12-28 = F. W. Murnau (1888-1931) = German filmmaker 🌈
12-28 = Lili Elbe (1882-1931) = Danish artist and model 🌈
12-28 = Manuel Puig (1932-1990) = Argentine writer 🌈
12-29 = Billy Tipton (1914-1989) = American musician and bandleader 🌈
12-29 = Dylan Mulvaney (1996- ) = American actor and media personality 🌈
12-29 = Elsa Gidlow (1898-1986) = Canadian-American poet 🌈
12-29 = Katherine Moennig (1976- ) = American actor 🌈
12-29 = Lilly Wachowski (1967- ) = American filmmaker 🌈
12-29 = Paul Rudnick (1957- ) = American writer 🌈
12-29 = Paula Poundstone (1957- ) = American comedian and author 🌈
12-30 = Beauford Delaney (1901-1979) = American artist 🌈
12-30 = Paul Bowles (1910-1999) = American composer and writer 🌈
12-30 = Titus (39 BCE-81 BCE) = Roman emperor 🌈
12-31 = Diana Sacayán (1975-2015) = Argentinian activist 🌈
12-31 = Jennifer Higdon (1962- ) = American composer 🌈
12-31 = Joe Dallesandro (1948- ) = American actor and Warhol superstar 🌈
12-31 = Orry-Kelly (1897-1964) = Australian costume designer 🌈
12-31 = Taylor Mead (1924-2013) = American actor and poet 🌈
01-01 = E. M. Forster (1879-1970) = English writer 🌈
01-01 = J. Edgar Hoover (1895-1972) = American law enforcement administrator and 1st FBI Director 🌈
01-01 = James Hormel (1933-2021) = American philanthropist and diplomate 🌈
01-01 = Joe Orton (1933-1967) = English playwright 🌈
01-01 = Martine Rothblatt (1954- ) = American lawyer, author, and entrepreneur 🌈
01-01 = Toupie Lowther (1874-1944) = English tennis player 🌈
01-02 = Charles Beaumont (1929-1967) = American writer 🌈
01-02 = Christopher Durang (1949-2024) = American playwright 🌈
01-02 = Lynn Ann Conway (1938- ) = American scientist, engineer, and activist 🌈
01-02 = M. Carey Thomas (1857-1935) = American educator and linguist 🌈
01-02 = Todd Haynes (1961- ) = American filmmaker 🌈
01-02 = William Haines (1900-1973) = American actor and interior designer 🌈
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THE END OF YEAR + BEYOND
There’s something about this final stretch of the year that invites introspection.
The holiday rush has mostly passed. The noise has softened. The calendar keeps ticking, but the urgency has loosened its grip. Time feels less like a taskmaster, demanding output, and more like a meditation guide, reminding me to breathe.
So I am giving myself permission to keep taking it easy through the end of the year. Though I’ll be around, doodling and noodling, I won’t be officially back to work until January 2, 2026. No dramatic resolutions this year. No pressure to reinvent my life just because the calendar changes.
This in-between time matters.
These are my favorite days to daydream. To let ideas drift without demanding immediate results. To jot down notes that don’t yet know what they want to become. To follow curiosity instead of productivity and see where it leads. Some thoughts will fade. Others will linger and quietly ask for more attention later. Both have their place.
Right now, I’m gathering ingredients. I’m revisiting old ideas with softer expectations. Entertaining new ones without worrying about timelines, algorithms, or whether they’ll translate neatly to the outside world. I’m clearing mental clutter. Noticing patterns. Paying attention to what keeps resurfacing.
This is the work beneath the work.
The quiet organizing.
The spacious thinking.
The pauses that make forward motion possible.
Rest, for me, isn’t disengagement. It’s recalibration.
I’m still showing up—just more gently. With intention instead of urgency. With curiosity instead of pressure. I’m tending the soil so the next season has something sturdy to grow from.
Because what comes next is already taking shape. In my mind anyway.
And I want to meet it rested. Clear. Open.
Not dragging the weight of 2025 into 2026.
My hope for the year ahead is simple, but expansive: to be productive and prosperous in ways that can’t be measured on a dashboard. Creative. Sustainable. Joy-forward. Built on ideas that feel aligned, not rushed.
So if I seem a little slower right now, please know that’s by design.
I’m not stalling. I’m preparing.
Here’s to moving gently through the end of the year.
To dreaming before doing.
To trusting that quiet seasons still count.
As 2025 is winding down, 2026 is already winding up.
Keep calm and keep clear!
Clint 🌈✌️
PORTRAIT + QUOTE OF THE DAY
“The only real freedom we have left is the home. Only there can we express anything we want.”
William Haines
Clint, May your new year be Golden. Fondly, Michael.
May you rest your way to all-accomplishing-action (one of the 4 Buddha-qualities). Or not. We like you just fine!