What Is Long Addition?

In early January, I sat down on a stationary bike for my daily cardio. I’d been dealing with a nasty bout of Runner’s Knee and pedaling became the voluntary poison I picked to maintain my sanity. To my surprise, pedaling nowhere turned out to be quite tranquil. I was never great at meditation but this felt as close as I was going to get to momentary inner-peace. As an added benefit, this small activity each day gave me time to think.

I thought about what I would eat immediately after the workout. January seemed like a natural time to reevaluate and realign so I thought about my plans for the year. I thought about my career growth, or rather, lack thereof. I thought about food again. Ultimately, by the time my tailbone went numb with each stationary ride, my mind drifted back to the same set of questions:

How do I want to spend my time? Where do I see myself in one year? A month? Should I keep growing or stay 6’3”? What does meaningful work and creation mean to me? If I had the opportunity to do anything, what would I do?

FIG 1. SHAVASANA

Over and over, I returned to these questions. Every mile, a new idea. Every kilometer, 62% of an idea. I knew I needed answers for myself if I was ever going to make the progress I wanted to, and over many stationary bike sessions and the months that followed, I found them.

I now have two goals for the rest of my life:

1. Physically be where it's warm and sunny

2. Make things until I'm dead

I haven’t yet learned how to harness and control the weather (bigger kite with bigger key?), so it looks like traveling is the most realistic route in achieving goal number one. Check. And while "making things until I’m dead" may sound a bit nebulous on the surface, it’s as clear as day to me.

I’ve been working on this site. That’s a thing. I’ve been writing a ton. Definitely a thing. I made some music. Those are things. I might direct a claymation film. I probably won’t, but I could and that would be a thing too. Why not include them all in one place?

FIG 2. MAKING THINGS

Long Addition is the home for documenting goal number 2 and to take it a step further, I’ve separated each creation into one of six categories: Audio, Tech, Travel, Health, Visual, and Misc. You may have seen them on the sidebar of the homepage. If you didn’t, my website is broken. Either way, these are the topics that interest me and what I’ll be diving into further on a regular basis.

Long Addition is my ADHD personified. Long Addition is the Bodies Exhibit but with my limbs and clothes and hair still attached. Long Addition is me at the Applebee’s bar leaning over to the guy next to me and saying "Hey, so I’ve been thinking about human skin wings." and then the guy gets up and leaves and I’m not allowed back in any Applebee’s on the Western seaboard. Long Addition is me staring at a painting and saying "Okay, I definitely see it now". Long Addition is my penpal.

Thanks for checking it out. I hope it adds some value for you in the long run.