Life's GPS

 

6 shaft 4 block Bronson Lace

One of my favourite weave structures to design with is Bronson Lace.

Yesterday I worked on the article for WEFT (no this isn't a draft from the article) and was reminded how neat, how tidy the weave structure is.  And how much freedom I have because I know how to weave it in pick up.

I'm not a fan of doing pick up because it is so slow, but I don't mind picking up Bronson Lace, especially if I can use my floor loom as a mechanized pick up apparatus.

I have always lived my life reflecting about the meaning of Life.  I'm drawn to think about how we live.  How we interact with others.

Confession time - I have not always been the best person.  I look back with some dismay at the stumbles I've taken.  The opportunities to be kind that I messed up.  I regret them very much.  But every time I pause to reflect over some new offence I have committed, I vow to do better.  Be better.

I am far enough along in the current stage of 'recovery' or healing that I am beginning to look ahead.  I asked for feedback on what I should focus on and one person responded that I should do what I loved to do (I paraphrase).  

And ultimately I know that.  But I have a number of ways open before me and I'm exhausted.  So I was hoping for an indication of where I should expend my tiny amount of energy.  

After thinking about this for a number of days and just one response I am left to try and figure out which path to take.  Which, ultimately, is how it should be.  It is, after all, my life I am living.

With a number of paths to choose from, I have decided to leave my options open.  In the face of increased intrusions of things like LLM/AI into every nook and cranny of our lives I have decided to make some different choices.  It may cost me more, but I refuse to have data companies able to mine my data - as much as I can.  I know I can't avoid it entirely.  But I can do my best.

I am divesting myself of the worst of the lot, or minimizing my exposure to those companies.  I am making different choices from the obvious service providers.  Again, it may cost me more, but I don't care.  

I choose NOT to use GPS, but take my time to thoughtfully make my decisions.  It has how I have always lived my life.  It seems appropriate to continue to do so.

Am I 'scared'?  Yes, it is scary.  But I have never let myself be swayed because something was unknown and scary.  If I did I would never have set foot on that freighter out of Montreal and sailed to Sweden when I was 19.  

It was, perhaps, THE formative transformation I chose to make.  With the help of strangers I not only survived, I succeeded.  

I am going to continue to think, consider, weigh my options.  My recovery is early days - and to be honest, it is only *one* of the physical issues that is improving right now - and I don't have to make any hard and fast decisions today.  So I have just set up some new options and will take time to get used to them and continue to consider what I need to be doing with my life.

Doug reminded me I have a very large box of card stock (or heavy paper) which is left over from the original Magic in the Water.  I have, from time to time, designed woven samples and published small booklets with actual samples.  I could do that again.  Or not.  I could publish monographs and sell them in pdf format via my ko-fi shop.  I could hold remote presentations and run the meetings myself.  Study groups?  Lectures series (I have 11 already written).  One-on-one tutoring.

These are the options I am considering.  

Round and round the roulette wheel goes - where the ball drops...is anybody's guess.