Happy New Year! A lot has happened since I last sent a newsletter. I recently published my Year in Review post which covers the highlights of 2022 which included moving twice, traveling, buying a house, starting a day job, and not working at that day job anymore a few months later. Phew!

Writing

In November 2022 I wrote a follow-up essay (What Happened Next) to 2021's Fetch the Bolt Cutters. Other writing since I last sent this newsletter:

Congratulations on your fake promotion - a dark satire
You should quit
Is there a good computer job? - burnout feelings, foreshadowing of looking for a computers thing to do again
Labor and Leisure - book reviews
Twitter to Mastodon and post deletions - published in April when Twitter was first bought by Elon Musk
Why attracting remote workers means being a better city - opinions on remote workers relationship to living in cities
Atomic Habits: Book Review
Improvisation and the pentatonic scale
Using ffmpeg to cut/trim songs together with crossfade
On doing nothing

Hello pals!

I made a Patreon in January that I meant to email you all about. Here's the link if you'd like to support me in this way: https://www.patreon.com/pamelaspark. it was made in a fit of creative energy in January, "what if I spend more of my energy on this art stuff?"

Also in January, my "Fetch the Bolt Cutters" essay was republished in Technical.ly Philly, and I published my 2021 Year in Review.

I had plans to create lots of music in January ("Jam"-uary), but depression had other plans. Before I fell apart, I did manage to mash-up a livecode with my synth on top of it (the track is posted on Patreon).

Hello comrades,

A couple updates. When I last wrote you, I said that I'd quit my software engineering job and might write more about that later. That essay now exists! You can read it over on The Webivore: https://thewebivore.com/fetch-the-bolt-cutters/

A huge thanks to my friend Sue for her support and editing help for this, it was such a gift.

In the essay, I reference a new job and don't mention it because I think it might distract from the rest – I picked up a job teaching ballroom dance at Society Hill Dance Academy ("How?" – I responded to a job ad). I love getting to see people in person and work with a lot of wedding couples (they can book their first lesson free at https://societyhilldance.com/! ;) ) which is extremely extremely cute.

Friends and accomplices,

Much has changed in the longshort amount of time since I’ve last written. Principally though, I’d like to share that I’m playing (pending known and unknown world affairs) at the Ghostly Circus on Saturday, August 14th.

The show is one night only at Fort Mifflin, I will be playing inside the fort in a spooky room, so if you need to bring a mask to go indoors, please do so. I’m performing as my new performance handle, Pamela Spark. I’m undecided right now as to changing this newsletter’s topic, but it’s likely to continue bending more and more towards art.

Hey all, keepin’ it quick.

Exquisite Corpse for Unprecedented Times

there’s a virtual reception for an art show that I have a piece in, and . I participated in a project where artists across the country mailed art to each other and continued the work. The link above is about the show, .

I continue to think “oh, I ought to send a newsletter” and then not, and the perfect is the enemy of the good, so I’m going to list the projects I’ve released the last few months since I last messaged in early May.

Postcard Wall/Postcards to Pals

For over 10 years, I’d accumulated postcards and used them to decorate places I lived. In 2018 I took down the wall when I moved, and I decided to rebuild it. I decided to send the postcards to people, taking photos as I went. Those photos were chronicled as I went on , and in May, while I was “at”[1] Never Graduate Week I finished the . There’s also a little more extended backstory .

Hello friends, a bit of a weird world, isn’t it?

Music

I meant to email you about the EulerRoom Equinox stream that happened on … the equinox (March 19th was the equinox, the stream went for through the weekend).

Hello newsletter friends! For those in the US, I hope you have a great holiday week!

December is almost upon us! And I have a couple things to mention to you all!

I’m playing a show!

I’ll put the flier after the text of this email, but I’m playing at the East Falls Zine Reading Room on December 7th, the show is from 1-4pm and also features Corey Duncan on improv guitar and Neil Bardhan sharing stories. As the house is private, please reply to this email for the address, or contact directly to get the location info (spoiler, it’s in East Falls).

Today’s infrequent update is to give you a heads-up for a show my band, CatFans will be playing at, the BridgeSet Synth Spectacular.

When: Tomorrow, 8/27, 6pm

Hi friends! Our infrequent newsletter is back, delivering consistently on its promise of infrequency!

Where have I been?

Since my last letter, I took a trip to Colombia for three weeks – which sounds familiar-ish to my winter migration, working remotely (like the year I went to Argentina+Uruguay). But this time, it was an actual vacation!

👋 Hello! First of all, thanks for subscribing to this, my infrequent newsletter. I have a few updates, and a show coming up to share!

Writings

This month on The Webivore, I wrote about every day of a 5 day mini-retreat I did at the Recurse Center (RC). You can start here with Day 1.