So, Happy New Month! Here are three thoughts about September:

1) FORWARD TO SCHOOL:

Heard of “back to school”?
Well, this is the opposite.
School’s ahead for me!

September is classic “back to school” time.

I’ve been out of school for about two decades, but I’m back in it now!

I’m learning ASL at the Sign Language Center in NYC.

Why? Because I love language and I love my girlfriend and she SPECIFICALLY loves sign language, so as a sign of our love, I assigned myself to learn the language. (Our love exists with our without “signs” of it, but Rini loves signing so much and I love her so much, so why wouldn’t I want to be able to experience the thing that she loves so much with her?)

Also, it gives me a new angle on “Back to School.”

(The new angle being 180 degrees away from the old angle. FORWARD TO SCHOOL!)

Questions:
Are you in any kind of school, classes, lessons, officially or unofficially?
What have you been learning lately, on your own or with a teacher or with others?
Is there something you learned recently or ever that you think is particularly noteworthy/cool/fun/meaningful?

2) SUMMER IS STILL HAPPENING!

Summer is still here!
Three more weeks of it, about!
Soak up that sun, friends!

Like Sheryl Crow wisely sings, SOAK UP THE SUN!

September gets a lot of coverage for being the month when autumn begins, but for the first two-thirds of it, it’s still summer!

Sometimes I find myself looking ahead, like “it’s September already! but that means it’s almost October!” when September is still September!

We’ll get there. We got here. And we ARE here. We are here now!

(We’re doing what Ram Dass said when he suggested it might be good to “Be Here Now,” the title of a book that he wrote when he Was There Then.)

So, enjoy it!
Enjoy all enjoyables possible!
It may not be July, but it’s still SUMMER!

Be summer now!

Questions:
How do you feel about summer?
What’s the difference between July and September, really?
Are you here now?

3) EARTH, WIND, AND FIRE

Do you remember
The song that’s called “September”
By Earth, Wind, and Fire?

Just in case you don’t, here are all the lyrics!

And I just want to share a sampling of the lyrics that are resonant to me:

"Love was changin' the minds"

"Our hearts were ringin'
In the key that our souls were singin'"

"My thoughts are with you
Holdin' hands with your heart to see you"

"And we'll say ba-dee-ya (Ba-dee-ya, dee-ya)
Say, do you remember?
Ba-dee-ya (Ba-dee-ya, dee-ya)
Dancin' in September"

I hope you remember to dance and to hold hands with various hearts and to have those hearts ring (perhaps in the key that your soul sings?) and love!

Love love love!

Questions:
Anyone’s heart that you’re holding hands with?
How do you feel about dancing?
What key is your heart ringing in?

Much love to you and yours!

Good September to us all.

Thank you for receiving!

So, Happy New Month! Here are three thoughts about August:

1) SUMMERTIME AND THE LIVIN’ WAS EASY FOR SUMMER TV IN THE 90’S

Remember reruns?
Kids today might not recall
So gather round, kids!

When I was a child, new television shows all came out in the fall. Back to school time for kids and TV primetime for adults, that was fall’s purview. (As opposed to the fall’s previews. The fall previews were also fall’s purview. Let’s move on.) The summer was a time for reruns. Remember reruns? Let me run it back for you (or re-run it).

They showed new shows from September to May, and then for the summer months, they would re-run some of those shows. Reruns.

It made sense! We were like, “TV, you’ve been working hard for so much of the year, you deserve a break. Relax. Don’t even worry about us. We’ll just watch what you already gave us. You’re so generous.”

So, maybe it’s time for us all to relax like the TV of old. Do things you’ve done before. Do nothings you’ve done before. Or nothings you’ve never done, if you want, it’s really up to you. It’s summer! You’re off!

2) A DISCUSSION OF RERUNS, CONTINUED

Is this a rerun?
I’d say it’s more a sequel.
One ABOUT reruns!

It’s August, which as you may know is right in the heart of summer (in my hemisphere). So, is it time for a rerun? Not here! This Happy New Month newsletter is not a ‘90s television show. It’s not Saved by the August. It’s not the Fresh Prince of August or the Fresh August of Bel Aire or even the August Prince of Bel Aire (a phrase that accidentally makes sense). It’s not A*U*G*U*S*T.

This is the newest Happy New Month that ever new’d! A time of creation, of innovation. (For example, I’ve never combined TV shows and the word “August” before. What’s next, combining TV shows and other months? I am a bottomless well of creativity!) Now, will I potentially do a rerun of this episode next August? Maybe! That could be fun and appropriate, too.

For now, enjoy this, your latest episode of summer, be it totally new, a rerun, or one of those episodes full of flashbacks to old episodes but tied together with some newly shot scenes of the characters saying “Remember when this thing happened?” (Remember when those things happened?)

3) IN WHICH WE FIND OUT WHAT NUMBER THREE WILL BE:

Number one: reruns
Number two: reruns return
Number three: who knows!

What will number three be? If number one was all about how there used to be reruns so TV could relax and number two was all about how this newsletter is NOT full of reruns, it seems like we’ve covered it all already!

And if we’ve covered it all, that’s perfect, because summer can be a time for innovation AND relaxation, which we covered in numbers one and two. Maybe we won’t even HAVE a number three.

If we’re living according to the guidelines previously established, by NOT creating a third new piece here, I am doing both of the following: following in the footsteps of TV from the 90s by taking a break AND doing something innovative because I don’t think I’ve ever taken a break like this in a Happy New Month before.

Restful AND innovative, how does he do it?
(Maybe we’ll innovate an answer in a future month when less restful.)

I hope that this month, this summer, this episode, this everything brings you your optimal combination of rest and creativity (maybe find creative ways to rest, or restful ways to be creative), of relaxation and play, of going easy and going hard, of being chill and being warm, of freedom and security, of going boldly where you’ve never gone before or going mildly to a favorite, familiar place. Whatever you wish for August, I wish that for you as well, OR BETTER. (A fun thing you can add to any wish.)

Good luck, have fun, take care, be well, and how are you? Feel free to comment or respond and let me know. I’m grateful you are here and I’m grateful you are you. Much love to you and yours and all!

So, Happy New Month! Here are three nice things about July!

1) SUMMERTIME, AND THE LIVING IS HOT!

The summer is hot.
I hope that you can keep cool.
Happy summertime!

It’s the summer. I’m in NYC and it’s very hot out. I understand it’s hot a lot of places. I hope that wherever you are, you are not too hot. I also hope that you are not too cold. I hope that you are just right. Goldilocks style.

The Goldilocks story always reminds me of the middle path in Buddhism. Not too extreme in either direction. Not too strict, not too loose.

There’s a story that I love, about the Buddha having a student who was a musician (here is a version of it). The musician asked about how to practice, because sometimes it seemed like the thing to do was to buckle down and be strict with oneself, and sometimes it seemed like the thing to do was to loosen up and be gentle with oneself. The Buddha asked if the musician would rather the strings be too loose or too tight, and you won’t BELIEVE what the answer was. (You will. It’s Goldilocks.)

I’m like King Midas in a way; everything I touch turns to Goldilocks.

I hope the summer sun shines through your golden locks. (Or if your locks are a different color, through those. Or if you’re bald, I hope you enjoy the sun however much you want to, and that you wear sunscreen. I hope you all wear sunscreen. Not too much, so that you’re drowning in it. But not not enough, because it’s important to protect your skin. A Goldilocks amount. The middle path of sunscreen.)

2) HAPPY BELATED JUNETEENTH!

Freedom at all times
For all beings everywhere
Much love to us all

It’s America’s birthday this month. Have you heard?

Some people refer to it as “Independence Day.”

I learned that growing up. And then later in life, I learned about Juneteenth, the day when EVERYONE in the country was officially free, due to the Emancipation Proclamation’s final enforcement to end slavery everywhere, on June 19, 1865.

So, happy belated Juneteenth, everyone. I think there are some days and concepts that are worth celebrating beyond the chronological scope of the day itself, and this is one of them. As many wise folks have said...

“Nobody’s free until everybody’s free” - Fannie Lou Hamer
“Until we are all free, we are none of us free” - Emma Lazarus
“No one of us can be free until everybody is free” - Maya Angelou

It is a work in progress. America. Freedom. We are all working on it. Or, a lot of us are. Thank you for working on it.

PS Relatedly, here is a great cartoon about the SAVE act, from Aubrey Hirsch (click and scroll through, if you like! it is many panels):

3) SUMMER VACATION!

Summer vacation!
Vacate some? Or vacate more?
Some more vacation!

This is the first full month of summer.
I hope you get to relax some. If you like relaxing.
To work and play and rest and live in whatever your optimal combination.

In embodying this spirit, I am going to take a break from writing much more here.
Enjoy! Good summer to you! Be free! Help others be free! Something else about Goldilocks! Much love, all!

So, Happy New Month! Here are three nice things about June.

1) THE SCHOOL YEAR IS OVER!

I’m forty-seven
And I still think in this way:
School’s out for summer!

I was a student for longer than most. High school. College. Then I was in grad school for 8 years, getting a master’s degree that an industrious student could have gotten in 1, most students finished in 2, and you weren’t officially allowed to take longer than 3 unless you got special dispensation, which I did, so I could keep living on campus for free as an RA while beginning my comedy career and eventually finishing my thesis after 5 years of no classes.

I believe that I started grad school when I was almost 22 and completed it officially right after turning 30, and I’d moved to NYC to begin making my living as a fulltime comedian. It worked!

In my teenage years, summer was spent at Buck’s Rock Camp, a magical place that helped me become the social being that I am, a place that seemed like life happened in full color, over the rainbow, compared to the black and white Kansas-like school year. Two months of pure joy following each ten-month slog.

I am supremely grateful for my life as a comedian, where I live in full color now all the time, even when slogging. Comedy life: the full color slog that always feels like summer camp.

And yet when official, technical summer begins, it still feels extra magical to me, maybe because I’m remembering and honoring a time in my life when the transition to summer was so particularly meaningful.

So, happy summer to you! If you’re out of school, does “school’s out for summer” still hold meaning for you? Or do you mark the transitions throughout the year in some other way? I hope you have as much metaphorical (and literal) color in your life as possible.

2) PRIDE MONTH HAS BEGUN!

Speaking of rainbows...
Happy Pride Month, everyone!
Love love love love love!

It is officially Pride Month. I hope you celebrate yourself and others however you want to and can. I hope you do that beyond this month, but this is the month that is this month, so enjoy the now that is now! That is all. Love is love is love!

(I have kept this part short so you can spend more of Pride Month out there Priding it up, instead of in here reading!)

3) THIS IS A MONTH FOR CELEBRATING MY PARENTS!

Happy birthmonth, Mom!
Happy Father’s Day to Dad!
Happy days to all!

June sees both my mother’s birthday and official Father’s Day. Also Mother’s Day was last month and my father’s birthday was the one before that, so this is Parent Celebration Season for me!

I just want to express gratitude to and for my mom and dad, without whom I wouldn’t be the person that I am, without whom I wouldn’t be a person at all, without whom I wouldn’t be.

It is unimaginable. Can you even imagine me not being? I certainly can’t.

Life of course has many challenges, but I love being alive. I love all the ingredients that add up to my life. I love my parents, I love my summer camp, I love my life in comedy, I love all the people who are fans of my work and read what I write and support what I do, I love everyone who loves anyone, I love you! And I thank you for being here.

I hope you love who and what you love, and that you take care of yourselves and others, and that you have some colorful summer campiness in your life, as literally or metaphorically or metaphysically or mythologically or scientifically or emotionally or mentally or physically as you want and can.

Much love and thanks, all!

PS You may or may not know this about me, but I love collecting and sharing meaningful quotes, so here are a dozen or so that I’ve seen recently that you might enjoy:

“The future is completely open, and we are writing it moment to moment.”
— Pema Chödrön

“If your peace depends
on being better than someone else,
your mind will never truly rest.”
— the Zen monk Kojo’s teacher

“Worry is interest paid in advance on a debt that never comes due.”
— David Mamet

“The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.”
— Bertrand Russell

“We live in a house of mirrors and think we are looking out the windows.”
— Fritz Perls

“Nothing is permanent in this wicked world, not even our troubles.”
―Charlie Chaplin

“What you seek is seeking you”
— Rumi

“Don’t you want to be alive before you die?”
— Anthony Doerr

“The art of life is to know how to enjoy a little and to endure very much.”
— William Hazlitt

“What would this moment be like if there were truly nothing missing and nothing to do, nothing to improve, nothing to wait for?”
— Sam Harris

“You have to do nothing to be who you are. Nothing at all.”
— H. W. L. Poonja

“So much has been given to me I have not the time to ponder that which has been denied.”
— Helen Keller

Love to all! Happy New June! And one more thing, a beautiful post from my wonderful artist friend :

So, Happy New Month!

May the 1st be with you, everyone.

Here are three things that are nice about May.

1) HAPPY STAR WARS DAY AND WHATEVER ART YOU LOVE DAY MONTH!

Whatever you love
I hope that you celebrate
However you choose!

First, you may have noticed that I opened with “May the 1st be with you,” which is pretty fun for reasons that I’ll explain just in case there are people here who were maybe born long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, such that they don’t know that May 4 is Star Wars Day because “May the 4th be with you” is a play on “May the FORCE be with you” from Star Wars, so “May the FIRST be with you” gives you some EXTRA fun on that front.

I enjoy Star Wars a regular amount, I would say. Like, I enjoy the movies and shows but I don’t dress up or do anything particular to celebrate the day.

That said, I do love celebrating things that I love, and so in the spirit of Star Wars Day, here are some works of art I have enjoyed very much recently:

—“Carol and the End of the World” is a Netflix show that Rini and started watching last night. It’s funny, weird, and poignant. We watched three episodes and are excited to watch more. Happy Carol Day! Happy World Day!

— “Normal” is a new fun action movie starring Bob Odenkirk, an incredible talent in so many ways. The NY Times did an interview with him recently where he shares lots of strong opinions, many of which I agree with, some of which I don’t, and all of which I respect. Happy Normal Day!

— “Alien: Earth” is a show that I didn’t plan to watch because I don’t like being scared by scary aliens. But then I read a piece about billionaires in the Atlantic by the show’s creator Noah Hawley, told a friend I really liked the piece, and was told by him that he really liked Hawley’s show “Alien: Earth.” Up until then, I didn’t know that he had created the show. I knew he had made the show “Fargo” which I have really enjoyed, and so I gave “Alien: Earth” a shot and I’m very glad I did. It is also, in many ways, about billionaires like that piece I read. It has some scary alien stuff, but also some non-scary alien stuff, and some scary HUMAN stuff. It’s got it all! Happy Alien Day! Happy Earth Day! (Look at that! Earth Day is actually a real holiday that happened last week!)

2) HAPPY FREE COMIC BOOK DAY TOMORROW!

Free Comic Book Day!
Do you like free comic books?
Go and get them then!

Free Comic Book Day is tomorrow. What this means is that you can go to pretty much any comic book store and they will give you some free comics. It’s very cool. Different stores have different guidelines for how many you can have sometimes, so if there are multiple stores near you, go to all of them! Or any! Or none! Also buy things when you’re there! Support these stores! Also buy non-comic books from independent bookstores! Also purchase art of all kinds wherever you do! Support the artists that you want to and can! Happy Free Comic Book Day!

3) HAPPY RINI DAY NEXT WEEK!

Rini is the best!
Her birthday is in a week.
CELEBRATE HER NOW!

My wonderful partner Rini’s birthday (who you might know from having created the comedy special “Rini”) is May 8. A fun thing we do is celebrate whenever it’s 5:08 on the clock, because that matches 5/08 on the calendar. So whenever I see the clock strike 5:08, I’ll text Rini “Happy birthday!” or I’ll say it out loud to her if we’re in the same place. And on her actual day of birth? I guess I’ll be texting her every moment. Busy day. Happy birthday now and now and now.

Another fun thing we do is celebrate each other all day every day all the time. Not by constantly texting though. But it’s nice to have the numbers line up.

Do you have any fun practices with friends or loved ones like this? I recommend. It’s fun to have fun. Happy Rini Month Day!

Finally, just a quick note that if you’re in or around Minnesota, I’ll be recording a new album there next week (performing at Acme Comedy Co. in MSP from May 6-9). If you are there or anyone you know is there, thanks for being there and/or spreading the word! Below is a fun poster by my friend McKinley Cox about it! The album is structured around the alphabet, so it’s tentatively called “An Alphabet Album At Acme” or “AAAAA” for short, which also is the sound of me yelling because I’m so excited about it. Happy Acme Month Day!

In a world where there are a few reasons to NOT celebrate some things, what are you celebrating this month, this day, this moment, this now? If you want to share!

As he suggests at the end of the short piece, “Subscribe for more doses of dopeness amidst the deluge of dumbness.”

I recommend following Baratunde’s work. He is wise and kind.

Happy Black History month, everyone.

B) Happy Helping!

Thank you for helping.
All the things that you can do,
Thanks for doing them.

Mr. Rogers famously said, “Look for the helpers.”

The full quote: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” — Fred Rogers

Additionally, when possible we can do our best to BE the helpers.

And as such, someone I know in Minnesota sent me this link and asked if I would share it, because it is “the most comprehensive mutual aid list [they]’ve been able to find.”

There are many ways in there to be a helper. Thank you for looking and being.

C) Happy Love Month!

Happy Valentine’s!
Or if you don’t celebrate,
Happy other days!

Valentine’s Day doesn’t mean much to me.
I love love, and I love love every day.
And one of those days IS Valentine’s Day.
So if you love love and want to love love on that day, go for it!

I love that I have a romantic partner who doesn’t think much about Valentine’s Day either. A couple years ago, it was Valentine’s Day and Rini didn’t know, which I know because I told her and she said “I didn’t know!” and I love her a lot for that (and infinite other reasons.)

If Valentine’s Day makes you sad, I hope you can remember that nearly every day ISN’T Valentine’s Day. Today isn’t. Tomorrow isn’t. The next day isn’t. And so forth until the one day that is, and then right after that, you get 364 days of Isn’ts again! (Valentisn’t?)

I hope that you love who you love, when you love, how you love, where you love, all the ways and places and times and everything.

I love that you are here. I love that you are there. Wherever you are. Thank you. It makes me happy. Happy new month!

1) IT IS A NEW MONTH!

It is a new year
But it’s also a new MONTH!
Happy new month, y’all!

It is a new year but it is also a new month.
Many people make resolutions for the new YEAR.
But what about resolutions for the new MONTH?

I resolve to make at least one new month’s resolution.
And in so resolving, I have kept my resolution.
It can be that easy!

Some nice words from Jack Kornfield on the occasion:

“May I carry forward what truly matters.
May I release what no longer serves.
May I walk into this new year with courage and care.”

2) MAKE EASY RESOLUTIONS!

Take the easy way
When that way makes sense to take.
If that’s what you’d like.

I recommend making easy resolutions.
Resolve to NOT go to the gym if you don’t want to.
Resolve to do something once, if not every day or all the time.
Resolve to do something easy!
Or don’t resolve at all!

I’m reminded of my favorite Shunryu Suzuki quote:

”Each of you is perfect the way you are... and you can use a little improvement.”

So much of New Year’s energy is focused on the second half of that quote, but I encourage you to focus as much as you’d like on the first half!

3) YOU ARE DOING IT!

You are doing it.
What is it? Thing you you do!
Great work being you!

How do you want to live?
Are you doing it? Keep it up!
Are there ways you want to do it differently? Switch it up if you want and can!

But just to reiterate, I bet there are things you are doing already that are perfect.
You are breathing.
You are conscious.
You are living and being and doing. Or maybe not doing sometimes.
You take in art. Maybe you make art.
You love. There are people/things/experiences you love.
You are worthy of love. You are loved. I love you.

And a few final words from Jack Kornfield again:

“May we choose love again and again.
May our world remember its own goodness.”

“The light you seek for the year ahead is not waiting somewhere else.
It already lives in you”

“As this year turns, may you trust that something wise is moving you forward, even when you cannot yet see the path.”

Much love to you and yours and all!
Happy New Month!

1) HAPPY NEW BIRTHDAY MONTH!

Little joys are fun.
Celebrate them as you wish.
This is a haiku.

Today is the month of my birth.
I was born on the 7th of this month (in a different year, not this one).
I also have a dear friend who was born on the 7th of another month, and I’d like to talk about how that brings me joy. Get ready…

It’s fun!
I didn’t go out into the world seeking other people who were also born on the 7ths.
But it happened.
Also, it so happens that she and I met on the 7th of ANOTHER month.

So there are three 7ths in our friendship life together.
Like a slot machine jackpot.
And to be clear, the friendship itself is much more the jackpot than the fact that there are all these sevens.

But also, this particular friend is into remembering dates and anniversaries and so this particular coincidence is made even MORE meaningful by that fact.
I’m not saying that numbers need to be important to you.
I’m certainly not saying to go out and look for friends who were born on the same day of the month as you.

But I AM saying if you have a good friend AND you find out something coincidental that you share, perhaps that can be grounds for a little bit of EXTRA joy you take in that connection.
If you want.

If you’re interested in extra joy, I offer it.
I mean, you can also just take extra joy in MY extra joy, if you’d like.
Here. Here it is. Joyjoyjoyjoy. Lots of extra. Courtesy of me and this friendship.

PS You know how sometimes people say “that ship has sailed”?
Well, this FRIENDship IS sailing.
Thanks for being aboard.
Or at least watching from the shore.
Wherever you are, in relation to this metaphorical sea, I thank you.

2) AT A TIME LIKE THIS!

”At a time like this!”
Ever heard somebody say
”A time UNLIKE this”?

Some might ask how can I discuss joy at a time like this?
Great question.
What a time like this it is.

It seems like it’s almost ALWAYS “a time like this.”
But this one is even more like this, because it’s this one.
It’s now.

There are various sufferings all over the world.
It is true.
And I don’t know how to solve them all, and I’m sorry.
I hope that you are doing everything you can to help in all the ways that you want to and can.

And I do want to say this, on the subject of experiencing joy in the midst of suffering: I got a Covid booster and a flu shot and a Hepatitis B vaccine two days ago.
Later that evening, my arm was very sore.
Overnight, it was difficult to sleep.
The ring I wear that tracks my health vitals reported that I had a fever.
The next day (yesterday), I awoke and had quite a headache for a while, and felt sluggish for many hours.

I drank water, ate food even though I didn’t feel that hungry, and took some medicine.
And then, later in the afternoon, the headache lifted.
The storm passed.
I was still tired but not in pain.
And that was a great joy.

It reminded me of a time that I tore my calf muscle and was unable to walk for several months, after which I felt great joy in simply being able to move my body like I had before the tear.

I know that none of this solves ALL the problems in the world, but I’m grateful that on an individual scale, there can be great shifts in experience.
(Which I think means there can ultimately be great shifts on the mass scale, because the mass scale is made of individual scales.)

So, I hope you are taking care of yourself as best you can, and taking care of others as best you can.

3) ON THE SUBJECT OF TAKING CARE OF ONESELF AND OTHERS!

Mentioned at the start.
It returns in the third act:
Chekhov’s birthday wish!

So, to celebrate this happy new month that coincides with my happy birth month, I offer these paths forward:

One, please take care of yourself and your loved ones and everyone that you can help to the best of your ability.

Ask others for help if you need, and offer help when you can.
Help the people of Gaza, Ukraine, and other war-torn areas.
Help people are NOT in war-torn areas as well. (Peace-torn areas?)
Help animals in the factory farming systems.
Help your neighbors.
Help your friends.
Help your families.
Help yourself.

Help in small ways because small ways can add up to big ways.
In lieu of gifts for my birthday, feel free to just help any sentient being or beings.
AND if you’re thinking something like “but it’s YOUR birthday, and I’d love to help the sentient being that is YOU” (me), here’s a particular way you can celebrate my birthday with me:

My newest stand-up comedy special, entitled “Rini,” will be released next month, and next week on my birthday, I’ll be sharing a link you can click that will remind you.
I’d love for you to click that and eventually be reminded.
I’d love for you to watch the special when it comes out next month.
(And I’ll probably mention it again next month as a reminder).
I’d love for you to share it with anyone you think might enjoy it.
I’d love to do your podcast and talk about it.
I’d love for everyone to love it.

I’ll share more about it soon, but for now, I’ll share this snippet from the press release, about how the show is “equal parts a comedy special and a thesis on love.”
It’s called “Rini” because that’s my girlfriend’s name and we made the show together. We’ve been together for almost 10 years and we’ve been working on the special together for about half that time.
She’s a big joy in my life.
WE are a big joy in my life, a RELATIONship that I’m glad is sailing on this infinite universe ocean, and I’m super excited for everyone to see the show we made.

So thank you in advance for sharing in that joy, while also doing all that you can to be kind to yourself and all the sentient beings possible.

Happy October!
Thank you for receiving!
Much love to you and yours and all!

1) IS SEPTEMBER THE GOLDILOCKS MONTH?

It was too, too hot.
It will be too cold.
September, just right!

In the northern hemisphere where I live, September is the month where summer turns to fall. September feels like fall to me, conceptually, even though two-thirds of the month is TECHNICALLY summer.

The weather in NYC has started to change. July and August saw some intensely hot days, while this past weekend was sunny but breezy, pretty perfect. Why can’t the weather just STOP when it’s perfect?

But what this means is, whether you prefer hot to cold or cold to hot, September might be the month for you! Was summer too hot? Well, can I interest you in some September weather? Is winter too cold? Well, good news, that’s not happening yet! September! It’s what’s happening! (Am I an ad executive trying to get the illustrious “September” account with all these slogans? Maybe!)

I hope that wherever you are, you experience perfect weather this month. Today, even! And while I’m wishing for things, I hope that you also experience perfect INNER weather. I hope that your emotional state hits a sweet spot, an equilibrium of gratitude for the past and excitement for the future, surfing on this present moment in the sea of forever! I hope that you love the loves you love and that you help those that you can help (include yourself in there, too, if you need!).

Much love! Happy September surfing, friends!

2) EVERY MONTH IS A NEW BEGINNING BUT IS THIS ONE THE NEW BEGINNING-EST?

A new beginning.
Also there’s some middle here.
And a new ending.

The whole deal of this Happy New Month project is that any month can be a new beginning. Any day can. Any moment can. Happy New Moment, everyone! And again and again and again.

And yet, there IS something particularly extra-new about September. About the fall. The back-to-school-ness of it all. The beginning of a child’s fiscal year. The Jewish New Year.

You know how in Judaism, days technically begin the evening before, at sunset? That makes a lot of sense to me. When the sun goes down, the day is over and thus the new day begins.

And fall is like that as well. The sun goes down on summer and the new beginning begins. Fall is like the sunset of the year, thus the beginning of the new year.

Another perfect offering of September. You like endings? We got your ending right here. You like beginnings? It’s a perfect time for that as well. What about middles? Sure, we’ll throw a middle in there, too. Right in the middle of the ending and the beginning. Or the beginning and the ending. Or both! Have two middles, why don’t you? (Also, please note that this item is in the middle of the three Happy New Month items I offer this month!)

What do you like? Beginnings? Middles? Endings? They can all be exciting. I’m in the middle, approaching the end right now, of a book called “Piranesi.” It came highly recommended by many respected friends, and they were correct. I’m super enjoying it, with my enjoyment right now existing in that liminal space I mentioned earlier, grateful for the experience thus far AND excited to learn what will happen, what is going on.

Are you starting something new? Are you in the middle of something you’re feeling good about? Are you almost done with anything? What a delight I hope you’re having at whatever stage of any/all of those.

Happy ending/middling/beginning, folks!

3) LABBADABBADOO! (DO YOU THINK FRED FLINTSTONE SAID THAT ON LABOR DAY?)

Haiku’s perfect for
Labor Day because it takes
Not a lot of work.

It’s Labor Day.

I just read a piece in Michael Ian Black’s newsletter about Labor Day, and I liked it so much that I’m telling you about it here.

Here’s one passage from it:

"The day requires no special activities other than not going to work. People camp and picnic and shop and grill on Labor Day. They get ready for back to school. They sleep late and eat brunch. No wreaths need be laid at gravesites, no solemnity required unless one wishes to spend a few moments reflecting on, say, children mangled in threshing machines. Since I do not, I am content to do little to nothing on this day."

In the spirit of Michael’s contentment content, I am similarly content!
In fact, have I done too much already?
Just a little more…

I am grateful for the work that I love doing.
I am grateful for the time I have off in between the work I love doing.
I am grateful for the things I don’t love because they help me appreciate the things I DO love.

I hope that you get to rest and work in ratios as optimal as possible.
I hope that you get to experience peace this day, this month, this moment.
I hope that you get to work on meaningful projects.
I hope that you get to do what you love and love what you do as much as possible.

And I appreciate that you have taken some of this precious time of your day, of your month, of your life, and spent it here with me.

Thank you.
Much love to you and yours and all.
Good September to you!

1) WHAT IS AUGUST ALL ABOUT?

What does August mean?
Not like, what does the word mean.
Like, symbolically.

Every other month has at least one big holiday.

January has New Year's Day.
And MLK Day.

February has Valentine's Day.
And it’s also Black History Month.

March has St. Patrick's Day.

April has Something Fool's Day.
And my dad’s birthday.

May has Mother's Day.
And my girlfriend’s birthday.

June has Juneteenth.
And my mom’s birthday.
And Father's Day.
Big month, June!

July has the 4th of Something.

August has ???????????????

September has Labor Day.

October has Halloween.
And my birthday.

November has Thanksgiving.

And December has Kwanzaa of course.

August is the only one without a major holiday that I knew about growing up.
I always thought that was weird.
And weird is cool!

Now I see August as A HOLIDAY FROM HOLIDAYS.
On a calendar where nearly every month is special for some reason, it is the "non-special" month that ends up being the MOST special!

It's like the Lowest Uninteresting Number Paradox.
Or as Wikipedia calls it, the Interesting Number Paradox.
(So which is it, Interesting or Uninteresting? We’re paradoxing already!)

This un-special month is special because it's the only un-special month!
I just created a new paradox!
The Un-Special Month Paradox!

Happy “Un-Special” Month, everyone!

Also, everything is special.
Have I shared my Everything And Everyone Is Special theory here before?
Let me know if you’d like and I’ll do it again or for the first time.

For now, I’ll celebrate this Holiday From Holiday Months Month, and take a break from saying more about it right now!

2) OK THERE ARE SOME HOLIDAYS IN AUGUST

Veep Day. Cheap Flight Day.
National Potato Day
Rawgust. Slinky Day.

Maybe I spoke too soon.

August is full of holidays. Check this weird website if you want to!

Here’s what they say about “Rawgust”:

”Rawgust, celebrated during the month of August, is an annual celebration of eating everything in its purest state. The title is a combined form of the words ‘Raw’ and ‘August’ to form ‘Rawgust.’”

Now, that just sounds made up.
Like every holiday.
And I love it.

They’ve also got International Clown Week, World Scout Scarf Day, Hair Loss Awareness Month, and National Breastfeeding Month. (Though I feel like breastfeeding is something that should be celebrated all year round, AND I know a lot of people losing their hair who don't want anyone to be aware of it!)

The point is, why not celebrate as much as you want to?
Make up your own holidays if you wish! No one’s stopping you!
If there’s nothing to celebrate, you can celebrate Nothing To Celebrate Day!

(I’m creating paradoxes left and right. Happy Paradox Day!
And also of course on the same day, Happy Non-Paradox Day!)

And bonus, if you make up a new holiday, you get to name it!
Naming things is fun!
Happy Naming Things Day!

For the last several years, I’ve been keeping a journal of my daily activities.
And after I’ve lived each day, I name that day with holiday name.
Yesterday was (among other things) Saw “Marc Maron’s New Special Day.”
The day I flew to Dallas a few weeks ago I called “Flew to Dallas Day.”
One time I had a good interaction with a Fedex driver so I named that day “Santana the Fedex Man Day.”

It’s that easy!
You can do it too, if you want to!
Celebrate nothing AND/OR celebrate anything!

What holiday is today to you?
Or this week? Or this month? Or this year?
Or ever?

3) ONE FINAL SPECIAL THING ABOUT AUGUST

I have a good friend
Whose birthday is in August.
Happy birthmonth, Liz!

If you don’t want to create your own holidays, but you do want to celebrate SOMETHING, what about celebrating a person you know?

Like my friend Liz whose birthday is August 7 this year and most years.

I know a lot of people have differing feelings about their own birthdays.
Some people don’t like to make a big deal.
Others do like to make a big deal.
Still others like to make many big deals.

But what about for people who AREN’T you?

A cool thing I just realized… while we each only get one birthday per year (even fewer if you were born on Leap Day), if we celebrate the birthdays of others (friends, family, other loved ones, celebrities, fictional characters, concepts, whatever!), then we get way more celebrations than one per year! And while celebrating one’s OWN “birthmonth” could be seen as a bit excessive, to celebrate someone ELSE for the entire month of their birth seems much more generous!

So, August is full of nothing AND everything!
No holidays if you want no holidays.
Infinite opportunity for celebration if you want to celebrate infinitely!

Happy Liz’s Birthmonth to Liz and to everyone whose birthday is this month!
And a belated and/or early happy birthmonth to everyone whose birthday isn’t!
The point is, happy August to you.

I wish you and yours and all happiness and peace and everything you want and need and deserve OR BETTER!

Thank you for being here. (In August. In the universe. Where you are. Everywhere.)
Love
Myq

This past month, Rini (my girlfriend) and I went to visit her mom in Missouri. Her mom also has 5 children between the ages of 11 and 18, and we love visiting them and hanging out and getting to see them continue to turn into people! I mean, they're people already! AND they keep doing it!

The 11-year-old just finished 5th grade and we saw her official graduation ceremony, because next year she starts middle school at a new place. We asked her how she felt and she said "a little sad."

We learned that at least one of her friends won't be going to the same middle school, and there are some teachers that she'll really miss as well, but my favorite moment was when we asked "what do you think you'll miss the most about 5th grade?" and she said "Recess."

2) SUMMER CAMP!

summer camp is fun
unless you think otherwise
which is also fine

When I was in high school, I looked forward to summer so much. Summer, the recess of the entire year. I went to a summer camp that was so magical, a place where I felt I completely belonged, an environment full of artsy, compassionate weirdos who welcomed me and encouraged me to be myself and to love myself exactly as I was. (Note: this is an ongoing process.)

Part of why I loved the camp so much is because socializing at school was difficult for me. Camp was a wonderful colorful Oz, compared to the school year's black and white slog. My family had just moved, so I was no longer surrounded by the community of friends I grew up with. I had to learn how to meet new people! And this was just as adolescence was beginning, so I had to learn how to meet my ever-shifting new self as well. (Note: this is an ongoing process.)

Eventually, the summer camp magic started to seep into my school year life. By the end of high school, I was more comfortable than I'd been at the start. When I went to college, I was able to experience the whole school year in that summer camp-like vibe. Even MORE eventually, when I started doing stand-up comedy, in some ways my entire life is like summer camp now. (Note: this is an ongoing process.)

Even though I'm not in school anymore, even though I'm super grateful that I get to be creative for a living all year round, I still love the feeling when June begins, this kind of "school's out for summer" energy.

3) SUMMER FOREVER?

summer forever?
no, the other seasons exist, too.
and that’s also good.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, much of the world seemed like it hit pause. Recess, but with less going outside. Summer vacation, but with no specific end in sight. As a comedian who loves what he does, I got concerned about the lack of capacity to continue to do what I do the way I was accustomed to doing it. (Alongside the concern for the health and safety of everyone in the world.)

So I started filling my schedule with online shows, podcast tapings, streaming events, all manner of remote comedy work experiences. In some ways, I ended up busier than I had been pre-pandemic. Part of it was that I was releasing a new album that I was super proud of, and had been planning on touring to support the release of, and doing a bunch of press to spread the word about it. So I did all that from home. It was fun. Work, but fun. Or it was work. Fun, but work.

One day, some weeks or months into the lockdown (I honestly don't remember), I found myself with nothing scheduled. I believe it was a Thursday. I had been going going going and now there was this space. This time. And it felt peaceful and relaxing in a way that I hadn't expected. Because my work is both a source of income AND joy. Who needs rest? Turns out, me!

So I had the thought that maybe I should have a completely unscheduled day perhaps once a week, just one day a week where I didn't plan to do any work. I thought about telling the world about this discovery (as I am now), until I realized that I had just reinvented the concept of The Sabbath. God's recess. Summer vacation for the end of the work week.

They say that jazz is all about the notes that you DON'T play. And the first time I heard that, I didn't understand it. And I don't know if this is the full meaning intended by that expression, but depending on what instrument you're playing, sometimes in between playing notes YOU HAVE TO BREATHE. Life isn't all about the work that we do, even if we love the work that we do. We have to breathe.

So I'm grateful for summer. For the concept of summer, at least. Of recess. Of a sabbath.

Maybe you don't have summer vacation at your job. Maybe you love your work so much that none of this applies. But I hope that if you want, if you need, you get the opportunity to take time to breathe. In between the notes. One day a week. A mini meditation vacation. From time to time. Now. Or now. Or later. Now?

Thank you for receiving this. You are a breath of fresh air. Thank you for being.

Much love to you and yours and all. Happy June!

A) “MAY” IS SHORT FOR “MA(N)Y CELEBRATIONS!”

happy everything
to everyone reading this
and everyone else

My girlfriend's birthday is next week.
My dad's birthday was last week.
My mom's birthday is next month.
Mother's Day is this month.
Father's Day is next month.
My 9-year anniversary with my girlfriend is next month.
So May is a big celebratory time in my life, on average!
Happy everything to everyone!

Other holidays this month (that you can find by googling “May holidays”) include BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO:

Frequent Flyer Day
International Doodle Dog Day
International Sunflower Guerilla Gardening Day
National Chocolate Parfait Day
Save The Rhino Day
Lettuce Month
National Vinegar Month
Be Kind to Animals Month

PS Please be kind to animals EVERY month.
And also save rhinos EVERY day.
Feel free to fly infrequently for the rest of the year though.

B) FREE COMIC BOOK MAY!

more celebration!
what a blessed holiday,
free comic book day!

The first Saturday in May is a sacred holiday to me: Free Comic Book Day.
I have loved comic books for my entire life, as long as I can remember.
AND I love getting things for free.

So, this Saturday combines two things that I love: reading and freedom!
(f-READ-om? No, probably not. Freedom and weep? Maybe.)

Did you know about Free Comic Book Day?
Did you know that you can go to pretty much any comic book store this Saturday and walk out with a few free comic books?

And if you're like, "but I'm a grownup, I don't read comic books," did you know that there are comic books for grownups?

Scott McCloud wrote a graphic novel (AKA a fancy comic book) called "Understanding Comics" where he shared a loving analysis and history of the form, and one thing he illuminated is this (paraphrased):

People consider paintings (which are pictures) high art and people consider literature (which is words) and consider it high art, and comic books are just pictures (high art) plus words (high art), so why is it that if we combine pictures (high art) and words (high art) together on the same page, a lot of people think that it's not high art, that it's for children? It should be DOUBLE HIGH ART!

Have you heard of Maus, the Pulitzer-winning comic book about the Holocaust?
Alison Bechdel's autobio comic Fun Home which became a beautiful musical?
What about Spider-Man? He's cool for grownups, too.

So you know, I don't get a commission on any of the free books they give away.
I just love the art form and I love when people love art also.

So, if your interest is piqued, go check it out!
Support a local store!
Ask them what a good place to start is and most comic book store workers will be happy to help you!

Do you already read comic books?
Do you have any favorites?

PS Also, the day after Free Comic Book Day is Star Wars Day, where I believe if you go to any galaxy far far away, they will give you one free Star War.

C) HOME AND AWAY! A-MAY WE GO!

home, where the heart is.
my heart travels with me, though.
i am always home.

May this year involves a ton of travel for me.

Rini (my gf) and I will visit her family in Missouri for her birthday and Mother's Day. We’ll stay for a bit and I’ll do some shows there and then we’ll travel up to Minnesota where I'll do some more shows and we'll stay with some more family.

It's a really nice thing that I'm very grateful we get to do, a combination of travel AND being at home with family, a combination of the joy of getting to do my comedy work and the joy of getting to rest and visit with loved ones, a fortunate and beautiful confluence of vacation and work, of the personal and the professional, the in and the out, the here and the there. The everywhere.

I sometimes think about the fact that I love traveling and I love returning home in a way that’s similar to how I love breathing in and breathing out. Which is my favorite? I can't choose. The in-breath and the out-breath are both so dear to me.

I hope you are comfortable where you are, whatever you are doing this month.

Thank you for receiving this, and offering what you may. How are you?

May the May be with you.

Much love!

I think it’s wise to recognize the visibility of transgender people all the time.
I’m glad that Transgender Day of Visibility exists because transgender people exist AND I believe that trans people should be as visible as they want to be every day.
No fooling.

PS Here are a few ways to help the transgender community:
The Rainbow Railroad
Trans Lifeline

2) ON THE SUBJECT OF PRANKS:
(do you love pranks? feel otherwise about pranks? get ready to learn how i feel!)

Big day for pranks today!
What is a prank? A trick? A lie? A deception?
Sincerely, MOST pranks aren’t my favorite.

One time, my girlfriend Rini (who shares my views on pranks) and I were at a party and we were talking to three young men. The subject of pranks came up.

Their take on pranks was basically "WE LOVE PRANKS, PRANKS ARE SO MUCH FUN," which makes it seem to me that they may have only been thinking about pranks from the DOING side, not the HAVING THEM DONE TO YOU side.

In the conversation that followed, Rini asked thoughtful questions about their perspectives on the topic and the potential consideration of other viewpoints, encouraging meaningful, gentle self-analysis for all involved.

Afterwards, two of the men remained prank-lovers, but the third said something like, "You know, if I came home after a long day at work, and my wife threw a water balloon at me, I think I might not like that, actually."

And it felt like progress, a real victory of sorts.
True story.
No fooling.

3) FINALLY, A FUN STORY I HEARD RECENTLY:
(do you like fun? i’ll tell you right now that i do!)

I heard a fun story the other day.
It involves two men named Robert Reich.
One is a spiritualist. The other is an economist.
Before I heard this story, I had only heard of Robert Reich the economist.
Now, I am excited to have learned about Robert Reich the spiritualist.

The story is that apparently, a church called up Robert Reich the spiritualist.
Thinking they were calling up Robert Reich the economist, they asked for advice on investing their money and Robert Reich the spiritualist answered something like this: “Have you considered giving all your money to the poor?”

The church supposedly responded, “Is this the real Robert Reich?”

And the spiritualist Robert Reich said back, “Is this the real church?”

Wisdom! No fooling.
(Or maybe wisdom with a LITTLE fooling.
Sometimes wisdom comes in the guise of fooling.
I’m down with that kind of fooling.)

PS My understanding is that Robert Reich the economist would be on board with the advice of Robert Reich the spiritualist. Maybe we ARE all one. (Or maybe all Robert Reichs are one, at least.)

Thank you for receiving!
Much love to you and yours and all!
Happy new month!

"Dear Dave,
We’re both comedians. I guess that makes me a member of your tribe. I’m sure you’ve never heard of me, though, and I can think of at least three reasons for that: I’m Black; I’m a woman; I’m transgender…"

I recommend reading the whole thing. If you want to!

Another woman I joyfully follow online is Charlotte Clymer. She's a writer and an activist and her Substack is here. (It's called "Charlotte's Web Thoughts" which is a very fun thing to call your internet newsletter if your name is Charlotte, which hers is.) From the About section of her page:

"I’m a Christian and military veteran who’s proud to be from Texas. I’m also a progressive trans woman who now lives on the East Coast. These are both part of me, and I completely reject this era in our culture in which everyone is, more or less, forced to choose one of two boxes.

I don’t deserve to be in one of two boxes. Nor do you. No one does.

So, I write about that in the context of politics, pop culture, religion, LGBTQ rights, and anything else that pisses me off or makes me laugh or inspires me on any given day."

I'd also like to celebrate a few women who aren't transgender, because cisgender women are women also, and it's important to be inclusive.

Here are a few women (OF MANY) who I'm so grateful to know and have in my life and on my podcast but this is more about life so why did I even say the podcast part, as a joke? OK but seriously, folks:

I love and thank my mother for birthing me and raising me and loving me.
I love and thank my grandmothers for making my parents, and for loving me.
I love and thank my partner Rini for helping me continue to grow and learn and love and share and peace and calm and joke and fun and balance and sincere and sentence and sense and nonsense and magic and science and every and thing and universe and more.

There are so many more women and other folks in my life who I could highlight and celebrate here, but it would take me more than a month to be as thorough as possible, and that would cut into my getting NEXT month’s newsletter ready.

So in the meantime, who are some women (or non-women that YOU like to celebrate)? Feel free to comment or email! I’d love to hear from you!

Also, I’d like to shout out that I love my dad as well, even though this month isn’t officially for celebrating him (I’m a rebel), unless we get him (grand)fathered in under the auspices of National Mirth Month or Universal Human Beings Week. Since my dad is a human being who is often a provider of and fan of mirth, I think celebrating him fits here as well. Love you, Dad!

2) HAPPY MONTH THAT CONTAINS A LOT OF OTHER HOLIDAYS THAT I HADN’T HEARD OF UNTIL I RESEARCHED THEM FOR THIS MESSAGE:

eat your noodles day
peanut butter lovers’s day
national sauce month

This month has a lot of holidays that I've never heard of! So many! In addition to National Mirth Month and the three examples I included in my haiku above, I found these:

National Horse Protection Day
National Caffeine Awareness Month

(Get a twofer and protect your horse from too much caffeine!)

National Flour Month
National Noodle Month
National Peanut Month
National Frozen Food Day
National Pound Cake Day
National Blueberry Popover Day
National Ranch Dressing Day
National Spinach Day

Lots of food celebration going on!
One question I have: who decides what food gets to have a whole month and what only gets a day? Big Noodle has deep pockets I guess? Like ravioli?

Also, National Blueberry Popover Day and National Ranch Dressing Day are the same day, so be careful out there.

National Multiple Personality Day

(It’s officially referred to as Dissociative Identity Disorder, and I understand it can be very serious and often goes undiagnosed, so this day can do an important service in helping folks be more aware about all of that, AND I think it’s a LITTLE bit funny that the day is called one thing but the official name is another.)

Manatee Appreciation Day
National Goof Off Day

To be honest, I appreciate manatees MOST days, and I encourage you to not worry if you forget about National Goof Off Day. That’s probably the best way to celebrate it, in fact.

International Listening Awareness Month

I think this one is valuable!
Listening is important!
AND I think it’s funny that at the bottom of the International Listening Awareness Month page, it has a “You Might Also Like…” section, with some other holidays you might also enjoy if you like International Listening Awareness Month, and one of them was… Hammock Day. (Perhaps you might enjoy listening even more if you’re listening from a hammock?)

If you want to find new holidays to celebrate, here’s the site where I found all these!

3) HAPPY MONTH THAT SPRING BEINGS!:

saratoga SPRINGs
is where i’m writing this from…
quelle coincidence!

The spring might be one of my favorite seasons.
It might be.
One of them.

The point is, I love spring!
It’s all about rebirth and new growth and limitless possibilities.
It’s about the earth and flowers and blooming and greenery.
It’s about springing around like Tigger.

Spring represents newness, in a way that is fairly similar to the spirit of this very Happy New Month newsletter THAT YOU ARE READING RIGHT NOW!

Every month is a new beginning.
Every moment is a new beginning.
Every everything is a potential new something, a mini-spring opportunity.

And also this month, actual spring begins.
The earth and the weather will agree, hopefully.
Depending where you are in the world, I suppose.
(I’m fairly northern hemisphere-centric.)

So, I hope wherever you are, you are able to celebrate something, the newness of the month, the newness of the coming season, the newness of the day.

I hope you experience mirth.
I hope you protect horses.
I hope you are aware of caffeine.
I hope you enjoy noodles.
(It’s National Noodle Month AND March 11 is National Eat Your Noodles Day.)
I hope you listen.
I hope you appreciate manatees.

I hope you have a meaningful March.
Happy new month and thank you for being here.
Much love to you and yours and all.

1) FEBRUARY INCLUDES:

well-known holidays:
Valentine’s and Groundhog Day!
Black History Month!

i hope you celebrate these all the time.
(feel free to use that haiku as a reminder!)

Black History ought not be contained to a single month.
let us always be learning and sharing and amplifying and celebrating!
for example, here are some brilliant folks i follow on Substack and recommend experiencing the work of during ALL months:
Baratunde Thurston
Roxane Gay
W. Kamau Bell

Valentine’s Day is a good reminder to please love your beloved loved ones always, not just one day a year! every day is a good day to express love!

and every day is… a good day to care about groundhogs?
(i have painted myself into a corner with this logic!)

2) FEBRUARY ALSO INCLUDES:

less-known holidays
such as Change Your Password Day,
Spunky Old Broads Day,

Car Insurance Day,
Dump Your Significant Jerk
Day, and Sled Dog Day,

Dark Chocolate Day,
also Take Your Child To
The Library Day,

Self-Renewal Day,
National Tater Tot and
Ukulele Days!

and those haikus only cover holidays from THE FIRST TWO DAYS OF FEBRUARY!

people are finding a LOT to celebrate.

not* to mention National Get-Up Day (which “offers an opportunity to share inspiring stories of perseverance. The day reminds us to pick ourselves up when we've fallen and giving it [whatever it may be] another go!”), Serpent Day (where you can learn snake trivia like the fact that only 1/8 of the known species of snakes are venomous! also bonus, the Chinese YEAR of the snake just started!), and (maybe my favorite) The Record of a Sneeze Day (“celebrated on February 2 yearly... Its genesis can be traced to January 9, 1894, when the first motion picture was recognized as a copyrightable work of art. This motion picture was the Edison kinetoscopic record of a sneeze”).

* i mean YES to mention
(weird that “not to mention” always means “yes to mention”)

also kind of weird that The Record of a Sneeze Day is in february but the actual recording of that sneeze happened in january. i don’t make the rules though! also, here’s one more horrifying sneeze fact: “The Guinness Book of World Records lists a sneezing fit lasting 976 days. Donna Griffiths set a new record for the lengthiest period of sneezing. During the first 365 days, she had sneezed an estimated one million times.”

and THAT’S nothing to sneeze at?

the point is, we all have a LOT to celebrate!

3) FEBRUARY IS ALSO THE FIRST MONTH THAT ISN’T JANUARY!

can you believe it?
january’s come and gone…
february time!

how are everyone’s new year’s resolutions going?
as you may recall, my new year’s imperatives included:

WALK OUTSIDE
TELL THE TRUTH
DO THINGS RIGHT AWAY
MAKE MUSIC
WATCH COMEDY
BE ONLINE LESS

i think i’ve been doing pretty well!
it also just occurred to me that the more resolutions/imperatives we make for ourselves, the likelier we are to achieve some of them. make only one and it’s 50-50, you will or you won’t! make six? you’ve got a much larger chance of sticking to at least ONE of them! does that math work? i don’t know, but to tell the truth i’m going to finish this up so i can be online less, go walk outside and make some music right away!

how about you and yours?

PS BONUS GOOD NEWS ABOUT FEBRUARY:

it’s the shortest month AND the last full month of winter in the northern hemisphere, which means it’s BASICALLY spring! enjoy spring in your heart everyone, while also of course celebrating Black History and infinite love and eternal sneezes!

thank you for receiving and being here!
how are YOU doing? what are you celebrating?
much love to you and yours and all!