"I don't like studios very much at all," he insists. "I like the way I can get up in the morning, sit in my pyjamas and eat a slice of toast and work. The music becomes part of my everyday life. That's become one of the defining things about the music I'm doing, I don't go and hide away in a studio to get it done, I am able to do it in this really relaxed way where it does tie in with all the other things I'm doing in my life." - Keiran Hebden (Four Tet) in Sound on Sound

Yesterday was all about colors... the kind made with acrylics mixed on a pallet. It's not easy. The amount of blue added to orange in order to make a nice purple is not immediately obvious. Especially when both the blue and the orange are mixed from two colors each to start.

It's a lot of fun trying to figure it out though. There's something fascinating about they way the colors blend together as you push them around with a pallet knife. It's kind of like kneading dough. Mix it around... push it together... fold it over... smoosh it down. Add a drop or two of cool blue. Maybe a little white too.

It's all very relaxing.
I wish I was doing it right now.

...Only three more days to go.

I keep saying I don't have any plans. That's mostly true. I don't have any career plans. If I had to, I could come up with a list of things to pursue... But I have the luxury of not needing too right now.

Instead I plan to slow things down. The last few years have been crazy. It's going to be so nice to step back from all the associated attachments - Nothing sounds more comfortable right now than adding a little space to my perspective.

So the plans I do have are:

• Go to the library - There's a branch two blocks away. I've never been inside.
• Take advantage of my beautiful back porch.
• Lazy appreciation of San Francisco in the Spring time.
• Take more pictures.
• Maybe a little travel.
• Have Ms. Mary Flack teach me about painting before she runs away to Chicago.
• Meditate more.
• Making lists.
• Cook more.

Despite how that list seems, I don't plan on becoming a Luddite. I will also be:

• Playing World of Warcraft - I'm Proudtooth on the Durotran server. Please say "hi".
• Fooling around with interaction design for TV's - I just hooked a MacMini up to my TV via DVI. I wasn't surprised to find that interaction that works well for a desk and a monitor doesn't work as well for a couch and a TV. Details to come...
• Learning Apple Motion

That should keep me busy for a bit.

Next Wednesday is my last day at the big Goog. My reasons for leaving aren't easy to sum up. In talking about it with co-workers I've often gotten stuck. Explaining myself has never been a strong point..... and there's a lot of myself in this decision. Some issues with process and direction to be sure. But also a need for change and some time to pick through perspective.

It's been around two and a half years since I first sat down in Ev's kitchen to work. A lot has happened since then. I have the sneaky suspicion that I've missed a good portion of it while paying attention to the wrong things.

with Lane in the Jasperlode Mine.