ISSUE #2: Two's Trouble!

Hello! Welcome to the second issue of The Flakefall Cervid! I hope this cobbled together collection of thoughts and things and stuff lives up to whatever expectations you had clicking on it :) First, an aside:

The site has been revamped a bit! Cut down on some random things, made it feel a bit *sleeker*. I hope to continually update and improve whenever there's something worth adding.

PRODUCTIVITY & ME:

For the first segment, I feel as though it is important to talk about "productivity." It's a word thrown around a lot. To me, it's often thrown around in my own head as a way of trying to get myself to do more work. Whilst useful if getting loads of work done is necessary, I am very susceptible to giving up and burning out midway through something. I've tried countless times to be productive, to reach word goals, to finish projects and learn all sorts of new things -- I chide myself for not running as fast as everybody else, hardly realizing my shoes are untied. From all of this, I can come to a conclusion at the present moment: I need to slow down. And if you resonate with my plight here, you should slow down too. If you're going so fast you always fall down, you need to tone down the pace. There's no point in burning your candle brighter if it's just going to go out thrice as quick. I've found, lately, setting some time aside to do work whilst not having any concrete expectations has helped. Half an hour at my desk; no games or distractions. I can either write or do nothing. It helps! Maybe I don't get as much done, but I certainly feel more motivated and happier about it all -- is that not the point?

PROJECT STATUS:

Perhaps an interesting segment to have after the previous for sure! Minor legwork has been done on some projects; but ultimately this website + my life have been taking priority. For some eye candy, I've been having some fun making these neat images of deer.
I take trail cam images from google and run them through a black/white dithering program (I love this kind of artstyle, Who's Lila and Return of the Obra Dinn pull it off super well!), and then make some minor adjustments in an image editing program.

Cool Stuff:

Onto the cool stuff for the week!

Boston Globe Mini: After NYT put a paywall on their mini crossword (on my birthday, too! terrible present!), I was devastated. The Boston Globe Mini is the closest one I could find in terms of enjoyment solving that was also free.

crysknife007: A lovely collection of coloured noises and various other tones, I find the "super deep red noise" helpful for sleeping.

OK Computer: You've probably heard of this. I certainly did, but I never took the time to listen to the whole album: but holy shit, I'm so glad I did. Incredible album, Fitter Happier was a cerebral experience out of nowhere but Exit Music (For a Film) is my personal favourite. I still need time to process what I just listened to, and even more time to begin to find the words to do it justice in description.

I hope you enjoyed reading through! Give yourself a nice pat on the back today, okay? The world is tough these days. You're doing well, even if you're just getting by.

See you next issue?

[Kim Flake, 2025]