A more upbeat note! This one describes a specific example—one of many, as many such changes were required—of how I worked my way *out* of the web of self-tracking bulls--t that I had, for about eighteen months, allowed to take over my behaviors to an extent that was harmful to me.
the thirteenth note: self-trackers, part three of ⛄
What were the personal transformations that I've been talking about for so long? What did I do, what happened as I shed this stuff?
This happened. Stuff like this. Again, and again.
jamiecarmichael.ghost.io
Yikes, okay — this is a big note. It’s the twelfth note, and it’s I guess kind of a turning point in my recognition of both what the b-n-t was as a project, as writing, *and* of a bunch of…sub-optimal stuff about how I was living.
the twelfth note: self-trackers, part two of â–’
The second of ☼ notes about my use of self-trackers, focusing on a single, illustrative example.
jamiecarmichael.ghost.io
Still slowly getting Seabird up to date! This note, the eleventh, is inward-looking: it's me taking stock of how the b-n-t has transformed as a project as, and because of how, it's transformed *me*.
The eleventh note: this b-n-t's first year, turning toward its second
This note weaves the pair of notes about self-trackers into the main storyline of this b-n-t's first year, previews the imminent resolution of that storyline, and suggests what the b-n-t's second year may be like.
jamiecarmichael.ghost.io
oh, hi there! i have been neck deep in teaching and course development, neck deeper for longer than I--or, to be fair, anyone else I work with--anticipated. i am trying to un-neck-deep myself and get back to the things, such as catching my active Seabird fanbase up on the b-n-t.
So here's the latest, in catching-up terms: the tenth note, which describes the narrative of how I fell into an unhealthy, obsessive-compulsive relationship to self-tracking a few years ago.
the tenth note: self-trackers, part one
This is the first of two notes about my use of self-tracking devices and platforms.
jamiecarmichael.ghost.io
This is a short note -- a deminote, if you will. It is about a pleasant encounter I had at the beach in the summer of 2022.
The ninth note: an inquisitive man at the beach
A pleasant encounter with a man who has questions.
jamiecarmichael.ghost.io
Something for the new year.
The eighteenth note: swimming (winter)
This note offers a piecemeal account of some features of swimming (winter), when my practice of swimming regularly in the Pacific Ocean is drawing to a close.
jamiecarmichael.ghost.io
Continuing to get Seabirders up-to-speed, here is the eighth note of the b-n-t. (And, happy holidays, everyone! 🥳)
In this note, I transcribe a handwritten journal that I kept of a road trip through Texas 20 years ago, annotating that journal with my current reactions—confusion, amusement, and sometimes displeasure—at the way that I observed and expressed the world, then.
The eighth note: Texas, 2004
something worth reading a few times a year
jamiecarmichael.ghost.io
This is the seventh note, offered in ongoing efforts to get the Seabird's flyways up-to-speed. This is a meta note, meaning it's about the process of producing the b-n-t itself; it's about the driving force of change behind the project, which I've labeled "the truth mechanism".
The seventh note: "the truth mechanism"
How—specifically, tangibly—the b-n-t is a transformative practice
jamiecarmichael.ghost.io
This note, originally published at the end of 2021 and reposted here, now, to get Seabirds up to speed, is about a period of eighteen months or so when I slept, on misguided purpose, in a manner that was surely unhealthy for me, tracking the details of how I did so assiduously (which may also, and separately, have been unhealthy for me, although that aspect is not what *this* note's focused on).
The sixth note: sleep and, secondarily, self-tracking sleep
This note is about my sleep habits over the last eighteen months or so. Specifically, it's about how I slept unhealthily, and how I—with help—changed that.
jamiecarmichael.ghost.io
Continuing my efforts to get Seabird readers up to date, here is the fifth note of the b-n-t. In this, I took a break--as I periodically do--from the main project of the project (and that main project's self- transformation) to write about something completely different: an astrology session that I won, decided not to do, then decided to do.
The fifth note: an astrology session
This note is about an astrology session that I won for my costume in a yoga class Halloween fundraiser in October of 2019.
jamiecarmichael.ghost.io
It is TBD whether this will, in fact, be an off-week for the b-n-t. But I want to get Seabird readers up-to-date on backstory, regardless. This note, the next in the backstory--i.e., from long ago--is the one in which the project really begins to re-orientate itself, or know itself, or in which I begin to better know myself through it, or something.
The fourth note: self-tracking caffeine intake, part two of two
Let me tell you a story about some green tea...
jamiecarmichael.ghost.io
Continuing the gradual rollout of foundational content from my b-n-t, only on this most intimate and selective of platforms!, on the off-weeks when new content isn't coming out.
This note is kind of where it--both the project and my understanding of my life--were shaken up and began to be, slowly, transformed. It's ostensibly about my caffeine consumption. (Actually, *this* note *is* mostly about that; I hived off the Big Recognition stuff into the note after this one, semi-successfully.)
The third note: self-tracking caffeine intake, part one of two
This graph shows my daily caffeine intake from Mar through Dec 2020. I have been tracking my daily caffeine intake for years. This note is about this self-tracking behavior.
jamiecarmichael.ghost.io
This note is about various ways in which I know and come-to-know certain types of things.
the seventeenth note: 'apparency', 'discernment', and 'reification'
This note is about various ways in which I know and come-to-know certain types of things.
jamiecarmichael.ghost.io
A debilitating flaw in my writing process as illuminated by the singer-songwriter, Andrew Bird.
The second note: "outs"
A debilitating flaw in my writing process as illuminated by the singer-songwriter, Andrew Bird.
jamiecarmichael.ghost.io
The first note of my b-n-t; it's about lying. (I will, gradually, post these older b-n-t notes here, to get my avid Seabird readership up-to-date.)
The first note: the first lie
I do not remember the first time I lied, but I have a first memory of lying. That's what this first note is about.
jamiecarmichael.ghost.io
This note is—argh—meta. Still and all, I stand by it.
It's about how the b-n-t will flow going forward.
The sixteenth note: themes
Themes are in; "series" are out. Here is why and what you can expect...
jamiecarmichael.ghost.io
This note introduces two new pattern subtypes, reups some old definitions, and begins to explore the b-n-t's new (old) themes.
The fifteenth note: "driving" and "emergent" patterns
This note introduces two new pattern subtypes, reups some old definitions, and begins to explore this b-n-t's new (old) themes.
jamiecarmichael.ghost.io
