When iPods and iTunes were first released, playing music on shuffle was my default. I can't remember the last time I have done that. I seem to remember there was a point around 8-10 years ago where I would push shuffle and eventually I would hear a song I heard the day before. I got frustrated so I switched to listening to full albums and haven't looked back.

Then by not pushing shuffle, albums I wanted to hear started piling up and I haven't been able to catch up since. Not bashing on shuffle. Just noticing a change. 

This last week's music that stuck out. I seem to keep going back to Eric Dolphy a lot lately. I don't know how that Dave Brock album got on my list but that one stood out for sure.

• Raskovich Varie Atmosfere Da Interni #soundtrack   
• Eric Dolphy Far Cry #jazz
• Dave Brock Earthed To The Ground #electronic
• The Bar-Kays Soul Finger #Soul
• Eric Dolphy At the Five Spot, Vol. 1 #jazz

I am starting to become devout about using lead-ins for the morning writing brainstorm mind-clear I do daily. Things come out slow when I sit down to a keyboard and try to get all the things out of my brain.

But if I use a lead-in to start a phrase and use it over and over, words pour out of my head. They probably let my mind get up to speed before making the jump to the thought. The repetition is soothing as well.

Examples

• "My day looks like I need to..."
• "I don't know but..."
• "Today I need to..."

If the thing I need to do or remember is a cymbal crash, then the lead-in would be the drum fill leading up to it.

Starting off on a new pencil today.

It is a Mono100 3B made by Tombow. It has a softer lead than the F pencil I just finished. There is still a faint bit of hardness to it, though. Like soft with a little grain to it. The B side of the HB Scale is darker, so it is easier to read all the random notes I scribble down.

I think for a lefty like me, 3B is kind of perfect. As you get further into the B scale, you start to see the lead on your hand more. 3B isn't so bad for that.

Listened to a lot of top notch albums last week but these four stood out. I think the common thread between the four is the production. All four just sound really good. The music is great of course. When you listen to one of these albums, you can tell they cared more than just recording the songs.

• Augustus Pablo Original Rockers #reggae
• Yura Yura Teikoku Kudo Desu #indie
• Happy End Kazemachi Roman #rock
• Immersion & SUSS Nanocluster, Vol. 3 #indie

I ran across the idea of using moon phases as triggers to get things done. It has really stuck with me. It's one of those plain as the nose on your face level ideas. When you buy a daily planner or use a digital calendar, there is usually a moon phase in there or easy to add. It is cyclical.

Just for fun, I asked an AI to assist me with organizing my to-do system but align it with the moon. It gave me a lot of ideas to play around with in the future. There was one idea that made me point at the screen and say, "That rules!"

It told me to use the moon phase icons on my projects . That is genius. That is taking an icon and using it at full power. I can tell I love the idea because I had to rush to blog about it.

Here is what it suggested:

🌑 New Moon: Planning, starting new projects
🌓 First Quarter: Action, building momentum
🌕 Full Moon: Completion, evaluation
🌗 Last Quarter: Reflection, clearing

It could be a Kanban . It can be done with a .txt file. It can be done in an app. It can be done with paper. The actual moon could be a trigger for project review.

Oh look...today is the new moon, I should review all projects in planning phase.

I am stoked to start implementing this. Project organization is not my most favorite, so anything to make it easier to do, easier to understand, and kind of fun rules.

: If this is an idea from someone somewhere, let me know so I can credit them here.
: Kanban is pronounced kahn-bah. Full stop.