Distilled Refraction

08-20-2026

Heya folks! 

I am currently on a journey of tremendous proportions! I have saved up these last 10 years and instead of trying to buy a place or some other form of expected adult life decision, I have decided to travel the world in search of experiences and inspiration! 

So sit on down while I give a little bit of info about what that looks like, along with my intentions for this blog as a whole. 

This all started with some pretty monumental life events. My tech support job of 10 years ended, My partner of 10 years separated, and one of my closest friends suddenly passed away. I was feeling beat down, rudderless, and hungry for something to get me off of the capitalist grindstone.

Sooooo… I wrote letters to 22 of my closest friends and family that I thought would appreciate my personal presence in their lives in addition to having the accommodation space and timing correct. 

They described in detail what I was looking for: An exchange of skills, labor, and ideas for accommodation and connection. I designed my own wax seal, and put as much love and care into the letters as I could (only 2 spelling mistakes :D)

I got such a myriad of responses ranging from exuberant participation to no response at all. But this was more than okay, I never want to say somewhere where my presence isn’t welcome and doing a trip like this requires opportunity and need to be in balance.  So I made preparation lists, laid out logistics, and set off on adventure!

I’ll be writing more about the specific sectors I’ll be visiting and my observations as I go  , but for now, I just want to set the stage.  

What this blog IS and ISN’T:

This IS Distilled Refraction - A blog aimed at sharing ideas that I find to be valuable by focusing the chaos maelstrom of my ADHD into something that is clear, concise, and maybe on occasion, if I’m lucky, mutually inspiring. (Good thing I enjoy difficulty as a game mechanic!)

Distilled - It takes time to read blogs, articles, and stories. I want to respect your time so I take great care to find the essence of what I am trying to say, even with subjects that are robust in nature. Fragments reformed into hopefully comprehensible Jewels in the rough. Please do the same when posting a comment. 

Refraction - Most of the content I hope to write about will have my artistic filter applied to its foundation. Taking specific ideas, experiences, or observations and refracting them against who I am at the precise moment that I am writing it. Refractions can show many things: a hidden message, an abstraction, or a pleasing pattern… But sometimes taking another look can unveil unexpected possibilities.

This IS Free - I don’t want to charge for this. But if you have the means and you appreciate my work in any of its forms, donate! Ko-fi.com/pylonfox

This IS a Go-With-The-Flow Blog. The release schedule is entirely based on when I have something worth saying. 

This IS a culture of Actionable Feedback and Critique - to hold value, ideas must be discussed unrestrained and will sometime cause a difference in opinion. Be respectful and learn to be comfortable with good faith conflict in this space. It’s how we grow.

This IS a place for discussion and interaction. Be curious, inventive and vulnerable. A few topics that I am very excited to get gritty with, So leave a comment!:

• Philosophy

• Art & Creativity

• Building a Socialist World

• Emotional Regulation

• Community, Culture & Connection

• Human Behavioural Science

• Intimacy & it’s Relation to Art

• Fantasy & Imagination

• Belief & Reality

• Humanity & Happiness

This IS an INCLUSIVE SPACE!

This IS NOT A travel blog. I am not here to blurb about the scenes, food or novel indulgences. 

This IS NOT a space for bullying or trolling.

Alright, I Thiiiiiiiink that’s a pretty good start! Let me know whatcha think.

Chaotic Harmony

2024-06-25

I can’t begin to describe what it meant for me to make this. Words simply fail but the whole point of having this page is that I try, so here we go.

Long ago I locked away a part of myself. A part that was used like a tool to shoulder the trauma and bullshit of my earlier years. I thought I didn’t need it anymore, and that it was so flawed that it didn’t deserve love. That -I- didn’t deserve love. I spent 15 years with that part strictly quarantined in my mind. Always shut down when attempting to be heard, or minimized in order to live a normal adult life.

The crazy part is that it worked. I got a decent job, a partner, a great circle of friends. My life was set… But things didn’t feel right. It’s as if everything had a grey wash to it. I was just going through the motions. Existing and producing like the good little cog this machine we call a society designed me to be.

Eventually however, that locked away part reached a breaking point. Looking back at it now the actual life event that triggered this was pretty mundane. But what happened inside shattered my whole world and that deep damaged part of my psyche screamed to be free. The problem was, that I didn’t know how to let him out. But someone new had just the set of lockpicks for the job.

He helped me perform somewhat of a mental jailbreak and my entire perspective on life changed in an instant. The wash of grey was removed, colour was added to the world again, and my creative potential and motivation shot through the roof and into the stars. My priorities shifted to living the life that I authentically NEEDED to live.

I experienced such profound joy. Joy that before this moment I wasn’t sure I was even capable of. Of course, with that came sorrow too. My entire emotional range doubled overnight and navigating this new way of life, healing this part of me, and parsing the chaotic storm of my own creativity is something I will cherish for the rest of my days.

Thank you my wolf, from the bottom of my heart.

It’s time to run as fast as I can.

2024-05-29

It’s time to run as fast as I can.

Most of my life has led up to this moment. I have told myself countless times that I am not good enough to release my work to the world and join the online creative community. I used skilling up as an excuse to avoid being vulnerable and moving forward in my creative career.

Everything has changed now. This is my job. My full time gig. My lively-hood. I am excited and overjoyed, but also afraid. So much rides on whether I sink or swim.

I still ask myself if the timing is right. Now with the advent of artists being scraped and their life’s work chewed up and spat back out and the industrialization of the one sector of humanity that should have been immune to automation.

Maybe this is the worst time in human history to be a new professional artist. However, I can’t afford to see it that way. Creating things lights my soul on fire, makes my belly sing, and my heart swell. It’s my very nature!

So I am going to run. I am going to run as hard and as fast as I can towards what resonates the hardest. I am exploring new horizons in a world where everything is thought to have been done already! I openly share my passion even though I know it can be stolen and regurgitated! I paint my heart out because I must!

Everyone can Create, No Really!

2024-07-15

Everyone can Create, No Really!

So, you have all heard that whole "everyone's an artist thing". And sure, if we define it as the techical skills required to make a living at it, then no- Not everyone is an artist. People put thier stats in different things. But but but, if we say it's simply means one that can make stuff... Well then we've got something very special.

We all want to create something from the ideas in our head. That's it! The very nature of our species is that we think stuff, then we make that thyur stuff into reality. Works of creation come in so many forms! A great painting, a glass sculpture, a poem, a well balanced schedule, a meal, some fan fiction, a concise and understandable instruction manual, A planned birthday surprise, A heist, A no miss score in a rhythm game, In investment scam, our economic system. It all thrumms to the same note. Imagine, gather, plan, create! BOOM! Make stuff!

We want to meet up in the special place between difficulty and skill. The stream of conciousness where our focus is absolute. The invigorating condensation of select few ideas in a maelstrom of thoughts, the combination of past and This. Very. Second. Creations are crystalized intent... They are not just the thinking, but the doing too. And ANYONE can do that.

So... Don't be afraid to go make stuff! It doesn't matter if you mess up! Don't use "I am not creative" as an excuse to not create the thing rattling around in that brain jar of yours. Be brave! I believe in you