I took about a two-month break from creative projects. It started with feeling psychically drained by the Substack ecosystem. I spent most of that time playing what has become one of my favorite video games, Hades 2, and seeing whether I was okay or even happier setting aside my goals and just wasting my free time on a game for a while. I enjoyed the sabbatical, but I think I’m happier now that I’m writing regularly again.
Updating my website
I let my website stay unchanged for several months—I found it intimidating to go in and edit it. But now that I’ve let it incubate for a while, I’ve been overhauling it to better capture what I’m going for. I really love how it has turned out.
Scaffolding a book project
With several months of consistent essay writing under my belt, I’m considering undertaking something longer form. I have a few different ideas, and I’m currently evaluating which I’d like to tackle first.
Formalized family teaching and Family Night
Most of my instruction to my kids is either spontaneous or through passive modeling as I live my life. I think that’s normal and good, but I’ve realized that I want to also have opportunities set aside to teach them things I think are important. So my wife and I have been implementing a practice our church encourages, “Family Night,” where you have a weekly lesson and activity with your kids. We all love it!
Perfect pitch training
Perfect pitch is the single thing that I wished for most as a young person. If a genie had appeared to me, I would have used my first wish on perfect pitch without hesitation. I want to help my kids acquire it if possible. The critical period for acquiring it goes to about age seven, and my daughter is five. So we’ve been using an app called Clear Pitch and practicing together. We’re seeing inconsistent but noticeable results in both my oldest daughter and my son. I’d like to keep working on this regularly.
Family council
I decided to start a weekly meeting with my wife where we talk through the logistics of our week and divide up anything that needs to be dealt with. We’ve long done “companionship inventory,” a practice I picked up on my mission, but that’s an assessment of our relationship health rather than a logistical meeting. Both are very helpful for us.
Building a house
This has been ongoing for a long time, but we’re building a house in the Baltimore area, which involves a lot of decisions and coordination and meetings. We’re hoping to break ground in the next few months.
Remixing and releasing music I’ve sat on for way too long
I have several songs I’ve produced that are right at the finish line of release. Unfortunately, the closer that gets, the harder it is to feel like the thing is done. In particular, I endlessly second guess myself on my mixes. But I’m hoping to finish some of these up and release them soon.
Archive
7/26/25 update
Build my website
I’m learning how to use AI tools to build my own website, instead of using something like Squarespace. It’s amazing how much it will do for you, and also amazing how much there is still to learn and do.
The Fare Well Files
This is my current baby. I’m about five months in and still just so energized by the process of writing essays. It takes most of my creative time, and I wish I had a lot more. I try to also be very active on Substack Notes to maintain visibility and make connections with people.
Produce consistent gypsy jazz content
After a long gestation period, I recently created a full gypsy jazz persona online, under the artist name “Jordan Michael Call.” I’m trying to post performances regularly on Instagram, as well as record/produce/release roughly one single a month. This gives me lots to practice and work on.
Teaching my daughter to swim
This has been SO fun. My five-year-old is working on earning her “yellow necklace” at the local pool, and she can do half of the requirements. We need to get her treading water next. I try to get her in a pool as much as I can.
Learning about cars with my son
My three-year-old is obsessed with cars. I’m not mechanically-minded at all, but I love the idea of learning about it someday. I want to rebuild a ’65 Mustang with him, like the one we saw at the gym parking lot the other day. So I had ChatGPT build me a college course in restoring cars. Slightly overwhelming but fascinating stuff.
Reducing screen time
I installed a widget that narcs on me for how much I’ve looked at my phone, and then I bought a smart watch so I wouldn’t be so reliant on my phone for calls and texts. I’ve cut my phone time down by several hours a day.
Make Boba Milk drinks
I bought bubbles and huge straws from Amazon and figured out how to make a brown sugar syrup. Just did my first one and it turned out incredible.
