What I’m Up To Now

Last Updated: 2026-08-17

Personal

2026 so far has been dominated by creativity and musicality. In December 2025, I picked back up creating daily-ish songs and posting them to TikTok/Instagram/YouTube. I had done this a few times during my last period of unemployment and was really inspired by Oliver Richman who has been doing this for almost 1000 days now. What started as an exercise in songwriting and learning to be comfortable posting things online that I’m not entirely proud of has cascaded into a journey of musical inspiration.

I’m sitting at ~115 songs created at this point with no plans to stop.
- I had one song go viral (170k+ views!) but most people were hate watching.
I’m more well-versed in posting short-form content across social media.
I’ve created ~10 songs that I’d really want to play with a local funk/horn band so I’m building up a network of musicians to get that started.
The process has inspired me to start getting back into composition and music production.

In January, I joined a community choir. I’ve now gotten to perform with them twice. Once for a Nordic Folk Music concert and another for a live scoring of The Lord of the Rings movie.

The beginning of this year has helped me realize that creating and playing music gives me an immense amount of joy. It’s important that whatever I do with my time going forward, I figure out how to incorporate it more in my day-to-day.

Travel

Most years, my wife and I do one longer international trip and one shorter domestic trip. In 2026, we decided to experiment with new ways of traveling to see how we like it.

We went on our first ever cruise in the Caribbean on the Celebrity Beyond. I was initially pretty worried about being seasick and fearful on the open ocean but the entire experience was surprisingly calm and relaxing.
We went on our first repeat destination in Europe, The Netherlands, for the sole purpose of going to a musical festival. I loved Amsterdam and the cute suburbs even more this time around. Rotterdam felt like a real city of progress. Plus, the North Sea Jazz Festival was full of incredible musicianship and (mostly) attentive attendees.
This fall, we expect to go camping (maybe glamping) around Big Bend National Park.

What I’m Thinking About

In general, I’m trying to plan out what I want for myself in 2026 and beyond. An idea I’m floating is to optimize my time for “enjoyment-based income” by the time I’m 40. Thoughts so far:

Since July 2025, I’ve played drums for three different improv shows - “Villain”, “An Evening With…” and “U.S.S. Improvise”. I’d love to continue playing for more groups and I have a long-term goal of getting to play with Zach and Jess of Offbook. If you need a drummer or have any music opportunities - please get in touch!
I’m interested in taking a stab at wedding gigs. I think it would be fun to play music more for some side income.
I may take up assistant teaching for some improv classes.
I want to start my own musical improv troupe with monthly shows and a full marketing plan for building up a social following.
I want to start creating and posting music online. Small jingles, full songs, you name it.
I want to create a few smaller modern art pieces! I have a list full of ideas that I haven’t executed on and I need to pull the trigger.

So many options, so the main thing is just starting, seeing what sticks, and what sparks the most enjoyment.

Other Activities

Still running a weekly board game meetup at Pinthouse Brewing in South Austin.
I recently started running a regular musical improv Jam. I’ve had to practice song styles and music theory to gain the confidence to play and lead at the same time.
Starting level 8 of narrative improv classes.
Enjoying some great entertainment:
- Deciphering the puzzles in Talos Principle II.
- I’m making an effort this year to watch “classic movies” to see what I may have missed out on all this time. Follow my journey on Letterboxd.

This page is an inspiration from Derek Sivers and follows the principles listed on nownownow.

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