10,000 after hours
Don't lose the plot in the mission to [ _______ ].
I frequently find myself living a moment where I say “There’s a couple [rap] bars about this somewhere”. Freddie Gibbs recently released “Alfredo 2” which is an instant classic. But I’ll never forget his line “God made me sell crack, so I’d have something to rap about”. Now I’m not doing anything illegal but I do have a live worth writing sonnets about.
Also, firstly, thank you readers! We are at 40+ subscribers with little to no promotion. Very cool. Secondly, I have to apologize. I’ve lost the plot a little bit when it comes to how I intended to navigate sharing my writing. When I first announced I would be sharing my writing I didn’t expect for it to turnout this way. The intention was to discuss ideas surrounding cultural theory, data science and forecasting; and not rely so much on my lived experience.
For the 2% of readers who gave me feed back on my writing(the rest of y’all: I’d love it if you could go back and like a few posts!), I figured I’d keep going because y’all found it valuable. And a part of me needed to get it out. The past couple weeks I’ve gone biweekly with the writing because of this awareness that I’ve strayed far from the path. I’m grateful because each essay contributed to my 10,000 after-hours. Writing and many of my creative tasks are not my priority. They’re a biproduct of my curiosity and need to process the petabytes of information I take in on a monthly basis.
I’ve shared before that I decided to shelve many of the essays I intended to release. The mix of personal and applied theory-tech analysis-data science-forecasting writing deserve separate spaces.
I actually wrote the beginnings of a paper this morning about language and technology. It’s going to require more research but it brought me much more joy than my personal writing. My personal writing [that what you have been consuming] has stalled in being released because I can’t seem to shake a writers bug. Not that I’m not writing but a lot of the writing leans really hard if not uninspiring.
The past 45 days I’ve been navigating a lot of hurt, success and reaping seeds I’ve sown. Its kinda funny because I’m approaching the end of summer and like one of my earlier essays say, its time to collect the harvest. I’ve been hosting secret speakeasys serving my homemade fermented beverages and alcohol. I’ve been teaching a Itajime Shibori Natural Indigo dye class. I started a new role building AI workflows but then realizing its going to be a short lived position as I see a path towards self sufficiency. I’m 65% of the way through a year long machine learning bootcamp; but 85% of the way if I’m going by the timeline I set for when I wanted to be done. I’ve been nurturing, ending and navigating various relationships. I’ve been negotiating for the car(s) I want for like 5 months(I’m that patient). I’ve lead hikes and now my first across country camping trip [to the Redwoods in California].
I find gratitude in many of these activities because I decided to execute, I have executed and now I have [additional] somethings to rap about.
I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without divine permission.
Yet my ego finds pain because its not what I intended to rap about. Lots of side missions that I had to complete in order to unlock the main.
Primal hunger tells me that the hunt is not over. I snagged a fox. Stored its hide for winter and ate its flesh to sustain me throughout the beginning of summer. But before winter comes I need bigger game in my freezer, just for myself.
So while I find value in accommodating spiritual diversions, my writing, my daily activities and whom I congregate with must change.
A cousin called me just the other day. We are going hunting with 100 dogs and 20 men. We are going to clear the forest until there’s nothing left. My father called and lined up a big mission that I thought would be locked for a while longer. And I’m stalking a prey that I’ve been studying for a couple seasons. For the remainder of the summer season I’ll be sharpening my weapons, finding silence amongst the mountains and playing my part.
I don’t think I ate the wrong things but I do think that I’m ready for a different cuisine. A meal in the mountains where there’s silence. A table setting that is filled by people who have even greater alignment with my vision for myself. So while circumstances to do amazing things seems divine. I want to write my own score not just a sonnet then execute living it. To use all of my focus and effort during the day and not just the after hours.
In a few weeks I will be officially launching ‘Happy Survival Co.’ a freeze dried meal brand for backpackers and adventure racers with the mission of providing meals with the healthiest recipes, preservation methods and nutritional enhancements on the market. With the long term goal of using the brand and its resources as a way to provide disaster relief MREs(Meal, Ready-to-Eat) wherever and whenever they are needed. Personal essays, speakeasys, indigo dyeing and unintentional fraternizing will be cut out for a while. I’ve prepared a few essays for to share each month covering the remainder of the year. In the value of transparency, I figured I’d share my intentions. Moving forward my energy will be focused on world building via ‘Happy Survival Co.’ and my adventure group ‘Gather and Go’. I’ll be implementing all of the AI and machine learning skills I’ve collected through these entities and experiences. The real time writing I do will get back to the point of documenting my journey forecasting needs, building data backed products and tools; and sharing how I’m building minimal screen + tech life style through using cutting edge technology.
Thank you for joining the journey thus far and continuing to be a part of it in anyway you can. It has meant a lot and I’m excited to shift how I find meaning and purpose both through my writing and this platform. I am hiring for ‘Happy Survival Co.’ so if the goal and mission align with you please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Thanks again,
Over and out!
Bakari A.S.