My year of ⚡😤🤑 Charge
2024 word of the year and reflections
Join in with what I’m building and learning in creative AI ⚡ In this post I’ll share some personal reflections from 2024, including
😤 Moving through the unknown, moving towards convictions
🤑 Finding work
⚡ Inspiration sparks throughout the year
I went to the desert for a few days to take a breather before returning to Oakland for the new year. Wishing you all the light as we go into 2025!
Year-in-review: My year of ⚡😤🤑 Charge
Over the last few years I’ve picked a word to capture an intention for the upcoming year. In 2023 the word I picked was conviction. Here’s what I wrote at the beginning of 2024:
My word of the year is charge. In the past year I found conviction in relationship and work: I want to build a life with Helen, and I want to do creative AI prototyping. Now that I know these and feel certain about them, I will move forward in this direction. I will move with and through the unknown, the challenges, the obstacles, in order to grow my career and relationship in a thoughtful way. Charge in the sense of energy, in the sense of money, and in the sense of leadership.
Charge through the unknown.
The big unknown for me last year was finding work, especially as the job market in tech became tighter. It’s kind of a wild thing to look back to and realize there were moments I didn’t know what would happen. I just moved forward with hope in one hand, and persistence in the other. Whatever it is, cultivate optimism and put in that consistent energy.
Charge as in a spark of inspiration.
I gave my first talk about my AI projects at Agape’s AI Salon in January. What is my unique voice in this space as we shape this emerging technology? That talk was the very seed that I’d expand throughout the year in talks I’d give at Upstatement, IDEO, Google, and the MIT Media Lab.
Charge as in making money.
My independent work in AI prototyping led to contract work building AI experiences at Upstatement. When that wrapped up, I started interviewing. It was my first time doing coding interviews. I reviewed material I would have learned for a computer science degree, sections of Cracking the Coding Interview, and LeetCode exercises. In "Build things and talk about it: My journey finding work in AI and creative technology” I write about this journey in more detail. In June of this year I joined Google Labs as a creative technologist. I was pretty burned out in 2021 after my last job, even wondering if tech was for me. In this new gig I found an environment that melted away those experiences, modeling a healthier and more fulfilling way of working.
Charge as in moving towards your convictions.
Once I finally had more stable work (such relief!) Helen and I moved into a bigger space together and I got my things out of storage. My books, my clothes, my art, my instruments — it had been three years. The whole process of integration has been fascinating. It also provided this feeling of groundedness. That anchoring and moving to the new space together gave the foundation for my biggest highlight of the year:
I proposed to my partner, and she said yes! It happened on the anniversary of the day I moved in with her, flying across the country with my cat in tow. To celebrate, we went on her favorite hike in east bay. At the top, up several steep inclines, there is a double spiral. We walked the spirals outward and then inward, meeting at the center of the two, where I proposed.
As we move through the planning process, I’m most inspired by thinking of weddings in terms of community. How might I bring my friends and family into the process, and into the event itself as well? How can the process be one of connection, and most important, fun! I’m most inspired when I see people making events their own, including their own new traditions as well. And I love community vows. A successful marriage is more than two people, it’s the community around them that they support, and that supports them.
A lowlight this year
Before I get into some more highlights, I want to share one of my creative lowlights this year. Earlier in October the fulfillment provider for my book “Feeling Great About My Butt” decided to end our contract due to low sales, planning to ship back any remaining books. I’m happy I got to work with them the past five years. After I moved my focus away from promoting my book online it was a matter of time. It was a bummer because it felt like a mark of a failure on my part. I made the book, I knew there was value in it, but I couldn’t get traction on distribution. The most fun part was making the drawings, putting together the book, and throwing the release party. The online marketing afterwards kind of felt like a grind. I learned something more about myself. I definitely would have loved to be able to figure that marketing distribution side of things, but it’s hard to muster that consistent energy it requires to regularly publish about it on social media. Maybe I’ll return to this in the future with a different strategy.
I did one last marketing push. I made a bunch of posts and videos (mouthsounds, one of my fav drawings, about the process), with a variety of creative prompts. It’s been such a joy seeing folks getting copies, gifting them, sharing drawings that resonate — thank you so much. Five years later and the book still moves me to tears. I’m so happy I made it.
Some more art highlights throughout the year
Throwing 222Fest at Eli’s Mile High Club. A night of visual + DJ collabs for my birthday.
Three performances of HELLADEEP throughout the year — one for new years, another for 222Fest, and another for Gumbyfest in the autumn. This is the livecode + DJ collaboration with Helen. It pushed me creatively, the format is intense and immediate. At the last one I used codegen for shaders live, which I was super proud of. I also livecode visuals for a classical show, that was pretty epic.
A couple special zine nights at drink n draw where we made zines and read them to each other <3 There’s something about everyone gathering around for the readings thats so sweet.
Arriving at a new format of drawing art party — sticky note drawing together IRL with collaborative creative prompts. I found sticky notes were less intimating, and even the gesture of passing them out felt like little invitations of creativity. Now I carry sticky notes and pens wherever I go for pop up collaborative drawing.
Throwing a synth picnic with Helen at Lake Merritt. Lake picnics are so delightful. Combine that with synth sounds and it’s just magic.
Going to Japan for the first time :D
So many inspiring unoffice hours conversations! I’ll make future post about them and what I’ve noticed. My favorite feedback about them is how welcoming they feel. I’ll keep them going this next year for sure.
Thanks for reading
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