Reckoning with Big Lucy Energy

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I've been making good use of my time behind the wheel lately by 1.5 speeding-it through audiobooks for free on Libby. Recently, I've finished Neko Case's memoir, The Harder I Fight The More I Love You, and Girhood by Melissa Febos.

I'm currently listening to both John Krakauer's Into the Wild and Your Money or Your Life, a book essential to the Financial Independence Retire Early movement, by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez.

That last book is particularly fascinating to me as someone who has always felt a ton of "ick" when it comes to potentially telling people to buy shit they don't need. Getting me to raise our shirt prices to $25 (which people now tell me is cheap?) was like pulling teeth.

But Your Money or Your Life talks about evaluating your relationship with money in order to better preserve your own energy and happiness. Not just to spend less, but to decide how consumption actually makes you feel and where the value lies for you, personally.

It's also about saving enough money to quit your shitty job forever. While that's probably a pipe dream for most, it's a worthy goal I hope everyone can at least attempt at some point.

So yeah, do I need every new album that comes out? Probably not. But do I want to support the artists I love, listen to music on vinyl, hold a piece of art in my hand? Yeah, when I can afford it, I really do.

Is it in my financial best interest to buy every vinyl color variation? Nope! But if I'm someone who's really into that (and I'm actually not), then it's up to me to decide what that really means for me and my life and consumption habits.

I don't think there's any ethical consumption under capitalism, and buying almost anything these days takes a few levels of excuses. But when it feels like everything is burning around us I fully support doing what brings you some joy if you're not hurting someone else or yourself.

So it's with that context that I let y'all know that I'm putting this exceedingly silly Worriers tshirt featuring the best dog in the whole world on sale tomorrow at 9am PT.

They're the remaining shirts from the tour in May, so I'm letting y'all know in advance before I tell social media about it later in the day tomorrow. They're on Comfort Colors shirts (made in the US) and printed by Soft Hand Screenprinting in Philly.

Touring excessively may not bring me the joy it once did, but you know one thing that does? An image of Lucy looking like Godzilla attacking the Brooklyn Bridge.

I'd love to hear what fun stuff is bringing you joy these days. Comment, y'all!

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