yes-reply #06

Hello,

Alright you caught me, I missed last fortnight’s issue, and for that I sincerely apologise. In my defence, it was not through lack of trying, I think I wrote the email three different times but trust me it was a waste of both your and my time. My last draft was some pointless pondering on immersive theatre, I couldn’t quite get the narrative succinctly nailed down, but if I’m honest I was just avoiding writing another issue about being mentally ill.

I haven’t been doing nothing though, I finished a draft for a screenplay, made a breakthrough on a stageplay, and had a meeting about an installation artwork. That and YouTube shorts, meme compilations, doomscrolling Ukraine and some extra doomscrolling on Ukraine. Recently I wrote to you that I was taking lessons from hiking, that I was going to trust the path but reassess as I go. Here’s an assessment: my path is overflowing with utter shite.

Enter Opel TouchFlip 4G.

Last night I woke up at 4am, my head didn’t have the clarity I get after a nightmare, nor the relaxed exhaustion of mildly disturbed sleep. Just this frustrated fog of consciousness, not enough to focus on anything or have complex thoughts, but loud enough that I could not rest. This is a problem that has progressively gotten worse since starting to write full-time.

And my waking hours, don’t get me started on being awake. The fog of distraction, flippant temptation cutting against my focus. Last week I could throw myself into the installation pitch I mentioned, but as soon as it finished, there was nothing but the fog. So today, I am going to turn off my smartphone, and make my millenial sisters proud by learning to type on a keypad.

You know the risks of social media, I’m not here to preach. I love smartphones and social media, they have been integral to rising democracy in developing countries, tools of resistance for marginalised peoples, and a revolution in staying connected. But, I feel that since leaving a 9-5 job, my dosage has risen to toxic levels.

I’ll report back in two weeks (probably).

Yours sincerely,

Andrew Gillanders

P.S - Feel free to reply to this email, I will be monitoring this mailbox and I’d love to have a conversation. When in doubt, yes-reply.