Practice Doing Being 🏆

Sharing for accountability and direction:

Build / Create 🎨

  • Oil painting — short piece to paint everyday for 90 days (except for days of longer painting projects. <I am good and can improve, story telling or messaging, moving viewers, competition>

  • Learn watercolors, to see if it teaches me a new skill. Possibly take a class. <As an appreciation of the art form or capable when needed? Portable, simplified>

  • Practice Chinese watercolor techniques to better appreciation in my father’s paintings. May also create works jk based on bonsai examples. <As an appreciation of the art form or capable when needed?>

  • Create simple wood furniture (e.g. record cabinet, chairs) and iterate and improve features with gained skills. <As an appreciation of the art form or capable when needed? Design form & utility>

  • Develop slab built and slab pressed mold bonsai pottery: unglazed, textured, stained, glazed. <As an appreciation of the art form or capable when needed? Unique, unconventional, Del or gift, possible competition>

  • Develop lino-cut skills and learn basic print making skills. Visit the San Francisco Book Archive—possibly take a class. <As an appreciation of the art form or capable when needed? Accessible & affordable to share—reproducible>

Busker & Jam 🎵

  • Practice guitar daily, build skills—take lessons at Guitar Center or San Mateo College.

  • Learn a few songs to jam with, practice with friends, and play out “on the porch” or open garage.

  • Dare to play a few impromptu songs on a less busy street and build confidence to perform personal songs in public. Start with instrumental standards, interpretations, song shapes that do not have lyrics yet.

  • Learn ukulele chords & strumming, finger-picking

  • Learn piano basics and chords

Gardening Is Life 🪴

  • Continue to learn bonsai technique from Adam T.

  • Build from scratch and refine over time

  • Volunteer at Lake Merritt and Jonas’

  • Clean up garden and aggressively parse down what I’m growing

  • Collect & grow orchids

Be Fit, Age Well 💪🏻

  • Run longer & more frequently

  • Join the YMCA or Community College fitness—but in retirement seek community

  • Try a half marathon

  • Strength train twice weekly

  • Stretch every morning

  • Reduce weight to 160 lbs, then 155 lbs

  • 8 hrs of sleep + nap

Celebrate Storytelling

  • Take photos, phone and camera, edit, select, create quality photo books or collages or framed wall art

  • Order in duplicates and gift photo books

  • Submit to contests or local art exhibits

  • Create short films, documentaries, photo essays. <As an appreciation of the art form. Storytelling, community, cause, messaging, moving viewers>

  • Volunteer/apprentice/intern with Roman Mars for podcasting & jounalistic research.

  • Learn Stop Motion film—very short experiments and examples <As an appreciation of the art form, or capable when needed.

Wanderlust 🌎

  • Australia & New Zealand — Sep to Nov or Mar to May

  • Japan — Apr to May (late Mar to early AP cherry blossoms) (May quieter); Oct to Nov (autumn foliage)

  • Korea — Apr to May; Oct to Nov

  • Greece & Croatia — May, June, Sep (warm but less crowded than peak summer)

  • Spain & Portugal — May, Sep to Oct (warm but less crowded than peak summer)

  • Visit friends in DC, family in Toronto

  • Explore Washington & Oregon

Sketch Journaling 📓

  • Be proactive to carry a pocket sketchbook and fill it with patterns seen, sections and not having to be a finished work. B&W and focus on contrast and texture.

  • Watercolor sketching—start with larger colors and composing colors

  • Bleed across pages

  • Life drawing gestures, simplified strokes or gestural sketches

Open Table, Open Hand

  • Hold an open table meal every other week or once a month and proactively invite new folks to come. Comfort food, soups, salads, fresh bread, simple desserts, simple wine out of jelly jars.

  • Build community guitar jam sessions or jamming, sharing gatherings

  • Host creative walkthroughs—encourage a craftsman to show his/her workspace and craft (after a photo exploration and documentary interview first 😜).

  • Host creative making sessions—be it painting or printing or ceramic, etc—common interests or expanding one’s skill sets. Would Art Bias or Redwood Arts Society would have more space or keep sessions smaller and intimate. Casual.

Be The Change We Want to See in the World

  • Volunteer for democracy

  • Volunteer in the arts

  • Volunteer art design at Ralston, Carlmont, Hillbarn

  • Create & share design solutions online

  • Donate blood & platelets often

Solve the Orphaned Problems

  • Don Quijote—dream big

  • Most interests and support goes towards profit motivated potential. Passion may go towards the non-profit problems or services not accessible or affordable to those in need. Explore traditional and novel problem solving approaches (e.g. IDEO or BioDesign) with empathy for those in need—but not down-selecting with profit as essential.

  • Create a manifesto or purpose statement. Post it on my SquareSpace—encourage other likeminded problem-solvers to participate—even if not local.

  • Create an online sharing site that encourages collaboration, sharing ideas, implementation, storytelling, and follow-up.

Michael WeiComment