May 2025

Oh hey there! Haven't forgotten!

My May has been.. busy! Mostly LARP related. I've been a scientist at an offworld colony, trying to protect humanity (Eclipse by Chaos League), then the weekend after I was a soldier turned hacker, trying to protect an offworld colony from alien invasion (Frontier by Eos), and then I was an outgame techie trying to assist zombies take over the world at (Exhumation by Evolution Events). Hmm there's a pattern in there somewhere..

Anyway. This newsletter is an odd one - it's an infodump. If you're here for the photos, you will find them at the end.

On the topic of being busy

I am - usually - chaotically busy. Many plans all at once. Too much my poor brain to handle and remember. So, I needed to expand it. With tech. Because I can.

To self-organize I lean heavily on automation in my life, and have collected a variety of tools to automate me being me. I'm recently learning I am by far not the only one that could benefit from this, so let's share! Here's a writing about which tools I find useful, and why.

A means to collect thoughts

First. Notetaking! Not just notes, but ones that automatically refer themselves to other notes, so I get a graph of all relevant and related notes and can use it to recall almost any topic previously discussed instantly. For this, I have become accustomed to using logseq for everything, though Obsidian is also a good alternative.

How do I use these? Hashtags! Every time I write a note, I add a # in front of anything that seems to be important. That makes the software generate a web of topic-related notes. Sounds weird, but works really really well. This is mostly useful for places where one has lots of meetings. Any time a topic comes up again I immediately see when that was discussed earlier, and with whom, and why. Brainsaver.

A means to track photoshoots

My beloved photography tracking system! This is the most absolutely overkill piece of software I use, but also one where I love tinkering to make it even more complicated.

Ultimately, I use this to help me answer questions like when did I shoot with whom? What kind of brainstorms do I have open? Is there a shoot coming up that isn't yet ready or needs something? What should I edit next?

I track every shoot from conception till publication. And there's metrics and automation helping me remind me when something is getting near and not fully planned yet. The picture here shows my current set of active photoshoots, and in what stage they are.

So how do I do this? Currently I use Clickup, but any work production/planning tool that allows items to be in stages would work perfectly for this. Think: Monday, Todoist, etc. -- and even a spreadsheet can just work for you.

So, how? Let's say you need to track photoshoots. Each shoot has stages right? The nice thing about the tools above is that they allow you to define what stages a task should have, and then use them to be able to sort, filter and prioritize based on this. Over time, I defined the following for myself:

• Unplanned: brainstorming! There's no date set, but there is an idea, and I might even have a model in mind.
• Planning: the idea is there, and potential model(s) are asked - time to find a date!
• Ready for shoot: the date is set, the brainstorms are done, now it's time to wait for the shoot.
• Preselection: just after the shoot, it's preselection time. Selecting the best photos to send to the models.
• Selection: not my problem, models select their results. See my previous post for more details on tooling here.
• Editing: it's back to me! Work work edit edit.
• Wait for feedback: all good and done? Let's ask!
• Ready to post: it's done! Selection has been edited, now it needs to go up on this website.
• Complete: the ticket, task, row in excel, or whatever.. is done! So it can be removed.

Overkill much? Maybe. For one shoot it would be. For a few a year as well. But for tracking what you did when over multiple years and being able to recall what was promised to whom when? Yes I need it. And setting this up is fun! I subsequently also started using this tooling for all other things in life. LARPs? There's a board for that detailing status of costumes and props to build. Vacations and what-to-bring lists? All automated. Even better: when a new event pops up, I just use templated lists of bring-this-gear-for-that-purpose, add them in a few seconds and I am reasonably sure I will never forget a thing.

A means to plan my time

Lastly, planning. I really really dislike planning. The forever back and forth "Oh can you do month? Yes I have this and that date open. Ah I can't do that, but I can do these. I can't do these, how's your month after?" .. urgh. It takes forever and consumes my most valuable resource. Time.

So: tooling to the rescue! I use TidyCal. Calendly works equally well. Both enable easy booking of appointments. Configuration is key here - you want to enable the tool to only allow booking dates that you're okay with booking, and I usually configure them to limit the amount of bookings per month, such that I don't get overloaded.

And here's my most important tip ever: book Ork-days. Or at least that's what I call them. You will most likely call them differently. These are days that are just for you. That are empty and remain empty, just to relax, do nothing useful, or connect last minute with friends if that's what feels right.

Yes. Best invention ever. Keeping space for yourself.

This was very much a large infodump. Was it interesting? Was it much? Have questions on any? Do let me know! Thank you ever so much again for reading!

As always, check my newsletter archives if you want to check earlier newsletters. Want to know more about I do at LARPS? Let me know by leaving some feedback here!

Ork

And now onto the new stuff!