Category: Filmmaking

Reaching Another Filmmaking Level

After making the worst content I’d ever made in form of an instructional yoga video, my next video project was remarkably better. So much so that friends and family alike praised how good it was, suggesting that it should be entered into film festivals. One writer friend even commented on how professional the documentary was.

That’s because I’d learned from my experiences–the good, the bad and the questionable. Other than the learning curve from regular practice of making digital movies, I actively explored other techniques out of necessity.

Initially, I was intimidated by the challenge to make a total of 15 hours’ worth of instructional yoga videos for my 200-hour yoga teacher training course. I overcame that apprehension by reframing the situation. I embraced the opportunity to further my filmmaking skills through those videos.

Figuring that I’d never use the audio from any of my yoga recordings, I learned how to use the voiceover feature in a video-editing platform. The first video where I used the technique didn’t go well because I’d inappropriately overdramatized my voice. Who knew voice acting was so challenging?

For absolutely no yoga reason at all, I added a short animated clip to the beginning of each yoga video. My thinking was if I continued to practice with that medium, I’d get better at it and eventually make an episode-length animation.

As a matter of fact, I’d been so preoccupied by visuals, that I didn’t appreciate how much sound shaped my story. Of course, I knew about the power of sound and how sound mixing played a powerful part in movies and TV series, but for some inexplicable reason, that aspect of filmmaking didn’t concern me until recently. That was the time I discovered the library of music clips and sound effects available in the video-editing platform.

I saved both time and precious computer storage by adding sound directly from the video-editing platform rather than saving the whole thing, then creating a soundtrack in an audio-editing platform. As basic as my sound-mixing needs have been, I didn’t need to use the audio-editing platform unless working on a podcast episode.

After learning how to adjust the volume for individual sound clips while editing digital film, I didn’t explore any further until recently. Now, I pay far more attention to how sound shapes a narrative not only in my own projects, but also in everything that I watch.

The trick is, sound should be seamlessly integrated such that it emerges prominently when necessary, but recedes into the background to highlight the visual when not featured. Sound should only be a distraction when aural distraction is necessary to the storytelling.

Another time-saving use of the voiceover feature is to record a specific sound effect not found on the platform’s library. After finding a clip on my phone, I hold my phone near my laptop and record it directly into the video-editing platform.

The only drawback is that other sounds in the room or immediately outside the room will be recorded as well. I discovered how noisy my intestines were after eating. Since I recline on my bed to edit, resting the laptop on my body, my digestive track competed with the voiceover, which caused me to redo a few takes.

Another hurdle I flattened was getting the video from my smartphone to my laptop. I’d used airdrop before with other people, but never between my phone and my laptop until now. Although taking longer than I would like, it’s still a more efficient way to get a video clip to my laptop when, after a few days, those two devices don’t sync.

Once the video clip is available in the photo library, I save it to its own album, which I then import into the video-editing platform.

I’ve not yet bridged the gap between transitioning from the animated clip in the beginning of the yoga video to the live action, but with the help of YouTube videos and good ol’ trial and error, I plan to master more techniques over time.

My long-term plan is to continue perfecting my filmmaking storytelling skills, knowing full well that absolute perfection isn’t attainable.

85 Years of Greatness

I’ve proudly told anyone who’d listen about my maternal side of the family meeting for many years consecutively, even virtually during COVID, since 1941.

Our reunion is a year younger than Mom. Adding to the specialness of the occasion, the former family reunion vice president, currently the president, had a special request for his older sister: write a play based on great grandfather Jesse Strange’s 12 children who were all born free and referred to as “The First Generation of Freeborn Stranges.”

Initially, she thought he was joking, but months later, he called her to see how the play was coming along.

Using our family book, Reflections of a Proud Strange Family, not only did she complete our first family play, but for most of the roles, she casted direct descendants of the first generation to play their ancestors.

The only time we had an opportunity to rehearse in real life on the stage where we’d eventually perform for the entire family was that Friday evening following our annual fish fry that kicks off the reunion events.

On Saturday morning, we had another first: family breakfast under the shelter, which included bacon, eggs, fried apples, biscuits, salmon cakes, fresh fruit mix and waffles.

I was one of the last people to get in the breakfast line. My first reunion miracle was that the buffet still had salmon cakes by the time I arrived.

After breakfast, kids and the young at heart enjoyed various field day activities.

Other adults and I enjoyed a Zen moment of coloring under the shelter.

My sister, who’s an art teacher, brought several different coloring page choices on card stock along with crayons, colored pencils and markers.

Normally, if I’m not digitally coloring, my next favorite is colored pencils.

However, when I saw that a box of specialty crayons, featuring different skin tones, I was enticed enough to blend several different skin tone colors together.

Funny thing about this year’s coloring station: we only had two legit under 18 kids approach the table.

Across the way, I saw my cousin’s wife, who was looking particularly “Michelle Obama” that morning. I took a picture with her and sent it out to my friends, telling them that the former first lady had visited my family reunion.

We regrouped at the hotel to prepare for the evening program. Since my sister and I were part of the nine family members who toured Ghana for two weeks, we wore our Ghanaian clothes. When Mom saw that we were posing for a picture, she jumped up out of her seat, fasted walked (for her) over to photobomb as if she belonged in the picture.

This sign displayed the theme:

My sisters’ family strolled up to the reunion after we did, sporting their Ghanaian attire.

After dinner everyone present who had vacationed to Ghana, posed behind me as I gave some brief words.

I knew better than to attempt to give a tour recap, which was why I created a short documentary about the trip.

My plan was to drop the link to the doc in a family chat where 19 of us regularly kept in contact. I asked everyone who received the link to pass it onto at least five other family members who weren’t on the chat.

We had our first board election since becoming an LLC. Most of the board members were returning with two new members, who are also the youngest members.

Again, Mom’s never met a camera she didn’t like. I’m sure the former board secretary didn’t mind.

For a few years, my quilting-enthusiast cousin had wanted to put a family quilt together. So, at last year’s reunion, she hosted a quilting square station where family members drew a representation of themselves or their family. She fleshed out the quilt by grabbing a few pictures off of a photography-enthusiast cousin’s website.

Finally, the family play.

Throughout the play, characters made references to nearby relatives’ houses, a nearby family church while representing the First, Second and Fourth Generation of Freeborn Stranges.

Needless to say, the play was a hit. Not only that, but it encouraged people to learn more Strange Family History!

First One, Worst One

As part of my 200-hour yoga teacher certification course, I had to record 15 hours of myself teaching. In order to make that task less daunting, I coupled the effort with expanding my filmmaking skill set.

I researched an animation app that advertised itself as being “easy to use.” As usual with new tech, I spent several frustrating hours putting a decent sequence together for the introduction of my yoga video.

I had no problem choosing a setting since the motivation for creating a chair yoga sequence presented itself when I overnighted in an airport unexpectedly.

That part of the video was engaging and cute. The content quality plummeted from there. From my own self-criticism, I thought the video footage went from an adorable animation to a hostage video.

I couldn’t use the audio from the video since, in the adjacent room, a dance class was in progress. So, I recorded footage without speaking, which made editing much easier.

In the spirit of “I’ll fix it in post,” I recorded a voice over (VO). My intention was to use a calming/soothing voice to help anyone who’d just missed their connecting flight. Additionally, the chair sequence was a series of postures that one could do in an uncomfortable airline terminal seat.

After recording the VO, I added instrumental music, which changed with each change in posture. Not DJ quality musical flow, but better than dead silence.

Next, I uploaded the 30-minute video to my newly made YouTube channel by creating a playlist. Another first. I also created a channel logo:

Even with the post-production effort, I thought the video was the worst content I’d made in a long time. I defeated my inner critic by declaring that I could only go up from there.

Then, I did myself a tremendous favor by sending out the link to my family and friends. Their feedback was invaluable.

One of my friends texted that she found my VO hilarious since she knew what my real voice sounded like.

One of my sisters was even more exacting about my VO in her text. “You sound like a sex Goddess in the video! Was that the sound you were going for?”

Absolutely not. Apparently, I’d put the “whore” in “horrible.”

My other sister, who thinks she’s my mother, left me a voicemail, asking me to call for her feedback. She agreed with the sex Goddess voice observation, but didn’t want to put that in writing. Instead she told me that my tone of voice at the end of the video was much better than in the beginning.

Also, she wanted me to know that throughout the video, I looked “slouchy.” Initially, I didn’t think that was a word. After all, she’s notorious for changing song lyrics and mispronouncing words to the extent they don’t sound like real words. The family-famous example is her pronunciation of the word “licorice.” She calls it “lick-WISH.”

After that critique, the hostage video footage seemed even worse now that my awareness focused on my lazy, drooping seated posture throughout the video. (Yes, I purposely chose a picture for this blog post where I didn’t look slouchy because, damn…)

My play cousin texted, “👀What am i looking at prima?”

I responded, “One of my yoga homework videos, primo. Is it that confusing?!” He liked the question.

Another friend who was included in that text chain stated, “I got 10min in. Was between satire and practical and early vid practice. 👏🏽”

That was the best compliment from someone who actually watched.

I received “congratulations” and “you go girl” from friends and family who obviously hadn’t bothered to watch. Or perhaps they had watched the video, but wanted to politely avoid saying how bad/confusing/slouchy it was and focus on the fact that I’d had completed the first video.

Only 14.5 hours of instructional yoga videos to go.

For future videos, I will: 1) not use the sex Goddess voice; 2) use a colorful piece of cloth on the wall to break up the starkness; 3) explore other camera angles.

Buying Happiness: Animation Time

Whenever I receive a gift card or bonus, the first thing I brainstorm is how to use that money to improve/enhance/enjoy my life. I’m one of those rare people who believes that money CAN buy happiness–as long as you have the right set of priorities.

For years, I referred to myself as a one-woman production company. Many monetary gifts have gone toward podcasting, digital illustration, and filmmaking. Even though writing and performance are my strongest talents, I don’t shy away from all other aspects of embellishing my writing auditorily and visually, beyond costuming.

Two years ago, I attended a local film festival and spoke with one of the filmmakers whose project was an animation. I took notes, thinking “one day” I’d check it out and create something.

Amazing how quickly time passes when actively living. Last year, I visited Ghana, produced the longest podcast episode to date, and created a short film as a Christmas gift to my family. And those were just three creative/adventurous things among my usual juggle of activities.

I started off the new year contemplating whether I’d round up voice actors. Then, I wondered if I could save myself the “trouble” and do all the voices myself. Are there animation platforms that had a feature to alter one’s voice? What’s the least expensive way to do an animated project?

These questions and more all waiting to be discovered once I start researching them, bringing “one day” of doing an animated project even closer. Just as long as I don’t fall into that “analysis paralysis” trap.

That’s where one researches the hell out of something but never takes action beyond that. I’ve not been guilty of that for years. I usually fell into that trap with writing projects. I tend to run with other creative ideas outside of writing, especially if I buy something.

The next video opportunity will be recording 15 hours of me teaching yoga as part of my 200-hour yoga certification. The instructor stated that we could be as simple or complex as our video production skill set allows.

Challenge accepted.

What Light?

We thought we’d be funny by placing a novelty drink light into Dad’s water glass. Mom and I kept prompting him to comment about it. My nephew giggled in anticipation. Watch how Dad handled the situation.

When I showed Dad the video, I told him that we kept referring to his water glass because we wanted him to talk about was in it. He said, “Well, it sure wasn’t egg nog.”

Chasing after the Moon

For a second time in a row, I attended the only local film festival in town. Unlike last year, there wasn’t another cool event competing during the same weekend; so I was better able to immerse myself into the world of independent film and the creatives who dedicated themselves into the art of filmmaking.

The opening-night featured film was a Luther Vandross documentary. Among my many talents, singing isn’t one of them. I danced in my seat and sang to my heart’s content along with other audience members who knew the words. As amazingly talented Luther was, known for his romantic songs, he died never knowing the love of an intimate partner because he didn’t want the added stigma of being gay. He already battled with being dark-skinned and fluctuating weight. Besides, he felt that coming out would have shamed his mother.

After the movie, many of us strolled down the block to the festival reception. Although I’d come alone, I joined a table of two women, mainly because of the Black woman with the African headwrap who exuded a lot of energy. Turned out that she wasn’t some out-of-town filmmaker, but a fellow yogi who used to attend my Tuesday evening hot yoga class.

I told her that I didn’t recognize her because normally, I didn’t have my glasses on in class. Yet, we swapped stories in a way that we never had in class. I got her contact information once she stated that one of her businesses was buying properties to rent out for high-end Air BnBs. I shared that information with my sister who’d also started buying and fixing up properties.

Soon afterwards, an actor from Durham joined us. In real life, he taught martial arts, but had acted in a horror film that made it in the festival. I told him that was the one genre I no longer watched, but wished him well. If he was half as energetic in that film as he was at the reception, the the film should be quite entertaining despite its genre.

The next morning, my usual plan to sleep in was thwarted because I also wanted to do a few loads of laundry before spending nearly the entire day downtown at the festival. I even bought a “dinner with a director” ticket for $20, figuring that that would be the most inexpensive meal and entertainment during the dinner block.

After all, the whole point for the weekend was to watch independent films and network. Although I didn’t emphasize networking too much, nothing will happen if I’m not in the space to actively do so. What I loved about the dinner was that, like everyone else in this industry, he had to get creative about funding and reached out to a pro athlete. Talk about connections.

Last year, I didn’t watch any films at the Capitol, which I thought was a theatre. I stood corrected. Although the space itself has gone through many different iterations, it was now a school and the screenings took place in an art classroom. I enjoyed both documentary films that I watched in that space, but those folding chairs were something to be desired.

The first documentary film I watched at the Capitol was about a revolutionary professor at my alma mater, Carolina, and playwright who wrote realistically about life in the South for Blacks, which was why he had a challenging time getting them produced in the South. Southern whites hardly ever want to see the ugly side of the so-called genteel South. The playwright himself grew up with Blacks, which was why he could write about their humanity.

The second documentary I saw at the Capitol, played in the last block as an alternative to the horror short films. I thought more people would watch a documentary about several Black women who choose to breastfeed, birthing coaches and doulas, but there were only four of us in the audience. Overall, I liked the documentary even though it seemed a little long. Could have been the time of day or the uncomfortableness of the the chair.

I sacrificed my usual Sunday morning hot yoga class to enjoy the last day of the festival, which kicked off with a members barbecue and awards ceremony. Since it was included in the price of my VIP pass, I knew I’d attend in order to get the rest of my money’s worth.

As I stood in the food line, I scanned the room. Almost made me feel like the new girl at school, looking for a table to join and eat lunch. Turned out, one of the filmmakers at the table I finally sat at welcomed me to the “cool kids table.” That analogy hadn’t been lost on her either.

At that table sat filmmakers who represented four different films. I’d already spoken to two of them previously and had seen all but one of their films. That was part of the magic of such a festival. One of the filmmakers was a professor and had done an animated film.

I whipped out my phone and started jotting down information about which animation program that she’d used. Much to my delight, I learned that I could import digital illustrations from the drawing program that I’d been using for the last four years. Another filmmaker beside me was taking notes from my notes.

In that brief conversation, I’d already thought of a short script that I’d written years ago and could polish up, illustrate and voice. As usual, wearing all the hats myself. It’s not that I’m such a control freak, wanting everything myself. I just feel that I’d have to pay other people to take the project as seriously as I do and in the end, would have to do all the things myself anyway.

I’m going to use the wish to start animating to keep the fires burning on finishing two other projects that I need to complete prior to starting anything else: my aunt’s surprised birthday video and finally finish typing up all my journals.

The former would’ve already been completed had I never started studying for my pharmacy tech license, but the nerd in me absolutely love studying, especially since the company is paying for it and in the long run will put more money in my pocket.

Plus, I don’t want to do a slapdash job of editing the video; so, I’ve taken my time getting everything together. The video want be anything fancy, but at the same time, I want it to be a documentation of the event and an entertaining showcase of embedded pictures.

After the barbecue awards ceremony, I returned to my car to read email on my phone until the first block began in less than an hour.

On Sunday, all the juried award-winning films were shown. I’d seen two out of the three feature films, but none of the short film award winners. They showed two of the featured films back to back, the second one I’d seen before about the first environmental movement that dealt with the inherent racism of burying contaminated wastes in a predominantly Black area. Two of the people who were in the documentary had answered questions about their experience and the making of the film.

As much as I’d enjoyed that documentary, I chose to eat lunch next door at one of my favorite Italian restaurants. I’d eaten there several times before and knew what I wanted. When the server responded to my order, “This will be easy,” I had no idea that she’d bring my drink, drop off my food and disappear until about 20 minutes after I’d finished my meal. I wasn’t in the mood to aggressively flag down another server for a to-go box, but since I’d begun watching a video, I sat there silently fuming.

My server finally returned to drop off the bill. I’m usually a straight up 20% tipper plus I round up to the nearest dollar. I don’t believe in stiffing anyone, so she got around 10%. I honestly believe that servers should be paid a living wage and tips should be eliminated, but for poor service like that, she may not last too long.

I returned to my car to continue watching the video of a property tour that my sister and her family had made of a house that they are renovating to rent. When I finished, I returned to the theatre and caught the last 20 minutes or so of the documentary before the block of award-winning short films played.

Among those films, one was an animation. Those filmmakers managed to tell a touching and compelling story without any dialogue. I’ll have dialogue for mine, but they had a whole team of people working together for their film. As much as I’d love to have that for my animation, I’ll see what I can do with the resources I have.

Sister Production

Once again, one of my sisters piggybacked off my idea to gift a family experience for Christmas. Last year, we gifted the family indoor skydiving, which went swimmingly well. This year, the sister collaboration involves an actual production of our very own Christmas show.

Producing a live show is in my wheel house since I produced a theme-inspired spoken word and storytelling show for eight years in Austin, The Austin Writers Roulette. One of the many lessons I learned from that creative experience is that as much as I love to organize, building in simplicity is key. What’s the least that needs to be done to execute the event?

Since my sister is an art teacher, she’s responsible for more than paying half this time around. Granted, one of the main jobs of a producer is to secure funding, but I’ve tasked her with gathering props for the show as well. She has a wealth of material at her house. After seeing what usable things we already have, we’ll buy the rest.

Even with a prop list, I’m mindful of using the fewest props and least costuming accessories to accentuate each of the five songs that I’ve selected. The introductions to each songs have been edited for the fewest words with the largest impact. Actually, that’s how I usually write, but for a live production where I have a set amount of time, I plan less to allow for fewer things to go off the rails.

In the meantime, I’m doing a little at a time, including reading up on the digital camera that I’m going to use to record the experience. All along, I trust that the production will come together.

One Step Closer to Filmmaking

Starting last year, I declared that I was no longer buying materialistic Christmas presents. All my gifts seemed like sacrifices to all the other junk that my family already had. Even the handmade things weren’t appreciated for the effort that I put in and STILL added to the cathedral of junk.

I brainstormed affordable family activity experiences. Part of the challenge was a 62-year age range. I hit the nail on the head last year with indoor skydiving. The octogenarians, my parents, didn’t fly, but they still enjoyed watching us and other participants fly.

The difference a year makes: dad has more mobility issues. So on top of everything else, I had the added challenge of finding an interesting family experience at an accessible venue, which in this day and age, is still a formidable challenge that requires much planning ahead.

After surveying family members about group activities, I concluded that I’d have to make the Christmas magic. I plan to produce a live Christmas show for my family at the dance studio where I take classes. In order to capture the memory, I will record the event.

Although I don’t have big ideas about what the recording will look like, especially since I’m responsible for the post production. I’ve been writing the Christmas show, including my introductions for each song.

My instructors will be the performers. Not only are they the most professional that I can afford, but I know they can make up a routine on the fly. At least I’m hoping that’s the case because I’m not too sure about whether we will have rehearsals or even a run through. I’m also hoping that since they know me that at least three instructors will want to participate in such a production on the eve of Christmas Eve.

A handful of instructors, including the studio owner, have heard me mention several times that I’m an emerging filmmaker. I want to make a short film about pole dancing. Who knew that the first one, outside of a handful of chair dancing videos, would be a Christmas show?

Since this will be a gift for my family, I thought of some “candy cane” awards that I can present to each family member. The awards will reflect some sentimental or funny moment(s) that occurred around Christmas time. After announcing the winner of the award, I have chosen a song that matches.

Choosing songs was less challenging than the candy cane awards themselves, thanks to the overabundance and commercialization of Christmas songs. All the songs are non-religious and most reference Santa.

Since I have the award verbiage written and songs chosen, I now have to secure props that instructor dancers may not have. Since this is my production, I don’t expect them to buy anything that they don’t already have. At the same time, since this is a Christmas-themed production, the chances are good that they already own props, especially attire.

I’ve already texted the song list to the instructor who, for all intents and purposes, acts like a manager and the owner. Those are the two who I’m expecting to perform, but I’d love for at least two more.

In the meantime, I’ve received the two boxes of equipment that I will use for the event. Not a moment too soon. Unfortunately, package piracy is on the rise, given inflation and the upcoming holiday season. Too bad more people aren’t embracing non-materialistic gifts although that wouldn’t allay all stealing. Just the Christmas-motivated theft.

Filmmaking Funding Research

Looking for filmmaking grants is as time-consuming as job hunting. I am attempting to replace my day job with something more creative than what I’m currently doing in exchange for income.

Since my idea is to make a short documentary, I want to know upfront what the funding parameters are. I already knew there were grants to support women, racial minorities and the combination of both, but I hadn’t thought about funding based on content such as science.

Besides, I’ve always started such a project by writing it, bringing it to a certain point, but then nothing ever happens beyond that due to lack of funding. I’m not typing a word until I’m clear about the funding. With the possible exception of the treatment. I vaguely recall one part of the application being the treatment. That’ll be the first time I’ll put words to “paper” about what I plan to do. Minus all the details. I’ve got to watch far more videos and read to narrow down my idea. That’ll come later.

Apparently, I hadn’t scratched the surface of NC-based funding even though I checked out a NC-based filmmaking website that seemed to have all types of information EXCEPT about grants. Of course, the very nature of research means looking at several sources. Plus, the pandemic has changed all landscapes, so things that existed prior to the plague may no longer be present, which would explain why that website has a glaring gap of funding information.

Upon further research, a general grant template revealed that I’m supposed to know who my crew and talent are BEFORE applying for the grant–a counterintuitive ask. I wouldn’t even be interested in joining someone’s film project if they didn’t already have funding.

What a Catch 22!

I emailed the director/screenwriter of the only film project that I interned for. She secured funding before assembling a crew and talent. She promptly returned my email and advised me of two approaches. The first approach was to ask my filmmaking friends if I can drop their names even though I have no commitment from them. The second approach was to look for my crew for real, with the stipulation that the project wouldn’t move forward if the funding doesn’t work out.

She admitted that she liked the latter idea, which also resonated with me. Essentially grantors want to see that there’s already interest in the film before they invest in it.

In the meantime, I’ll continue researching to see what other apparent stoppers I’ll encounter. At some point, I’ll find the money. I’m just learning what I’m up against. What I’m actually hoping is that once I create a budget, I can finance it myself with the help of credit card.

Self-Funded Filmmaking

Since being priced out of Austin, TX, I relocated to one of the dramatically less hipper cities in NC. It’s so unhip that it’s hours away from the nearest NC city with either a film school or even a modest film industry. Even Wilmington is known as “Wilmywood” and “Hollywood East.”

After recovering from my initial disappointment of not being able to partner with a local community college or some other institution of higher learning that has a film department, I focused my research on equipment. Since both my laptop and smart phone are old, I’d hedge my bet buying those two items with digital filmmaking in mind.

The laptop costs around $2K and the phone a little over $1K. Already more than my monthly take home pay.

But that’s not all!

I’d also need a “gimbal,” which I originally thought was a fancy word for a “selfie stick,” but the more I read, the more I liked the idea of having something to mount my camera on to help stabilize the shot. Although newer phones have a built-in stabilizer, I still want a tripod, which the gimbal I’m interested in has. So, that’ll be about $200.

Lastly, the app which turns smartphone cameras into a much easier to use film camera cost about $15. I’d buy this today if I knew upfront that I could transfer it to the new phone. Actually, the more I think about it, I want to grab that low-hanging fruit to start practicing with the camera I have now.

Of all the features on my current smartphone, I had no idea about altering the camera settings. Might be nice just to trial and error my way through the whole experience before investing thousands of dollars into equipment.

Next, I need to delete many pictures off my phone…eventually. I still have plenty of storage on my phone now that I no longer produce a monthly live show. I’m not even tempted to buy whatever the equivalent of a memory stick is in today’s current technology since all the important pictures have been used in a blog post, which is online.

I don’t want to be all dramatic and say that civilization would have to collapse before I completely lost all my pictures since: 1) I may be living through that right now with Florida leading the way, and 2) I’ll have greater concerns than digital pictures if civilization does indeed collapse. All I’m really saying is that I’ll survive when I delete pictures off my phone.

Besides, I love the idea of removing things that no longer serve me to make room for new experiences.