I started a substack, so let’s talk about why. I have had the same problem since I was 5 years old: being lost in my daydreams. I spend a lot of my time imagining myself in different scenarios and doing an abundance of things, but the common denominator is that I am always happy. I have always had a knack for different things, and I find myself unable to commit to just one. Of course, in kindergarten, it was an inability to choose a favorite color and now it’s difficult deciding on a career path. Regardless, this means I’ve picked up an assortment of different skills and various interests. I guess I’m some sort of “jack of all trades.”
I’ve often felt burdened by this idea, wondering what my next step will be. Even my parents told me, “Pick something! You can’t have it all.” Well, I think that's wrong—you can have it all. I have been reading up on this a bit and found this cool article from Medium (blech) that sums it up pretty well. Read it if you want, but the TLDR is that the phrases “jack of all trades” and “master of none” are often found together. That is no compliment. We’re expected to specialize, to find some niche that will motivate the rest of our lives. While that’s all fun, I don’t think it’s for me. With so much to learn and explore, limiting myself to a single path, activity, or idea will not be my approach.
So here it is, The Jack: an outlet for exploring new things and logging what I have already done, tried, and perfected. On top of everything else I do, I want this to become an inviting space where I can interact with ideas I learn from my friends and readers, and eventually, it will become a fun space where my readers can learn something new or gain inspiration in some form.
Each week I will write about something new I tried and/or something old I revisited. Of course, not everything will be a success, but any attempt is a part of the journey. Let’s see if I can finally hack cooking or if I will ever make my way to the glass-blowing studio! I will try to have a theme each week, but it's The Jack, so no promises.
This week I didn’t follow any specific themes, but I did try a bunch of different things, so why don’t I just drop them here really quick:
The Box:
Everything in the box will be a fun surprise (get it, jack in the box) from the week. It’s a little bare this week because the one truly new thing I tried is starting a substack! You can get hints from the title on what will be in the box, but it won't always be straightforward.
Clay and The Bachelorette:
Reality TV has never really been my thing, but The Bachelorette has me hooked. I have spent any spare moment I’ve had in the past week watching Season 18 with my buddy Anita. Who will Michelle pick! The idea behind the show is interesting for sure, 30 men join the show to find love. They spend time with the star of the show, trying to get to know her and
convince her that they are the love of her life. It's hard to predict who will make it out in the end, but you get subtle hints from the amount of screen time each person gets. All I have to say is as the show went on, I was less convinced that any of them were actually in love with her, and just telling her what she wanted to hear (typical). While we watched we played with the air dry clay we bought and here are a few of our creations:
A lot of our creations have already started falling apart, so don’t be fooled, air dry clay is a lot harder to work with than you would think.
Back to the old:
As we all know, Valentine's Day has passed, and while it’s a sad day for most I had a great time. My friends Arden (who is also on substack check it out ;)) and Dean threw a Valentine’s Day exchange event which is out of the ordinary. Personally, I haven't done an exchange like that since I was maybe 10, but it was fun nonetheless. Two hours before I rushed to make 30+ valentines, and to my surprise, everyone else did too! I left with so much candy and a warm heart, I love my friends!
Here was my contribution, I wonder if anyone benefited:
Tapping into talent:
Lastly, my favorite event of the week was Karaoke at Rudy’s…talk about a fun time. Rudy’s is New Haven’s best-kept secret (not so much anymore). It is a bar where people usually go to drink, but on Saturday nights it is the biggest event of the weekend. My friends and I crept to the corner to see people actually doing karaoke, so we had to sign up. I sang "What's Up?" by 4 Non Blondes because I recently decided it's going to be my go-to karaoke song. Now that it was perhaps the best experience of my life, and I plan to go back every weekend, I guess I’ll have to pick a new song…or a few. We were there for hours watching one another have a great time on stage. I always knew we each had a bit of a performative streak (or star quality or smth), but now I know we can really put on a show!
Song of the week:
I have run out of funny little jack puns already, so here is where I will drop my songs of the week. It will be a list of songs, old or new that I felt fit the theme of what I am doing this week. You can find all of the songs here.
Song 1: What up?
Song 2: Starman Bowie (or starwoman? Because that’s how I’m feeling)
Song 3: Look at Me!
Song 4: Freestyle
Anyways, thanks for reading The Jack. I look forward to sharing all of the fun and epic things I am doing. Until next time, Dona out.
What’s Next?:
Give me any suggestions you have for something I should try next!
reallll love this idea; excited to tune in each week :)))) …. this is super on the nose for me… I was just thinking of this topic in relation to the ways in which society is forcing us to be more specialized than ever
Ate