Instead of trying to force myself to do things that I think I should do, it occurred to me that perhaps I should just concentrate on doing less of the things that are distractions or less productive and creative; so rather than making an effort at the things I want to focus on, I would just allow myself to naturally fill the newly open time with whatever comes to mind. This I think can lead to less contrived evolution of action and certainly allows the space for the unexpected.

Something I'm trying to keep in mind, as I detox from city life. Interestingly, this paragraph (from the always thoughtful synthetic zero) came at the end of a bit about the unexpected benefits of Portland's urban planning, which just goes to show that life lessons can be learned from pretty much anything. Go to the May 13 post to read the whole thing.

In other news, I continue to be amazed at the delight inherent in having a CD burner. I can finally put on CD those few LPs I have left in my collection (the ones that will likely never be issued by anyone), and last night I converted one of my favorite childhood recordings—brings back a lot of wonderful memories.