Greetings from a currently reasonably sunny and pleasantly drizzly day in the Pacific Northwest. Spring indeed.

Any notable change in the type of weather in this area seems to make people… weird. That first week of heavy autumn rains hit and everyone gets grumpy and drives poorly. Suddenly we have lots of sun for a few days in a row in early spring and everyone gets grumpy and dehydrated, and drives poorly. Snow? Grumpy and clumsy (and yes, driving really poorly). For a region that still manages to benefit from a variety of seasonally appropriate weather, the people who live here sure do seem unequipped to transition alongside and adapt to the changing seasons.

I’ve had really low capacity for actual work lately, which is always a dangerous state to be in when one is self-employed. But I mean, it’s not that I’ve been doing nothing, it’s that the work I have been doing isn’t my “job” work. It’s been medical research work, pet insurance work, home organization work, [redacted] work. Not income-earning work in the traditional sense.

But…

In all the insurance policy stuff I’ve been reading as I manage Irma’s current health issues and prep for her upcoming biopsies, I caught some parts of her coverage that I’d long since forgotten, after 8 years of the same plan. For example, I discovered that her policy covers 90% of the cost of health supplements, and while the policy also stipulates that they have a 90-day window for submitting a claim, the nice lady from customer support encouraged me to go ahead and submit claims for the past two years of liver support supplements Irma’s been taking. “You never know!” she encouraged me. It took some effort to compile all those invoices and submit close to 20 individual claims in one go, but at $30 a pop for said monthly purchase, I was willing to give it a shot. 24 hours later everything had been approved and reimbursements deposited back into my account. Okay! A solid W for the week, I’d say.

So yeah, working but not “working,” and amazingly something that is typically unpaid labor i.e. life admin actually paid off this time in a way that balanced out my guilt about not doing the jobby work stuff. Now let’s keep our fingers crossed that the same holds true for my upcoming legal appointment.

The other notable highlight to my week was getting my ass kicked by a man named Roberto as he led me and a friend and a group of about 25 other clearly masochistic people through 50 minutes of weighted HIIT combos. It was a great class, and very effective in its goal of being a full body workout, but we’re now three days past the class and my Apple watch has noted that it’s taking me a bit longer than usual to walk down the stairs in my loft—and to climb up them too, I assure you. Queue lots of research about Ehlers Danlos and DOMS (not the fun kind). I always think I’m a moderately healthy person (despite, you know, the comorbidities) and then I get humbled by some 55-year old Latino man wearing shorts with a 5” inseam.

Will I go back? Yeah, probably. Eventually. Am I gonna be capable of running through that same squat combo by next Thursday? Magic 8 Ball says reply hazy, try again. 😅 Maybe every two weeks, after adding in some leg press to my usual routine. We’ll see.

☑️ Done and Done - Grabbed a walking around bevvy at a too-crowded coffee shop and hit the parkway to enjoy some cherry blossoms. Went back again on another day with Irma, much to her chagrin (she does not like the crowds, and who can blame her). Enjoyed lunch at a fun new spot, and had some excellent food cart ramen. Gymed twice, plus a long walk/jog with Irma. Did more wardrobe organization and laundry and so on. Introduced a friend to a fave movie (see below), which is always a treat. All interspersed with so. much. admin.

📋 Coming up - Now I have to gym recuperatively to apologize to my muscles, which unfortunately still means weights. But that’ll be a pleasantly non-thinky way to bookend all the ongoing admin stuff and organization efforts. I have a meeting on Wednesday about [redacted]. Social plans for Thursday night. Tentative movie plans next weekend.

It’s been a while since I’ve had the mental capacity to actually write any kind of brief essay on a given topic, but this is something that’s been brewing—stewing—in my head for some time now. Art vs. content.

Yes, the oft maligned “content”. It sounds like a dirty word, not in a fun way but in a toxic way. You say it with a sneer… content. Yuck.

I’ve been out too many times with friends who are part of some major creative media industry, and it’s almost like there’s a rider in a contract somewhere that says after two drinks and half a joint you are required to make a sweepingly aggressive statement about how you can’t stand the term “content.” These rightfully frustrated people are usually approaching the issue from the perspective of industries that have existed for decades if not centuries being minimized to mere posts on the scrolling timeline of life.

Were it me I’d bristle at that too. Hell, I know I have. But most people don’t pause long enough to differentiate between the two. What really is the difference between art, and content? What makes something worthy of one label, but not the other? Can something be both?

It certainly does feel like everything is Content these days. Movies are Content! Photography is Content! That video of you making jewelry is Content! A photo of your breakfast? Content! Let’s all make and share Content! I can understand why people bristle at the word. But that automatic response of disdain comes from an unjust assumption that everything shared online is posted with the intention of commodifying the self… not from an understanding of what Content is, what its purpose is.

It’s hard to remember that not everything is Content, you’re just consuming it like it is. Or rather, social media packages everything the same way for the ease of distribution. Serves it up the same way. Like, save, send, scroll to the next piece of content.

People who are mad at the term “content” don’t ever seem to pause long enough to consider that Content as an entity, an industry, is meant to be consumed. The whole point of its creation is to be posted online, is to appeal to The Algorithm, is to be entertaining or informative or to market something. And a lot of other forms of media, of creativity, have tried to adapt in an effort to stay relevant, to stay accessible.

And yes it is true that art, by the very nature of its existence, is meant to be consumed. To be viewed, studied, interacted with, absorbed. Art is meant to resonate with our hearts, our minds, to speak to something in our soul that we cannot put into words. But it is not typically created for the viewer. Its creation is not undertaken because the artist desires to be seen by as many eyes as possible, but because the artist has something inside them, sees something in the world, that they cannot otherwise reckon with. Art is created for the very sake of existing; it is created because if it is not, the artist will suffer; the artist does not have a choice.

But, often, the artist still wishes to be seen, to find those who see themselves in said art. And for that we have been left with few choices to reach those eyes and those souls outside of or beyond utilization of social media. And to do that, artists have to adopt the least desirable of hats: The Business Hat. Or, if you want to get specific about it, the Marketing and Promotion Hat. And either one is often anathema to the process of being an artist.

The wall we’re up against now is that those involved in creative arts are bucking against the forced comparison between their art and others’ Content. And to the layperson outside of either industry, scrolling mindlessly looking for their next hit of dopamine, the two look the same. They use the same tools, the same colours, the same processes. But the intention of art is lost when it’s forced to fit the mold of easy distribution, and like sarcasm in a text message, it’s the intention that’s most difficult to relay on a pocket-sized digital screen of endless stimulation.

There is, also, another element that many people overlook: the use of the term “content” as a form of algospeak adopted by sex workers attempting to also fit in on a shifting landscape of digital media. One where you can’t say “porn” or “nudes” or “erotic” or whatever other term that would accurately describe what is being produced. In the face of censorship, all media becomes Content. New blowjob scene content coming soon! Just posted some hot nudes content on my page! Anyone available to shoot some porn content next week? But as is true with so very many cultural trends, people don’t even process that the language they’re integrating into their common everyday vernacular has origins within sex work.

So we’ve got the creative arts doing their best to showcase their work to a digital audience, traditional media trying to find new ways to adapt their work to an easily-digestible format, and sex workers being pushed into a corner where they can’t accurately discuss their work on the platforms they (we) need to reach audiences. Throw in the rare person who is able to occupy all these spaces at once and use their knowledge of The Arts and media production, mixing it with intuitive business savvy and performance metrics-driven to understand how to manipulate the platform (not the people, the platform) to produce what is, technically, Content.

And then there’s the average consumer, scrolling along, completely oblivious to the machinations of all these independent elements that are being presented as Same.

Part of the reason we do so bristle at the term “content” is our individuality of our casual posting is lost in the side-by-side comparison against Content as an intentional form of media. So because all these different entities and industries have taken the time to learn how to adapt what they do to what social media demands, how to make their media perform well in that space, suddenly the bar is set to an unrealistic height and the average user, side by side, is seen as lacking. You’re not mad that influencers exist or that content creators get paid for their work, you’re upset that your breakfast photo doesn’t look like that, so you’ve automatically failed at creating content, so what’s the point of even trying, and suddenly social media is no longer for you to participate in, only observe. Consume.

Sometimes, art is content. Sometimes, content is art. Sometimes, either entity is simply itself. And there’s nothing wrong with that. “Content” is only a dirty word when it is forced upon its creator. But we can no longer reasonably fault an artist for choosing to use the term, nor a creator for desiring to create Content. If the term does not apply to what you post, don’t use it, use a better word. That’s really the only way out of this, in the short term.

And in the long term… well. Having been chronically online in oh so many forms for close to 30 years now (dear god, horrible but true), it feels like the only real thing we can do is ride the wave, and see what comes around next. Continue to adapt, to evolve ourselves both outside of and within these ever-changing platforms. I’m not a good example of rebellion on this matter; I really despise the Marketing and Promotions Hat of doing/being a business that exists on social media, and even if I manage to don that hat for a time, eventually I take it off and set it in an out of the way corner where I glare at it for months.

But also, that’s part of what this newsletter is: a safely rebellious attempt to adapt, to find myself again in the digital, in a way that makes sense to me, that feels comfortable.

🎬🌸 Watching #1 - I got to introduce a friend to one of my favourite movies, Sakuran (2006), which came up in conversation while we were enjoying a stroll through the local cherry blossom bloom a week ago. And while I could extol at length about the film, I’ll leave you to do your own research—either before or after watching it, as knowing more about the production certainly won’t spoil the experience, and you’ll want to rewatch it either way. Half the fun of this particular screening is that I was expecting to go in watching the same DVD rip I’ve been carrying around on a portable hard drive for almost 2 decades, and then I happened to discover that a 20th anniversary Blu-ray with updated bonus features and English subtitles was releasing on Wednesday with same day shipping (with plans to watch it on Thursday). Now that’s kismet, baby! Buy it discounted on Amazon (aff link) or via 88 Films.

🎬🧛‍♂️ Watching #2 - Yesterday I finally got to see Sinners (2025) on a big screen. I missed the initial release in theaters but as I watched box office numbers climb and the film gain critical accolades, I knew it would come back around. Patience pays off! The audience yesterday was a solid mix of people who had seen it before and first timers, everyone clearly had a great time, and we all clapped at the end. It was nice to see it again after learning so much about what went into the production; I always find it fun to have a lot of little things to watch out for.

🎵 Listening - Gothic folk musician Jozef Van Wissem has released a new album, THIS IS MY BLOOD, and it’s exactly what you’d expect from a strange man with a hat and a lute. If you don’t recognize his name, you might remember him as half of the soundtrack to my other fave modern vampire movie, Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), which he scored alongside his frequent collaborator Jim Jarmusch/Sqürl. The pair have done albums together outside OLLA and those are worth seeking out. But I’m a big fan of pretty much anything from Van Wissem, so if you like THIS IS MY BLOOD do dig into his discography; the longer the album the better, so you have time to sink into the aural environment.

👕 Wearing - Holy shit we had some nice weather last week. Went out for a long walk with Irma on a sunny day and I was too warm in a t-shirt! The rain is sliding back in over the next few days which I’m fine with, but it was good to have some sun beams to melt into and encourage outdoor time.

📘 Reading - I’m halfway through A Court of Wings and Ruin (aff link). I was thinking that I must have been rather busy this week (I was) which is why I’m a week into reading it and only halfway through, but also this book is just notably longer than the first in the series, so. Anyway! I’m enjoying all the spies and plotting and daggers. (And now Instagram has accurately marketed to me these weighted training daggers and… I want??)

🍇 Eating - I do most of my grocery shopping through online orders and delivery or pickup, which sometimes creates small moments of disconnect from the actual food-buying experience. Because whomst among us has not plucked a single grape from the vine before buying the whole bag? Just to check! So when the grocery store had a special on Candy Heart Grapes, I was like cool, I love grapes, looks good. EXCEPT NO. These grapes tasted—literally tasted—like candy hearts. THE BETRAYAL. I only ate one, and passed the rest off to someone else. Vile genetically modified abomination of a fruit, that. Fuckin a.

Life is still exhausting. I’d like to think I’m over the hump of things, it’s been a rough 2026 Q1. Will Q2 be any easier? More rewarding? I shan’t deign to think myself in the clear just yet, but I’ll tentatively hope that I’m at least out of the weeds for a while. There’s simply no way of knowing what happens next. Though, isn’t that half the fun?

Let’s set some good intentions for Q2, and use the coming weeks and months to manifest an easier life for the rest of the year.

Once again No Kingsingly,