2019 looks like it’s gonna be a garbage year on a global scale, right up until the bitter end. I won’t pretend that it was a difficult year for me in the way it was for so many other people, but there were large swaths of 2019 that I definitely did not enjoy.
One unequivocally good thing I did was revive this “Dubious Ventures” blog, and repopulate it with stuff I’d only posted to social media. I probably spent too much time deleting all my old Facebook posts, 90% of my tweets, and about 50% of my Instagram photos, but I refuse to believe that’s ultimately anything but healthy.
It was the first year that my business was truly stressful in both the too-much-work and too-little-work ways, and indeed most of my favorite accomplishments this year were tangential or unrelated to Tight Ship’s client work.
In other words, I did my best/most fun stuff for free and/or at a loss. That may not be a great way to look at it overall, but I’m in the middle of a week where nothing much is happening, so how about I just list what I did this year and we can go to the zoo together:
January
- Wrote about the data visualization design I created to track my six (and now seven) years of cycling for exercise.
February
- Continued the dataviz bender with a California-looking poster/chart of my bands’ gig setlists from 1996-2006.
- Shifted Tight Ship’s Partnership Podcast into high gear with my co-captain Julia, beginning with our own origin story for Episode 2.
- Took a quick but intense trip to Nashville for Em’s 40th birthday. I believe Tennessee is my 20th visited U.S. state.
March
- Surveyed my best AIGA SB event brand designs for Tight Ship’s blog.
- Helped Julia interview pixel artist and author Mark J. Ferrari for Tight Ship’s podcast.
April
- Drove down to Pasadena for three days to have too much fun with (and basically say goodbye to) all my AIGA pals at the annual Design Conference.
- Finally, finally transcribed a 1994 interview I did with my grandfather, as a 2019 birthday present for my mother.
- Interviewed design pals James & Laurel, the West Virginia-based Hersick+Webster partners, for Tight Ship’s podcast.
- Blasted through a major month-long map design passion project called “Homeworlds” which I know I’ve posted about to death, but it was a big deal! Faux-satellite aerial photography, made from household surfaces.
May
- Returned to the Daily Nexus cave at UCSB to speak with current student journalists at my old college paper. I presented “Design for Storytelling” and helped critique print layouts and had a blast.
- Redesigned album artwork for two Honey White EPs, one Radblaster EP, and my own solo EP for the latest “My Band Rocks!” reissue project: “Extended Play in the Month of May”.
- Interviewed twin sisters/design partners Kristin & Erin of The Label Collective for Tight Ship’s podcast.
June
- I biked a lot in June, but I’ll have more on this (and cycling in general) later, because I’m on track for yet another personal-best “Keir By Bike” year.
July
- Took a brief trip to the Bay Area for some wholesome Half Moon Bay and Berkeley fun.
- Published the first stage of my found-texture-map passion project, called “The Game Board,” which I’d produced during most of June. I’ve finished two more major stages (in September and November), so watch that link for an update.
August/September
- Saw Sharon Van Etten for the first time, in L.A. at the Grammy Museum. Earlier concerts in 2019 also included Nathaniel Rateliff (SB Bowl), The Psychedelic Furs & James (Greek LA) and The National (Greek LA). Not as packed as previous years, but we’ve already got two booked for 2020!
- Had a big week in September thanks to maps, work, cycling, an AIGA Central Coast event in SB, a VC Star Storytelling event in Simi, and that National show in LA.
October
- Made the annual fall pilgrimage to Orange County and biked in San Juan, as well as the annual baseball-playoff-pub trip to San Luis Obispo, where I also biked. Earlier in 2019 I reprised the Tour DuBois, taking bike trips to Oxnard, Carpinteria, Santa Paula, Santa Maria, Westlake, Santa Ynez, Point Mugu, and at home in Ventura.
November
- Belatedly returned to New Orleans, the third time in three years, for the annual Tight Ship Summit—a weeklong hang with Julia & pals (plus occasional strategizing for the company’s future and a small speaking gig at Tulane).
- Drove up to Santa Barbara for three days to ostensibly attend Festforums, but I actually spent more time on lunch dates with old bandmates and AIGA SB pals.
December
- Most of this month has been a drawn-out process of prepping my map stuff and my speaking stuff for 2020, plus the usual recapping spasms like this one and other related year-end (or decade-end) craziness. Hopefully Em and I will be able to start up the baseball tour again, tick off one or two more states, and I can do the design-music-maps-bikes stuff to keep the stupid presidential election at bay.
I’ll have a wrap on the biking numbers soon! I don’t have much else other than to say that I ended 2016 with this phrase, and I think it still applies:
“I have no idea what else might happen next year, but given what we’re all up against I think I’ll have to make some hard choices and take real risks. Stay tuned.”
