Nate Houge

Onward Regression!

There’s a lot to be said for regression.  Moving back.  Getting slower.  Turning stuff off.

The Houge house has been busy.  Jodi’s a full time student for another 5 weeks.  On top of her course work she started a church.  Starting a church takes a bit of work.  Some would call it a full time job.  Jodi’s busy.

Lydia…. Well Lydia’s Lydia and that has and I imagine always will be an all consuming job.  This morning she tried to boot me off the computer because she insisted part of her homework was writing a script for the school play.  Kindergarden’s not what it used to be.

Elsa is 18 months old and acts every bit like an 18 month old child should be acting.  Uber-exploratory.  Fiesty.  Opinionated.  Testing boundaries.

And I’m just trying to keep my head screwed on straight and remember what day it is, what deadline is approaching, what instrument to grab, and who to send manuscripts off too.  My to do list for the past week included:  Finishing fixing my neighbor’s bike, meeting two different writing deadlines for this Monday, handing over my kid’s CD for layout and duplication at Noiseland, doing a near final mix of the band Floating Bridge’s upcoming E.P., being less and less of a stay at home dad, moving the porter from primary to secondary fermentation, teaching two different preschool music classes, getting an antique hutch delivered to my parent’s town home, and going on a date with my wife.  I saved the best for last. 

So what does this have to do with being regressive? Well, I’ve learned a few things this week.  One, I don’t handle stress well.  Instead of dealing with stress I tend to get rid of it.  If a messy house stresses me I handle it by getting rid of things.  If jobs drive me nuts I quit.  If seminary is sucking up my wifes time, I complain about the system. 

What it comes down to is that while the rest of the world is multitasking and wading through the work flow, I’m moving toward monotasking as hard as I can.  I don’t want to be a stay at home parent and a freelance artist.  As a freelance artist I don’t want to think about writing and music on the same day.  As a musician I don’t want to think about CD design and a preschool set list on the same afternoon.  I want to move slower.  I want to do less.  I want to be more deliberate about these choices. 

I’ve also learned (once again) that I hate writing and editing on the computer.  For some of the writing I’m doing right now I’ve been trying very hard not to print things off, but rather to become more agile with my thumb and jump between documents all the time when referencing and double checking information.  What a headache.  So today I printed off about 50 pages of material.  Instantly I was working faster, more efficiently, and with greater satisfaction.  I’m moving back to paper and pencil.  I regress.

 I want less stuff, fewer obligations, and minimal technology.