November Joy : a very funny ring

When Reed and I were talking about combining our lives, he made it clear that if we were going to have a kid, he wanted to get married. I wanted to have some complex legal arrangement we could welcome more people into over time as equals if it made sense, but he said that was Too Much and could we please just do this one thing normally. Fine.

We got married back in 2019, and I started off with a family heirloom ring his grandfather had. Which I lost about 4 months later because I was climbing all the time and taking rings on and off (mostly off). Whoops and yikes. Reed bought me a simple gold band from Costco and told me I could lose as many of those as I wanted, within reason.

It’s been about 6 years since then, and I’ve kept track of the same ring the whole time. I think I’m ready for a Big Boy ring again! But this time, I want it to fit my aesthetic more closely. I also wanted to celebrate getting a new job, and this seemed like a nice way to do that.

So Reed starts Doing His Research Thing, and finds that there is indeed an entire market dedicated to simple black or grey rings with blue highlights. Do you want to guess where these bad boys come from?

A dark grey ring with a cobalt blue inside that very slightly shows around the edge.
Not the ring I ended up with, but similar

They’re masculine rings for cop spouses. They’re thin blue line rings. So now I’m very joyfully wearing this thing that is blatantly flagging for absolutely the wrong thing, and I am delighted that if I ever get booked for my activism I might cause a lot of extra confusion. And, it’s spot on for my style!

But then, I didn’t want to give a cop ring website money, so Reed kept doing research and found enough water marks on enough photos like the one above to figure out all of these come from one manufacturer in China. So it also only cost like $40! So now I get to have backups, too.

October Joy : Forecasting

I’m going to do something incredibly indulgent for this blog post and tell you about something nerdy that has been bringing me a lot of joy.

As y’all know, I’ve been looking for work. In the meantime, I’ve been contracting on three main fronts:

  1. Security hardening, including implementation work (know what needs doing but don’t have capacity to get it done? I will get it over the finish line)
  2. Tool implementation and training (think a tool would help your business but not sure how to set it up? I will get it set up based on your specifications and then train you)
  3. Organizational theory and scaling guidance (nerd out about which practices make sense, when)

So far, I’ve helped a network org transfer fully out of the Google ecosystem to Proton, Tresorit, and AirTable. I’ve gotten a technophobic ED of a different org onto a password manager, ending an existential threat to the funding organization. I’ve helped a lawyer automate a lot of her data entry with Clio so she can focus on clients. I’ve nerded out with the ED of another nonprofit about how to scale his organization as he moves from his most recent successful phase into 10x growth of participation. Next up I’m helping implement a retention & deletion policy for two different orgs. Plus a bunch of other stuff! Fun!

But how am I doing, financially, with all these moving pieces? I created two pieces to help me track things: a projection of contracting load, and a projection of overall expenses and financial sources.

  • For the contracting load, I used AirTable because of how much cross referencing and automation it allowed me to do. This is where I keep track of clients, contracts, expenses, and income. It even has how I’m doing against goals, and has projections for income out into the future. It’s fabulous and I’ll show a templatized version to you if you ask.
  • for the overall financial health, I used Google Sheets because I want to use formulas in some cells until I adjust them for actuals. I estimated monthly spend based on known shared account contributions and historical numbers for each month based on how I tend to live life. I then listed out sources of money — unemployment when I don’t have contract work, contract work, savings of various sorts. I then anticipate burndown rate on each source of money based on projected expenses, and when I’ll start pulling from a different source as needed.

These were SO MUCH FUN to build, AND it gives me a sense of predictability and stability in uncertain times. I now have more confidence that I can keep myself and my family afloat, and have more ease in having a good time on occasion because I know where I’m at with the numbers.

September Joy : Hot Springs

June through July were INTENSE for me. Getting Priceless was a lot of intensity without a lot of partying (it was still a wonderful time, and also I need a little more play in my work:play ratio). I’ve been looking for work and contracting. And then in August, the family vacation we were meant to take for 2 weeks (a luxury provided by Reed’s family, that we’re forever grateful for) ended up seeming to turn into 10 days of caring for Reed and Locke while they had covid. That was supposed to be those 10 days followed by still 1 week of vacation, but then Reed bounced on his covid test after we landed and so I was on solo child duty, while also making sure Reed had food and care while sequestered in a hotel, while ALSO dealing with another family’s dynamics (some of whom thought it was a personal failing on our part that Reed was still sick despite 2 days of testing negative). So I was pretty crispy. Reed and I had a few explicit conversations about how to be kind to each other and be in cahoots because of how easy it would be to slip into sniping at each other. We did a good job, but we were both thoroughly exhausted. 

And so I conspired with grandma and Yolanda (Locke’s main non-family caretaker) to cover a few days of time, and booked Reed and me two nights at a nearby hot springs. It was so good. No signal, no devices (even Kindles!) allowed in the soaking areas. Just books and hot water and naps and my honey. What a way to mainline relaxation. The only sharable picture I took was of our yurt ceiling. 

a 12-sided shape made out of a wooden ceiling reveals some trees.

There were clawfoot bathtubs that just had a constant flow of hot water running into them. There was a cute older Danish couple who seemed to be relishing getting to be naked again. There was a beautiful kitchen to make your own food in, and people came together to play music together one afternoon. Magical, A++, intend to do again.

August Joy : Finalizing the Disaster Zine!

Back when I was mildly pregnant in 2021, I figured I would need something to work on while I was on parental leave. While I’ve transitioned my career (and am currently looking for work again), I never really reached resolution about all I had learned in crisis response that hadn’t yet been applied across the field. It’s arguably part of why I left — the field had stagnated and wasn’t adapting to new technologies and practices, and one can only bash their head against that wall for so long. But I knew I had things to teach, and that there are still folks who wanted to learn about it. So I decided to use whatever time I had to put together some guidance, to wrap things up. Did I want to finish the mixed-mode system paper I’d worked on back in my academic days? No, that would be too cumbersome to get published now that I don’t have any affiliations.

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July Joy : Kids at Priceless

So as I’ve mentioned before, I help out with this medium-sized anticapitalist campout in the woods with lots of music and art. I love it. It also drives me batty.

As one might imagine, a festival that’s been running for 20 years has some Complex Feelings on a few topics. One of those topics is kids. Way back when the crew of friends who threw the event started having one or two grubs emerging, they sat down and had a (really long) discussion. What they arrived at was: Priceless is a festival for adults that Priceless-friendly kids are welcome at. It is up to the adults in their lives to mediate their experience, and no one is to censure themselves or change their behavior just because there are kids present.

Locke in a gnomish pointed straw hat, tiedye shirt, and shorts kneels in front of a circle made of upright sticks in the sand. There are some leaves and a bottle cap in the center of the circle. Floaties and sandals are in the background.

Over the years, the number of kids increased. And the message was a bit lost. A couple years ago, I was on People Team, and multiple people mentioned choosing art or changing their musical acts because of kiddos being present. Others weren’t in the headspace they wanted to be in while there were kids present. So we sat down again for another long conversation about kids at Priceless. And we realized that we were all on board for the original message. Priceless isn’t kid-friendly, but Priceless-friendly kids are welcome. We wrote some new things — refined the child waiver that sets out expectations, and also put together an expectations doc that all attendees can read to level-set.

Estelle and Yulia put together the area called Kidsville this year; and Reed, JoJo (grandma), and I brought Locke to his first Priceless.

We went camping twice this year in anticipation of Priceless — once for one night, and then a follow-up with birthday buddy Liora for two nights. Camping was a smash hit, but we were still nervous to have him at a festival. So much stimulation, so many people, such a bigger area than our usual campground. But we got set up near 3 other families we know well and ended up with a little living room area in addition to the big Kidsville lounge area a short walk away. And Locke LOVED it. I was mostly preoccupied with helping the whole event run, but the rest of the fam swam in the river, and ate pancakes, and dug in the sand.

Willow, Reed, and Locke cuddle on some grass. Willow sits upright in a bikini top with lots of tattoos and signature blue hair. Reed has a pink mohawk and head in Willow's lap. Locke leans against Willow with one leg held up and a smile.

By the end of the event, our reserved kiddo was going up to strangers to ask them to play with him. The noise levels weren’t too much for him! And he did a great job of playing with the other kids. Being in such a high-trust environment was good for all of us. Looking forward to similar experiences in the future.

June Joy : Deciding to throw Priceless!

When one of my dearest friends found out I was planning to move from the Boston Area to the Bay Area, he put me in touch with the planners behind Priceless to give me some extra social safety net and ways to plug in.

Priceless is an anticapitalist campout with about 1150 attendees on the Feather River in Northern California. It’s historically happened July 4th weekend, and has been running for.. 18 years? There was one year it got cancelled due to fires, and a Half Price during Covid, and some other anomalies. It has 3-4 stages with different sorts of music (here’s the sampler set that got me hooked), lots of art, and was (until this year) entirely volunteer run. Our food vendor (paid for in advance) is the only thing that involves money on site for the festival. It’s wonderful. And until this year, it had sold out every year, within a very short period of time.

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May Joy : Pedal Bike!

I sold my last car in 2008. While I’ve had motorcycles since then, it’s been important to me to be car free. Reed and I are deeply aligned on that, and have structured the entirety of our lives around this.

I got into bicycles in 2016 when Reed, Tilde, and Rubin built me up a city bike. This was before Reed and I had met, mind you. I loved that bike. I didn’t understand why I’d ever want anything more than 7 speeds. Now bikes are by far my preferred mode of transit, including biking the 50 miles into the office some mornings when I’m going in.

A spreadsheet of bicycles with columns for years starting in 2016 and rows for each bicycle I've owned. Each bike also gets a rating and a status.

I love bicycles. And my life is built around that love at this point. So we were reasonably anxious about how Locke would feel about bicycles. He was in an infant car seat in the front of our Load 75 before his due date. We also had both the Yepp Mini for the front of the bike (way more fun) and the Yepp Maxi for the back of the bike (when he got too big for the Mini and for when we have a full cargo load in the Load 75). We have to ride to preschool even when it’s raining or the traffic is bad. There are lots of opportunities for him to decide that bikes aren’t for him. And we have friends who love bikes whose kiddos just never really got into it.

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April Joy : Waffles and dress up

April has been a really nice month. I went and got two tattoos finished (more on that soon) and visited with friends while there. Locke has been thriving. We’ve gotten some clarity on what’s happening with my brain (also more on that later).

But my April Joy was quite a lot closer to home. A few weeks ago I decided I wanted to do something ad hoc and silly for my birthday party. I wrote a few sentences, made a calendar invite, and fired off an email to a bunch of folks.

My birthday is in April, and I’d like to invite y’all over for kids, chaos, and waffles in the morning. Please 1/ wear something ridiculous that you’ve been looking for an excuse to wear but haven’t found an opportunity to do so, 2/ bring your kiddo(s), 3/ bring a waffle iron and/or toppings and/or something sparkly to share. Maybe we’ll play some board games.

Estee even flew in from Portland! Something like 30 mostly-neighbors but some further away folks showed up and it was exactly what it said on the tin. With so many adults around, the kids were able to run around lightly supervised and got into all sorts of fun times. I loved two sets of friends whose kiddos are within weeks of each other catching up while the younguns played with magnets on the fridge. Reed even set up his retro video game systems so kids could play old games.

Forced perspective of a neighborhood kiddo playing Super Mario Brothers on an old CRT TV while three little kids and one medium kid watch on. North the white cat enters the room with an upright happy tail.

I made something like 4 bowls of waffle batter, plus Reed’s mom made gluten free batches, and one neighbor showed up with this amazing mix already in a bowl with impeccable timing! Something like 7 neighbors brought waffle irons to help out; one brought a big French Press to speed up our coffee making, and we made a mess of toppings on the dining room table. And I got to just hang out in the kitchen making waffles while other people socialized and got to know each other! I learned we can have two high-energy things on the kitchen circuit at a time, so we had a precarious workflow of mixer, microwave, and irons going at all times.

And so many fabulous outfits! Even some of the kids dressed up. Sad I forgot to offer people name tags, but so stoked that people will know each other while walking around outside just a little bit more, and that the kids know to look out for each other. And one neighbor saw that we were not quite complete on our LEGO D&D minifigs and brought us the ones we were missing. How fabulous is it to be in community?! So fabulous.

Bonus Joy : Little Free Library!

I love stories. I love that someone distilled “enough” of an idea into a concrete, knowable object that can be indefinitely shared. I love the documentation, the legacy. I love that others will build on that object in their own ways.

I love libraries. I love a collection of knowledge, well sorted and cared for, to share with others for free. I love how meta a card catalog is, I love information science, I love the smell of so many books in one place.

And I love Little Free Libraries. I love a small curation of “here are books we loved and want to pass on to others” in an accessible way smattered through a neighborhood. They make my little robot heart sing.

So for our anniversary in November 2023, Reed got me a LFL kit. I got SO excited! I immediately made a list of books to stock it with and got as many as possible from Marcus Books in Oakland. Would they all fit? They did not, I had to trim down the list. I matched the neutral tone to the house and the accent color to some flowers in our front yard. Jenbot even made a book plate design for it so I could include why I thought each book was worth reading.

And then it mostly sat for over a year. I would make headway on it every once in awhile (thanks in large part to the same stand up group we’ve had going on and off for like 10-15 years), but I’m not particularly handy with physical things and so it sort of became an albatross sitting in my office. Something that could bring me joy but I just couldn’t get over the finish line.

But I’ve been taking a short term leave from work to figure out some brain fog things, and I made it through my backlog of easier tasks. Reed and I suddenly had an entire afternoon off together with Locke in preschool. After starting to wax some bike chains, we turned our attention to the LFL and managed to finish it up! We borrowed a post hole digger from a neighbor and put it in the ground in our front garden. And the local lab/golden mix Mango came by to say hi while we were doing it!

Willow grins broadly in front of the empty little free library. Their purple shirt matches the purple accent on the library. The library has a tilted roof and one shelf, and is placed in the front yard that has a recently greening Japanese Maple and lots of native plans, along with a bench.
Exceedingly proud we finally got it in the ground

Some books have already been picked up! Reed and I have been having a long conversation about my desire to keep the LFL stocked with the same set of books no matter how many times they get picked up — I want to send a consistent message, he wants to provide variety to the neighborhood as it’ll be a lot of the same people walking by regularly. We’ve settled on about half the books being consistent and the other half being ones we’re going through in the house + neighbors leaving books.

Another angle of the library, this time with books on the shelves. You can see the steps going up to the Idlewild yard and some flowers through a gate int eh background.

March Joy : Goats!

Uncle Tilde took us on an adventure to Goatlandia in the North Bay to feed some baby goats and meet some older goats. So cute! So soft! So invested in being high up! And their wagging tails while they drank milk! Oh my goodness.

Reed in a green jacket and pink hat has a goat under one arm while another puts its front legs on Reed's leg to smell his hand. The back legs are on a hay bale that Willow sits on, petting another goat. Locke watches on from the fence.
Image by Uncle Tilde

Goatlandia is a goat and other animal rescue. We met some ducks, an alpaca, and many many goats. We even scared up a wild hare! The tour guide was delightful — invested in animal well being without being preachy about veganism. The baby goats get fed about 5 times a day at their current ages. While many of the kids (lol) will get adopted out, the adult goats we met are there as their forever home.

Image from Reed

It was so nice to just be out in a rural area with animals. The requests were simple and easy to fill with our trusty guide. I felt like I was in my body.

Then we all went for delicious bread at Wildflour. I’ve only been there once before – on the Freestone Bread Run 200k I failed out of a few years ago. It’s worth going out of your way a fair amount for, and we were in the neighborhood! Each thing we got there was amazing.

Tilde wearing a THICCC hat gets chewed on by a baby goat.
Selfie from Uncle Tilde, trusty adventure-inducer and driver

While Tilde’s car charged on the way home, we spent about an hour playing with LEGOs and exploring toys at Fundemonium. Locke fell asleep on the car ride home and we all got some quiet time to recover from an intense and fun day.