie. | (14) This realization: my creative, uh, Enterprise is not unlike #7-11, together. Disparate elements. Whole greater — or anyway: much different — than the sum of its parts. | (15) This realization: if that’s the case, I have to be prepared for people to either love it or hate it. | (16) David Byrne. | (17) David Letterman. | (18) This realization: my creative Enterprise is not unlike #16-17 together. Not always (not ever, really) in equal proportions. But still. Disparate elements. Etc. | (19) This actual, real-life, back-in-the-day exchange between #16 and #17: [#17] — “Now I was listening to this record and also reading along, following along the liner notes, and I spent the better part of the afternoon being confused. But what you’re saying is the words in this particular instance don’t mean anything, do they?” [#16] — “Well. They do, but not if you try and figure ‘em out.” (Laughter.) [#17] — “Well, that was my mistake, see.” (More laughter.) | (20) How it’s sometimes like that inside my own head. Lots, actually. Not surprising. Or bad. Often it’s good for a chuckle. Plus sometimes, when I’m lucky, I get to add 16 + 17 and get 18. | (21) Wait. What? | (22) Purple-stalked space alien plants. With green-to-purple space alien berries. On… (23) …my new walk. Or anyway: the new extension of my old walk. | (24) This realization: sometimes you’re (I’m) doing something for a long time and you (I) don’t know why you’re doing it but you (I) keep doing it. And then you (I) say holy shit: I’ve been doing [fill-in-the-blank] for years and I’ve been wishing for years that I’d been doing that, I just thought I didn’t know how, that maybe one of these days I’d randomly, magically figure out how to START doing that, but probably somebody else would have to show me what to do. And that would be hard and embarrassing and I would suck and it would take a long time. And, to really do it, I’d need, like, all this [expensive, unwieldy, heavy, scary, etc.] equipment or whatever. And maybe some/most of that’s still true or semi-true. But. Meanwhile I’d already started (small). On my own. A long time ago. Unbeknownst to, you know, myself (or — of course — anybody else). Which is to say: ‘the new extension[s] of my old walk.’ | (25) Josh Ritter’s So Runs the World Away. | (26) This recollection: you (I) have to be willing to be small. Forever. ["The littlest birds sing the prettiest songs..." –J. Holland.] | (27) Which is to say: “Basically you have to suppress your own ambitions in order to be who you need to be.” –B. Dylan. (That sounds way more martyr-y and hair-shirt-y than it really is.) | (28) ‘Hey, All You Hippies!’ by #3 above. | (29) My handy-dandy Sony ICD-BX700 Digital Audio Recorder. | (30) Starting the day with 30 Things. These ones, this day in particular.