There are other good things, too!

Here is an amazing story!

Last weekend when I was camping, Anthia and I were talking about phones and how long we keep them and how that gets difficult after a long time because of space issues etc. (We can't update anymore without extreme difficulty.)

Daya and I have iPhone 11s, from 2019.

I got our phones when she started high school!

Now she's in her third year of college.

(We had our previous phones, iPhone 6sPlus, from 5th grade to high school)

So, since middle school, Daya and I have each had 2 phones.

Our current phones are pre-covid!

Many things about this are great- it's more environmentally sustainable and also it's very financially smart. Both devices were paid off years ago, and I'm on a legacy phone plan that I want to keep forever because I will not get the service I have for the current price anymore, anywhere.

Daya and I keep our phones until they become obsolete.

We could not care less about having the latest and greatest.

So Anthia and I were talking about this, and she said she used to do the same thing and then she got tired of the difficulties it caused. I have been very stuck on not wanting to change my phone plan, which I have always had to do when switching phones. She decided it's ok for life to be easier and she said something that hit me in an important way:

There are other good things too.

I needed to hear that. That statement is the opposite of scarcity mindset!

So I knew I would be dealing with the phones sooner rather than later.

And of course, a few days later, Daya told me she busted her screen, badly!

I just laughed internally, because I knew it's time to do something about the phones and now it's really time!

But I didn't want to make any quick decisions; it's time to see options and have a think.

I told Daya to go to Apple and see how much the repair is, but don't do anything.

$200.

Ok, but I also have device protection thru my carrier which will probably cover screen replacement at no charge.  

So Daya and I went to the T Mobile store after class today.

Yes the insurance will cover her phone repair.

But I need to do something about the phones and upgrading.

Turns out that they won't force me to change my legacy plan!

The nice T-Mobile person said in my place he would just go to Apple, get the phones we want, and they'll take care of everything at the Apple store.

I can get us new phones and stay on my plan!  WHOA! That's... EXACTLY what I wanted!

*********

Daya gets a ridiculous amount of money to attend Juilliard.

She has this astounding superpower of getting people to give her money or waive payment obligations.  I don't know how she does it.

We got a grant for Juilliard this year which neither of us knew about before, and the end result is it made my outstanding balance..... in the context of college... almost nothing.

I tried to pay the Juilliard bill the first half of December but I didn't know the right balance.

Then Daya wrote her dumb note and I just left that Juilliard bill alone.

Then when Daya came back from South Africa, right at the start of the semester, there was a medical event (she's ok) and Daya was overnight in the hospital. 

Then we were talking again and I gave her a check.

But Juilliard wouldn't take it.

Juilliard scrounged up yet more scholarship money for her and just.... covered her outstanding balance.

But there was a medical bill which was a few hundred more than the tuition payment.

Daya asked- since that money was already out the door- if she could use it to pay the medical bill.

I said yes. (See note above about giving her money, it's like being in a tractor beam)

************

THEN TODAY as we were going to T-Mobile she said the hospital financial aid covered the whole bill and she never touched that tuition money.

!!!!

So we went to Apple and we both got iPhone 17 Pros, which we will keep until they are obsolete.

I purchased both devices outright. It came out to $200 more than the tuition payment, so I told Daya to send me the $200 and we'll call it done. (I think she should kick in a little for her phone- she's an adult and working. And $200 for what she got is nothing!)

So I kept my current phone plan- my monthly bill stays the same! 

We got 2 nice new iPhones purchased outright with money that was already out the door but kept coming back, which leaves me in an overall financial sense having paid nothing for 2 brand new phones which are a very needed and sustainable Life Upgrade for many years.

It's really quite amazing how everything worked out!

Goodbye iPhone 11, thank you for all those years of excellent service!

First Plein Air of 2026!

I'm not actually sure if I got my painting mojo back or not... I felt very rusty doing this painting but it was very good to be out.

8x10 oil

Snowy pictures at Brooklyn Botanic!

It's now $22 admission to go in off-season on weekends.

BBG used to be free from Oct-March.

I don't worry about it though, because I always get in free thru Pratt Alumni.

It's the only alumni perk I use, and it's a good one.

This year I will have been going fairly regularly to BBG for 31 years.

I love it there.

Deep Winter Hibernating

I have been hibernating.

All of January and so far all of February.

This hibernation period will likely last at least through the end of this month, maybe a little bit into March.

It is deep winter right now.

Time to settle, rest, shift, recalibrate, regenerate.

I am shifting and regenerating.

Overall, I feel amazing inside and out, and I am thoroughly enjoying this short hibernation phase.

It's a very special time and I will look back at it fondly with appreciation.

It makes sense to come into hibernation after last year.

Last year was very intense, and a rest and recalibration is good.

I have been doing very deep inner work, every day.

I feel like I am exactly where I need to be, doing exactly what I need to be doing, preparing internally to go wherever I am supposed to go. 

I feel so good. 

And that's very intentional, it's not an unknown random thing.

I need to do this inner work, and while I am doing all the things I need to do like work, the hotline, maintaining my apartment, and also keeping in touch with friends, I feel like I'm in a nice safe bubble of time and space that is exactly what I need to germinate new seeds.

It's a little weird because I am mostly home alone all the time, sometimes for days without going out, yet I don't feel isolated or lonely. This time is so calm and peaceful and I'm finding things deep in my psyche that are saying it's time to shift to new growth. 

This deep winter hibernation is wonderful.

It's like a long ongoing meditation.

And when it ends, whenever that is, I will be ready for it to end.

***********

Daya and I are fine, right back to how things are supposed to be.

If she ever writes another stupid no contact note, I'm going to have trouble taking it seriously.

We are not even a month into the Juilliard semester and she has needed stuff from home, food, and yesterday her phone screen broke so I'm helping her with that too.

Being a parent is REALLY WEIRD, even when your kid is an adult.

***********

As of today, I haven't painted for almost 2 weeks.

That's a long time for me.

I think the painting part of me also needs to hibernate and rest.

Between weather and schedule, plein air painting has not been possible yet this year.

That's why going to class is good, it keeps me painting even if I'm not painting at home or outdoors.

I do have a commission that's been hanging over me but it's not coming out right. 

Dru helped, said it's not that bad, and I haven't touched it since.  

It should be an easy painting but I also can't really paint right now.

Even in class the painting I'm working on is currently a bit of a slog... but it doesn't matter. 

There is no time limit on it, no deadline.

I would like to get that commission done and shipped, but I also want it to be good, and I can't paint right now so it has to wait.

Last year I did 59 plein air paintings... plus whatever studio work. 

FIFTY NINE!

That's a LOT. 

My internal painting systems have shut down for internal maintenance.

This does happen, it's ok.

The weather is now paintable weather, and I'm planning to get out tomorrow and start 2026 plein airing.

This will hopefully get my painting engines starting up again.

And if they don't, that's also ok because I am still hibernating after all.

The last plein air I did was Dec 27.

So this is a month and a half plein air break- it might be enough.

I'll find out tomorrow if I have my flow back or not.

**********

Here are some hibernating cat pictures.

2 out of 3 cats are mostly hibernating too.

Guess who isn't hibernating but I wish she would?

Pebbles.

Of course it's Pebbles.

Tuna Wars

Daya is having a fight with the Juilliard cafeteria.

Over tuna fish and the container she puts it in.

It's a meal plan thing... they are charging her for having 2 meals instead of one.

This isn't good because Daya is going to run out of meals if she's being charged double every day.

She also has a points balance as part of the meal plan, because not everything in the cafeteria counts towards the meal plan. I don't fully understand it, my college meal plan was different- it covered everything, even non-food items in the Pratt convenience store. Like prismacolor markers.

Yes I got a set of them from my meal plan Freshman year and using the full meal plan was actually pretty difficult.

Not today at Juilliard....

I was in the office today and got this text, again:

I got tired of the whole thing.

It's stupid and petty and ridiculous.

And also that is NOT $8 worth of tuna and that's what I have zero tolerance for.

A double-size can at Costco comes out to $1.45/can, double the size of a standard grocery store can.

Yes the cafeteria is being stupid but they do have the authority to make stupid rules and also enforce them. Fighting is a losing situation and it's escalating.

So Daya is in conflict and also hungry, and that's not good so I went to Costco and spent $105 on six cases of tuna fish.

I wanted to know if she needed anything else.....

Yeah, the pantry doesn't magically restock, I thought this was funny.

So I got my camping backpack out and loaded it up with 72 cans of tuna and a few other things.

The trekking pole helps with the stairs in the subway.

Camping gear repurposed!

Inside the Juilliard dorm.....

The dorm floors are small and no one locks their doors.

I have been told it's the same key for every door anyhow, which I think is super weird but that's how Juilliard rolls. No one locks their dorm room.

I was not allowed to take pictures of Daya's room, but I asked if I could take a picture of the view and she said yes.

She also has some good signage:

Coming down the escalator from the dorm, we get a direct view of LaGuardia High School.

Subzero Camping Amazement

This weekend was surely the most ridiculous weekend to go camping!

We are in the middle of an extreme arctic cold front.......... zero out of five nutty boathouse people worried about the weather.

The thing about camping like this (and in general) is you have to go with people who can adapt and are chill and relaxed, and who will have a good time no matter what.

And we did.

Shoes in the shower....

This was the only use of the shower all weekend!

Cabin View....

Walking across the street to the lodge.

It felt like 5 miles, even though it's only about a 5 minute walk.

We did try to get the fire going.

It was not workable due to the 44mph wind.......

Jackie made a snow angel.

Charcoal chimney for friday night dinner.

Saturday breakfast.

We do take our camping food very seriously.

Around 3:30pm on Saturday, we lost power. So we went to the lodge, because that building has a generator.

We had no heat and we couldn't cook in the cabin.

In this cold, that was a bit of a problem.

I want an industrial gas range.  SO badly.

(I am wearing three layers of clothing indoors!!)

We played card games, scrabble, and clue.

Celsius Temps!

Me and Aimee :)

We still wanted to sleep in the cabin, so the lodge camp person gave us a very dangerous open-flame propane heater.

Jackie and I went back first to set it up and then sleep.

My sleeping bag is rated to 10 degrees, I knew I would be warm enough sleeping in the cabin and I was.

View from my top bunk.

The power came back on around 10:30am, and we left at 11am!

Packed car:

Our attempt at a group photo..........

This was a fun trip, and a good story to tell.

We were all very dedicated to having a great time, and we did!

We are coming back April 10, and it should definitely be warm enough to sleep outside!

I have so much appreciation for the wonderful people in my life who are just as nutty as I am and who also like being in the woods.