🌻 Summer isn't winter
Hi pal!
It’s summer, I’m hiding inside our cool apartment from the sun and the pollen explosion outside.
This week I’m just gonna mention something that Austin Kleon said in his newsletter,
“summer is a time for unschooling yourself, a time for living and learning outside of the classroom, and also a time for plain old rest and relaxation and play.”
Usually I push myself to write every day, but in the spirit of summer I’m just gonna write whenever I feel like it and follow my intuition/curiosity for a while, without pressure. I’m playing the new Zelda, prototyping tiny games, eating sweets and fruity salads, doodling ideas and writing short stories that I’m not sure I will finish.
In the spirit of summer vibes - this will be a short Indie Notebook entry.
Mini Notes
✉️ Newsletter - Summer (un)schooling
This is the issue of Austin Kleon’s newsletter that I just referred to.
He shares 10 links once a week to anything fun or interesting that he’s discovered recently. I think most of the stuff I end up reading on my phone comes from there.
📝 Blog post - Minimalism is boring
Up until this point I had mostly thought of minimalism as extreme confidence. That someone would start from zero and only add stuff that they KNOW makes sense. But Nate made me think of it differently,
Minimalism is about subtraction. The graphic designer, Jack Butcher, says, “If it looks simple, it was difficult.” When starting from a minimalist state, there’s nothing to subtract.
You gotta add what makes sense at first and then remove once you see there’s more than enough.
🕹️ Game - Cloud Gardens
In this game you turn post-apocalyptic wastelands into lush, green dioramas. It’s a mix of easy-going puzzles and creativity. It also has a sandbox mode.
Perfect mood for a summer evening or a rainy day.
📱 Mobile Game - Monopong
This is a free mobile game without ads, no idea why.
It’s an extremely polished little thing. The phone vibrates nicely when I hit the ball, so it feels super responsive even when I play without sound. It successfully turns Pong into a game that I can play against (or with?) myself. It’s a true hidden gem on the AppStore.
As always with simple ideas - it seems obvious and easy to make, but it’s rare to think of something this clever. I’m glad they thought of it.
Thank you as always for reading! Best of luck to all you fellow pollen-sufferers.
I hope you’ll also take Austin’s advice and cut yourself some slack.
While you're playing the new Zelda, I've JUST recently started playing Breath of the Wild. So much fun.
Hope you're doing a better job of dodging the pollen then I am!