Dude have I mentioned how much I love doing dishes now

As usual, photo completely unrelated; there was a bitchin' sunset the other night and I massively underexposed while trying to get it shining on the cat mansion at the window

Welcome back to another JulyReply; I haven't done as many as I'd hoped this month but work and life and health been kinda all over the place and I'm calling any entries a win.

A blog post I saw today called When All Else Fails Do Dumb Work jumped out at me because this has been my guiding philosophy for a while. Go read Kai's post, I'll wait.

In 2021, my partner and I uprooted our life and moved our family, cat rescue operation and recording studio across the United States from the Coachella Valley to New England. We ended up in a "character house" from the 1920's that, while really fucking cool, also has weird quirks like "very few grounded power outlets" , a questionable relationship with hot water and notably, no dishwasher OR garbage disposal (nor functional location for either to be added at any point); what has happened as a result is that by "doing the dishes" being more labor intensive, it's become a new creative meditation for me lmfao

Frustrated with a work project? Angry about the news? Stuck on a line for a song? Mix not coming together?

Dude. Dude just pull back for a sec and go wash some fucking dishes. Like actually wash some dishes; we're talking fill up a mug with hot water from my tea boiler, use it to scrub the debris off dishes into the catch, empty the catch, use more hot water and soap these mothefuckers, rinse em off with cold water, put em on a drying rack, towel dry some so you can fit more.

NOW I KNOW this probably sounds incredibly fucking stupid to people who don't have dishwashers and view this labor as tedious bullshit they'd love to avoid doing and like, I get it! No shade! I probably sound like an asshole to you! Shit, I worked service jobs for a decade where dishwashing was a part of daily rituals and I fucking hated it then - but having this outlet now (and for me vs company labor) has been a weird fucking blessing to me in a time where the world is moving way too goddamn fast.

I've gotten through so many creative projects by backing the fuck up and taking a dishwashing break, even if it's just like two mugs and a plate. Sometimes that's all it takes to come back refreshed and knock out that song.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Here's your end-of-post cat photo; I tripped while carrying an open container of cat treats and, well...

I think there's ten cats in this photo but I'm not 100% certain

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