Avoiding the mainline narratives, I found this brilliant byline on their YouTube channel—Ken Griffey Jr., granted media access to last year’s Masters as an official photographer. Griffey Jr. was #24 behind the lens. (Link to the video below.)

His other passion was baseball. The sweetest swing in baseball history. 630 home runs, 10 Gold Gloves, 13 All-Star selections. He revitalised the game in the 1990s with an infectious smile and a style that inspired an entire generation.

And now? He takes photos. How does that follow?

Melissa, Griffey’s wife, explained that for her husband not to be harassed at their children’s sports events, he needed a distraction, a camera. To the other parents, he was just another obsessive dad taking endless shots when he should have been watching. In reality, he was hiding. And from that hiding place, a passion was born.

What struck me most—without spoiling the watch—was how humble and almost apologetic Griffey Jr. was in a foreign environment. How vulnerable he allowed himself to be when surrounded by people whose knowledge surpassed his. Never once did he reference baseball, or his stellar career.

You never know what you might find. Enjoy the watch.

Nick

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Photographer No. 24: Ken Griffey Jr. at the Masters

A note: the 365-day commitment starts Tuesday, April 14. We're live then.

Being surrounded by friends and family is wonderful; you’re never searching for contact. If and when this fades, you’ll truly value what you had. Too often, in the moment, it’s lost on us.

I didn’t plan to post, but sharing this yarn might give me a lift, and hopefully you too. It is the shortest of short stories.

I look for Bob most days. Seeing him gives me a sense of care and connection. I’m unsure if he feels the same, but I hope so. That said, I’ll never know. Bob meows loudly, only when you’re in eyeshot; he’s tone deaf and just turned 19 years old. Bob’s a cat, he lives one street down, although he has several feeding houses! He loves the sun and will always scarf cake if I have any. His main place is on the way to my coffee stop. He’s a friend. Would I still go looking for him if the shop closed? Yes. Because Bob gives me a lift.

Keep looking. Stay connected. Instances like this can nourish the soul.

Nick

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I’ll keep this brief and make a promise to come back to that short story before we reach post 365. “Doing what you say you’re going to do, which has always been the hardest thing.”

For now, the image says what I can’t. Enjoy the day however it falls for you.

Nick

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Links:
https://www.adifferentsober.com/p/beta
https://georgesaundersbooks.com/ - for me, someone to look up to.

Books came into my life late. A teammate carted his around in suitcases—it looked weird to me. He was an academic cricketer. I was just a cricketer. He captained England, I didn’t!

It started with a Kindle. From there, to book fairs, Amazon, and bookstores. I knew I was screwed after spending an afternoon in Powell’s in Portland, Oregon when I could have been sipping.

Then I found Umberto Eco. He owned 50,000 books and harboured no apologies. My kinda guy.

“It is foolish to think that you have to read all the books you buy. Consider them medicine — it is good to have many at home rather than a few. When you want to feel better, you go to the medicine closet and choose the right book for that moment. Those who buy only one book, read it, then discard it — they apply a consumer mentality to something that is anything but a commodity.”

Umberto, I wonder what you make of the Kindle.

Nick

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Umberto Eco
https://www.penguin.com.au/authors/umberto-eco
https://www.powells.com/

Every app, before it meets the world, goes through a testing phase. Bugs found, features added, components rebuilt from scratch. Some betas last for months. Mine ran for decades.

Life was the testing environment. The variables were many; choices made, paths taken, stuff consumed that probably shouldn’t have been, or at least more moderately, and a persistent, quiet voice asking whether it could be better.

It wasn’t. It was. It wasn’t. It could be.

Here we are. ‘a different sober’—not perfect, not finished, not entirely sure what it will be, likely many different genres, hard to pinpoint right now.

What it is to me—a daily commitment. One post, every day, for 365 days. Doing what you say you’re going to do, which has always been the hardest thing.

If you’re here early, welcome. You showed up before the crowd. Good onya.

Nick

A note: this isn't Day 1 of 365. We're still in beta. The public release is coming.

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